- "Everyone out of Food Storage! It's alive! How can it be alive-?"
- —Elizabeth Cross[1]
The Leviathan was a massive, amorphous Necromorph encountered in the USG Ishimura's Food Storage facility during the outbreak aboard the vessel.
Background[]
- "Hello, Security? This is Dr. Cross in Hydroponics. Something just hit the hull near Food Storage. We think it's a rogue asteroid."
- —Elizabeth Cross[1]
The Leviathan collided with the USG Ishimura while drifting through space. The origin of the creature and how it ended up in space is a mystery, though it is possible that it was ejected from the surface of Aegis VII by the Hive Mind and was initially made up purely of the colonists' biomass. This would account for the additional mass it has, along with the contents of Food Storage. Another possibility is that it was extracted from the planet along with the tectonic load that the Ishimura lifted with its gravity tethers, as this would make it feasible for it to have floated onto the ship on its own.
After colliding with the ship, the Leviathan made its way into the Hydroponics Deck and barricaded itself inside the Food Storage facility. Shortly after, the tracts of the Corruption began to spread at an exponential rate in close proximity to the Leviathan and proceeded to overtake much of the deck. The shipboard oxygen levels became critical as a result, and with the creation of poison-exuding Necromorphs known as the Wheezers, the Hydroponics Deck became unable to support human life. Elizabeth Cross encountered the beast and dubbed it with its name.
Original Game[]
CEC agent Zach Hammond also encountered the Leviathan as the Hydroponics Deck lost all of the breathable air. Shortly after this, Isaac Clarke, advised about the Leviathan by Kendra Daniels, arrived on the deck and was informed by Hammond about the creature's whereabouts. Clarke was successful in cleansing the air on the deck and also mixing a poisonous substance capable of killing the beast. However, the poison was short of being truly effective and Clarke was compelled to solve the matter by force.
Entering the Food Storage area - which the poison granted him access to by weakening the Leviathan to some extent - Isaac drew arms and killed the creature.
2023 Remake[]
In the remake, the Leviathan's background and placement remains mostly the same as in the original. However, after it was dumped into space upon being defeated by Isaac, it clung onto the Ishimura's communication antenna, returning as the Leviathan Remnant, essentially taking the place of the Slug. Isaac had to fight and remove it from the antenna for Kendra Daniels to contact the USM Valor, practically replacing the Slug as a boss. After it was defeated again, the creature finally died and drifted into space as a lifeless mass.
Strategy[]
- First, never stop moving.
- The Leviathan has two methods of attacking. Firstly, it uses one of its three tentacles to sweep across the area Isaac is standing on. Since the fight occurs in Zero-G, he can dodge the attack from jumping from floor to ceiling or vice versa. Isaac can also reliably dodge tentacle attacks by moving continuously left or right as the Leviathan swings them at him.
- The trick here is to make Isaac's jumps as short as possible to allow more time to fire at the tentacle's weak spot. Aiming just above the tentacle when it begins its attack is a good tactic. The Contact Beam weapon is also a worthy choice for this.
- After destroying a tentacle, the Leviathan will use a new attack, which consists of spitting out organic bombs through its central mouth where its core, that resides within, becomes briefly exposed.
- The trick here is to make Isaac's jumps as short as possible to allow more time to fire at the tentacle's weak spot. Aiming just above the tentacle when it begins its attack is a good tactic. The Contact Beam weapon is also a worthy choice for this.
- The Leviathan usually spits out five pods at a time. It is possible to use Kinesis on the first and third pods to destroy the second and fourth pods, but it is usually easier to strafe from the left and right. The fifth pod can be used as a projectile to hit the Leviathan's mouth in order to save ammo.
- Shooting at the core after it finishes spitting out a bomb volley or using Kinesis to grab a pod and hurl it back into the Leviathan's mouth, is a good strategy. The pod will either collide with another pod the Leviathan has fired, causing an explosion, or will collide with the Leviathan's core, dealing damage. There are also Gas Canisters floating around the chamber that can be hurled with Kinesis.
- Alternatively, shooting directly at the pods themselves will also hurl them back, if not outright detonating them inside the creature's mouth, dealing massive damage. This is arguably the most efficient method for getting rid of the beast. On lower difficulties, the Leviathan can be killed in a single pod-spitting cycle if one manages to detonate all of them inside of its mouth, thus finishing it off in less than a minute. A reasonably upgraded Plasma Cutter is well-suited for this job as it will detonate the pods in one hit. On higher difficulties it may require two successful cycles to destroy the Leviathan, yet the method's viability remains unchanged.
- The Flamethrower's secondary fire seems to cause extreme damage to the Leviathan's mouth.
- The Ripper's primary fire has too short a range to hit the Leviathan, and the projectiles of its secondary fire are too slow to be reliable. The Ripper is, in consequence, not a good choice against the Leviathan.
- Likewise, the Force Gun is also poor against the Leviathan, due to the primary fire being way too short-ranged and the secondary fire's bombs being too slow (unless if you are fast enough to launch a grenade).
- The Contact Beam's high damage is devastating against this boss. One blow will sever a tentacle instantly and a few shots to the mouth will kill it quickly, especially if the weapon is maxed out.
- A more direct tactic that can quickly defeat the Leviathan is to attack with a fully upgraded Pulse Rifle, easily dispatching both the tentacle pustules and explosive pods with quick aim.
- A second set of tentacles will spawn when the Leviathan is near death. Apart from dodging them, these are unimportant as they will die when the core mouth is killed.
- Before engaging the Leviathan, which occurs when Isaac leaves the airlock to Food Storage, items in the area — boxed and otherwise — can be retrieved using Kinesis. Even a stock Kinesis module can reach all items inside.
Leviathan Remnant[]
- The Leviathan Remnant has a variety of attacks that is used against Isaac, many of which were ones it had during his previous encounter with it. The first of these is shooting it tentacles forward to hit Isaac. The creature raises its tentacles before striking, so Isaac needs to get out the way in time to avoid getting hurt. The Leviathan can also use its tentacles to sweep across the comms array.
- Another attack the Leviathan Remnant possesses is spitting several organic bombs from various openings on its body.
- Since the fight takes place in Zero-G, Isaac is able to evade damage by flying out of the way.
- Isaac must break through the Leviathan Remnant's armor to get at its weak spots in order to kill it. This can be done by using the ADS cannons on the comms array or by using Kinesis to launch its organic bombs back at it. When the armor is destroyed, the weak spots are exposed and Isaac must destroy them using the ADS cannons, the organic bombs, or his own weapons.
- As soon as the weak spot is destroyed, Isaac will need to move quickly, as the Leviathan Remnant will then use its tentacles to destroy the ADS cannon which will prevent Isaac from using it again. Fortunately, the comms array has several cannons, though the Leviathan Remnant will continue to destroy them with each of its weak spots.
- When it is nearing defeat, the Leviathan Remnant will utilize a new attack in which it will release several spiked organic mines from its body. Isaac can fly around these hazards and can also destroy them with his weaponry.
Trivia[]
- The term leviathan is often used synonymously with sea monster, referring to the monster of the same name from the Old Testament of the Bible, which is said to have been the "big fish" that swallowed the Biblical character, Jonah. Cross even quotes Psalm 74:14 in the remake upon the creature's defeat: “And lo, you crushed the heads of Leviathan- he will be meat for those in the wilderness.”
- In Modern Hebrew, the word simply means "whale". Certain esoteric and occult literature have described it as the Gatekeeper of Hell, and one of the seven princes of it.[2]
- Almost nothing is shown about the Leviathan's biological structure besides its fleshy front.
- The Leviathan is extraordinarily heavy, weighing over 10 kilotons (10,000 tons/22,046,000 pounds). Assuming it is made entirely of recombined humans, basic math dictates that it would be composed of roughly 169,492 people of average weight. However, given that the Leviathan is located in an empty food storage bay which was described as containing a food surplus in one of the audio logs left by Elizabeth Cross, it seems clear that the Leviathan, though initially large, likely grew to 10 kilotons by incorporating the biomass from the food storage area into the original biomass.
- The Leviathan is the first Necromorph boss that Isaac faces.
- The Leviathan is one of the few life forms of Necromorph in the entire series to be directly referred to by its name; the others are the Hive Mind, the Moons, and the Nexus.
- There is a glitch that causes the Leviathan's animation to reset to its "alive" animation after it has been killed. After Isaac kills it and exits to the Air Quality Control room, then returns to food storage, the Leviathan will appear as if it is alive. It is not, however. This also happens with the Slug boss.
- If you get close enough to it, however, it reanimates and begins the first phase of the battle again. However, once the tentacles are destroyed, the cysts do not come out like before. It remains in the state prior to the mouth-cysts and stays that way until you leave and reactivate the glitch. The player is fully capable of entering and exiting the room when the "battle" starts again. (This has only been tried after loading up a save file).
- It is possible to unlock an achievement for hitting 50 enemies with Kinesis here, as long as the player has killed an appropriate number of enemies beforehand. This can be done even if the Leviathan itself is dead, or if it is in the "glitched respawn" form.
Gallery[]
Death Scenes[]
- Should Isaac be hit or swept with one of the Leviathan's tentacles while he is on low health, he will be utterly ripped apart with nothing left of him.
- If Isaac is hit with one of the Leviathan's explosive projectiles with low health, he will either be dismembered or completely torn in half.
Appearances[]
- Dead Space (2008)
• Chapter 6: Environmental Hazard (First and only appearance) - Dead Space (2023)
Sources[]
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