On Dead Space

One of the most brilliant gaming franchises of the 2000's

I’m not a huge fan, outside of Lovecraft, Alien and Halloween, of the horror genre. Dead Space however, is a franchise that will always grab my complete and utter attention. The Dead Space games are simultaneously some of the most analysed and passed over games of the late 2000’s. Despite my dislike of the genre, I adore the games, especially the first two.

Released in 2008, first person shooters both good and bad, saturated the market. Another one of my favourite games, Halo 3 was riding its highest point of popularity at this point. The horror genre, conversely, had become relatively stale after the resurgence of the genre in 2005 with Resident Evil 4. It would be Resident Evil 4 that would be a big influence on the team at Visceral Games, the team going on record saying that they wanted to make ‘Resident Evil in space’. Other influences include Alien, System Shock 2 and Event Horizon. Executive producer Glenn Schofield felt the stop-start shooting mechanics of Resi 4 wouldn’t suite the game. Instead, he opted for a median pace, aimed in-between the fast pace of third person shooters and the slow pace of horror games.

The necromorphs

In terms of the enemies, Dead Space is absolutely unique with its limb dismemberment system. In the case of most shooters, the player would be encouraged to aim for headshots. The design of the necromorphs however meant that in order to take them down, you need to aim for their flailing arms and legs. Not only this, but most of the time you need to cut off three of the limbs before the necromorph stops attacking you and dies. This is something that the game constantly pushes down the throat of players, with audio messages from dead characters and messages written with blood on walls instructing you do so. I don’t blame them given it’s such a superb gameplay mechanic. The variety of enemies can be a point of valid criticism though, with many people thinking not enough is on offer. Alongside the basic necromorphs, there are ranged enemies who spit projectiles at you, regenerating enemies that you can only outrun, and larger enemies who regurgitate smaller infection forms when they die. I don’t mind the lack of enemy variety, because frankly it’s not why I play the game, but you can certainly raise the issue. In terms of their design, the necromorphs are an amalgamation of torn flesh, razor sharp limbs and an unflinching need to kill Isaac. The team wanted to make them so horrifying, that they designed them based on pictures of victims of severe car crash accidents. They are both distinctive and generic at the same time, in that whilst they are a ‘zombie’ type enemy, the design and the way they attack Isaac only belongs in Dead Space.

For Isaac’s tools other than his weapons, dealing with the necromorphs usually involve the kinesis and stasis modules. These are not as expansive in the first game as they are in the sequel, but they do certainly add to the limb dismemberment system. When you’re faced with a number of fast moving necromorphs, stasis is a good crowd control, and if Isaac is lacking ammo whilst being in a tight spot, using kinesis to fire the sharp parts of dead necromorphs back at them is another option. They are also used for the puzzles in both the games, more simplistically in the first game than the second. These include moving objects to align to relays, dispose of radioactive material, or putting things back together like the gravity machine in the Ishimura. The anti-gravity sections of the game are straight up garbage however, and you get the feeling that the team didn’t know what to do with them. They are clunky and rigid, the camera angle during them the same. Isaac is made to move from one place to another in a straight-line flight. It’s an awkward mechanic, at it’s worse during a segment where you have to traverse an area where all the surfaces are covered in necromorph residue, so it’s very easy to lose track of where you are, which way is up and down, and ultimately where you are going.

World building and immersion

The USG Ishimura

Dead Space’s gameplay for the most part is absolutely fantastic, inimitable and a good pace, but it’s the setting of the game which really shines brightest. The game takes clear influence from System Shock 2, the Nostromo from Alien, and the title ship from Event Horizon. Isaac Clarke is part of a team of engineers sent to investigate the mechanical failure and non-response of the planet cracker USG Ishimura, the oldest planet cracker in the Dead Space universe. This is immediately apparent everywhere Isaac goes whilst exploring the ship. It has an earthy colour palette; the rust having infected the claustrophobic corridors. The corridors therefore offer little room or shelter from the necromorph onslaught Isaac faces. You get the feeling whilst traversing the ship, that it wasn’t a pleasant place to be, or a pleasant place to work. Being the oldest planet cracker, logistically it’s cramped and dirty, designed to be simple and efficient. The original Dead Space gets a lot of criticism for recycling environments and corridors, and whilst this is a valid criticism, I feel like this can be contextualised within the world of the game. The Ishimura is an archaic, industrial mining ship, it’s not meant to be a flashy, state of the art installation. The game does a great job in immersing you inside this rusty, inorganic metal box.

The ship is plastered with collectivist, workplace propaganda that would’ve encouraged the workers when they were on duty. You really get the sense, when exploring the ship, that this is a place where lots of people worked and lived. It sounds daft and obvious given I’ve said what the ship was designed for, but the living quarters, bathrooms and recreational areas such as the gravity-based basketball room really puts the player in a place they can imagine was vibrant and bustling with activity prior to their arrival. The impact of the outbreak aboard the ship, and the effect it has on the environment really highlights the dichotomy between pre and post outbreak. It gives the player the impression that the outbreak was a quick, decisive and ruthless series of events. The opening moments of the game have its earthy palette, but progressively, Isaac comes across the aftermath of increasingly violent scenes, with the blood red of the necromorph’s victims suddenly infecting the colour scheme, brightening up the Ishimura in a frightening manner. 

As for the sound design, it’s equally suitable and frightening. The sombre tone of the Ishimura compels the player towards their goal, with Isaac silence and following of orders signifying his place in the world. The metallic clanging of distant machinery struggling to maintain itself without its workers accompanies the echoing of Isaac’s heavy footsteps. Enemy encounters ramp up the noise, with the blood curdling screeches of the necromorphs and the cracking of their limbs when they charge towards you creating a cacophony of noise that ends as quickly as it starts.

The UI

Moving on to perhaps the most immersive and well-designed part of the game, Dead Space’s user interface is absolutely magnificent. You can pause the game, but in terms of Isaac’s inventory, unlike Resident Evil 4, it appears as a visually interactive menu that doesn’t pause the game. It’s a holographic projection from his engineering suit, and Isaac’s head moves in tandem with the players directions when managing their inventory. Again, it really just makes you feel like Isaac is actually managing his resources, rather than in Resi 4, with its immersion breaking Tetris like inventory system. Most impressively, Isaac’s health bar is displayed on the back of his suite, as is his stasis module. No green or red health bars in the corners of the screen to break immersion, no secondary blue bar for his stasis. It’s just Isaac, his suite and the Ishimura. Everything the player needs to know is displayed on Isaac’s engineering suite. Another, brilliant design choice that links the environment, world building and the UI is the numerous posters of workmen with the same health-bar that goes down their spines. There is a constant urging of the player that ‘Safety begins with teamwork’, and alludes not only to Isaac’s engineering, working background, but that the necromorphs will often appear from behind out of nowhere and attack Isaac. Isaac’s ammo count is also displayed on the side of the weapon whilst it’s drawn. It’s all so simple, yet utterly wonderful.

Weapons

The same care and attention to the world the team created is also seen in the design of the ‘weapons’ Isaac uses. Apart from the pulse rifle, he doesn’t use traditional guns like in other shooters, but mining equipment such as the plasma cutter. Again, this is to remind Isaac, and the player by extension, that they are meant to feel out of their depth. Isaac handles these weapons clumsily, and it’s the same with his laboured melee attack. He’s not a soldier, but an engineer, and he uses the tools he is most familiar with to deal with the necromorphs. There is no aiming reticle or red dot sight, only the glowing blue lines that would mark the cutting line for the mineral rich rocks that the tools were supposed to be used for. This aspect of the combat melds nicely with the limb dismemberment system, with Isaac having to cut the limbs off the necromorphs. Much like the previously discussed posters of the health bar, there is EarthGov propaganda all around the ship to remind the workers of the position and job they hold in society, just like Isaac. Isaac hasn’t just pulled this piece of equipment out of nowhere; it’s an integrated part of the environment Isaac finds himself in and a tool of his profession.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I absolutely love this franchise. There is so much more that I could say on the first entry, but I don’t want this to be overblown. It’s a visceral experience to play, especially at night in the dark, one that pulls you into this horrible universe without asking for permission. The environments, world building, sound design and the UI do an incredible job at making you feel like you are the one traipsing through the Ishimura. The game never makes you feel at ease, with the quiet moments being just as intense as facing a horde of necromorphs. Like I said at the start, I feel like the series is both one of the most slept on and the most acclaimed of the 2000’s. I hope it remains in the highest echelons of the gaming consciousness, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested sci-fi and horror. I’ll also link below an extended interview with Glen Schofield, the co-creator of the game. He explains everything better than anyone else could.