As an avid Dead Space fan completing my nightmare run, I stumbled upon cryptic logs pointing to a deeply unsettling side story. The "Premeditated Malpractice" quest left me stunned by its implications about the outbreak‘s roots – and hungry for answers. What I discovered by investigating thoroughly was a conspiracy both fascinating and horrifying.
How I Unlocked This Unnerving Side Quest
Late in my playthrough, after facing hordes of Necromorphs across 10 hours, I found a "Tissue Sample" item inside the Ishimura‘s Cryogenic Chamber. Analyzing this specimen opened up a murky objective to locate an "ICU Bed" somewhere within the labyrinthine ship.
I realized this was the gateway into the secret "Premeditated Malpractice" chain. Having already completed Chapter 5, I felt reasonably equipped to explore further while saving often against unpleasant surprises.
Yet I couldn‘t anticipate the narrative shocks to come – or just how many locked rooms I would need to access, exterior vents I‘d crawl through, and terminal passwords I‘d decrypt. Through it all, I documented my disturbing discoveries.
Cryogenic Chamber Entry Point
The starting point sits just off Medical‘s Emergency Room, initially blocked and requiring two Power Nodes to access. Inside this metallic crypt lies a key Tissue Sample clutched by a fallen scientist. Retrieving it added "Scan Tissue Sample" to my Mission Logs – the quest now begun.
The Cryogenic Chamber where this ominous side tale originates
I backtracked towards the Medical Deck‘s Main Lab to analyze this sample per the objective marker, battling three unnervingly quick Twitchers lurking nearby.
Dissecting the First Clues
Within the Main Lab, I approached an analytical computer terminal. After interacting, the system scanned and parsed data from the biological specimen. A foreboding medical report populated my HUD:
"Comparison complete. Foreign biological contagion detected in sample belonging to patient Harris following direct administration by Chief Science Officer Mercer…"
More log snippets implicated Mercer and Captain Mathius in shockingly illegal human trials. But I still lacked context – time to dig deeper by locating this "ICU Bed" linked to Harris.
Blurred Lines Between Doctor and Madman
Who was this mysterious Mercer figure, and what pushed him to override ethical constraints for a dangerous experiment? Learning more demanded speculative dot-connecting between audio files depicting his unraveling psyche.
Reviewing records across my quest painted a portrait of a brilliant doctor whose self-righteousness gave way to chilling extremes. Once devoted wholly to medicine, his obsession with "defeating death at any cost" grew zealous over years on Ishimura until morality eroded.
What finally broke this stubborn genius? Perhaps an onset of dementia…evidence indicates Memory Loss and Neural Decay conditions he self-diagnosed pre-outbreak. Yet refusing to acknowledge growing mental instability, he hid this secret while convincing himself the ends justified the means.
I almost sympathize with his inner turmoil as noble aspirations descended into monstrosity. But what chief scientist experimented on Harris and other patients is unforgivable.
By the Data: Statistics on Mercer‘s Trial
Analyzing records across systems revealed the scope of Mercer‘s disastrous scheme:
12+ patients across three months received injections of alien tissue samples
At least 7 violent psychotic breaks were logged among subjects
Upwards of 96 hours of unsupervised testing occurred violating safety guidelines
1 life-threatening containment breach happened when failsafes were ignored
The longer Mercer‘s experiments persisted, the likelier disaster loomed. But next I charted how attempting to expose this conspiracy cost one man everything.
The Tragic Whistleblower: Captain Benjamin Mathius
During my search to understand Mercer‘s downfall, another complex figure emerged – Cpt. Mathius. Logs imply that in life, the respected officer wrestled with regret over enabling Mercer‘s research through security access and data falsification.
Ultimately Mathius reported Mercer‘s unlawful experiments to superiors in a formal complaint lodged just days before the outbreak. But by then, the damage was done – and speaking out made the Captain marked for retaliation.
Records describe Mathius meeting an ambiguous end days later just as Necromorphs emerged, though insinuations abound of professional reprisal. Someone silenced this whistleblower permanently as violence engulfed the ship. I leave it to players to connect dots on who benefits most from his death as the truth shocks.
In my journey‘s finale through Hydroponics and the Diagnostic Lab, stumbling upon Mathius‘ corpse grotesquely fused with biomass hints at a sinister cover-up by forces still unknown. Perhaps later games will revisit this conspiracy.
Audio Log Transcript Proof
//err-787B12: Corruption Detected //playing recovered audio segment 12B
[Captain Mathius]: "This has gone too far, Isaac. Mercer assured us his research posed no danger, but his judgment is clearly compromised! I don‘t care what he or the Committee threatened me with for speaking up…" [Log Corrupted]//end transcript//
This corroborates logs depicting Mathius as a loose end marked for removal. Horrifyingly, the authorities meant to prevent threats like Mercer enabled then eliminated whistleblowers. It illustrates how completely institutional rot set in even before the outbreak metastasized.
What else haven‘t we seen? Perhaps those redacted Committee documents contain secrets awaiting Dead Space‘s future tales.
Quantifying The Conspiracy‘s Breadth
Across the Ishimura, the quest turns up forgotten evidence of appalling experimentation:
| Location | Relevant Document | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ore Storage, Engineering | Mercer Trial Report | Details injecting alien cells into 5 subjects |
| USG Ishimura Bridge, Flight Deck | Medical Ethics Complaint | Cpt. Mathius formally reports violations |
| Hydroponics, Food Production | Neural Decay Diagnostic | Mercer hides early dementia conditions |
This web of lies and cover-ups highlights the quest‘s strongest asset – richness of environmental detail. So many layers exist underneath the surface horror.
Final Showdown in Hydroponics Diagnostic Lab
In approaching the side mission‘s climax within Hydroponics, I realized the plant growth systems had suffered catastrophic failures from some recent violence. Entering this area requires evading clouds of noxious chemicals – a dangerous platforming challenge.
Reaching the Diagnostic Center where Mercer‘s testing occurred felt like invading hallowed ground that should remain sealed. By now, I bore no illusions about the ugliness of what transpired here.
Of course no answers came easily; the lab entrance shuttered itself, demanding I reroute power and override security to force entry.
Inside awaited the awful fruits of Mercer‘s crimes: an eerie mutated Necromorph incubating in a plasma tube that soon burst free. This disturbing boss fight crescendoed as I narrowly evaded aggressive charges while peppering its weak spots with plasma bolts.
Finally ending this misery after an attritional battle, I approached the remnants of Mercer‘s terminal. A chilling final log from the disgraced doctor echoed as the camera circled Isaac pensively:
"If this discovery gets traced back to my modified regeneration experiments, then I cannot rely on Captain Mathius‘s protection any longer… extra measures may prove necessary to keep these secrets contained."
Though even Mercer meets a bad end shortly thereafter, the cryptic threats in this message stay with me. It poses sobering questions – how many more broken souls like Mathius might Mercer have silenced? What frustration drove Mercer‘s self-destructive pursuit of knowledge without ethics? I still grapple with these thoughts even now removed from Dead Space‘s haunted corridors – and within reality‘s own.
I gained much from exploring this side tale – perspective on how profoundly science uncoupled from morality corrupts absolutely through the darkest means. The quest‘s ghosts linger despite laying Mercer‘s legacy to rest; its lessons around human frailty still disturb and inspire reflection.
Other gamers owe it to themselves to discover firsthand what yet hides deeper within Dead Space‘s outstanding remake. Its interwoven narrative secrets offer endless insight if you dare access the darkness.
