Dead Space's "Unitology" - or Scientology in space February 4, 2011

I was waiting for someone to draw this comparison.

The original Dead Space game only touched on Unitology – it was a plot device to push forward many of the character’s seemingly irrational actions in the face of increasing catastrophe. Religious zealotry can drive people to amazing lengths, but they didn’t really touch on the size and scope of this religion they’d created, save for this one text log you can find in the game:

UNITED WE... ASCEND?

Is Unitology a new hope, or just another scam?

By Carrie Van Ottken

If you've been living on Mars for the past 200 years, you might have missed the fastest-growing religious movement in history.

Unitology boasts a following of millions, counts powerful CEOs and officials in its ranks, claims $78 billion of stock in multiglobal companies, and owns two of Earth's largest financial institutions (GPSG Financial and Unitas Energy Investments). From its beginnings as a cult of personality, Unitology has become a respected, established religion. Most people know the basics. Two hundred years ago, Michael Altman, a professor of Anthropology, blew the whistle on what he claimed to be the biggest cover-up ever instituted by Earth Government--the discovery of an artifact or "Marker" which proved beyond any doubt there is alien life in the Universe. The Government labelled Altman a kook, but his claims struck a chord with some, and his mysterious death soon afterwards fueled that interest.

Unitologists believe the marker contained a code, the key to eternal life, through rebirth and ascension to heaven (The kicker is you have to die first). They say the government is hiding the marker somewhere, keeping its secrets for themselves. Across all of human space, Unitologists praise Altman's martyrdom and await the day God comes to take them to their new life beyond death. It all sounds pretty harmless. But, like any cult, there's a dark side.

Unitologists are "ranked" in the Church. Nobody ever talks about it, but most of its critics believe there are at least three ranks above the average believer, or "initiate". With each new rank, more of the Church's inner workings and research are revealed to a follower. And these ranks are achieved by one simple criteria--giving money and power to the Church.

Think taking all your money's bad? The Church also requires their members to donate their bodies after death. Why? What do they do with them? Nobody will say, and attempts to infiltrate the inner circle have failed. With their emphasis on "transformation and rebirth", maybe we wouldn't like the answer even if they told us.

One rumor that also refuses to die says the Church is funding a secret shipbuilding program. Some claim to have seen the fleet. No documentary evidence has ever been supplied, but the claimants all say these "mausoleum ships", despite their huge size (Cont'd on p94)

Other than that… Unitology is used as a plot point to move the story forward.

Playing through Dead Space 2, especially when you start reading and listening to the various text & audio logs left around in the apartments, and later in the Unitology church, it’s absolutely clear that they’ve lifted much from Scientology. The indoctrination centers, the behind the scenes messages regarding preying on the gullible, the cash one must spend to rise within the church to reach new “levels”, there’s no doubt who they’re skewering here. EA’s rather flaccid denial is nothing more than an attempt to blunt what will certainly be an outraged response from Scientology, and the likely inevitable lawsuit.

I am intensely curious to see how this plays out. I wonder if EA is looking at this partially under the concept of “Any press is good press”, but the game is already selling incredibly well. If attention reaches a certain critical mass, I can see it becoming a favorite target of the video-games-cause-everything-bad-ever bandwagon.