5 Dead Space Remake Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

The next-generation reimagining of the USG Ishimura has a lot of secrets hidden inside it. Some Dead Space Remake Easter eggs are returning from the 2008 original, albeit somewhat remixed, while others are brand new. Here’s where to find some of the weirder secrets and shout-outs in the 2023 remake.

It’s an Egg Hunt: The Easter Eggs of the Dead Space Remake

A couple of the big secrets in Dead Space require, and have received, their own guides. One is the new location of the mysterious Peng treasure, a series-long running gag; another is how to get the new alternative ending.

There are a couple of other things you might’ve missed in the Ishimura, however, and that’s what this guide is for. Here’s what to do and where to track down some of the smaller details in the remake.

The Battle Walker

Screenshot by GameSkinny

You might walk by this a couple of dozen times without noticing it, and even if you did, you might not notice it’s a shout-out to another EA franchise. There’s a robot toy on the reception desk on the Bridge Deck (above, right) that’s clearly an L5 Reisig Battle Walker from Battlefield 2142, down to the number on its side.

The Fate of Ariel Rousseau

Screenshot by GameSkinny 

In the weeks leading up to the Dead Space remake’s release, fans could visit a branded Instagram account, @thebench, to play an alternate reality game. Here, you’d help the Ishimura’s Chief Engineer Ariel Rousseau (they/them) to get the ship’s comms back up.

By the time you reach the Ishimura in the remake, however, Rousseau is missing and Jacob Temple has been appointed Acting Chief Engineer in their place. This follows the events of the original game, where Rousseau was never identified but was just as absent.

Screenshot by GameSkinny

To find out what happened to Rousseau, you need to find their RIG, which is also one of the requirements for the side mission “You Are Not Authorized.”

This can be done as soon as you’ve attained Security Level 3, at which point you can backtrack to the Engineering Deck and open a locked door in the Engine Room. An audio log next to Rousseau’s RIG tells you all you need to know about their final fate. Spoiler (not really): it isn’t good.

Glen Schofield Cameos

Screenshot by GameSkinny

Glen Schofield was the executive producer on the original Dead Space. He subsequently left its original developer, Visceral, before Dead Space 2 came out in order to take a role as a co-director on 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Most recently, and famously, Schofield directed the 2022 Dead Space spiritual successor, The Callisto Protocol.

The Dead Space remake still has a couple of shout-outs to Schofield. The easiest one to spot is in Hydroponics, where Schofield is found on one of the promo posters for Ishimura Farms. It’s on the wall at the base of the elevator from the tram station.

Schofield’s name also reportedly appears on the bottom of Isaac’s Plasma Cutter. It’s difficult to find an angle in-game where you can see it, but the Cutter is a product of “Schofield Tools.”

The “Indecipherable” Text Log

Screenshot by GameSkinny

Much in the spirit of how the 2002 Resident Evil remake had a few subtle references to later entries in the series, the Dead Space remake has a lot of subtle call-outs to the original game’s sequels and spin-offs. This includes Dead Space 2, Dead Space 3, Extraction, and the 2008 animated movie, Downfall.

On your initial clear of Dead Space, you unlock a few new text logs, which can be found in the Side Missions tab of Isaac’s journal upon starting New Game+. One of those text logs is written in the “Marker language” that you’ve seen all over the ship, particularly on the Crew Deck, and is labeled as “Indecipherable.”

It turns out that, despite its name, this log actually is decipherable. Reddit users have decoded the log to discover it’s a twelve-line, three-stanza poem that seems to refer, at least obliquely, to the plot of 2013’s Dead Space 3.

A second reference to DS3’s storyline can be found over the course of the “Premeditated Malpractice” side mission, when Mercer’s test subject is recorded saying something about what might be DS3‘s Brethren Moons. This all serves to suggest that Motive Studio has plans to remake the entire original Dead Space trilogy, including the somewhat unpopular third game.

Other Series Call-Forwards

Screenshot by GameSkinny 

• In the Secure Storage area on the Engineering Deck, you can enter Storage Room 2 if you’re on the “Scientific Methods” side mission. One of the two audio logs you can find here (pictured above) is a recording of a conversation between Nicole and Isaac that played during the introduction of 2011’s Dead Space 2. 
• Another text log you receive by clearing the game, “Unexpected Visitors,” tracks the arrival of four characters — Weller, McNeill, Murdoch, and Eckhardt — who make up the primary cast of the 2009 Wii rail shooter Dead Space: Extraction. Weller and Murdoch went on to be the protagonists of the Severed DLC for Dead Space 2.

• The protagonist of Dead Space: Downfall, Alissa Vincent, is name-dropped in a Chapter 12 text log, “Retrieval Order.” 
• Jacob Danik, the antagonist of Dead Space 3 and the 2013 graphic novel Dead Space: Liberation, makes a possible cameo in the “Last Will and Testament” text log, as one of the Unitologist witnesses to Isaac’s mother’s will (pictured below).

Screenshot by GameSkinny 

It’s anyone’s guess whether this means the whole Dead Space series will get the Motive Studio treatment, or if this is just a shout-out to all the fans who’ve kept the Dead Space hype alive for the last 15 years. I guess we’ll have to wait to find out more.

Those are some of the Dead Space Remake Easter eggs you may have missed. There are a few more in the Break Room, though, and we’ve dedicated a whole article to them. If you’re looking for other tips, our guides hub may have what you’re looking for.