Dead Space 2 is quickly becoming a favorite among horror game fans, as it greatly improves upon the massively popular original in more than a few ways. A key part of the lore is the fanatical religion known as ‘Unitology,’ whose followers worship the mysterious ‘Marker’ as an artifact capable of explaining humanity’s origins. Many fans of the series have tried to draw parallel between Unitology and Scientology, citing the fact that they both:

Have origins based in science Feature prominent figures from their respective societies Disseminate information to members based on their rank within the church Require that members donate large amounts of their wealth to the religion

MTV recently sat down with Dead Space 2’s Creative Director Wright Bagwell in an attempt to silence the discussion once and for all by asking him about Unitology and its alleged links to Scientology.

Bagwell was clear that the game’s story may be written with connections to things beyond science fiction, but it’s certainly not a moral or political statement:

Indeed the ‘-ology’ ending does put them phonetically in the same boat, but Wright maintained that its not where the inspiration for Unitology came from:

Perhaps gamers have been taking a look at this from the wrong angle. They’ve been picking on Scientology because both religions share a common suffix, when it seems like Wright was actually trying to be as indiscriminate as possible. A lot of the important characteristics of Unitology are also present in Catholicism. A hierarchical church structure? Check. Prominent members of society are members of the church? Check. Members of the church are encouraged to donate to the church? Check.

When you truly look at the basic tenets, it’s easy to see that the parallels could’ve been drawn with any religion. Unitology from this perspective may just be a social commentary on all religion, and how patrons seem to be drawn to religion as a means of explaining things that can be rationalized, but are simply not understood.

In terms of the game, this shows through in how the Unitologists percieve the Marker. They don’t understand it any more than Isaac does, but they’ve attributed a lot of religious belief to its purpose, and somewhat accurately. After all, the thing does indeed bring them unity and a life after death. The truth, while not much less extraordinary, is much less mystical.

Dead Space 2 is out now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. We braved The Sprawl so that you could know whether or not it was worth exploring in our review of the game.

With an issue as potentially charged as this one, we want to know: what do you think about the parallels drawn between Unitology and real-world religions?

Source: MTV