And...this is it! The final chapter of "Playing the Game"! I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. It's been fun to write and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it! :) Dead Space 2: Playing the Game should be out very soon, or probably a lot sooner than you think, so keep an eye out for it. Thanks again!
DISCLAIMER: Only my OCs are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games and EA.
"I hope I don't die again," Isaac mumbled once the second Hive Mind battle got underway. He spent the next few minutes dodging tentacles and taking out some of the yellow "organs".
"Yeah," Kendra agreed, "I don't want to see myself get killed again." She shuddered as she said this.
"I still can't believe your character betrayed Isaac's like that," Hammond commented.
"Me neither," Kendra grumbled as Isaac found his game character being picked up by the Hive Mind again.
"All right," Isaac declared, "I'm not going to die this time." As the Hive Mind roared, the engineer made sure he aimed properly before shooting at the last two pods. He came very close to experiencing the long death scene again, but the Hive Mind shrieked in pain and tossed game-Isaac to the ground.
"Ooo," Hammond said, wincing, "That's gonna leave a bruise."
"I hope that's all there is," Isaac replied. The second stage of the battle then began, with the "organs" being located inside the body this time. At the same time, everyone noticed something else appearing on game-Isaac's level.
"Oh, no," Nicole groaned, "Are those Pregnants?"
"Looks like it," Kyne answered, nodding at her.
Many of the Pregnants began closing in on game-Isaac, making the real Isaac take a break from killing the Hive Mind in order to deal with them. The fight was so tense that nobody in the room could comment. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the screen.
The fight continued for the next ten minutes or so, with more Pregnants appearing to attack game-Isaac, but to no avail. After destroying a few more "organs", the Hive Mind screamed again as it picked up Isaac's game-character one more time. "Come on, Isaac!" Nicole cheered, "You can do it!"
"Go, Isaac!" the others cried as well as Isaac aimed and shot at the last few yellow pods inside the Hive Mind. Once those were gone, the Hive Mind dropped his game-character and began to sway back and forth. With a loud bang, the hulking monster crashed down onto the platform before falling off the edge.
"Whew!" Isaac sighed, "Thank God that's over!"
"True," Nicole said, "But you have to get out of there now!"
"Right!" And with that, Isaac picked up the controller again and directed himself towards the escape ramp. A cutscene then began as game-Isaac stumbled into the shuttle and started banging on the locked door. Something distorted came out of his mouth, which made everyone wonder if he had finally said something.
"Sounded like 'come on'," Isaac mused, "Well, at least I said that." After game-Isaac pounded on the door, it unlocked and opened, allowing him to sit in the pilot seat as he programmed the shuttle to return to space. Debris crashed down all around him, and once he was back in space, something that was hovering above the planet fell and crashed onto Aegis 7. Game-Isaac covered his eyes as white light filled the screen.
"Whoa!" everyone gasped.
"Damn, Isaac," Hammond mused, "You just blew up a whole planet!"
"That's crazy!" Kyne gasped while Mercer had nothing to say.
Once Aegis 7 was completely obliterated, the game changed scenes until it showed game-Isaac sitting in the shuttle as gentle music began to play in the back. He reached for his helmet as he finally removed it after all this time. "Oh!" the others gasped.
"This is when we were supposed to see my face," Isaac realized, "Not in the beginning. At least they got it right." They all watched as game-Isaac sighed and covered his eyes. Suddenly, a video log began to play, and everyone recognized game-Nicole.
"Isaac, it's me," she said, "I wish I could talk to you. I'm so-" Game-Isaac stopped the transmission before it could continue. He knew what it was going to say. They all did.
"What are you doing?" Mercer asked as game-Isaac powered everything down until he was sitting in the dark. He sighed again as he suddenly perked up and glanced over at the seat next to him.
A Necromorph bearing a striking resemblance to game-Nicole suddenly leaped up and screeched in his face as symbols flashed across the screen. "Whoa, what the hell?" everyone gasped as he or she jumped in his or her seat.
"Why am I a Necromorph?" Nicole cried as the frightening scene stopped and the credits began to roll.
"They just had to get one last scare in, didn't they?" Isaac realized, "Christ, that was scary." He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
"I can't believe it," Kendra said, "The game's over. We beat it!"
"What did you guys think?" Isaac asked, facing his friends, "Was it worth the money?"
The others paused to consider the question. "In some ways, yes," Kyne answered truthfully, "And other ways, no. I liked the story, but not the way they portrayed us." The rest pretty much felt the same way.
"I'm still writing the complaint letter," Mercer declared.
"I'll be curious to see what EA has to say about this," Hammond said. They all fell silent as the credits continued to roll, but once they were finished, they noticed one last text log was popping up.
"What's this?" Isaac asked, "Background Request?"
"Let's see what it says," Nicole suggested, and Isaac opened it and began to read it.
"To: Zach Hammond
From: XXXXXXXXXXX
Re: Background request
Per your request, here's what we could find on your hastily- assembled crew.
ISAAC CLARKE
Isaac was born to Paul and Octavia Clarke on Earth in the eastern seaboard region of the American Republic. Paul Clarke was an award-winning ship architect employed by the Galactic Union Marine Corp. His record show extended time off-world away from his family.
"When Isaac was born, Paul was given a temporary reassignment to an Earth-based GUMMC ship production facility. During the four-year tour, Paul and Octavia raised Isaac together. When the tour was over, Paul shipped off for an extended off-world tour.
"Paul's influence on his son must have rubbed off. Records indicate Isaac pursued studies in mechanical and electrical engineering and achieved high honors.
"According to medical and psychiatric reports, Paul Clarke's absence had a profound effect on Octavia. S he suffered from depression and personal anguish until doctors encouraged her to find fulfillment by working with charitable organizations. It is believed that this is how she ended up coming in contact with the Church of Unitology.
"Her association with the Church appears to have alleviated her mental condition. The cancellation of her therapy sessions corresponds with the local parish announcements of her initiation ceremony.
"At this point, records on her become somewhat scarce. There are indications that she sold off much of the family estate to finance her full membership in the church.
"Isaac appears to have been selected to a prominent engineering school but we surmise that he was unable to afford the tuition, as records show that he instead attended a lesser-known school with the help of scholarships and financial assistance.
"After graduating with high honors, Isaac enlisted in the Merchant Marines. He quickly gained a reputation for his resourceful engineering solutions and after two years was promoted to a higher-profile position closer to the major shipping lanes.
"There are several inquiries about the location of his father that have been logged by his contacts at the GUMMC. Isaac appears to have been trying to re-unite with him unsuccessfully for years. It's doubtful he ever got far in his investigation as Paul Clarke's service record has been mysteriously classified by an executive order.
"Octavia continues to be a contributing member of her church and has managed to purchase a Vested-level title.
"Isaac's career stagnates at this point. There are records that he cohabited with a medical officer named Nicole Brennan for a couple of years. Records indicate she moved out after receiving a promotion and is currently serving on the USG Ishimura.
"KENDRA DANIELS
I couldn't find anything on her in the time I had but Darlton swears by her. She is on the mission with his recommendation. If he thinks she has the necessary skills, who am I to argue?"
At first, none of them knew what to say, but then Isaac broke the silence. "That's creepy," he commented, "That's exactly what happened to me. Except for, you know, the Ishimura part."
"I didn't know your game character requested background information on us, Hammond," Kendra commented, "I wonder why." Hammond shrugged.
"Well, against all odds," Isaac continued, "This has been one bizarre experience, but I'm glad we all went through it together."
"Amen to that," Kendra agreed, "It's been an interesting ride."
"It was worth seeing a game about ourselves," Hammond added, and Isaac nodded to himself as he felt the same way. Now all Mercer had to do was send in the complaint letter, and then everything would be fine.
Two days later, at Visceral Games and EA…
Things were always hectic around EA's main headquarters, but things were about to get lively the minute a large envelope ended up in one of the main mailboxes.
"Looks like a letter coming in for feedback on something," one of the secretaries commented, taking it and opening it, since the higher-ups were in a conference at the moment. The young woman skimmed over the letter first before going back to reread it, and she was surprised at the contents.
To whom it may concern:
My friend, Isaac Clarke, recently purchased Dead Space on the Xbox 360, and I have a few things I would like to comment on. While the game itself was well put together, and despite the fact that the game play was excellent, I have a few points to criticize. Please do not take this the wrong way, but we all came to these conclusions once we finished the game.
First, I would like to discuss the way our characters were portrayed. Most of us were almost, if not completely, out of character. You did not give Mr. Clarke a voice, you made Miss Daniels the main human antagonist, and you portrayed half of us as murderers or psychotic. Miss Brennan was nothing more than a hallucination. We wanted to inform you that this is not how we are in real life, and if a lawsuit for defamation of character is the only option, then we will see to it that this happens. I will also let you know that the Concordance Extraction Corporation, as well as the Earth Government, will not be pleased once they see that they have been shown to be involved in illegal operations. Everything we do is legal.
Second, we also did not appreciate being killed off one by one except for Mr. Clarke. One of my other friends, Zach Hammond, asked me to include the fact that his character was technically the first one to die in the game, excluding Miss Brennan. If there is something you can do to remedy this, that would be good. Watching ourselves die in the most gruesome ways was not satisfying.
Other than that, the game was good. It was just those main points that needed to be addressed, since those were our main complaints. If it is at all possible, I would appreciate a prompt response to see how everyone there feels about this. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Challus Mercer
The secretary, whose name was Diana, put the letter down for a minute and took in the content. She was surprised at first that the characters from the game were responding like this, and she realized she would have to take the letter to the executive producers. Powering down her computer, she quickly ran through the quiet hallways and knocked on the door leading to the conference room. "Come in!" a voice cried from the other end.
Diana entered the room and took a deep breath, "Sorry to interrupt," she sighed, "But this letter just came in and I thought you'd want to see it." She handed it over and watched her her bosses scanned it over.
"Hmm," one of them commented, "Interesting. Very interesting. What do you think?" He handed the letter over to his co-executive producer.
"Well, we don't want a lawsuit," he replied after he finished reading Mercer's letter, "But what they don't realize is that we've got another game out already. How about we write him back, apologize, and send him a free copy of Dead Space 2?"
"Dead Space 2?" Diana asked, raising an eyebrow, "Are you sure that's a good idea? They might get even angrier."
"Then we'll have to be ready for it," the first man quipped, "Mr. Mercer did say that the game was good. I think they'll like the next one and the corrections we've made." He reached for a copy of Dead Space 2 and handed it to Diana.
"I just hope they won't start marching outside the office," the young secretary mumbled as she returned to her desk and began to wrap up Dead Space 2. However, after a few minutes, Diana couldn't help but grin to herself a little bit. If they reacted the way they did with the first Dead Space, then Dead Space 2 was definitely going to be interesting.
And with that, Diana booted up her computer again, opened up a blank document, and began to type.