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This is Part 13 of our complete Dead Space Walkthrough, featuring Dead Space End Game: Hive Mind and Round Two.
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End Game: Hive Mind
- YouTube: Dead Space - Mission 12 - Boss Fight (Time: 9:18)
- The Hive Mind will attack from the crater. At first it'll just try to scare the crap out of you, so in the meantime, nab up whatever ammo you can. Keep an eye on the way the big head moves.
- When the Hive Mind rears back, it means it's about to slap down with one of its two huge tentacles. These are easy to avoid. Whichever side the head rears toward, that's the tentacle that's about to descend. Strafe left or right with the Left Bumper to dodge the attacks.
- At first, each attack will be followed by a roar. When the Hive Mind roars at you, tag one of its big yellow eyes with a weapon. Most effective is the Contact Beam, as it'll kill an eye in one shot. However, you need that ammo for later, most definitely, so if you don't have more than eight or 10 shots, use something else.
- Almost anything will damage the eyes effectively. The Line Gun is tough to use because of its slow speed, but surprisingly useful are Force Gun alt-fire grenades. With these you can sometimes damage two eyes with one shot.
- Continue dodging tentacles and shooting eyes. When you've taken out three, the battle changes.
- Pull out your Contact Beam now, because you need its accuracy and power. You're on the clock, so hit the last two eyes to destroy them. You'll fall back to the deck.
- The Hive Mind is a little angrier now, so things will get more dangerous. Instead of a single tentacle attack, the Hive Mind will dish out four at a time, alternating from side to side. Dodge them in the same way as you normally would.
- The Hive Mind will then rear up and expose its chest, where five yellow hearts beat. Those are your new targets. Hit one with the Contact Beam (this is why you saved it), and get ready to dodge more attacks.
- If you let the Hive Mind go on long enough, it'll add two more tricks to its bag. The first is to spit two pregnant necromorphs at you. These aren't too scary, because the Hive Mind's own attacks will squash them. They will spew the little triangle goopy guys at you though, which are more bothersome. Use them to get ammo if you can.
- The big monster will also occasionally shoot Leviathan pods at you, those explosive balls you saw in your first fight with a giant monster. They come in batches of six but are erratic and hard to predict. Still, if you can catch one with Kinesis toward the end of the cycle, they make effective ammunition.
- Repeat the cycle of hitting the hearts. The Hive Mind really isn't that difficult when you get the patterns down. The key is ammo conservation and picking your shots. When you bring it down, sprint for the shuttle to end the game.
- YouTube: Dead Space - End Credits (Time: 6:30)
Round Two
- Saving your game after the end credits allows you to access a second playthrough on the same difficulty, with numerous advantages. You'll have all your own equipment complete with upgrades.
- The game also rewards you with several backstory logs that you can read in the Chapter Twelve section of your Database.
- In addition, you'll get 50,000 in credits and 10 Power Nodes.
- ACHIEVEMENT ALERT! A second playthrough is the only way to earn certain achievements. Maxed Out requires you to max out all your equipment, which can't realistically be done the first time through.