It appears as though a Dead Space alternate ending could be on the cards, as an achievement list for the horror game remake has been making the rounds that mentions a different ending to the 2008 original. With the Dead Space Remake release date mere days away, this could be the biggest departure EA and Motive’s work takes from the original.
This is your one and only spoiler warning for the original Dead Space and potentially the Dead Space Remake, as we’ll be tackling the 2008 game alongside what this supposed achievement could mean for the upcoming remake as well.
The Dead Space Remake will have a series of secret achievements. One of these is called “Reunion”, and tasks you to “see the alternative ending on any difficulty mode,” according to True Achievements.
So at the very least, this means the Dead Space Remake will have two endings, which the 2008 original did not. The original Dead Space ended with Isaac Clarke fleeing the Ishimura and being attacked by a hallucination of his girlfriend Nicole, leaving the Dead Space ending open before Dead Space 2 started with Isaac imprisoned on The Sprawl, a giant space station. The Dead Space remake has terrified the developers at least, so maybe how they treat the end makes you feel even worse.
What could all of this mean for the Dead Space Remake then? My guess is that the standard ending of the game will be the same, but that the Dead Space alternate ending could go any number of ways. It might act as an extra ending that bridges the gap to a sequel, or it could be a sort of ‘what if’ scenario that sees Isaac failing to escape the Ishimura.
That’s all guesswork on my part though; there’s currently no indication of what this Dead Space alternate ending will entail, or even if it will be considered canon to this retelling. I’m leaning towards no on that one, simply because it’s called “alternate” and not something like “secret”, but you never know.
We do know that the Dead Space remake will tackle cut content from the original, from level designs to story beats, which could very well be what this alternate ending alludes to. “There are some improvements that we want to make to the story,” creative director Roman Campos-Oriola says, “not necessarily improvements because those things were not really working in the original, more improvements because of what came after, and we’re like, ‘Aw man, that’s interesting if we could reference that, or if we could make a link to that.’”
Sadly there aren’t many cut Dead Space details floating around for the first game in the series, so whatever parts of the narrative of the series get folded in remains shrouded in mystery at the moment.
While you wait to find out what changes and improvements await in the Dead Space alternate ending, why don’t you take a look at our Dead Space cast and voice actors list, our Dead Space weapon upgrades breakdown, or our guide to the Dead Space system requirements and what it means for your own rig.
