If you’ve been delving into the Dead Space Remake new game plus mode, you might have spotted several additional text logs that appear in your inventory when you start up NG+ in the Dead Space Remake. While one of these logs lists itself as being ‘Indecipherable,’ it is in fact quite the reverse, and players have translated the mystery text to uncover a tantalising easter egg for fans of one of the best horror game series.
These additional text logs appear once you begin new game plus, giving you some extra hints towards the future of the series and add some spooky extra lore tidbits to delve into. Several of them seemingly feature conversations between characters that set up events in later games, but the ‘Indecipherable’ text log, written in an alphabet of strange symbols, is perhaps the most intriguing due to its mysterious nature.
We’ll take a moment here to note that this article contains Dead Space spoilers below – both for the Dead Space Remake’s new game plus mode and for the series more generally. We won’t go into deep specifics, but if you’re planning to check out the other games for the first time after this remake you may want to hold off.
Dead Space Remake ‘Indecipherable’ text log translation
While the text log claims to be indecipherable, eagle-eyed Dead Space fans will probably quickly spot that the symbols it’s written in are actually Marker symbols – an alphabet that has featured in all the games, which often show up to individual affected by the alien relics while affected by hallucinations. That makes translating the text fairly straightforward, though it’s simple enough that you could probably give it a good go from scratch if you fancy yourself an expert code-cracker.
If you don’t fancy putting in the work, helpful Dead Space Reddit user GingyYoutube has done it for you, sharing the translation (which we’ve verified) to the game’s subreddit. It reads as follows:
They walk in white
Untouched by red
They order the living
They shepherd the dead
A finger’s touch –
We’re frozen still
They are the answer
They are the will
Beyond the stars
The brethren wait
Oracles, deliver us
From humanity’s fate
As to the poem’s meaning, its vague nature leaves things open to interpretation. “Ordering the living” and “Shepherding the dead” could likely refer generally to the Markers and Necromorphs, which influence the actions of living creatures and then infest and overtake their bodies after death.
The second stanza likely refers to Tau Volantis, the planet where an ancient race seemingly froze themselves after discovering the Markers in an attempt to prevent the spread of infection and stop the Brethren Moon from becoming whole – yet said moon awaits, as implied in the third stanza, “beyond the stars” where it lies in wait to be rediscovered.
Whatever the exact meaning, it’s certainly a fun aside, both as a translation exercise and as a cryptic message, and very interesting to ponder. Hopefully there are more such secrets to be discovered within Dead Space Remake as players continue to make their way through the game and dig into its deeper, darker corners.
In the meantime, we’ve got everything you could want to know about Dead Space weapon upgrades and Dead Space suit upgrades, along with where to find the elusive Dead Space Remake Peng treasure. If you’re still deciding whether to check out the new release, our Dead Space Remake review is the perfect place to see how well it’s turned out.