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Once upon a time, Isaac Clarke was Dead Space's mute hero, stomping throughout the USG Ishimura with grim determination (and an even grimmer plasma cutter). The mild-mannered engineer had no idea what was awaiting him on that ship, but this ground-breaking horror – developed by EA's Redwood Shores studios – was a runaway success, spawning two sequels before the studio, which had been rebranded as Visceral by that time, was closed.
On the back of Dead Space's success, Clarke popped up in a number of unexpected places, including other EA games such as NBA Jam: On Fire Edition and Skate 3. And while some of those appearances were, er, a little weird, none felt stranger than Clarke's iconic suit popping up as a skin in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.
Turns out, however, Clarke may have been more comfortable on that putting green than we first gave him credit for.
Spotted by our pals at PC Gamer, a former EA Redwood Shores developer replied to a viral tweet which implored we remember "that hot second where EA kept trying to act like Isaac Clarke from dead space was this iconic universally beloved character". And while it's likely no secret that developers often recycle the same assets and code across multiple projects in order to save time and avoid having to continually reinvent the wheel, would you have guessed Clarke's model started off as none other than Tiger Woods?
Hey, Dead Space LD here. All these games used the same basic model rig, so adding Isaac was as simple as importing the model. Dead Space’s engine was a branch off of Tiger Woods, which was made in the same studio as Dead Space back then.October 12, 2019
"Hey, Dead Space [level designer] here," Ben Johnson said. "All these games used the same basic model rig, so adding Isaac was as simple as importing the model. Dead Space's engine was a branch off of Tiger Woods, which was made in the same studio as Dead Space back then."
And indeed it was. Redwood Shores developed the Tiger Woods games from 2000 to 2007, predating Dead Space's conception by several years. I guess that's why Clarke looks so utterly at home on the picture above, eh?
In other Dead Space news, you can add Glen Schofield to the list of people who would love to see the franchise rebooted. Schofield left Activision's Sledgehammer Games in December 2018, but before he put out three Call of Duty entries, he was one of the creators of Dead Space. Asked which of the many games from across his decades-long career he would return to for a sequel if he could, Schofield said it would be Dead Space.
"Of course it would be Dead Space, that would be one I'd love to do a sequel for someday."
If you're looking for more chills, peek out from behind your fingers long enough to read our list of the best horror games.
