Returning to the
Ishimura brings a lot of horror, a lot of sorrow, and a lot of death... But it also brings some incredible stuff along with it.
- The ADS sequence. What was once firmly considered to be That One Level in the original game is now a truly awe-inspiring spacewalk along the outside of the Ishimura's hull as gargantuan asteroids rain down from the void of space. The spectacular redesign of this section has made one of the most maligned moments of the original game into one of the game's most memorable and exciting sequences, helped immensely by the juxtaposition of the silence of space with the chaotic dash to sync the ADS Cannons.
- Hammond's death is an absolute Tear Jerker, but the way he goes out is still pretty badass. After being impaled by the Slasher that was once Chen, Hammond is finally brought back to his senses long enough to push himself and the Slasher into the Valor's singularity core, killing them both.
- Isaac's Badass Boast to the Hive Mind.
- The ability to impale enemies with Kinesis is retroactively brought here from Dead Space 2, allowing Isaac to stab and pin enemies with whatever thin and sharp objects are lying around. Even Necromorphs' own bone blades can be used to spear them! There's even an achievement for ripping a blade off of a dangling piece of flesh and then impaling the Necromorph it was previously attached to.
- Some of the original weapons either have altered functions based on their later incarnations in the original sequels, or entirely new abilities. The Contact Beam's signature charge blast is its secondary fire, while its primary fire is a steady beam of energy. The Pulse Rifle now sports a Grenade Launcher instead of the radial sweep mode. And the Force Gun's alt fire plants a gravity well to suck enemies into place and make it easier to keep them corralled.
- Just like the original, you can still play the entire game with just the Plasma Cutter, earning an achievement for doing so.
- The very existence of the Infested Suit skin, which along with its tooltip implies that in one scenario Isaac was killed and claimed by the undead outbreak at some point on the Ishimura. However, despite now being reanimated as a member of the Necromorph hordes now haunting the ship, he's managed to retain (or regain) his former humanity and sense of self, along with being just as combat-capable as ever despite his extensively and horrifically mutilated body. Putting all of that together gives the heavy implication that despite his gruesome death and infection, a process that leaves anyone else either being reduced to an Ax-Crazy slave of the Marker or hoping that someone comes along and gives them a Mercy Kill, he outright shook off his horrific situation and came back as the man he used to be in order to ensure that Nicole is brought home safe, all the while laying waste to anyone, even his fellow Necromorphs, that try to hinder his goal.
