Secret Ending Explained | Dead Space Lore 

Thanks fror watching my Take on the Dead Space Secret Ending. Please let me know your thoughts below!

Another way to see the alternate ending is as a sequel to the normal ending. The Nicole hallucination attacks and subdues the mind of a tired Isaac. Twists his vision of the marker and makes he think his doing something great for Nicole and for the universe.

I think the fact that Isaac had to collect 12 marker fragments is what caused this ending. If you've watched dead space aftermath, you've seen what one marker fragment did to Kuttner. My guy went and grabbed 12 of them, truly built different.

Here is how it can be viewed. Since the alternate ending can only be unlocked after you beat the game once and play it again in New Game+, what if the alternate ending is part of Isaac's PTSD playing over the events again while he is held captive on the Sprawl? Him finding the Marker fragments could be his mind interpreting the Site 12 doctors probing his mind for the Maker blueprints. Then the Alternate ending is when the doctors finally unlock the area of Issac's brain where the blueprints are and Isaac's interpretation of that happening.

There’s another line in-game that demonstrates Isaac shift really well. I can’t recall exactly what he says in New Game, but in New Game +, after performing the ritual and loading the Marker onto the executive shuttle, when Kendra betrays you Isaac now says, “I know that you don’t understand the Marker like I do,” which honestly kinda gave me chills.

This alternative ending reminds me of the endings in Bloodborne: it's subtly poking at completionist players, almost questioning their sanity. It's like the process of obsessively interacting with the game takes a stable person like Isaac and turns them into a manic zealot.

What if the marker decided Issac would be better as some sort of Trojan horse. The marker decides it would be better for Issac to head back to his planet with the marker blueprints, or maybe they decide to keep him as a useful tool they always have in their back pocket

Another bit of alternate dialogue is as Isaac is leaving the Ishimura. Normally when the Nicole hallucination asks him if he's scared he will reply with something along the lines of "With you? No." In the alt ending he says "There's nothing to be afraid of." Anyways strong start to the new channel. Looking forward to seeing more!

Honestly my interpretation is that this ending is more of a what Isaac sees VS what’s “actually” happening, the OG ending is Isaac’s perspective, the alternate ending is what it looks like from what would be a somewhat outside perspective. Let’s not forget that when they found Isaac it was stated he was in a delusional state, perhaps saying things like “I NEED TO BUILD A LITTLE SOMETHING”. It’s also stated that they gave Isaac memory suppressants in Dead Space 2 to try and hold that back, though it seems the weird demented Isaac spurts still happen, take the “TURN IT OFF” scene from 3 as an example

I like the alternative ending. It's fun, but I do agree that Isaac was never portrayed as happy to do any of the building of the marker. It reminded me kind of how Stross was, actually.

I thought the alt ending is an easter egg of sorts and might imply a Remake is in the works for DS2 but that's just me. Nicole/Marker: "Are we going home, Isaac? There's so much work to do..." Broken Isaac: "Soon, I promise. Gotta build a little something first", with a gleeful/maniacal smile. Meaning DS2 Remake before the eventual return to Earth.

I'm guessing that as Issac goes through heavy medical treatment and therapy, his visions of Nicole still being alive start to fade away which leads into a far more cruel and demonic version of Nicole we see in Dead Space 2. Issac finally accepts her death while still not being able to let her go. Being in a station that long for 3 years is bound to change your mind at least a little bit. Let's not forget that he suffered a form of dementia in the beginning of Dead Space 2 where after beating the tripod and talking to Daina, he asks "Why can't I remember anything?".

Just a thought & spoilers for DS3 for those who care, I think the reason why there’s 12 mini markers’ is because there are 12 brother moons which would be overkill 😅

It is possible that the trauma, torture, and memory loss he went through in between Dead Space 1 and 2 might have knocked him out of. We also see that Earth Gov seemed to froce Isaac to remember what happened to Nicole so he is froced to accept her death. The reason why it didn't work for Stross was because he felt too much gulit over what he did in Dead Space Aftermath, so he can't fight back like Isaac can

Issac is one of the strongest characters i know from video games, so strong he could stop lightning from Zeus. and it is neat to see this new crazy Issac, i prefer the OG Issac.

Its really interesting to me the idea of unlocking the alternate ending is done by means of seeking out the fragments across the Ishimura like a completionist would, scouring every corner looking for these to insure that 100% to make the playthrough.... whole....

what I like about the original dead space's jumpscare ending, if you freeze the frames, you can see he is already semi insane and the jumpscare is all in his head

I consider this ending a hint for the future DS 3 remake, as Motive have expressed interest in remaking 2 and 3, and recently put out a survey asking fans their opinion on remakes of those. One of the reasons why I think this is because Motive went back and added cut content for this game, and while DS 2 doesn't have a lot of cut story content, DS 3 absolutely does. EA back then did not allow insanity to be present for their main characters for some reason, so DS 3's script was heavily altered to the one we have now; This ending shows a change of course and may hint that we can expect large parts of the original script for 3 to be re-added, hopefully

The Lone Survivor suit skin has hand antlers (hantlers, if you will) grafted to Isaac's helmet, implying a direct connection to the grafting of Elden Ring. You'll never escape it Smough. (great video btw)

Since this ending available in new game plus, my theory is the first playthrough is what Isaac remembers. While in new game plus is what actually happened. As in we are in DS2 now on one of those doctor appointments trying to dig for pieces of reality, and I think those marker fragments are just that - a metaphorical piece of truth. Collect them all, piece em together and the locked out memory of his brain is unlocked.

I think a way to make the alternative canon is that during the gap between dead space 1 and 2, Isaac gets picked up and is used to make the marker but there’s a small group that slowly deprograms Isaac from the markets influence. The beginning of Dead Space 2 would be near the end of Isaacs deprogramming.

I think the Marker Scrawl all over the interior of the shuttle is our clue that this is after the regular ending and new game+ is likely a hallucination from Nicole/The Marker as the Scrawl isn't there during the actual game and regular ending, only the alt ending sequence specifically. If my memory serves me correctly, there's some external material for Dead Space and Dead Space 2 that says that when Isaac's shuttle was found, the interior was covered in Marker Scrawl and Isaac had to be subdued due to trying to kill the rescue team. I may be misremembering something though.

Still have to play through the remake and get the secret ending myself, but I wanted to stop by and show my support! I'll be back once I've beaten the game!

My personal fan theory is that your first playthrough is what the marker is preparing you for and new game plus is actually Isaac doing what the marker said to do, mainly basing this off his quote to the Hivemind "It showed me what I had to do, you won't stop me" and when he talks to Cross he speaks to her as if he's Jacob sometimes, hinting again that he already seen or went through all this before. Now this is simply just a theory of mine which sounds cool just going off how the Markers work, it would be cool if this was the case, but I doubt it

7:31 to reinforce your point, another line similar to this is in dead space 3: Isaac faces the new born brethren moon and says: "You can't have us..." "Us" being human kind

I see this new ending as Issac having a kinda 'split personality'. One where he's fighting against The Marker and its influence and the other which accepts the influence of The Marker.

There was also some alternate dialog in the end of chapter 11 when he's calling back the shuttle. In the regular run he tells Daniels " someone's going to pay for this". In the alternate ending he says something about how the marker will be better off with him. That was the first thing that had me scratching my head when doing the alternate playthrough

4:58 Actually, the first instance happens when you recall the Shuttle that Kendra stole. Kendra says "Damn it, Isaac. You don't know what you're doing". Isaac can say one of the following things (I think it depends on whether or not you completed the side missions or not): - I know someone's going to answer for this. - I know I'm finally doing the smart thing. But if you're going for the alternate ending, he says: - I know you don't understand the Marker like I do.

It's not difficult for the Marker to manipulate Isaac, but canonically the only way Isaac would be willing to aid in the Marker's plans is if he's being made to believe that he's fighting against it.

I think you could imagine this is a part of issac. A more sane part escapes and comes to terms with the loss of everything he held dear. The other part can't let go, clinging to anything that gives him hope and elizabeth.

I know your video is older than Mandalore but a different idea that Mandalore gave is that When you play normal game, you see and hear what Issac believs he was talking to the crew, while in "Game+" it shows what Issac was ACTUALLY saying all the time which feels like a nice touch because now ending can be taken like that - normal ending, Issac believes he is seen by Nicole and lost his mind (cut to dead space 2), but this is what "his mind" was forced to believed, while the rest of his brian controllet by Marker, did the Game+ ending

RIP Original Isaac. You were a real one.

I gotta agree, too much would have to be done in a DS2 remake (if there's going to be one) to keep the narrative strong. Besides, I tend to decide that the cannon ending is the one given unless there's something official saying otherwise.

I'd like to see the remake team add an alternate story for the new game + of each game. Just let it be a seperate timeline where isaac got the full message from nicole earlier and his grief weakened his resistance to the marker.

You missed the dialogue when bringing Kendra's shuttle back to the Ishimura. Sane Isaac chastises her saying he's doing this to end the madness. Brainwashed Isaac tells Kendra she "Doesn't understand it" but he does. I think there are a couple more. And it was kinda chilling.

The Alternate ending is pretty cool and shows us what would've happened if Isaac took a different path like attending with his mom in Unitology (which we know he didn't like how his mom was devoted to them and spent all their savings towards them instead of Isaac) and did worship the Markers. And of course give us a hint of the Marker he'll build in DS2. But to say it's cannon to the story is a stretch given Isaac's character revolves around him hating the unitology and everything they stood for especially with the remake telling us after his mom killed Isaac's dad and killing herself, the unitologist took their bodies away which made Isaav hate them more. In summary. Maybe its sort of there just to play DS2 to continue Isaac's journey or a way for Motive hinting that they might (again might) work a DS2 remake. Now I get that DS2 doesn't need a remake just likely a remaster, and we should get a DS4 imo I think it would be good to have a DS4 but this is Motive's first time getting into this series and they know that DS is a loved franchise so they probably want to see what people like and/or dislike with this game. That's just my 2 cents on it I could be wrong.

I liked the 'alternate ending' and did think that they were trying to tie DS1 and DS2 together a little better. However, you're absolutely right in saying that Isaac hates Unitology and that's portrayed better with the original ending. Great video, bro. I really enjoyed watching this one.

Glad you’re covering Dead Space first on your new channel, i love the series and I still need to pick up the remake! I’d really love some vids on the general lore in the series, Unitology, the markers, brethren moons, all that. Cheers!

In Dead Space 2, they literally say they found Issac halfway insane inside the shuttle. It's the reason why they got him to build the marker in the first place. So this ending does fit perfectly into DS2.

i took it as the "normal"ending being isaac as he sees himself, and the alternate ending being him as he actually was during the events. so its technically both true, in the sense that he lost himself during and after the ishimura, but after some time at the facility he managed to recolect himself. and that works for DS2 nicole as well, as it fits with her trying to make him go back into this "sheep" isaac. of course, one could argue that it doesnt fit because in 2, he was an inmate, not a designer. and he is building it of his own will, as opposed to being forced without knowing.

Alternate ending makes sense as a nightmare Isaac is having after drifting through space for weeks after the ishimura incident.

Should have done a 3rd ending option, where Issac has merely been a vessel for a far more darker, more alien Cthulian consciousness that the consciousness of ‘The Marker’ has been trying to keep well away from over aeons, and this ‘Issac’ seeks to enslave for some truly horrifying goal…

Nice video. Just finished Dead Space for my first time. What a game!

The only way I could see the alternate ending being somewhat cannon is this. Let’s say Isaac was brainwashed it would make sense in him not remembering making the markers on the space station. After completing his task the marker could have seen him as being useless and let him go or detached it’s self. After this Isaac comes to and sees what the marker made him do all those years without knowing it. But I will agree that Isaac collecting all those fragments is kinda goofy

I like to think the alternative ending happens not long after the original. If im correct he’s stuck in that shuttle for weeks before being rescued. So not only is he messed up from Nicole, his parents, the ishimura and kellion crew, but he literally fought for his life by hacking infected crew member’s a part. He is exhausted, broken, and beat up allowing the markers influence to take full effect on his mind. I think Mercer’s dialogue was awesome because he knows what happened to Nicole and uses his profession to ‘diagnose’ Isaac “was it the grief or the guilt?”. The Isaac we get in DS2 was messed up but, DS1’s Isaac was so crazy his mind was blocking what was in front of him the whole time.

What’s your thoughts on the second ending being a recollection of events but the 3 year time gap. Isaac is broken to get the plans by them alternating his mind state so that they make him okay with giving him the plans but by his mind overcomes this trauma it’s own way by remembering the true events, but it was too late it’s been built he has no idea three years have passed since his heads back to where Nicole is dead and his mind recovered but it took years. The markers we pick up are imaginary and placed there by the doctors as triggers to get that information as this is all a recollection of events while he’s in the psych ward.

It would make sense that DS2 Remake (If/when it comes) would channel from the original ending, but if you have a save file from the DS remake with the alternate ending achievement, in a New Game + on DS2 it would be a different story for a large chunk of it, including the intro sequence. An absolute monster to build as part of a game, but would be phenomenal to pull off.

I don’t think it’s real / cannon but we won’t truly know until they make a remake of dead space 2. But according to the current dead space 2 which is currently still cannon, they forced extracted the blueprints for the marker from his brain using the needle eye machine and did the same with 4 others. And he was found crazed and wanting to get away from Nicole in the ship which goes against this ending.

As I recall, the earthgov people who captured Isaac did some hefty mind wiping and manipulation on him.. I think that sort of reset him to pre ritual Isaac

You forget where we pulls back the ship into the Ishimura and tells Kendra she doesn't understand the marker like he does as opposed to in a normal run he says that it must be returned to end it all. In dead space 2, my theory is they sedate Isaac because he wants the marker for convergence as opposed to how EarthGov planned to use it as a power source. As for why he wakes up as Isaac and not a madman, it's because of the memory suppressants. Stross even said that as his memory returns the more he'll see and the more it'll probably kill him. And as Stross was awake before Isaac, he fell to madness first.

Do keep in mind both endings can still occur and makes sense, keep isaac’s character without alterations as the second game indicates that Earth Gov hd been using memory suppressors to counter the marker signals as they’d didn’t want Isaac dying or succumbing fully between sessions, much even having routine checkups to keep him stable and only remembering upto certain parts (i.e. only having left the USG Ishimura.

The secret ending is neat, adds to a repeat playthrough. But I do agree, the main ending makes more sense leading into 2. Uni/indoctrinated/marker touched Isaac would be all for the events that happen on titan station cause it leads to convergence and the death of everyone. He's very far removed from regular Isaac, as you demonstrated in the video

I mean. It is called an alternate ending for a reason. If it was the new canon they’d would have needed to change the overall story all together and not some where’s Waldo mini game. I think the only reason why they made the alternate was due to fan service and a some humor of “ what would had happen “ think the critics blew an L to this one. Than again game review critics are rarely ever on point or actually playing the games they reviewed

I’m sure that EA Motive, by including this alternate ending, is exploring the possibility of remaking DS2 with Isaac somehow regaining his ability to resist the Marker’s influence. How they do this is anyone’s guess, but after including the excellent side mission story quests, I’m sure EA Motive will make it an epic and believable experience for gamers to explore. I’m definitely excited for the future of the Dead Space universe.

even before I found out at the secret ending I was suspicious that what we are playing through is actually more of his memories as he is being kept by Earthgov in-between DS1 and DS2 due to one odd moment - there is a moment when there a recorded holo message being projected in one of the break rooms/living quarters, I think its just after the first time you try to get to the marker, at first its just the standard unitology "we stand at the brink of a great change but to not falter in your faith" BS but if you wait till it finishes the hologram of the doctor turn his head to look at Issac and not only say his name in full they pretty much repeats the opening lines of DS2 aka listing off the mental disorders he is currently suffering from then ending it with something along the lines of "do you think it is because you feel guilty?, that you couldnt save them?".

That was great bro, really enjoyed your view, I'm looking forward to the secret playthrough on two where Isaac is bark raving about he entire time haha. Could you do me a favour when you release your next video for this channel and put your logo in the thumbnail please? I sorta overlooked this video a couple of times while trying to find it because I thought it was from a different channel. Keep up the amazing content 👍

Subscribed as soon as I saw your community post and have been waiting for your Dead Space video very interesting as to what ending is the most accurate one.Incredible Dead Space Lore Video Smough have a great day

I think the fact that you have to beat the game, play it again, and complete a scavenger hunt makes it pretty obvious it’s not the canon ending lol. Love your content!!!

i'd like to hope that Earthgov picked up Isaac drifting through space in his ship; upon hearing his insane ramblings and seeing the scrawl on the inside of the ship they take him to Aegis VII. Somehow, after enduring all of the torture and through his hatred of Unitology maybe he was able to drag himself back to "sanity" once the Earthgov drugs wore off, and suddenly seeing the new necromorph infestation shocked him just enough to fight for his life. Maybe in the remake there could be extended Nicole scenes where he has constant internal battles to shake off the marker's overwhelming influence, being whispered to by the marker and the moons whenever he manages to hold firm against the Nicole visions? Personally I love the idea of him being fried and twisted by the marker then shocked back into his old self, the only thing bringing him back being his memories of his mother

I think the gameplay on its own has some story element to the secret ending. I think it’s supposed to represent the player who’s playing the game all over again and reflects on the obsession we have to be able to go out of our way and backtrack the whole Ishimura just to collect all the fragments. It’s like we obsess over finding them all that we don’t care the danger we put ourselves into so we can collect them all. I don’t think it’s supposed to substitute the original story rather pays a homage to the player for becoming “marker obsessed”.

It doesn't matter if Isaac willingly helps create the markers or actively resists the markers effects at the end of Dead Space. Isaac will be still suffer from the brain rot caused by the marker which Earthgov treats with memory suppressants and stasis. Isaac will forget everything in both scenarios allowing for a seamless continuation between the new Dead Space and Dead Space 2 without any retcons.

I'd like to think the alternate ending is a retelling of Isaac by Unitology. one where he can be painted as a martyr like Altman. wouldn't really explain the hallucinations though.

Just stumbled across this, and it's a pleasant surprise!! I didn't know you had a 2nd channel!

Great vid bro.😺

Great start of the channel. Love the breakdown.

Isn't there a thing in dead space 2 that describes Isaac when Earth gov found him as completely insane? I can't remember the exact words used but the alternate ending Isaac strikes me as "about right" for how Earth Gov finds him prior to the second game.

Excellent video!! Opened my eyes on things I merely thought when I finished the game like 5 times. It is mind blowing what you presented, good work!

I saw the alternate ending as more of a funny/meta commentary on the player's role in the story. Him saying he "has to build something" sounds like a nod to the Dead Space fans more than something that actually fits a cohesive narrative. Telling the hivemind that he knows what he has to do is because the player knows how to defeat the boss. I dunno, just my two cents.

My theory is that New Game Plus is Isaac reliving the the trauma from the Ishimura. The “alternate ending” could just be him hallucinating an reliving a slightly different version of events before people have found his shuttle.

In the original game I got the sense the marker signal created random chaos to farm the dead to get a foothold in proximity with a sentient species. But In the remake it seemed like there was a willful intent manipulating events making Elizabeth look like nicole and issac to look like Jacob. Which i didnt actually mind as such but I do hope the deadspace 2 remake has the same respect for source material.

Love your vids, excited for you to post more!!!

This was a wonderful breakdown of Isaac's character and an incredible edition to the conversation at hand. Very well done!

I mean they just took the og ending and split it to where it just makes more sense. The og ending you get the jump scare and the Marker language to lead on to see that the Markers heavily influenced Isaac then we had the mini games, comics and other lore to kinda bridge the gap between 1 and 2 to really understand why Isaac was put in the mental place. This new one IMO just separates the endings to the jump scare ending and the Influence ending. Where now you can see where the cannon lore has the Marker influence Isaac into creating more Markers. That's the way I see it. If they do decide to continue remaking this entire series we probably won't get the little indie titles or comics to give us more information on the events that happen in-between the games.

Good video and analysis!

Since this on another vid so it's not my idea but they suggested that the alternate ending is Isaac remembering the events of DS over and over while being interrogated and slowly but surely falling to the markers influence, also isn't their a plot point about the marker essentially manipulating Isaac into helping it? Could be wrong but i feel that's a good explanation for all the continuity errors

You know, I actually felt the same way. You put a lot of the points in a spotlight. Thank you for making this clear and concise video.

Imagine an "alternate ending" to star wars where Luke says "you know I think that guy in black armor who killed Obi Wan might be my father" and people saying it fits better than the original ending because Darth Vader does turn out to be Luke's father.

I like to think that the devs are using this to alude that this Isaac will depart from the original being more derranged on the second game? Imagine him acting on the second game on the whole behalf of the marker. If they do something similar in the remake of the 2 and also include ab alternate ending, they may even include a different timeline where Isaac is trying to activate the marker instead of escaping from the sprawl with ellie.

I think what's going on is in the normal playthrough issac is hallucinating what he is seeing and saying towards the end of the game. From what I know in the story of deadspace and all adaptation when the marker gets into your head it usually dosent take long for the person to turn out crazy and delusional over the marker. Although its shown in game how issac falls into madness very good through the players eyes it seems fairly calm compared to other characters shown throughout the series and the main hallucination issac sees is confusing nichole for someone else. In the alternate ending (maybe excluding searching for the marker pieces) I do believe his corruption is happening faster than we are initially shown in the 1st playthrough.in the alternate ending where there a split in dialogue compared to the 1st ending I do believe both dialogues are happening but in the original I believe to be inside of his head(basically thoughts)to make him seem a bit more collective and sane (a normal human response)to the situation. I also noticed Daniel's response in both endings never changed when talking to issac.i dont know about yall but if I had to choose 1 of the dialogue to convince Daniel's that the marker almost corrupted issac I would say it would be the alternative ending.

Time to use the unitology skin in new game plus :) Also side note, it would be cool if in the ng+ you could use the visuals of the tier 1-4 armors like skins

For the alternative DS2 maybe the whole Nichole Visage that hants you could be the last fragments of Isaac's psychie fighting to win control over the markers signal and if you beat the game as marker Isaac then he ends up doing experiments on ellie corpse or indoctrination her for DS3

Would be interesting to see an "evil" mode in Dead Space 2 remake. Where this ending is cannon.

i always thought the memory eraser meds helped him to recover sanity sane, same with stross, at least for a while him being awake too much would drive him crazy so had to be mind wiped since normal sedative meds didnt work with marker influenced people

Yeah Isaac have some degree to the Marker, we saw the semi dead Nicole(similar to the DS2) on the og final to try to made Isaac fall to the marker will ,but on the Alter Ending is more Nicole has no face and supporting Isaac to do the marker will, still Isaac was a pawn on DS2 but the marker is pretty tricky to find new pawns to do his will direct(the Church) or indirect(the earth govt with the blind mind that the marker is gonna give power)

Woah! I literally clicked on the video thinking, "That username sounds a lot like SmoughTown." Imagine my surprise when I heard your voice immediately. Love it!

consider how the story in deadspace 2 go, both ending in the remake can be canon since Issac will end up build markers and go insane anyway and become sane(?) at the start of Deadspace 2

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Maybe the "harvesting" is what "cured" him, from the markers influence, in the beginning of DS2?

Judging from how we saw Isaac fight off the marker mentally from the very beginning of DS2, I think it's safe to say he would have never fully given into the marker as we see in the alternate ending

I think perhaps we can view an initial giving into the Marker as a kind of inoculation. And then him being able to reconstruct his shattered sanity afterwards is a continuation from that idea.

they could make it work...since they kinda scrambled his brain at the end of one and during the beginning of 2 as the drugs wear off his sanity starts Brain Restarts pushing back against the effects of the marker but not completely...which is why he sees nicole so messed up instead as he remembers

you can find a terminal in the first area where you see Nicole, on that terminal is a recording of the conversation between Isaac and Elizabeth cross. this is the earliest that we can find out that Isaac is seeing cross as Nicole. that terminal recording actually omits some of the lines spoken by Isaac. given this, I'd like to believe that the normal ending, is what Isaac believes he see's and the alternate ending (minus the apparition of Nicole) is what's actually happening.

Awesome !

I figured it was a hint or an alternate story. So if they did dead space 2 remake they could do a similar thing and after the collectable hunt you would get Alternate version going through. Sort of like how Force Unleashed had the Star Killer saga with him replacing Darth Vader and him going around fighting and killing in the original series.

The bit where you say it doesn't make sense because he's "broken" doesn't quite add up, because in the alternate ending, he's not broken, if he was he's be in pain and unstable and probably try to kill himself, instead he's scheming. Here's an interesting theory; what if it's because of his helmet that he resists the marker? Isaac probably recovers because Titan station gets infected with necromorphs and they stop treating him with sedatives and other crap. Probably also because the marker has gone from manipulating Isaac to starting an outbreak? Idk I still agree the ambiguity of the original ending is better.

I think it would be a interesting way to lead into a Dead Space 2 remake, kind of like how FF7 did in it's 'remake'. Over the course of the Dead Space 1 remake we clearly see the marker affecting issac much more so then in the original (and also because he now had a dedicated VA) so it would be a interesting way to have that indicate Issac slowly losing his grip on reality which then leads into Dead Space 2 and a much more emotional weight that issac created the marker while under it's influence rather then just being forced at gunpoint by the goverment.

Good explanation to how they built a new marker in DS2. With the blue prints and codes that Clark has in his head. I always wondered or forgot how they built it in the original DS2. Given that hundreds of years ago Earth Gov built the first on off of the black marker and seemed to have lost the technology to build it. So they send in the best engineer and hope he gets affected enough by the marker to truly learn its secrets.

Love the new video can’t wait to see your takes and videos on all other games still love the souls content too

Way I see it. The alternate ending is what happened after the original ending. Its clearly been a while since they left Aegis VII, the markings on the interior of the ship being a possible clue to this. I can't recall where I heard this, but I agree that no one can resist the marker forever, Issaac has a strong sense of character, but even he cracked. Clearly as in DS2 he built the marker. So why not have it that the marker finally got to him on that escape craft and broke his mind... then in DS2 for whatever reason, he "Wakes up." As for him being a shell of himself in the alt ending before that final scene... Well maybe it really is just an alternate ending where he was brainwashed faster due to the ritual, and that it was a way to show the audience what will happen even in the main timeline. So take it as a variation of the inevitable.

Dead space 2 remake. Regular ending referencing the original DS1's ending Alternative ending referencing DS1's alternative ending