Dead Space & Conflict — Part Two — Self and Society
All stories need conflict. If the rogues of Gotham City had access to proper medical treatment, there would be no Batman. Video game narratives operate similarly, often necessitated by their design as games: what challenges players between the title screen and the end credits? Sometimes, it’s the literal, exterior forces standing in the way: the Joker, Kremlings, or the Enclave. Other times, it’s internal: a schism between beliefs and philosophies, or a battle against one’s own mind, seen more and more prevalently as the narrative evolves and changes. Conflict’s primary purpose, no matter the form, is simple: to add uncertainty as to whether a character’s goal will be achieved.
Conflict is what drives the Dead Space (2008–2013) series, in more varied ways than many other series I can consider. It approaches conflict in a number of concrete ways, but begs, with each entry, to frame those same forces a little differently.
In the second entry, Dead Space 2 (2011), players reassume the mantle of engineer Isaac Clarke, three years after escaping the horrors aboard the USG Ishimura and Aegis VII. Isaac has been under close observation and is undergoing “therapy” in a state-sanctioned facility, seemingly ever since his escape in the last entry.
The setting shifts from deep space to relatively close to home: Titan Station, or “the Sprawl,” a colony built around the remnants of Saturn’s moon, Titan, following the very first planetcrack years prior. Things quickly escalate as the facility is overrun by Necromorphs. Isaac is forced to piece together what drew the scourge to the Sprawl, all while he battles against opposing forces, both human and alien, along with increasingly-violent hallucinations of his deceased girlfriend.
Dead Space 2 retains the elements of conflict established in its predecessor (Conflicts with Nature and Technology), but elaborates further by introducing Conflict with Society, and Conflict with Self.
Complete story spoilers for Dead Space 2 to follow.
One of Us
Unitology, the religious following peppered throughout Dead Space, takes front and center stage in Dead Space 2, especially for the first third. Unitologists, under the guise of being allies, seek to lure Isaac to them so they can use Isaac to create more Markers: an effect of Isaac’s exposure to the Marker in Dead Space.
Until players learn that these “allies” are Unitologists, it’s business as usual: a friendly offering to help stave off the hallucinations Isaac is suffering from. Leading up to that point, we get to learn, in-game, about the public-facing background of Unitology, including its place in (and throughout) society, so much so that fighting against them is akin to fighting against society.
Unitology is a wide-reaching religion, operating on and within all levels of society, from its leaders to its citizens. Amidst constant galactic expansion, simple creeds and mantras of unity were an effective focus for the organization, propelling it into the largest religious following, and most rapidly-expanding faith, in history.
For their public-facing image, Unitology is highly evangelical, constantly in a state of recruitment. Whether this evangelization is mundane, genuine, or sinister depends entirely on the Church member, often dictated by their position within Unitology. More on that next. Their churches (as explored in Dead Space 2) are just as much sites of conversion as they are houses of worship and ritual: entire sections are devoted to small-scale projection theaters, gift shops, and friendly lore dumps pushed through in-house speakers. This is as much to convince you to join them as it is for them to gauge how long they can hold onto you.
Behind-the-scenes, Unitologists are obsessed with life after death, and the unity they hope it comes with. In controlled environments (like the Sprawl, pre-invasion), Unitologists are cryogenically frozen upon death so their body doesn’t decay, leaving it in perfect condition, ready for Convergence. In more time-sensitive situations, like the Ishimura incident, followers may commit mass suicide to “prepare their bodies” for a more short-term transformation.
Pending major Necromorph outbreaks, Unitology is a highly materialistic organization. Between the gift shops and monetizing little Black Marker paperweights, they also require heavy sums of money from followers to “advance” in the faith. With every advancement, more and more secrets are divulged, and the faith’s insular “us versus them” mentality ensures that information stays within the Church, while also ensuring that the highest-paying members of the Church have that money: only positions of power and authority throughout the galaxy have access to those kinds of funds. Everyone else, given the messaging, can just be a part of the system as a Follower, giving bits and pieces throughout. Magnify those pieces by “largest religion in civilization” numbers, though, and it adds up quickly.
With this level of influence and access to resources, Unitology was able to orchestrate the Ishimura incident by embedding Unitologists throughout its crew, including the Captain. More, they were directly responsible for releasing Necromorphs into and around Titan Station, in the hopes of creating more Necromorphs through the ensuing carnage. Elaborating, the leadership of Unitology (the same that Isaac was allied with in the beginning of Dead Space 2) knew that was their ultimate goal, but they manipulated lower-ranking members of the Church to do the actual work of it.
Accelerating to the end of Dead Space 2, a mysterious communication hints at an unnamed Overseer, whose response to the Titan Station disaster is one of inconvenience. They note that other sites will have to pick up the pace, as though it were a simple business transaction gone sideways. Untold numbers of people perished on Titan Station, but Unitology’s stretch is so wide that its highest members can see the entire situation as a misstep to be calculated for, rather than a monumental loss of human life (or waste of perfect corpses).
Dead Space 2 lets us explore Unitology more in-depth than before, giving us a glimpse of their indoctrinating, cultish pre-effects, not just the bloody, cultish aftereffects. Familiar elements of faith are twisted and magnified in Unitology, but the similarities are everywhere. They (and religion as a whole) are a perfect societal force to reckon with.
The Greater Good
On the flipside of Church is State, here embodied by the Earth Government Colonial Alliance, or “EarthGov.” Director Hans Tiedemann embodies EarthGov as he oversees Titan Station. More personally, Tiedemann may have been directly involved in recovering Isaac after the events aboard the Ishimura. Upon return, Tiedemann locked Isaac in a state-sanctioned facility on Titan, whether it’s because of what Isaac knows, how he acts, or what he’s seen.
Initially, EarthGov keeps Isaac alive due to the knowledge the Aegis VII Marker embedded in his mind. As players (and Isaac) learn, EarthGov and Tiedemann forced Isaac to undergo invasive procedures to extract that knowledge from the visual receptors of his mind. Their hope is to use that knowledge, and the constructed Marker, for both understanding the object and to harness its energy-based properties, energy and resource shortages being a constant struggle of the Dead Space setting. Isaac, and the information he houses in his mind, are more useful than he is a liability, despite Tiedemann’s reservations. In a moment of defeat much later, Tiedemann laments:
“I knew you were trouble from the start! But they told me you were necessary. That your mind was the purest. I spent years sifting through your demented brain!”
By the time Isaac regains consciousness in the facility, the outbreak has begun again, and Isaac is on a kill-list from EarthGov. Now that Isaac has outlived his usefulness, he’s just a loose end that needs tying off. With Isaac loose, Tiedemann knows that he is a direct threat to the Marker, and takes all manner of steps to stop Isaac’s advance, using the station’s full capabilities and the power of the localized armed forces to do so; things he is able to do because of his position within society, acting on its behalf.
Despite his efforts to evacuate the Sprawl once the Necromorphs were released into the population, Tiedemann and EarthGov still perpetuate more destruction than they do salvation. The EarthGov body has been involved with the Markers for hundreds of years, covering up and spinning all manner of tragedies as “definitely not alien-related.” They are the forces orbiting the center of the main threat, believing that they have control over it. After so many instances of death and destruction, from the original Marker’s discovery on Earth to as recently as the Ishimura incident, EarthGov always chooses to proceed. They are never deterred by the destruction in the Marker’s wake. It only spurs them onward. No loss of life is too catastrophic for them to stop.
From Director Tiedemann, as the Marker is “awoken” by the influx of newly-created Necromorphs:
“We had it under control! Clarke, this is not our fault! We were so close to understanding it!”
And again, as Isaac approaches the Marker to destroy it, Tiedemann between the two:
“The research in [the Marker on Titan Station] is worth every life we just lost. I won’t let you throw it all away.”
Tiedemann is the embodiment of an arm of Society no longer serving society, and a perfect antagonistic force: as a collective power, they saw the effects of the Marker and ignored all the warnings, using their great power and influence to suppress the truth and proceed forward, instead of adjusting for or defending against what the Markers were capable of.
Between both factions, it’s also telling that they’re both fighting to possess Isaac, whether to use him or dispose of him. A recurring element of Conflict with Society is that of dehumanization, of being a cog, or a vessel for powers and systems far bigger than you. Neither care about Isaac, and in the case of EarthGov, they chose to exploit what he had seen, rather than help him and others who had suffered similarly. It is the choice, and the ultimate downfall, of Society’s most powerful agents to dehumanize the people they are designed to serve.
The Eye of the Beholder
More than the Necromorphs, or EarthGov, or Unitology, the one thing that stands most strongly against Isaac is Isaac himself. From start to finish, Isaac is constantly in a state of inner-turmoil, brought about by location, circumstance, regret, and repression. All of them affect him so strongly because of his experience, what he’s seen, and what’s he’s survived.
Starting with location, Isaac isn’t familiar with Titan Station, but he is familiar with the USG Ishimura. The planetcracker has long-since been repossessed by EarthGov, being deep-cleaned and prepped for decommission, and is exactly as Isaac left it three years prior, cleaning tarp and downed lighting systems notwithstanding.
The Ishimura sequence is a fascinating look into Isaac’s location-based trauma, manifesting in different hallucinations than he’d been experiencing. Here, he sees more flashbacks and ghost-pains than full-blown conversations. But, as covered in text logs, all the original crew had been reduced to sludge after the events of Dead Space; what Isaac is experiencing are new intruders from Titan, or his own memories flooding back as he traverses the vessel again.
More prevalent is the use of Nicole, Isaac’s girlfriend, as an anchor of sorts, positive and negative. For most of the experience, Nicole manifests as an openly-hostile, challenging, and violent hallucination. Between her introduction against the Red Marker, it can be assumed she has some tie to the Marker itself, perhaps its influence or reach in Isaac’s mind. By taking the form of someone familiar and regretful, the Marker can personify and amplify the subject’s (Isaac’s) deepest traumas. This may be an alternative method of killing the subject, in case traditional Necromorphs can’t do so, but doing so deep in the subject’s mind, manifesting it in such a personal way, makes it an effective example of Conflict against Self.
Who Am I?
The recurring piece, whether it’s Marker-controlled or Isaac-initiated, is the sense of repression surrounding Nicole’s appearances. As Isaac encounters and overcomes Nicole’s appearances, she grows increasingly hostile, challenging him to look inward and discover (or admit) just what she is. “Who am I, Isaac?” is the general theme of her appearances. For most of the experience, she is something to resist. Pertinent quotes from the Nicole-hallucinations are below:
“We only had two years, Isaac. Two years, but they were the best years of my life. I was happy. I had everything I wanted. Until you made me doubt myself.”
“Why would I choose the Ishimura over you? You said I’d regret passing up the chance. That the choice would haunt me forever. It was as if you wanted me to leave.”
“You never found my body, never said goodbye. Was I just stacked in the morgue with the others? Another random casualty? Or did they turn me into one of them? Wearing my bloodied face, stalking the halls looking for more victims.”
“Why do you keep insisting these unpleasant memories are somehow my fault? This isn’t about the Marker, Isaac. This is about you.”
“Where are you going, Isaac? Do you still think I’m something you can avoid?”
“How is it you still haven’t come to terms with who I am? Who am I, Isaac? I will only ask you one more time before the end. Be ready.”
Kicking off the final third of the game, Isaac encounters the Nicole hallucination and finally admits that he can’t let go of her, regretful as he is, because of how much she meant to him.
Isaac believes so strongly that he condemned Nicole to death by encouraging her to go aboard the Ishimura, and has seemed to hold onto that for the entire time, where it’s festered and rotted throughout his imprisonment. Showing and admitting how tightly he’s held on, perhaps even more tightly since confirming her death on the Ishimura, finally drops the façade of anger in the hallucination. Whether through Isaac’s shift in perspective, or the Marker realizing a new approach, the hallucination is simply Nicole, speaking normally, acting like a person.
Here, she becomes something to join; it’s easier to go along with someone when they’re not screaming through static and alien script at you, after all. But the Marker capitalizes on that inner conflict, bringing it up to the surface and managing to ride in a car that Isaac has already built.
On the same vein is Ellie, another survivor that has accompanied Isaac since he escaped the Unitologists earlier on. They fight throughout Titan Station together, reaching the Government Sector (where the Marker is housed) before Ellie discovers a gunship they can use to escape on. At this point, Isaac has come to accept that, in order to destroy the Marker, he has to die. While Ellie is performing diagnostic checks, Isaac releases and jettisons the craft. Although Ellie is beside herself with anger, Isaac believes he is doing right, justifying what he’s doing against what he’s still holding himself responsible for: he’s trying to prevent another Nicole. Isaac wants to escape with Ellie, but he needs to destroy the Marker.
Shifting back, the kinder, gentler Nicole is unnerving at first, but taps into the core of Isaac’s psyche: even though he regretted what happened to Nicole, she was such a core part of his life that he couldn’t bear to let her go, even as she took form to hurt him.
Throughout the last leg, Nicole begs Isaac to let her go, that he knows what he has to do. The battle between want and need is at the core of any conflict against self, and the manifestation capitalizes on that. Isaac wants to hold on to Nicole, but he needs to get to the Marker, even if it means losing this aspect of Nicole.
Nicole’s gentler visage falls away at the foot of the Marker, revealing the Marker’s ultimate plan inside Isaac’s mind: by killing Isaac, a “Maker” of this Marker, Convergence can properly begin. Isaac laments having trusted the shade and does battle within his mind against the image of Nicole, acting as the vessel for the Marker itself; a true manifestation of Conflict against Self as two fractals of Isaac’s mind trade blows against each other.
After successfully destroying the Marker, Isaac sits down, the station destructing around him, ready to die on his terms. And in the best credits-interruption I’ve experienced in a long time, Ellie blares in, says she’s breaking the ceiling, and to get ready for depressurization. And we’re forced to jump back to wants and needs: Isaac wants Ellie to live, so now he needs to live. Isaac is almost always put in the position of fighting against his own wants, his sense of self, so that others may live, whether it’s just Ellie or as many people as could be saved by One Fewer Marker. In Ellie’s risky maneuver, Isaac is shown, even for just a moment, that people care about him, and that maybe he doesn’t have to fight all of his battles alone, even the ones where he’s squaring up against himself.
Conclusion
Dead Space 2 manages to pull back the curtain on both the systems Isaac lives within and around, and how deep into one’s own mind we can sink. By exploring those forces and their hurdles, even (or especially) sci-fi horror, we blow open the doors for storytelling potential, both critical of those societal systems, and introspective to what makes us tick far under the surface.
Looking forward, some may treat the Dead Space series like the older Alien movies: it stops after the second one. But gameplay departures aside, the final entry in the original trilogy (2013) has a fascinating take on conflict. It works most prevalently on the extremes, either with the lowest, or with the absolute highest: Conflict against Man, and Conflict against God.
