History Franchise / DeadSpace

** ''Dead Space 2: Severed'' - A DLC midquel released in March, that follows Gabe Weller. Acting as a follow-up for one of the main characters of ''Dead Space: Extraction'', the story provides [[SwitchingPOV an alternate perspective]] on events: one of the last surviving security officer in the mines, Gabe has to fight through the outbreak to rescue his wife, Lexine, and get to safety.

* MadeOfPlasticine: Due to the gore-friendly engines of the games and CriticalExistenceFailure, Necromorphs can sometimes sever your limbs (or head) with a casual swipe at your body if you only have one hit point left. Not to be outdone though, Necromorph and human corpses alike can be chopped up into little bits by simply ''stomping'' on them.

** The background logs state that Planet Cracking is actually believed by some to destabilize entire star systems because of the gravity imbalance of one planet going missing all of a sudden. The [[MegaCorp CEC]] denies this, though, and states that the planets are always carefully chosen. (Not to mention that [[CriticalResearchFailure it's a bit of a silly objection]] in the first place; breaking one big mass into many small ones doesn't make it ''less massive'', and shattering a planet doesn't mean its pieces will suddenly halt in their tracks rather than continuing along the same orbit. If CEC were towing whole planets away, the argument would make some sense, but they're not, so it doesn't.)

* YourHeartsDesire: This is partially how the Markers sucker their victims into coveting them, giving those of a religious bent a divine power to follow, while baiting in their more science-focused pawns with the promise of unlimited electromagnetic energy. Regardless of what it offers, the outcome is the same: devastation and death under a tide of living dead.

* EvilTaintedThePlace: Anywhere a Necromorph outbreak has taken place can likely never be truly declared fully safe, even after the outbreak has ended. The Ishimura quickly garners a reputation of being haunted even after the events of the first game, with the janitors and technicians on the sprawl charged with fixing her up reporting strange noises and odd occurrences, And this was before the Site 12 Marker started waking the dead.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Uh... NO! Happy is NOT the word! When you are around a Necromorph outbreak, this the best you can hope for is "Bittersweet", and you gotta WORK for it!

* [[EarnYourHappyEnding Earn Your Bittersweet Ending]]: When you are around a Necromorph outbreak, this is the best you can hope for.

During the 2020 Game Awards, however, a SpiritualSuccessor developed by Striking Distance Studios, which has the original creator of the series Glen Schofield at its helm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjLkhFSWfaU was teased]], called ''VideoGame/TheCallistoProtocol''. It is set to release for Microsoft Windows, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS in 2022.

During the 2020 Game Awards, however, a SpiritualSuccessor developed by Striking Distance Studios, which has the original creator of the series Glen Schofield at its helm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjLkhFSWfaU was teased]], called ''VideoGame/TheCallistoProtocol''. It is set to release for Microsoft Windows, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS in 2022.

During the 2020 Game Awards, however, a SpiritualSuccessor developed by Striking Distance Studios, which has the original creator of the series Glen Schofield at its helm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjLkhFSWfaU was teased]], called ''VideoGame/TheCallistoProtocol''. It is set in the far future of the VideoGame/PlayerunknownsBattlegrounds universe (about 300 years later [[WordOfGod according to Schofield]]), and is set to release for Microsoft Windows, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS in 2022.

The ''good'' news is: they found such a source in the "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Black Marker]]", a [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum giant double-helix monolith]] discovered in the ashes of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. It produces a seemingly-endless electromagnetic field that scientists hope to harness. The ''bad'' news is: it's an ArtifactOfAttraction and an ArtifactOfDeath that causes everyone nearby to go insane and start murdering each other, then re-animates the corpses into [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Necromorphs]], which seek out and kill everyone nearby in [[{{Gorn}} horrific and gruesome ways]].

Other important points of the series include the [[ChurchOfHappyology Church of Unitology]], the dominant religion in the galaxy, who believe that the Necromorphs are a step in their dogma towards something called “[[AssimilationPlot Convergence]]”; the [[ImprovisedWeaponUser re-purposing of power tools as weapons]]; the necessity of shooting AnArmAndALeg off the Necromorphs in order to kill them; each type of Necromorph [[TheManyDeathsOfYou having a unique "killing Isaac" animation]]; and a DiegeticInterface in which people wear [[LifeMeter Life Meters]] on their backs.

The players play as Isaac Clarke, a humble engineer who has become entangled in the world of Markers and Necromorphs when his maintenance team attempted to relieve the distress signal of USG Ishimura, only to discover that it has been infested with Necromorphs and that they're now knee-deep in government conspiracies on the Marker.

''Dead Space'' is a franchise based primarily in SurvivalHorror (Less and less as the trilogy goes on) ThirdPersonShooter video games, developed by Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores).

The series takes place in the future, where humanity has colonized space, and [[MindOverMatter telekinesis and the ability to slow down time locally]] are commonplace due to portable, wrist-mounted devices. However, all this progress comes with a cost: Earth is an ecological ruin, and humanity has turned into a race of PlanetLooters, smashing apart entire planets for their raw materials, and conducting as much research as possible into new sources of renewable energy.

The three main games in the series are:
[[index]]

In addition there have been couple of spinoff games covering events before and after the main games:

Since the release of the original game there have been several other side stories covered in different media, including:

[[/index]]
* ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' (2012): Isaac appears as a playable DLC character, and is based primarily on his ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'' incarnation. His rival is Zeus from the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series.

* ''Dead Space'' (2011) - (Also known as ''Dead Space: iOS'' and ''Dead Space: Mobile'') A {{Prequel}} to ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'' released for [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS systems]], this game follow a Unitologist agent named Vandal who first sabotages Titan Station, then tries to escape when the Necromorphs start to appear. Because of the same name, tropes for it are kept on the regular ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' page.

!!Tropes the entire series has:

* AmbiguouslyBrown: In the Dead Space 'verse, we have Indian/Asian/Middle-Eastern looking people with names like Gabe Weller or John Carver. It's been over 500 years since present times, and given the [[SocietyMarchesOn presumed social progress]], it's not hard to believe that everyone has a little bit of every race in them.

* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' (2008) - The first game in the series, released for the PC, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, and UsefulNotes/XBox360. Engineer Isaac Clarke is part of a team responding to a distress signal from the ''USG Ishimura'', a giant ship designed to "crack" planets for resources. When the Ishimura crew doesn't receive their ship, Isaac's team is forced to crash land inside and, after leaving their damaged shuttle, the crew finds the Ishimura in severe disrepair and swarming with Necromorphs. When Isaac then ends up separated, the team splits up to co-ordinate repairing several ship areas and reunite to escape. Isaac also has a personal stake in fixing the Ishimura; his entire reason for volunteering was to visit his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, [[DamselInDistress who is also trapped aboard.]]

* AmbiguouslyBrown: In the Dead Space 'verse, we have Indian/Asian/Middle-Eastern looking people with names like Gabe Weller or John Carver. Could be an example of FridgeBrilliance: It's been over 500 years since present times, and given the [[SocietyMarchesOn presumed social progress]], it's not hard to believe that everyone has a little bit of every race in them.

* ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' (2012): Isaac appears as a playable DLC character, and is based primarily on his ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'' incarnation. His rival is Zeus from the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Necromorphs have a blatantly impossible body structure, lacking any kind of vital or digestive organs or central nervous system, and what they have left over is either converted into muscles or CombatTentacles.
** That's because their bodies are not really the actual organism. They're more akin to parasitic creatures inhabiting the stuff they killed.
** Since they are made from necrotic flesh, their complete lack of metabolism makes their very aggressive, fast and energy-heavy activities practically impossible... unless you assume that the near-limitless energy fields emanating from the Markers somehow provide them with the power required for it.
*** According to in-universe lore, this is pretty much exactly what happens. Once out of the presence of a Marker signal, Necromorph tissue literally just destabilizes into decomposed goop.

** In order to get inspiration for the Necromorphs, the design team studied photographs of car accident victims. That somehow makes both the Necromorphs, and the design team, a hell of a lot creepier.
** No matter where he goes, there is always someone around who was flayed. [[RuleOfScary It's never explained why this happens]] as the necromorphs seemed more inclined to stab you to death, not flay you.
** Actually, the flayed appearances of Necromorphs are the result of the transformation process which is very quick (within seconds) and very violent causing the skin to rupture. The process can be seen up close in the opening sequence of Dead Space 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARuZH1KSjrk.

* CaptainErsatz: The church of Unitology bears [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial absolutely, positively no resemblance to the church of Scientology.]] Please don't sue us.

** To be fair, it is implied that those power tools have had their safeties sabotaged to turn them into weapons. This sort of thing also happens in real life, though for obvious reasons it's not recommended.

* StarfishAliens: The necromorphs. Some can pass for human (at a distance, in the dark), while others have huge claws and vestigial arms, and still others are nothing more than a blob of meat sprouting CombatTentacles.
** Technically, the necromorphs are just distorted human corpses. The actual aliens make ''even some of the stranger necromorphs'' look human.

Plans for ''Dead Space 4'' were placed in DevelopmentHell after ''3'' didn't sell as well as Electronic Arts had hoped. Visceral Games was then tagged to develop a brand new ''Franchise/StarWars'' single-player video game. In October 2017, EA shut down Visceral Games, which left the future of the ''Dead Space'' franchise in serious doubt. Those doubts continued until July 2021 when EA announced a remake of the first Dead Space for PC, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS for 2022 by Motive Studio.

Plans for ''Dead Space 4'' were placed in DevelopmentHell after ''3'' didn't sell as well as Electronic Arts had hoped. Visceral Games was then tagged to develop a brand new ''Franchise/StarWars'' single-player video game. In October 2017, EA announced they are shutting down Visceral Games, leaving the future of the ''Dead Space'' franchise in serious doubt, if not outright killed off.

During the 2020 Game Awards, however, a SpiritualSuccessor developed by Striking Distance Studios, which has the original creator of the series Glen Schofield at its helm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjLkhFSWfaU was teased]], called ''VideoGame/TheCallistoProtocol''. It is set in the far future of the VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds universe (about 300 years later [[WordOfGod according to Schofield]]), and is set to release for Microsoft Windows, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS in 2022.

** The second game ends on a slightly brighter note, with Isaac [[spoiler:being able to confide in Ellie when he needs to and having recovered to a reasonable extent from Nicole's suicide. However, he is now officially a government fugitive, as is she. Also, even though Tiedemann is dead and the Marker is destroyed, TheStinger implies that the Marker of this game was only one of ''several'' created by EarthGov and are still a threat to Earth, along with the Church of Unitology still being a growing problem. ]]