No time is wasted in introducing the player to Tau Volantis, with a prologue that serves as a tutorial and introduction to the tragic tale of the ice planet by catapulting the player 200 years in the past and into the shoes of some irrelevant soldier in a mad rush to save the S.C.A.F forces who were there to try and, surprise surprise, end the marker threat.

In this third instalment, Clarke is trying to end the marker threat once and all, and to that end finds himself on the frozen tundras of Tau Volantis, the source of the Markers. The only way to ensure that they do not is to do much the same to them the more limbs disembodied, the faster they die.

Throughout the series Isaac is sent back and forth on the most banal of errands and is constantly set upon by necromorphs – dead bodies that have been reanimated and mutated by the Markers (alien artifacts of unspeakable power) – who want to rip him into bloody little pieces. As GL’s Richie so succinctly puts it you play the role of Isaac Clarke, space janitor. I’m sure that by now most people have a rough idea of what the Dead Space franchise is. Moving away from pink leather and whips and looking instead towards walking corpses, dismemberment and, (say this one quietly – some people seem to think it’s a dirty word) horror. Thankfully though, it seems that this rather laboured metaphor can die in peace (and I can put away my whip), because this is, without a doubt, a Dead Space game. The floor is scattered with sequins, and the elephant, at this point, resembles a gaunt, haggard and just about dead horse.

It’s pink, and though it’s not dancing, it’s really tired at this point – because there has been a lot of discussion about it – but there is certainly evidence that it was once dancing, and may have even been wearing a skimpy outfit at some point. There is no denying that there is an elephant in the room.

Dead space who made the markers