As Visceral Games decides to build on the events in Dead Space 2, they do so by letting you witness the events of the Necromorph outbreak through the eyes of a different character. Gabe Weller is much like Isaac Clarke a guy has had a run of bad luck. It wasn't enough that he had to endure the first outbreak on Aegis VII and USG Ishimura, as a security guard on The Sprawl he gets caught up in the same mess again. Dead Space 2: Severed starts out the mining operation of what's left of Saturn's moon Titan and the outbreak is beginning to get noticed. This is also where Gabe's odyssey to save his pregnant wife Lexine kicks off. As it turns out it's not only the Necromorphs that stand in the way of Gabe and Lexine as they attempt to flee the infected space station.
Dead Space 2: Severed is the first downloadable episode to extend the Dead Space 2 and it's hard to see how it would disappoint anyone. Severed chugs along at the same pace and with the same ingredients as the main adventure and Visceral have been careful not to make too many changes to the concept that has been so successful. Equipped with the same weapons and abilities as Isaac Clarke, Gabe Weller will fight his way through oceans of slime and bad attitude, and sever as many Necromorph limbs as he possibly can. After a short trip to the mines we find ourselves in familiar surroundings as Visceral have almost exclusively recycled levels from Dead Space 2 for the expansion.
While it's a proven way of creating an expansion, it does feel a bit cheap to have to revisit the same areas over and over again. There is no sense of exploration. From a personal standpoint, I feel a bit disappointed, and I would have liked to have been offered up a bit more new content than what I get from Severed. I played through the expansion in just under two ours. During these two hours I relived the same action packed and atmospheric horror that made Dead Space 2 such a great game. The story part has taken a back seat to the action this time around, even if we do pick up one or two interesting tidbits that will hopefully make more sense further on in the series. Gabe's journey through The Sprawl is no walk in the way, although I doubt anyone thought it would be.
Severed is a good expansion of Dead Space 2, without a doubt. But the relatively short playtime, lack of new additions and the massive amount of recycling leaves me wanting more. At 7 dollars or equivalent you get two hours worth of entertainment along the exact same lines you got from Dead Space 2. It's not a bad deal, but it offers nothing different and nothing new. I absolutely love Dead Space 2 and enjoyed Severed, but at the same time I'm left with the feeling that I would have liked something a little different from the DLC.