Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke is clearly a man of many talents. He’s a systems engineer by trade, so he knows his way around the dense innards of space vessels. He’s also handy around a toolbox and is more than familiar with high-risk equipment like the Plasma Cutter. Oh, and he’s remarkably good at slicing and dicing necromorphs into juicy squelchy lumps. What a resume!
But did you know that our favourite space engineer also has lots of secret talents too? When Dead Space originally came out in the back end of 2008, his corporate overseers at EA sent Mr. Clarke to do all sorts of odd jobs before he popped off on the believeable, but bleak USG Ishimiura. Golf caddy, professional skateboarder, even a part-time dragon slayer. Heck, he’s recently been back on the second gig train with his stint in Fortnite just earlier this week. The poor dude is in desperate need of a vacation. Until then, though, come and marvel at Isaac’s many talents and see what a hard worker he is.
Back-up dancer in Fortnite
Isaac’s latest side hussle is in Fortnite, where he’ll be in good company with other video game faces such as Lara Croft, Geralt from The Witcher, and Resident Evil’s Chris Redfield (there’s more but I’ve honestly lost track). Compared to the tinny innards of the USG Ishimura, Fortnite’s rolling hills and flying magical bus must be a right treat. Together with his plasma cutter BFF, he can run around happily sniping other players, giggling with his pals Kylo Ren and John Wick.
Tiger Woods impersonator in Tiger Woods PGA Tour
After the events of Dead Space, it’s time that Isaac got some downtime, and what better way than playing a bit of golf. Plopping Isaac on the green might seem incredibly random, but (as told to me by Dead Space uber fan Liam) apparently the original Dead Space was built using the Tiger Woods PGA Tour engine. Well, damn.
Part-time MMA fighter in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Do I wanna see Isaac take on a Big Daddy? Obviously, I do. All jokes aside though, I think Isaac’s move list in PlayStation All-Stars is pretty spot on. He’s a mid-range fighter that uses kinesis and stasis abilities found in the Dead Space series. I also really like his level 3 super where he blows open the airlock, sucking all the characters out in space then flies around blasting them to dust. Very cool.
Professional hoop dunker in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition
Okay, this one was the hardest for me to beileve but it’s true, Isaac was in NBA Jam: On Fire. This is WILD. I’ve been desperatley trying to find actual clips of Isaac in action, but there seemingly are none which is a travesty. From the limited screenshots though, we can see Isaac doing some major slam dunking. Looks like he’s putting all the practice he had with his zer-G basketball to good use.
Soul chopper in Dante’s Inferno
Isaac is lookin’ so SLICK. In Dante’s Inferno Isaac is an unlockable skin which doesn’t so anything special but does look increibly dope. Dante’s Inferno has some bonkers costumes and it looks like with Isaac they’ve just Dante’s scythe and cross to the outfit. Isaac’s spacesuit and helmet are incredibly iconic so I’m happy they kept those.
Ragdoll grinder in Skate 3
Isaac rides skateboards and is cool now. Jk, Isaac was always cool but now he can rail grind and ollie too. Isaac is an unlcokable skin in Skate 3, and seeing him pull off those moves with his personalised rust-coloured iron skateboard is pretty impressive given his thick spacesuit. This is definitely a fun one, and now I really wanna see him kickflip his board into a necromorphs’s ugly face.
Dragon biffer in Dragon Age 2
Now, THIS is a look. Isaac’s space suit got a complete medieval makeover for his cameo in Dragon Age 2, and wow he looks great with a sword. Ser Isaac was a downloadable character for the game with every copy of Dead Space 2 including a code for this skin. The Dragon Age 2 codex entry for Isaac reads: “The chilling tales of Ser Isaac of Clarke are a favorite of bards performing in the wee hours of the night. In dank taverns throughout Thedas, these horror-filled stories captivate listeners and bring nightmares to those faint of heart.” Incredible.
Haunting presence in Battlefield: Hardline
Okay, so Isaac isn’t exactly in Battlefield but there are tonnes of cool easter eggs to be found around Hardline so I thought I would chuck this entry at the end of the list. There are lots of Ishimura references from restaurant names and logos, there’s a statue of Lightspeed Boy, the cute mascot for Lightspeed bars, and there’s even a security guard who’s slacking off and playing Dead Space.
What a busy little bee. Funnily enough, the real reason why Isaac’s appeared in so many games over the years, particularly EA ones, was revealed just a couple of years ago, by Dead Space’s lead designer Ben Johnson. Apparently many of EA’s games used the same model rig back in the day, so adding Isaac was “as simple as importing the model”. Who knew! You learn something every day.
