Dead Space: A Journey Through Terror Part 1 of 4 - Isaac Clarke's Journey
dmcdonagh
2013-02-05
Before you take down the terror in Dead Space 3 on February the 8th, take a look back on Isaac Clarke's journey so far.
In four parts, the Dead Space Journey Through Terror series charts the evolution of the Dead Space series to date - its story, its gameplay and its scares, and also provides a glimpse at what the next chapter has in store for Isaac Clarke in Dead Space 3. This first episode of the mini series recounts Isaac's journey so far.
Isaac Clarke was nobody special; just another systems engineer until the day he responded to a distress call on board the USG Ishimura; the galaxy’s oldest ‘Planetcracker’ mining vessel. What he found there was beyond even his darkest imaginings...
The Necromorphs! Grotesque aberrations reconstructed from the dead flesh of former crew members – had overrun the ship, and seemed to have some connection to a religious artefact – The Red Marker – unintentionally unearthed by the Ishimura’s illegal mining operation. Whilst trying to aid survivors, including his girlfriend Nicole, Isaac attempted to subdue the Red Marker’s influence by returning it to the planet on which it was found, Aegis VII.
With the help of other survivors on-board the Ishimura, including Nicole, Isaac is ultimately successful in quelling the Necromorph threat and escaping into space. However, he soon discovers that Nicole in fact took her own life prior to his arrival on Ishimura – what he had been seeing and speaking to was a product of the Marker’s influence, and his own broken mind.
Three years later, Isaac awoke on a colony on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Committed to a mental institution and with no memory of anything since his escape from Aegis VII, he was immediately thrown back into the midst of a Necromorph outbreak.
Through exploring the massive civilian station, appropriately known as The Sprawl, Isaac discovered that during his three year period in stasis, his knowledge of the Marker was used by Earthgov to create blueprints for more Markers to be built, including one constructed right on Titan Station itself. Though EarthGov now want Isaac destroyed, the Unitologists want to preserve the blueprints trapped in his brain to harness the power of the Marker for themselves.
Though also battling his own dementia and guilt over Nicole’s grisly fate, Isaac once again managed to stop the Necromorphs by destroying the so-called Site 12 Marker, and Titan Station along with it. Escaping with the help of fellow survivor Ellie, their subsequent whereabouts remained a mystery. Until now…
The Dead Space series has always focused on telling an intriguing story, going deeper than providing just a series of scares. Isaac can’t overcome the Necromorph scourge, he can only escape it momentarily.
And even when he does escape, he is left damaged to the point where he can no longer trust his own judgement. Whilst the Necromorphs consume humans and humans consume entire planets, Isaac continues to fight his own personal demons – both mental and physical. But his part in this tale is far from over…
