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Alongside a reworked Ishimura and a massive cosmetic makeover, theDead Spaceremake also brought along something nobody was expecting. A secret ending.
The original ending is still there, and though the new one doesn’t massively change the overall story too much it still adds just enough to be satisfying. It’s not too hard to unlock and whether you’re new to the franchise, or just a returning old hand looking to see what’s new, it’s still worth soldiering through to get the extra ending. For those unable to do that themselves here’s the secret ending of Dead Space, explained.
Updated June 19, 2025 By Matthew Mckeown:The Dead Space Remake was a fantastic revisit to an old classic and it went down well pretty much everywhere. Sadly it seems the game has been mostly abandoned by the developers, with the last update being in February of 2023.
There is potential for Dead Space 2 to get the same uplift treatment considering how the secret ending plays out. But until then it seems those hopeful of a new Dead Space remake will have to cross their fingers and wait. Until then, here’s a refresher on what the secret ending in Dead Space means.
Spoiler warning for the secret ending of Dead Space Remake
The Secret Ending Explained
In the original ending of Dead Space (which is also present in the remake), Isaac peels away from the Aegis VII Colony as alarge chunk of the planet that was held in orbit by the USG Ishimura slams back into it. A colossal firestorm burns away anything left alive down there andthe whole site is utterly flattened underneath millions of tons of rock.
He leans back and relaxes as it seems he’s finally free from the terror below.There’s a weird noise, and then we get a jumpscare from a demonic-looking Nicole. The screen cuts to black as the credits roll.
It’s quite a jarring ending considering how the story builds things up throughout the game. ThankfullyDead Space 2 answers a lot of questions.
At the time, it was pretty disappointing and cheap to have a jumpscare ending instead of actual storytelling. But it was asign of the times as it was prevalent in a lot of horror movies of that era. It also created a lot of annoying questions that left people frustrated.
For example;
Don’t know, wait for the next game.
Where the remake excels is that it took that original scene, used the new talkative Isaac, and made something infinitely more compelling by just adding a short conversation. Now as the ship screams away from the big budget catastrophe outside, Isaac turns and everything gets a little softer and more normal looking as he has a friendly chat with someone else onboard.
Turns out it’s Nicole, alive and well. But in reality, old Isaac is now confirmed to have finally given in to the madness of the Marker. Acting and talking to a woman he only found out recently was actually dead but still, he’s somehow mentally reset and is treating her like she’s alive.
This moment was a jarring realization for many thateven if a Marker is destroyed, you may’t escape its influence.
The two share a sentimental moment as Isaac smiles and says hehas something he needs to build first. Then the ship turns and heads off into space. Implying that it’s setting up the events of the next game in an arguably different light.
The Secret Endings Implications For Isaac
On the surface, this short rewrite of an older established scene might not seem too impactful, but if you step back and take it in context with the events of Dead Space 2, it opens up a lot of interesting doors.
For example, in the original Dead Space,Isaac barely made a peep. The ending was more an implication that he had lost it, and by the end of the story was rendered helpless until he was found by an EarthGov rescue crew. This was further cemented in the sequel with the game beginning on the asylum wing of the Sprawl. Where it’s implied Isaac has been there for three years, supposedly suffering from PTSD and Dementia after he was found at the end of the previous game.
This then immediately puts a fine line between his actions and the antagonists of the game. Isaac built the marker, yes, but he wasunder the influence of the markerand mentally not present anymore. So the church of Unitology manipulated him and therefore they’re the bad guys, not Isaac.
With the new secret ending in the Dead Space remake, Isaacs’s participation in the events that unfold on The Sprawl comes across as more willing. This makes it a little harder to hand-wave what happens next as him just beingpuppeted by the Marker. He arguably now is aware that there’s going to be a slaughter of a lot of innocent people at the station.
Dead Space 3 completely forgoes all this subtlety and opts for a more brain dead action story, butthere are hints in the DLC of the directions they were potentially going to go.
It’s quite a sinister note to end the game on, and it blurs the morale line more between Isaac being just a tick-the-box good guy in the story who had a bad run of luck with a big alien rock. It gives his character a little more depth, like the layers of armor on his suit. It also makes the Markers far more intimidating as it shows that even someone as seemingly immune or at least very resistant to its effects, will still fall under its charm eventually.
