Hi, all Ric here with a quick video on Dead Space lore. This is a game that terrified me when it
first came out and I honestly cannot remember if I finished it myself or watched someone
else complete it, but either way I remember being impressed by the World building in it
in such a short space of time, beginning with the mining ship Ishimura, the setting for the game.
So no spoilers ahead, I just thought I would do a quick breakdown on the USG Ishimura itself.
It was constructed by the Concordance Extraction Corporation, the largest interstellar mining
company for Earth and her colony worlds and the first. The CEC constructs its vessel
from the shipyards over Mars and Earth. The Ishimura was equipped with a Shock-Point Drive,
which functions by compressing space time before the ship and expanding it behind to
allow it to ride a warped bubble of space time. This is Dead Space’s faster than light travel.
It was launched in 2446, 62 before the game’s setting in 2508 and by this time it had completed
34 successful planet cracking operations under a multitude of crew members and captains. The
vessel was continually kept up to date with the latest developments and generally regarded as one
of mankind’s greatest symbols of innovation. The USG prefix stands for United Spacefaring
Guild and the name Ishimura translates to “Stone Village”, an apt name, however in universe it
was named for Hideki Ishimura, the inventor of the Shock-point Drive, about 300 years prior.
The Ishimura is a colossal ship, 1 point 6 kilometres long and with a crew of 1,332.
307 of these were colonists and 208 were family members of the crew. This left 817 to run the
ship and various operations on board. Such operations included the obvious mining and
smelting as well as various sciences. Such as hydroponics, for cultivation of colonial crops
and the crew’s sustenance and Medical research with a focus on virology and genetics. There is
even a clone lab for the emergency growing of replacement organs should such an event arise.
The Ishimura was the first of the Planet-Cracker class, which does what the name says for mining
purposes. A mineral rich planet is located, a site picked and a colony established
in a kilometre ring around that site. Then excavation beings and tethers from the Planet
Cracker are attached and the segment pulled it into orbit which the ship can then mine,
or examine it all the crew’s leasure. The Planet Cracker could also be used to haul in asteroids,
but either way, the Mining Deck which covered 4 levels was the hub of this activity. Behind this
and covering the most decks was the Ore storage towers section, maintained in zero gravity and
aft of this was the engineering deck. This deck, over several levels, was restricted to authorised
and experienced personnel only and maintained the many systems, including the shock point drive,
artificial gravity as well as fuel storage. Above the ore storage was hydroponics which was
the regulated farm and plant life that sustained the crew with food and oxygen. It also had food
storage here as well as parts of the extensive ventilation system. Fore of the storage towers
and above the mining deck was the Flight deck with the departure and arrival areas and numerous
hangars with access to the cargo bays. Fore of these sections was the residential area. This not
only included crew quarters, but also numerous recreational sites, lounges and cinemas. Above
this was the Medical deck and labs. At the very front of the vessel was the bridge, the command
centre for the ship and navigational hub. In addition to the ship’s hub, it also acted as the
administration level for the other departments of the ship and primary communications centre.
While the Ishimura was unarmed, it did have an Asteroid Defence System or ADS which was
a series of automated cannons that would target and destroy incoming asteroids, a common problem
considering its occupation as a mining vessel seeking out these floating rocks in space.
These could be used as offensive weaponry too, although that was not their primary purpose.
All these sections are connected by both walkays, vents but primarily its internal tram system for
speed and efficiency. By the time of the game, the vessel is in disrepair and heavily damaged,
dingy lighting accentuates the industrial feel of it and it makes for an eerie environment. However
we can see traces that only the utility areas were of this industrial flavour, such as engineering,
cargo and the various maintenance areas. The rest of the ship, like medical,
sciences and the bridge are far lighter in tone and more comfortable. With power restored to full,
it is no doubt a far more welcoming location to work and ultimately live for an extended period.
It is a massive ship built for a practical purpose but with added facilities to make
its extended time away from the colonies more tolerable, with room for families, colonists and
other departments so that work on other projects could be carried out on its missions. In this way,
it reminds me less of a spaceship and more like a travelling company or mining town where only one
or two industries have a presence aboard. There is even the presence of internal shopping and
banking systems. It was likely loaded up with colonisation gear before every mining mission,
before packing up and departing when it had filled its holds with materials.
In 2508, the USG Ishimura was sent to crack the planetoid Aegis VII although there were some
ulterior motives at play too under the command of Captain Benjamin Mathius and the ship has sent
out a distress call. This is where the game picks up, so I’ll leave the video here. I’ve been Ric,
thanks for watching this breakdown on the Ishimura, a ship on par with that of the Nostromo
for science fiction horror ships. So until the next lore video, thanks again and goodbye!