Isaac Clarke
Isaac Clarke is a character in the survival horror media franchise Dead Space, owned and published by Electronic Arts. He was introduced as the protagonist of Dead Space developed by EA Redwood Shores, which later became Visceral Games. A starship systems engineer, he is initially contracted by the Concordance Extraction Company to join the crew of its maintenance ship Kellion on a search and repair mission for USG Ishimura. Once on board the derelict vessel, Isaac finds himself beset by Necromorphs, horrendous undead creatures unleashed by a mysterious alien artifact known as a Marker. Subsequent sequels follow Isaac's struggle to cope with the alteration of his mind by the Marker, as well as his journey to uncover the origin of the Markers and the source of the Necromorph outbreaks.
Named after eminent science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Clarke is the central character of the main series video games in the Dead Space franchise, which form a trilogy from the titular 2008 video game to 2013's Dead Space 3. Isaac's engineering spacesuit is originally designed around the concept of immersing the player in the character's experiences, with the UI of the video games deliberately integrated behind the suit as part of the developers' diegetic design philosophy. Initially a silent protagonist, Isaac is fully voiced throughout the Dead Space franchise by American actor Gunner Wright, who also provided his likeness and motion capture performance for the character. He has featured in several other video games, from minor easter egg references to fully playable crossover appearances in video games such as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Fortnite Battle Royale.
Isaac has been received positively, with placements on several top characters lists by video game publications for the best or most popular characters in the video game industry. Both iterations of the character have received positive commentary: an engaging player avatar in the first Dead Space, and a compelling character in his own right as depicted in its sequels and its 2023 remake. The character is also the subject of discussion in academic papers which explore and analyze the series' underlying themes.
Character development
, known as EA Redwood Shores prior to its rebranding in 2009, built the first Dead Space using a modified version of the same game engine it used for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game series. For its player character, the team envisioned Isaac Clarke as an everyman systems engineer, someone who would be terrified of the horrors he encountered on the Ishimura. Art director Ian Milham emphasized that Isaac is ill-prepared for combat and the suit he wears, though bulky by design, is not designed to help him withstand physicality but to help him lift objects. His relatability was important for the team to manage tension with the player, and to reinforce feelings of vulnerability and the brutality of Isaac's actions when he dismembers his enemies with his mining tools in order to survive. Dead Space creator and executive producer Glen Schofield gave the character a portmanteau name inspired by the science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Schofield has long been inspired by the research Clarke did for his books, and noted that he tries to follow Clarke's example of keeping things "in perspective". Schofield cited one of Clarke's commonly used literary themes, "that man thinks everything revolves around him", as one that resonates with him.Isaac's engineering suit, known in-universe as a Resource Integration Gear, is the spacesuit he wears as a playable character in video games. Whenever Isaac takes a significant amount of damage, a glowing bar on the back of his suit would deplete from green in full health, all the way towards red if Isaac dies from his wounds, with the player only seeing parts on his back. The RIG was created out of the necessity to keep the player immersed. A team member was inspired by a personal observation of HUD info displayed on the back of a scuba diver's suit in real life. Dino Ignacio, who served as Visceral Games' lead UI designer, contrasted their design philosophy for Dead Space to that of Mass Effect; all non-diegetic user interface information was built onto the RIG suit in order to reinforce the immersive experience and avoid cluttering the screen with information like the UI of Mass Effect. Ignacio emphasized that anything which did not belong to Isaac, they were "elegantly placed behind him", such as the health and stasis bars.
Isaac was not originally envisioned to be capable of running as the first game's design team wanted to maintain a measured pace for the character, but negative feedback from focus testers convinced them to relent on their insistence that he should not run in order to conform to what they believed to be a staple trope of survival horror. However, Isaac's running capability had an impact on the effectiveness of enemy artificial intelligence as they could not react quickly enough to a running character, as the hallways in many levels would not stream fast enough while the player is running, which necessitated numerous design adjustments across the length and breadth of the game's development. A scene which involved Isaac being dragged through a level by a large tentacled Necromorph monster known as the Hive Mind was noted as the most challenging aspect of the game's development.
For Dead Space 3, the developers wanted to emphasize Isaac's background and skills as an engineer by developing a comprehensive weapon crafting and upgrade system. The opening scene from Dead Space 2, where Isaac built an improvised weapon from a flashlight and a surgical tool to fend off an enemy, was used as the reference point for its sequel's crafting system. In retrospect, Ben Wanat, former creative director of the series, felt that the crafting system implemented in Dead Space 3 out of their exuberance to lean into Isaac's technical background undermined the synergy that made the weapons special in its predecessors.
Portrayal
In the first Dead Space, Isaac is seen outside of his Engineering RIG suit during the prologue section, and does not speak except for grunts and other sounds; his face is also revealed in the game's ending cutscene where he removes his Engineering RIG helmet. This iteration of the character is essentially a cipher for the player to immerse themselves in Isaac's horrific experiences and feel like him. Schofield wanted Isaac to be like Gordon Freeman from Half-Life 2, another silent protagonist who would not talk, but at the same time not coming across as someone who always just takes orders. For Dead Space 2, Visceral Games decided to make Isaac a fully fleshed out character. Dead Space executive producer Steve Papoutsis explained that the decision was born out of the desire to enhance the game's believability as an evolution based around what the story required, and that they were careful and deliberate about when he speaks. Papoutsis explained that while Isaac had no one to converse with for most of the first game, he has more extensive interactions with other non-player characters for its sequel, and that it would make sense for him to vocalize the horrific experiences he had endured. Milham conceded that giving Isaac a voice for Dead Space 2 was a creative risk, but believed that this was necessary as the story of the series going forward required the character to be placed in a more proactive role as a character with agency.The character's fully voiced iteration and more fleshed out personality in Dead Space 2 allowed the developers to explore the character's deteriorating mental health as part of the gameplay atmosphere and integrate it with the overarching narrative. Visceral's audio director, Andrew Boyd, brought up "Chapter Ten" from Dead Space 2 as an example of how the level's foreboding ambience and music parallels the character's journey into the depths of his own tortured psyche; the early minutes of the level involve Isaac descending numerous elevators, ramps and stairs to reach a section of the disused Ishimura, the setting of the first game. Boyd noted that a jump scare scene, which replicates the sound effects of the Hive Mind ambushing Isaac from the first game and prompts an emotional response from the character, was intended to prompt players to question whether Isaac can trust his own perceptions due to his blurred distinction between reality and imagination as a result of the recurring hallucinations.
American actor Gunner Wright was cast as Isaac Clarke, with the character's in-game model from Dead Space 2 onwards designed to match Wright's facial features. To prepare for the role, Wright was provided with drawings, concept art, back story and notes about the character in addition to the game's script. During the motion capture process, Wright wears a lycra suit and a headband attached with motion capture and recording equipment for his facial expressions and body gestures; he was occasionally shown animated snippets of in-game scenes in between filming takes to provide further context for his performance, which served as the basis for the character's in-game actions. Wright said the role appealed to him, as he liked portraying ordinary and relatable characters who find themselves forced into extreme circumstances. Wright remarked that he is not a gaming enthusiast or gamer himself, though he set a high standard for himself when playing Isaac and took it as seriously as any other acting role. A scene where Isaac locks Ellie into a ship which carried her to safety against her consent resonated with Wright from an acting perspective, which he described as "emotional and pivotal". He remarked that fan feedback on social media towards his portrayal of the character had been positive, and noted that there are gamers who want a deeper story and well written characters for their experiences.
Wright reprised the role of Isaac Clarke for the remake of the first game. The developers wanted to strike a balance between remaining true to the original tone of the game, and giving his personality more depth. In the remake, Isaac can occasionally speak under certain conditions and the character responds with dialogue when spoken to, as well as in instances where it would be awkward if he had remained completely silent.