Dead Space: Creating (and Recreating) Isaac's Suit First
In a line-up of survival horror characters, Isaac Clarke stands out. Rather than a regular Joe attempting to outrun zombies, Dead Space’s protagonist is a space engineer ready to weather the harshest conditions. That’s clear to see in his now-iconic space suit, which has received a grimy upgrade for the upcoming Dead Space remake.
The original suit was designed by Chi-Wai Lao, a concept artist who worked at EA alongside Dead Space creator Glen Schofield back in the early 2000s. “[To begin with] my suit designs were all over the place,” says Lao, “ranging from very slim-fitted to very bulky, some very robotic looking, a couple even [carried] a giant sword. They were drastically different from the Dead Space suits we recognize today.”
As Lao refined his concept, he turned to pop culture to inspire the details, specifically a beloved Japanese mecha anime. “One unusual candidate that was the most influential to me at the very beginning stage of designing the suit was the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, particularly the spine and the Entry Plug design of the Eva,” he reveals. "It was a prominent functional and visible element of the Eva design, and got me to implement a similar emphasis of a very prominent spine and a life support system of sorts on the back of the suit at its early stage. It was mostly for visual and fictional purposes at that point. However, the idea of having the HUD on Isaac's back came soon after from the team, and the spine then went through dramatic changes to implement that HUD afterwards.”
Lao’s final design for the suit came together when he challenged himself to work with repeating sci-fi motifs that he traditionally found quite boring; things like exhaust vents that are often used to fill in
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