The engineering suit is an exosuit that completely covers the wearer's body. List of armor upgrades in Dead Space (mobile) In Dead Space 3, Suit Kiosks replaced the Stores for navigation, and guidance to a Save station was replaced with an autosave feature In Dead Space, this system included a 3D map and the line guided users to objectives. This feature projects a colored line on the environment that guides the user to objectives, save points, Benches, and Stores. The RIG also allows its user to store text logs and the like within the RIG's built-in memory, which are displayed in widescreen projections to make reading easier. The main use of the display is for RIG users to communicate with one another through live video chat, or to send live audio messages to one another.
These displays are used for various features. The display also moves with the user if the user walks around at all while it is projected. Utilizing the Holotech Operating System, a RIG has the ability to project a holographic display, which is projected a few feet (about a meter) in front of the RIG wearer. The RIG could also potentially show signs of bacterial or viral-based illness. It is known that if the user of the RIG is harmed, the RIG automatically applies any carried health packs to the damaged area. It is unknown what it bases the wearer's health on, be it a rough estimate of damaged body parts or the functionality of internal organs. It will blink when the user is near death. The bar changes color depending on the user's overall health aqua-blue for above 75%, green for above 50%, yellow for below 50%, and red for below 25%. If a RIG wearer dies, the RIG will give off a flatline sound, identical to an alert cardiograph. These bars will drain and refill depending on the user's health. The most distinctive feature of the RIG is its health management system, which actively displays the wearer's health in real time via a segmented colored bar that runs along the spine of the wearer, allowing for interface into the wearer's nervous system, and therefore the ability to detect the wearer's health status. More advanced suits offer benefits like increased storage space, damage resistance, and "bonuses" to weapons, stasis, kinesis, or store purchases. Various RIG-equipped suits can be purchased from stores, provided the user has clearance and the proper blueprints. Very few people are shown not to possess them, which suggests that most professions require some form of RIG to be used. RIGs appear to be ubiquitous throughout society. These suits, in addition to the RIG's basic functions, have features such as an internal oxygen supply for work in a vacuum, gravity boots, and thrusters for zero-gravity movement, and armor to protect against damage from various sources. For more dangerous work, RIGs are installed in full-body suits. Engineers and other service personnel wear similar garb, but often possess Kinesis and Stasis modules to aid in their profession, the latter with the requisite monitor mounted to the right of the spinal display. Civilian RIGs are typically little more than the spinal display and wrist projectors attached to basic clothing. RIGs vary greatly depending on the user's occupation and status.
Depending on the RIG, Nodes can be used to upgrade air supply, resilience to damage, or enhance the strength of Kinesis. RIGs can be upgraded at a nano-circuit repair Upgrade Bench using Power Nodes. Finally, RIGs can be used as a form of biometric lock, only allowing specific RIG users access to designated areas, though such scanners fail to take into account whether the user is living or dead. RIG users can be individually tracked if need-be, even if dead. It is capable of two-way audio and visual communication. It can also project a colored line to guide the user to a destination, be it a location or a service like a store or workbench. The size of the display can vary depending upon the data it is accessing. Holographic projectors mounted on the wrists can create a two-dimensional display in front of the user, to display whatever they might need to see. When the user dies, it emits a "flat-line" sound similar to an EKG, which is loud enough to alert others within earshot of the RIG wearer's demise. A spine-mounted display serves to indicate the user's general state of health as a glowing segmented bar which depletes as the user takes damage. Developed from medical monitoring systems designed for elderly patients, it has found common usage among the adult population.
RIGs monitor the lifesigns of an individual.