in a line up of survival horror characters, Isaac Clarke stands out.
Rather than a regular Joe attempting to outrun zombies, Dead Space’s
protagonist is a space engineer ready to weather the harshest conditions.
That’s clear to see in his now-iconic space suit,
which has received a grimy upgrade for the upcoming Dead Space remake.
To learn more about the suit and its rugged aesthetic, we spoke to both
the costume’s original designer and the creators of the Dead Space remake,
who revealed all the many details that go into making such
a distinct design.
The original suit was designed
by Chi-Wai Lao, a concept artist who worked at EA alongside
Dead Space creator Glen Schofield back in the early 2000s.
Talking to IGN, Lao said: [To begin with] my suit designs were all over the place,
ranging from very slim-fitted to very bulky, some very robotic looking,
a couple even [carried] a giant sword.
They were drastically different from the Dead Space suits we recognize today.
As Lao refined his concept, he turned to pop culture
to inspire the details, specifically a beloved Japanese mecha anime.
One unusual candidate that was the most influential to me
at the very beginning stage of designing the suit was the anime series Neon Genesis
Evangelion, particularly the spine and the Entry Plug design of the Eva.
It was a prominent functional and visible element of the Eva design,
and got me to implement a similar emphasis of a very prominent spine
and a life support system of sorts on the back of the suit at its early stage.
It was mostly for visual and fictional purposes at that point.
However, the idea of having the HUD on Isaac's back
came soon after from the team, and the spine
then went through dramatic changes to implement that HUD afterwards.
Lao’s final design for the suit came together
when he challenged himself to work with repeating sci-fi motifs
that he traditionally found quite boring; things like exhaust vents
that are often used to fill in the blank spaces on a design.
But what if I [used] this ‘boring’ repetition
as a motif, a visual language of sorts on the suit?
How well would that work to fit the theme?
It might convey an interesting
rugged look, yet something that I normally wouldn't go for.
So as I [did] more sketches, I [started] implementing this ‘ribbing’ design
on the suit
with long thick horizontal armor strips, rather than conventional armor plates.
The suit needs flexibility, so I added spacing between
these thick armor ribbings so they are less restrictive.
The ribbing flows more [organically] in some sketches than others,
but that was pretty much the first step of [turning]
the iconic Dead Space suit into its current form we know.
That ribbing design soon became a vital part of not just Isaac’s suit, but the entire game.
Not only did it work very well on the character level,
it could be something that worked on our rooms, our hallways, our vehicles,
and even the exterior of the Ishimura.
The ribbing motif became a resonating aesthetic for the rest of the game,
wherever we [could] apply it, to create our version of a somber gothic
architectural environment in space. That industrial gothic
aesthetic has since become iconic, and so one of the biggest challenges
faced by the Dead Space remake team has been upgrading that look for 2023.
We had the opportunity to redesign the suit from scratch.
And we did.
Early on we did some sketches that explored
a quite different version of Isaac.
It looked a lot more scifi, but it didn't feel right.
It felt too futuristic.
It felt more like Isaac was turning into a robot.
I didn't feel like it was right.
Everything in Dead Space, there’s a lot in the characters about bones
and dismemberment and basically what's inside that should not be outside.
It's the theme of the body horror.
It's a bit the same with the concept of the armor.
That's why there are all those metal plates that look like ribs and those elements.
It's not only to be consistent with the world design,
but also to reinforce some themes of horror in Dead Space.
Just like with everything else in the game,
we want to make sure that we are honoring the legacy of Dead Space.
We want it to feel exactly like the original game,
but of course with the enhancements that we want to add to it.
The final design stays faithful to the ribbed brass
diving suit look of the original, but with an increased level of detail.
The aim was to sell the suit as a genuine, functional piece of equipment.
So we said, “Okay, let's get a little bit closer
up to the suit itself and think of how it would function.
What do we need to do to add those credible details to it?”
So we just started from the ground up. We said, “Okay, well the helmet.
Okay, the helmet looks cool, it's very iconic, but
let's model the whole thing.
Let's see what it looks like on the inside.
Let's add the padding to make it more comfortable for Isaac.”
So that's how we would think of it, is that in a very credible way,
if you had to wear that suit, what would you do to it?
We had to rethink a little bit the suits and what is it made of?
That's a universe where resources are stranded.
That's why they have to go to space
to my gigantic planet, because nothing's left on earth.
So leather in that type of society must be really, really rare.
We had to really think about the different material and structure
to recreate the suit.
The other thing that bothered us a little bit were the boots.
It felt very
simple in the original version, but we came back to that design as well
and then actually gave him proper boots that have a lot more articulation.
We've added a little light on the heel to signify you when the mag boots are on,
but also now, you have the thrusters because you can float in zero G.
So we had to think, where are those thrusters on the suit?
How do they work?
How would they help you navigate in zero G?
That went also into the design of the rig.
The original rig, loved the design.
It looks so unique and iconic and we wanted to retain that.
We don't want to mess with it.
But when you look at it, it does look kind of flat and simple.
And what we did is we actually modeled all the individual pieces.
And there's so much detail.
You can actually zoom
into each one of those sections and you see the mechanism that's inside.
We also added on the back, you can see the Stasis meter and the Kinesis as well.
So there's a lot of detail there.
I think overall, it works because it still feels like the same suit
from a distance, but when you see it up close, it's a lot more realistic.
The final version of Isaac’s suit is representative of the Dead Space
remake as a whole;
a more detailed, believable version of the thing you’ve loved for years.
At a glance it’s the same, but take a closer look and you’ll find
dozens of new elements that help elevate it into the modern age.
For more from Dead Space, check out how the development
team recreated one of the original game’s most chilling scenes,
and how the remake fits into the modern survival horror renaissance.
And for everything else, stick with IGN.