‘Dead Space’ Remake Alternate Ending Explained

Spoiler alert! This article contains plot details for the Dead Space remake.

We’ve reached an age of gaming when remakes of classic titles are all but commonplace. Well-loved classics like Final Fantasy VII and numbered sequels to the Resident Evil franchise are seeing new life on modern-gen consoles with complete top-to-bottom remakes with new graphics, gameplay, and sometimes, even new content.

In late January 2023, Dead Space became the latest classic to receive its own new-gen remake.

Dead Space is a survival horror game in which space engineer Isaac Clarke encounters a terrifying alien menace known as the Necromorph that has infested an entire crew aboard a space ship, turning them into violent monsters. He attempts to escape the ship while searching for his significant other, Nicole.

The remake does several things similar to its predecessor, albeit with shiny new features. But the Dead Space remake features an alternate ending that the original didn’t.

The core game plays out largely the same in terms of narrative. Issac and his repair team arrive on the Ishimura space vessel only to encounter hordes of Necromorph-infested crew members. He eventually reunites with Nicole as they uncover a conspiracy to bring a Marker — the source of the initial outbreak — back to Earth to cause a planet-wide infestation.

As truths are revealed and alliances are broken, Issac eventually learns that Nicole was a hallucination manufactured by the Marker.

It is revealed that the Marker manipulated all human survivors on the ship so that it could return itself to the Necromorph Hive Mind. Issac manages to kill the Hive Mind and seemingly escapes.

In the game’s original ending, seen in both the original game and the remake, the story abruptly ends when Issac boards an escape vessel and leaves only to be attacked by another hallucination of Nicole.

However, completing it on New Game+ allows you to view an alternate ending original to the remake.

In the new ending, Issac speaks with a hallucination of Nicole, saying that he’s preparing to “build a little something.” The game ends with a pan out to reveal that his escape ship is covered in scrawlings similar to the Marker.

Longtime Dead Space fans may recognize this new ending as the setup for Dead Space 2. This would seemingly confirm that a remake for the sequel could be in the works.

For all the new features and content that the Dead Space remake has, its narrative structure is largely the same as the original game. Like its predecessor, the remake has 12 chapters. However, the remake’s less linear structure makes it so that players can more freely explore areas from previous chapters to discover new secrets and side quests.

The Dead Space remake is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.