3 years after the events of the original Dead Space, Isaac Clarke awakens in the Sprawl; a space station situated near the Titan moon of Saturn. Being held in a psych ward while suffering from Marker-induced dementia and violent hallucinations, he escapes his cell with the help of a man named Franco Delille who is transformed by a necromorph before he can free Isaac from his straight jacket. Through communication on his Riglink with a woman named Daina le Guin, who was associated with Franco, Isaac is able to escape the mental hospital. He finds the Sprawl overrun by Necromorphs and its survivors either being killed or committing suicide due to a Marker's influence. Daina reveals that the station's director Hans Tiedemann recreated a Marker with the data in Isaac's mind and used memory-blocking drugs on Isaac to prevent the recollection of said data from destroying his psyche.