There is a story about why I even attempted a Hardcore run but won't bore you with details here. If you are interested though, just check the last section. You can also find proof of my run down there as well. So, without further ado-

This obviously isn't a guide if you are playing the game for the first time ever but just in case you are let me remind you: this ain't the guide for you fella. I've finished the game about 10-15 times myself and will treat you thinking you're in a similar place yourself. So expect story spoilers but don't expect me to go into detail about how you need to dismember limbs, to use Stasis a lot or cannisters are a good way to save ammo, this is your one and only warning. But here are a couple things I would like to mention:

-> Kinesis is your best friend, which goes without saying. Use those Necromorph blades as much as you can to save ammo. This isn't Dead Space (2008), so Kinesis is not only working properly now, it's also more of a necessity to survive. Especially at the later parts of the game.

-> I went Cutter only for like the majority of the game (around 98% of the time roughly) and highly recommend the same. In my opinion, it made everything a lot easier as you only need ammo for a single gun and the more experienced you get with it, less likely you'll die. Additionally, as you upgrade it, you'll likely realize how it is really the only weapon you ever need in this game when combined with Stasis. The only other weapon I used was the Contact Beam. More about that in the Final Boss Fight section.

-> Try not to leave ammo drops even if they happen to be for weapons you don't use, to sell them later. Although most ammo don't go for much in the store, you'll still need any credits you can get. Some ammo cost a little more than others so if you only have space for one at any given time, try to prioritize. However, if you need advice on which ammo type to never pick up; I'd say avoid Javelin Spears like the plague. Unless you are sick in the head and decide to use that weapon. The type of ammo drop you should NEVER leave behind though, is Contact Energy. Those are worth 1k a pop in the store.

-> Attempt trial runs to get acquainted with some segments. Other than ammo and resource drops, most enemy placements and spawns are scripted, so watching other experienced players' runs or attempting several ones yourself can benefit you (I sure did watch someone beforehand and that helped me out a lot, straight up copied some tactics even. For more, check out the final section of the guide).

-> Don't be afraid to spend almost all your money at times. All you need to do is survive on this difficulty. So go all out for the stuff you absolutely need. After a while you'll start to be able to save up anyways. I've spent a great amount of credits and if it wasn't for the Beam, I might've end up with over 100k credits. Just don't be mindless and focus. If I managed to do this, you can too.

-> Try to proiritize your upgrades. I mostly focused on Cutter's damage upgrades and health upgrades under RIG section first. Then came some Stasis upgrades and then I bought nodes whenever I had the credits to do so to upgrade the rest. Cutter's damage is to kill enemies faster (and save some ammo), health is to not die as easily and Stasis to combo it with Cutter. These are the crucial ones in my opinion but you can still do as you please.

-> Always have a single Node on the ready to use at EVERY supply room, ever. You need all the resources you can get. Even with spending all those Nodes on those rooms, you'll be able to upgrade mostly everything if you play your cards right. So just don't skip any, ESPECIALLY the first one, as you'll find the Node Schematic in there. Talking about Schematics made me remember:

-> You don't need every Schematic. So if you see a Schematic for a weapon you don't intend to buy/use or ammo schematic for that said weapon just don't bother. You'll need every bit of inventory space you can get. Suit & Medkit Schematics however, are must gets individually. Never skip out on those. Vintage Suit for example gives you a 10% discount on the store so even if you have a better suit equipped, you can change into Vintage for discounted prices. Did that especially at the end to upgrade C. Beam a bit.

-> During the penultimate section (firstly where you try to escape the Ubermorph and then the last section before the final boss fight) maybe just Stasis and run, as much as you can. You don't need to kill every enemy to advance, and playing the coward and not engaging with any other enemy than the Ubermorph itself can benefit you greatly.

-> You don't have to be perfect. It's okay to miss a couple shots here and there or to take damage in a similar manner. Just enjoy your run and take stuff as they come. You'll succeed at the end, trust me.

Ideal save locations and danger areas are actually -at least in my opinion- really subjective. So honestly, just start a no strings attached trial Hardcore run and see where that takes you. You might want to save where you die the first or after surviving a challenging area as a "reward" of sorts. It's all up to you.

However, I simply looked at a couple of forums then made a couple judgement calls while playing and ended up with these spots:

-> 1st Save: Right before the first Brute Fight (at the end of Chapter 6)
-> 2nd Save: At the first save station after entering USG Ishimura (at the beginning of Chapter 10)
-> 3rd Save: Right before entering the Laser Room (Somewhere in Chapter 13)

At the end I wasn't the most content about those saves but I managed. So my humble advice about ideal locations would go something like this (once again, heavily subjective):

-> Chapter 7 (right after or before you are done with the Solar Arrays, before one of the hardest segments of the game, where you fight a bunch of Necromorphs while Ellie tries to open the door for you)
-> Chapter 12 (right before or after you have to fight a bunch of enemies on top of that giant drill)
-> Chapter 13 or 14 (So this is a tough one; either save right after you're done with the Red Rooms or right after the initial chase sequence with the Ubermorph. This one is HEAVILY subjective, because some people find the Ishimura chapter hard and save right before/after that, same as I did. But afterwards, it was smooth sailing to me and regretted saving there.)

But please keep in mind that these can change for you in any way you deem fit. Just do your own thing, don't take my word as the Bible or anything like that. And since I blabbered heavily about "subjectivity", here are a couple areas I died a lot I guess.



Here (and I think only here):



This is actually rather an easy area after you learn what you need to do but I died twice once because of stupidity and once because didn't know how to deal with "The Nest" (apparently that's what it's called). Here's what I did:



I just stood here (after the first smashing impaler door thingy) and advise you to do the same. Because "The Nest" throws those homing "missiles" way too frequently and it can get really hard to manage both dodging them, trying to Stasis the glowy parts and not die to the collapsing "door" or any of the laser looking whatevers. Just stay there, forget Stasis and try to land your shots from far away (not hard at all trust me, don't be afraid of wasting ammo) because the smahing doors and/or lasers will handle the homing missiles. Just make sure you don't run out of air and don't forget about the Semi Conductor on "The Nest" after you're done with it, just get it before you turn the gravity on because it disappeared on me once. Oh and can't forget, for the love of god if you haven't got the timing mastered, STASIS THOSE SMASHING DOORS or whatever they are called. That was my stupid death, I thought I could make it and I couldn't. And do so AFTER it smahes, not before. You'll have more time to pass through that way.



Talking about messing up timing, here's where I did the same:




My only advice is, don't rush it and play it safe. Try to get down which enemy comes from where in each of the rooms you need to stop by, so you don't take damage. This whole segment is way easier than it initially looks but one wrong move and the lasers can kill you, and you'll be forced to your previous save. Keep that in mind.

And that's about it. Only other times I died (as far as I can remember) were firstly, in the Kindergarten area, then once right before the final boss starts (because forgot the QTE), another time on my first encounter with the final boss (aka Nicole fight) because I was running around aimlessly and didn't check where Nicole was, she teleported and I ran straight into her embracing arms. That's it. Once again, these can change for you but these were my nightmare areas. Some people struggle at the mining section, some in Ishimura, some after the drill etc. Just wanted to give an example with all the stuff up above. But keep in mind; If it looks like it can kill you in one hit, it probably can.

And since I mentioned Nicole, let's talk about-

So, you are here with the correct weapons right?


Shoot Nicole with either the Contact Beam (charged) or Cutter until the the Marker's "heart" comes out:


(Some people with fully upgraded C. Beam can basically stun-lock Nicole by keep spamming fully charged Beam shots and finish the fight that way since once the heart comes out the kids disappear so you don't need to deal with them, but I chicken-ed out. If you have the balls -and Nodes as well- for it, go ahead with that tactic.)

Then just run along the edges (make sure you are at the edge btw, sometimes you can't tell because there is like a big rock blocking your view):


Occasionally check behind you and try to get some of the children (preferably with Cutter) and in case you get swarmed, use the alternate fire of the Beam which should deal with the children rather easily (especially if you have the Stasis upgrade to go with it) and don't forget about Nicole because she teleports when you're not maintaining eye contact)


Then rinse and repeat. At least this is how I did it. I was so nervous, I fumbled a good bit of the "tactics", got hit many times by the kids but still managed to not die. Again, it's not as hard as it seems like initially and try to either completely mute the game or lower the volume a bit because they did a masterful job at Visceral to overload your senses in this fight.

Since I went Cutter only for about 98% of the time, I was able to save up a lot. If you can manage to not get hit much and can land most of your shots, you should be able to save up on both credits and resources. So right at the end, to buy and upgrade Contact Beam, I sold many Medkits and some other resources. So I recommend you to do the same. You don't have to be that skilled of a "gamer" to do so, as I surely am not one of them.

Well, this is it. Hope your run goes smoothly and you have fun. But here's a final warning even the most experienced Dead Space connoisseurs might not know about-

I don't have it. Why? Because the PC port of this game is just broken. But you can avoid it (I think, not sure) and here are the two steps you absolutely need to follow:

1) DO NOT use the DLC weapons or suits (the ones that show up in the store for free)

2) Just finish the game in one sitting.

Unfortuntely, if you quit your game at any time during your run (regardless if you have saved or not) you won't recieve your Foam Finger. Don't know how or why but, that's what people say. And what makes me even more adament about it is the fact that I'm 99.9% sure I haven't even came close to using any of the DLC suits or weapons, as I was clearly warned about it beforehand by a friend.

It might seem like a dauntless task to finish the game on Hardcore in one sitting but I'm actually thinking about attempting that in the near future and will update the guide in case it works.


Recently finished a one sitting Hardcore run, here it is:


It was pretty hectic and clumsy but that goes to show how managable it is if you go at it with decent tactics and subpar shooting. Will add proper segments soon on it but barely have the time.

Long story short, the sole reason why I even attempted this run is because this guy attempted to beat Dead Space 2 with a steering wheel. I promised to beat the game in Hardcore if he managed to beat it with the wheel. He did, and that's why I'm here.

Here's his channels:

-> Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/vandal7800
-> YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vandal1176/videos

Also, do you remember that I told you about how I watched other people play and even copied their tactics? Well, it was only a singular person and they are currently attempting a No-Hit, Cutter Only Zealot run. I used many of his tactics and he streams almost daily.

-> His Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/insanehorder

And finally here's the proof of my Hardcore run:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2214882312

Not trying to plug my Twitch but you can watch the rest of the run on my channel as well. Wouldn't hurt to give a follow either I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyways, thanks for reading this mess and I hope it somehow helps you with your Hardcore journey.