In the original version dead space, engineer Isaac Clarke is silent. We see the back of his head, hear the raspy breathing in his helmet, and control him as he chops, stomps, and slashes his way through hordes of necromorphs. In the dead space remake, Isaac’s arc closely follows the original pattern, but he’s no longer a silent protagonist – he not only vocally reacts to events on the USG Ishimura, but provides more context for each of the tense chapters. of the game. Now, Isaac feels more like a character – and he feels more in tune with the fully voiced Isaacs of Dead space 2 And Dead space 3.
In the original version dead space, Isaac is a number. You’re free to project whatever characteristics you want onto him as his teammates Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond explain the plot and give him orders. In the remake’s intro, however, he makes a life-saving suggestion for the crew. A simple, expressed line of sympathy shared with Hammond, and the things that go wrong afterward, make Isaac feel like part of the story instead of just an avatar.
It could have been poorly executed; sometimes a speaking protagonist threatens to crush a game with the weight of their narrative. I had to stop playing the 2018 game vampire because Dr. Jonathan Reid kept talking about everything he saw, instead of letting me take it in with my own eyes. A common complaint about God of the war Ragnarok is that Atreus is a bit Also helpful, providing advice and suggestions during puzzles even before frustration has time to set in.
It’s a particularly difficult balance to achieve with horror: if the protagonist talks too much, it breaks the tension. A silent protagonist is a simple fix, and it worked well in the original dead space. But in the remake, Motive Studio had the advantage of stepping back and knowing who Isaac would become in the sequels.
Image: Motive Studio/Electronic Arts
Unitology’s faith returns throughout the campaign (much earlier in the remake), and it soon becomes clear that our protagonist has a history with this group, which is absolutely not Scientology. He was raised by parents who were in the faith, and it is a source of trauma for him. If you find Hammond’s notes on his colleagues, he writes that it’s probably safe to talk to Isaac about politics, but avoid religion.
A fleshed out protagonist makes the rest of this sci-fi world richer. While I’m still not a big fan of graffiti, the interactions Isaac has with the rest of the crew and Ishimura’s few survivors give him stakes and personal goals outside of silent survival. The dialogue and Isaac’s presence expands into a new alternate ending, much more unnerving and ominous than the original finale.
On hearing Isaac speak in Dead space 2 was initially a shock. But as the trilogy continued, it seemed only natural that he would have more of a say in the narrative (much of it was about his own inner journey, after all). Now, seeing how much Motive retroactively gave voice to the first incarnation, I’m extremely curious as to what other series mainstays the developer might overthrow.
THE dead space remake still feels very self-contained, and nothing of the original experience has been lost in the attempt to build the future of the franchise (unless you need a silent protagonist in all of your games). But I’m still intrigued to see what Motive Studio does with the Dead Space franchise, and this new foreshadowing has me both chilled and thrilled for Isaac’s next big and terrible adventure.
