As a survival-horror game that relishes in dismemberment and other bodily horror, it is no surprise thatDead Spacefeatures some particularly grisly deaths. Limb dismemberment is obviously a staple of the franchise, which Motive fleshes out with improved fidelity in tissue degradation, leaving a clean bone exposed before the limb can be fully cleaved. Isaac can also be eviscerated fairly brutally, but Motive’sDead Spaceremake takes supplementary character deaths like Hammond’s and dials them up further than before to make a memorable impact.
Kendra Daniels’ death is changed slightly to not have her whipped directly into a wall, but her entire body is still bludgeoned by the Hive Mind entity and slid around like it is nothing. Similarly, the remake keeps the sight of a crew member slitting their throat, another crew member bashing their head into a wall, and the opening’s iconic flight lounge massacre. Motive’sDead Spaceseems to take more time concentrating on character interactions, and as a result some characters such as Hailey Johnston, Nicole Brennan, and Zach Hammond have more to offerDead Space’s story.
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Dead Space’s Kendra Daniels is a great characterwho has to keep up appearances throughout the game. Kendra secretly works for EarthGov and is aboard the Ishimura in an attempt to cover up what has been found there amid the nightmarish incident. If fans are playingDead Spacefor the first time, though, it is difficult to decide who to trust: Kendra or Hammond. Hammond usually has nothing negative to say about anyone, but Kendra continuously picks at Isaac’s ear and tries to poison him against Hammond. Kendra makes it sound like Hammond has ulterior motives on the Ishimura, and his coincidental disappearance from comms helps to corroborate her side of the story.
This is all punctuated further when Marker-induced hallucinations come into play, because then players can never truly be certain whether they are even perceiving reality in front of them, let alone believe what other characters are saying.Dead Space’s psychological horroris excellent in this regard, especially when listening to audio logs and seeing remaining crew members gruesomely commit suicide. This same premise is represented in Motive’sDead Spaceremake as well, but it stretches forward even more with Hammond directly involved in a tragic hallucinatory event.
Hammond has an interesting relationship established with Corporal Aiden Chen, pilot of the USG Kellion. Chen dies in the hangar bay’s flight lounge almost immediately in both the original game and the remake, becoming the second casualty in the original and the first casualty in the remake once necromorphs are introduced.
In the remake, Chen is made much more important, as well as Hammond by extension. Hammond acknowledges Chen’s death clearly, and that seems to be water under the bridge soon thereafter. However, it is later revealed thatHammond locked a mutated Chen necromorph in an escape podand jettisoned it off of the Ishimura, only to have it be picked up by the USM Valor. Hammond is unable to dissociate Chen from being their colleague and friend despite the fact that he has become a slasher necromorph, and Chen eventually impales Hammond near the singularity core.
In a final heroic effort, Hammond pushes himself and the Chen necromorph into the singularity core and the two are instantly annihilated in a quick blast. This is far different from Hammond’s original death, where he is pinned and killed by an enhanced brute in the Valor’s engine room. As a result, the moment adds more weight to the interaction between characters andhow the Marker’s hallucinations affect them.
Dead Spaceis available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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