Hey all, I've been replaying the original Dead Space recently and decided that during my next holidays (about 3 months away, but whatever) I'll try to make a serious attempt at Dead Space 2's Hardcore difficulty, the one that allows for 3 saves during the entire game.

In preparation for that I think I'll be slowly working through Dead Space 2 on Zealot difficulty. My only question is that is Zealot mode balanced for fresh starts, or does the game assume that you'll be on Round 2, with all of the gear and upgrades from a previous playthrough?

I beat Zealot mode not too long ago actually on a fresh save and only relying on the gear that is part of the base game (avoided all DLC items that were free on the store for me). It's very doable.

Zealot is very manageable on a fresh save. Just be conservative early on and you can build up a nice supply.

Hard-core mode is actually survivalist with 3 saves by the way. It's not Zealot level in terms of items, ammo and enemy health or damage output.

@jtb123: I think I was semi-aware of that but I figured if I could beat the game on Zealot then Hardcore should be semi-managable.

I still can't figure out if 4th weapon should be Seeker Rifle or Contact Beam. First three are PC (you get it for free so you might as well make use of it), Force Gun because I love it and Pulse Rifle. Leaning towards Contact Beam because it's ammo drops are a serious money generator.

Thanks for the responses guys.