- "THE TERROR NEVER ENDS"
- —Dead Space 3: Awakened Trailer
Dead Space 3: Awakened is a downloadable content pack and follow up to Dead Space 3. Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis teased that the experience features the most "disturbing content" ever seen in a Dead Space game. Awakened was released on March 12, 2013.
Setting
After the battle with the Brother Moon over Tau Volantis, Isaac Clarke and John Carver wake up on the surface of Tau Volantis, shocked to find out that after falling to their near death, they are still alive, they then make their way across the surface of the frozen planet, finding memories of the horror they had experienced. After finding out that the Marker signal was still causing insanity, suicide and Necromorphs, they battled through more of the threat that Isaac and Carver had just faced. They then found out about a Unitologist ship that can take them back to Earth. After witnessing many ships lift off, they find out that the Shockpoint Drive in the ship is missing. It can only take them to the CMS Terra Nova.
Once boarding the Terra Nova, Isaac and Carver must find a way to restore power to the derelict CMS Terra Nova and find a new Shockpoint Drive in order to return to Earth. However, within the halls of the old Sovereign Colonies ship, they encounter the remnants of the Circle who've taken refuge inside and begun a new following in the name of the Necromorphs[1]. After dealing with members of the Circle, as well as their own insanity, Isaac and Carver find a new ShockPoint Drive, but Isaac is now losing his mind. He protests installing the ShockPoint Drive into the ship, because he happens to think that if they install the ShockPoint Drive, the Brethren Moons will follow them to Earth, and kill everyone living there. After Isaac and Carver have a hallucination of fighting each other, the hallucination is interrupted by another hallucination, in which the Brethren Moons reveal that they were only slowing Isaac and Carver down, and that they have known where Earth was all along.
After regaining his sanity, Isaac admits that Carver was right all along. He agrees to install the Shockpoint Drive into the Terra Nova. However, Carver then recalls that the Audio Logs hinted that the reactor could not power up enough energy in the engine to go into shockspace and return to Earth. They install the ShockPoint Drive in the reactor, and overload the reactor by dumping plutonium cores which generates enough power to enter Shockspace. After returning to the bridge, they activate the ship and return to Earth, after attempting to communicate with Earth, they hear transmissions of people getting slaughtered by Necromorphs. When they look out of the cockpit of the Terra Nova, they notice that the Brethren Moons have already arrived and are attacking Earth.
One of the Moons comes up in front of the Terra Nova, crashing the ship and knocking Isaac and Carver unconscious. It is unknown whether this is another hallucination or actually what is happening.
Features
Characters
- Isaac Clarke
- John Carver
- The Cult Leader
- Randall Carr ( Hallucination)
- Jacob Danik (Cameo Appearance)
- Ellie Langford (Mentioned)
- Robert Norton (Hallucination, Necromorph)
Organizations
- Earth Government
- Earth Defense Force
- United Mining (First Mentioned)
- Earth Orbital Control (First Mentioned)
- Church of Unitology
- The Circle
- Unitologist Cult
Locations
- CMS Terra Nova
- Conning Tower
- Earth
- Luna
- Tau Volantis
- USG Ishimura (Mentioned)
Necromorphs
- Slasher
- Enhanced Puker
- The Pack (New Appearance)
- Pregnant
- Twitcher
- Alien Necromorph/Crawler
- Tentacle
- Stalker (New Appearance)
- Enhanced Fodder
- Enhanced Feeder (Hallucinations)
- Cyst
- Brethren Moons
- Spitter (Hallucinations)
- Scraper (Hallucinations)
- The Snow Beast (Corpse)
Gameplay
Awakened maintains the core gameplay of Dead Space 3. Weapons can still be upgraded via the new weapons crafting system using the Bench and suits can be changed using the Suit Kiosk; Logs also feature as a primary component to the game's plot. The Pack, an enemy encountered on Titan Station, return as primary enemies with a new slightly more disturbing character model alongside a newer Stalker variant encountered on the planet of Tau Volantis and the survivors of the Circle who have dressed themselves to look more like Necromorphs. The later campaign setting of Awakened takes place around the Sovereign Colonies Flotilla, primarily the CMS Terra Nova and in particular, Conning Tower.
Chapters
After falling to the surface following the destruction of the Moon, Isaac and Carver attempt to secure a Unitologist shuttle to escape Tau Volantis.
Isaac and Carver attempt to recover a ShockPoint Drive on the Terra Nova in order to make it back to Earth. However, the pair encounter a new Unitologist cult on board.
After recovering the ShockPoint Drive in the Conning Tower, Isaac and Carver head back to the Aft Deck of the Terra Nova to install it and traverse back to Earth.
Trivia
- This is one of the few times in the series where Unitologists go against their beliefs. Some of the Circle survivors began questioning the Church and their faith, and attempt to desert.
- As with the main game, taking the first letters of Awakened's chapters forms "R.I.P." an acronym for "Rest In Peace", which may mean that Isaac, Carver, and all of humanity did not survive The Brethren Moons.
- Regardless of what suit Isaac is wearing prior to starting Awakening's first chapter, he will always begin Awakened wearing the Arctic Survival Suit. Carver's suit however carries over from previous gameplay. In the opening cut-scene Isaac will fire his weapon upwards into the cave's surface, which always appear as Military Engine weapon's shot regardless of what weapon he is holding at the time.
- Shots fired by Isaac, like in all cut-scenes, do not subtract from the player's magazine count.
- When killing enemies during hallucination sequences, their bodies will disappear, but their dismembered limbs (if any) will remain laying about.
- At the beginning Isaac's intact helmet assembles over his head, despite the fact right before the battle with the Tau Volantis Moon, an explosion damages it, resulting in him ripping it off his suit. The severe head injuries he sustained during the battle with the Moon have also healed.
- Isaac seems to come closer to losing his sanity in the Awakened DLC than any other event in the series. Odd, due to the fact that ever since the Second Aegis VII Incident, Isaac has kept his sanity nearly check.
- Isaac eventually gets his sanity back in check when he realizes that the Brethren Moons were trying to slow down him and Carver.
- Early on in the game, Isaac questions if he and Carver could be dead but also wonders if they might be Necromorphs. An actual case of becoming a Necromorph in first person occurs in Dead Space: Extraction, Nathan McNeill turns into a Slasher, has blood-red vision, and immediately attacks Lexine Weller.
- Robert Norton was reanimated as a Slasher, but is first seen as if he was never shot by Isaac and reanimated. It is unclear how he manages to cover such a large distance after being killed, though vents are a plausible explanation.
- The Norton Slasher boasts a ridiculous amount of hitpoints even compared to an Enhanced Slasher, it is easily the toughest non-boss Necromorph in Dead Space 3.
- It is unknown how Isaac and Carver survived falling off of the Moon.
- Although, it could be something The Machine was supposed to do, as Isaac says "We don't know what that technology can do.".
- At one point, Isaac and Carver engage in a gunfight after their argument reaches a boiling point. In reality the Moons are creating hallucinations of the two to fight each other. If the game is being played in co-op, the players will fight these hallucinations rather than each other. Regardless of what suits the players are wearing at the time, the hallucinations of Isaac appear wearing the Arctic Survival Suit and an SMG, while the hallucinations of Carver wear the Special Forces Suit with an SMG.
- When Carver and Isaac are experiencing the same hallucination, Isaac points out that the Marker is glowing. Carver then replies "Yeah, no shit, shoot it!"
- Necromorph weak spots glow yellow, and clearly mark to the player to shoot it. Similar to the marker in this hallucination.
- In the beginning, when Isaac's alarm clock is going off, if one listens closely, they can hear a scream similar to the one Damara Carver emits in the second hallucination Carver experiences in his own mind, similar to the final boss of Dead Space 2, in Dead Space 3 Co-Op mode.
- This DLC reveals that Brethren Moons are able to speak to humans using hallucinations or telepathy, in this case, Isaac's and Carver's hallucination of the Cult Leader.
- During the Cult Leader's dementia segments as well as the Ending, the Brethren Moons appear to get closer to Earth, as well as increase in numbers.
- If the player(s) turns around while in the hallucinations with the Brethren Moons they'll be able to see that the Moons are surrounding Earth.
- When playing Co-Op, unique Co-op dementia elements play out through the DLC. For instance, both players experiencing the same hallucination, getting isolated from your partner on a few occasions in different hallucinations, hearing different things, and both being transported to the "dementia land" during the final boss fight.
Gallery
Videos
Sources
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