Dear DeadSpace,
When I was a kid you guys had a contest where people submitted a fatality for necromorphs and the person who had the best one got their zombie finisher added into the second game. The one that won was Issac grabbing a manta ray necromorph by the tail and stomping on it’s head. I always wished I had submitted my idea, but I was just too chicken at the time. I’m attaching a picture illustrating what I mean, but my idea was to use the jet boots. Since you guys said in an interview that the jet boots might make it into the remaster/remake of the first game and you wanted to put some new things in maybe this might make it in, or maybe it might provide inspiration. When Issac is getting noshed on by a necromorph it would be really cool if he grabbed it by the lapels, turned on his jet boots and splattered the zombie into the nearest wall. Then he could smear the zombie up the wall and splatter it’s head into the ceiling. I tried drawing it to help illustrate, but it came out terribly; the big dark splotch behind the necromorph is a blood splatter, arrows indicate directions of travel, and the frames of the scene are read sequentially from right to left. Also, while I’m here I’ve got a bunch of other ideas, and suggestions I’m gonna put out there in case it helps, because you guys said you would be reading the forums for fan posts, and passionate community members. Please just easter egg me in or something if you want to use this or get ahold of me if you want more ramblings from me. So, you’ve got the first national church of suspect ethics, and I’ve always been surprised we’ve never seen something like a space inquisition room to go with the unitologists. Maybe just have Issac run through that area so as not to dwell on it, maybe being chased by a half necromorph half torture implement monster(The inquisition was dreaded in it’s hayday go check out a museum on it, it could provide inspiration). Also though we see a lot of space church in Deadspace 2, why we don’t get hints, or overt displays of suspect recruitment methods, space kidnappings, space black mail, or space Ludovico techniques is confusing. It seems like an obvious place to creep people out more, and yet a little under developed. I can give a ton more suggestions on unitology if needed. Back on the topic of monster finishers Issac could turn on his jet/mag boots for a super splashy stomp, to burn off a necromorph face off, or I watched a gaming bolt video that suggested environment kills. Maybe don’t have him hit necromorphs with chairs, or sillier objects as it might start to feel like wwe, or a bar fight but there is potential for bludgeoning, or stabbing objects that could keep with the game’s serious and well-crafted theme. If you want more fatalities, I can think of plenty but a good place to start would be using your weapons more in finishers. The force gun could really eviscerate someone in a finisher, and the ripper has some great and obvious potential. Go watch the intro to hatchet 3 if you want a gold standard to start from although I don’t know that you can draw much else from that series beyond the chainsaw start. Generally, if you feel like you’re being out gored by Mortal Kombat don’t be afraid to step it up, but don’t loose the serious horror theme, as Mortal Kombat is trying to do something else. On that note there are a lot of other ways to scare someone beyond some of the methods generally seen in the series. Simply dousing Issac in blood from a nearby death at the start might be a good quick way to get people’s attention before they are more accustomed to blood. Also, this might be better for two remastered when Issac has more friends around, but scares can come from things like being close to someone friendly. Let’s say Issac is near the train, or an intermittently loud machine. His friend steps out the room, but stays nearby, and says “Issac just call for help if you need something I’ll be in the other room”. He leaves and as soon as he does, a train passes, or the loud machine turns on and Issac gets attacked(maybe even choked by a head with tentacles body snatcher necromorph) and he can’t call out for help. There’s tension, you feel the pressure as Issac fights or tries to signal for help and it mixes things up from jump scares. That scene at the start of 2 where the guy in the straight jacket threatens you, or the eyeball needle scene are great and add variety. Not that jump scares aren’t fun and scary. And on that note I’m going to suggest a few more necromorph kills(though the original game has a wonderful selection of Issac deaths too). I always liked the body snatcher tentacle head, it almost always sneaks up on you and the take over death looks really cool, maybe it could jam a tentacle through Issac’s body and burst off, and replace an arm or a leg, or maybe just be visible and burst out through other parts of the body. Maybe in the places with squishy floor something could try to eat your leg if you step to close to it, and you have to fight it off. Those little swarming monsters could eat alive someone while Issac watches on first encounter to get across how threatening they are. They would also look particularly threatening swarming out of something’s rib cage or eye sockets. Possibly something like an octopuses’ mantle eating a crab could come from the ceiling near a door when you open it, grab your arm, and if you don’t shoot the glowing weak spot it would rip your arm off, or just leave some bone with tendrils of flesh on it. See my terrible drawings for reference. I also drew a necromorph with lots of crab legs coming out of the torso it drags behind it that could try to eat Issac that you can take a look at. If anyone from project calypso is reading this I like the nautical idea, and I’m terrified of crab legs. I told the developers at No Matter studios I’m scared of everything in the deep, play their game it’s good and has well crafted theming. The mid-air slow-mo bow shots in Prey for the Gods are gnarly. Maybe in those scenes with the baby incubators maybe Issac could hallucinate that they are all staring intently at him as he moves around the room. See my terrible drawings for reference. Or like a wall of opening and closing tightly packed mouths like the holes in a sponge would be creepy. I drew it really badly, but imagine them more moaning in pain, grosser, and more necromorphy. They could try to bite Issac if he gets close, throw up on him, and grow like some of the other environment created by necromorphs. Sorry, I’m not a professional artist on the clock. I got a lot of other ideas, but I don’t know how much is too much work for you guys, and I don’t want anyone to work too hard(so take this as suggestions). I used to work in software, and hopefully will soon again, and I understand it can be tough with all of the deadlines, stretch goals, and pressure. On that note I used to make software in the space industry and some of the people there were really good, and a lot of the stuff was pretty darn complicated. Maybe Issac could be completely stumped for once, or just have the game show the player something ridiculously complicated. Issac is supposed to be there to fix the coms, but it’s kind of impressive/unbelievable that he can fix everything from medical freezers, to ship engines. I’d guess most cell tower technicians would be pretty stumped by a ship’s diesel engine breaking if they had to fix it. Maybe this is better for Deadspace 2 remastered, but it’s always surprised me that no one has said to Issac something like.
Issac’s friend : “Dang the space thing broke”
Issac: “the flux capacitor just needs it’s quantum oil changed”
Issac’s friend :”jesus christ why do you know that?”
Issac’s :”some self effacing explanation of why he can fix literally everything”
Or at least some kind of throw-away line about him doing other jobs before, or some lore text that he’s licensed to fix everything. Because otherwise it’s like having a mechanic fix the ac, MRI machine, jet engine, and dishwasher with no context. Or maybe some scene where Issac says, I don’t know how to fix that, I’m not trained for that. None of this is to suggest that you should break the tone of the original game, or that I want to trample your artistic preferences. The first game is great, you guys seem to have a lot of passion for the game, and an interest in preserving and updating the IP. That gaming bolt video I mentioned earlier also mentioned that some more places to wander around, and side paths would be nice, and I tend to agree; those seem like great places to put more story tie-ins and extra tid-bits from the universe in. There is a lot of great tie-in media that could go in those extra spaces or you guys could come up with some new stuff. I hope the game’s generally serious focus on grounded realism stays, but it seems like a good idea. Anyway, I don’t want to step on your toes, and everything else I haven’t talked about in the remaster, or praised in the original game has been said better by others, and I thoroughly like. Also, go watch a bunch of horror movies for inspiration, it’s my favorite genre along with sci fi and fantasy, and I’m sure it has a lot to offer. Plus, horror is a pretty old genre in written form so I’m sure books, or history in general has a lot to offer(I’m sure you’ve thought of looking through some books, I’m just being through in my recommendations). I look forward to the remaster with anticipation, but I will be fine occupying myself with diablo 4’s upcoming release along with deadspace among others to help with my wait. This remaster/remake looks to be pretty great when it comes out, and I’m excited for the release, so happy coding guys. Anyway, I’ve got to find a new job, and fix my ride so I bid you adieu, and to that one French sounding developer bon chance dans la dernier frontier.
Love,
A DeadSpace fan
P.S. sorry for the length, and I put a lot of this on the calypso discord also. Also I drew Issac as a vampire for fun.
