Even before the monsters arrived, the USG Ishimura was a nightmare.
I mean, yes, the hulking spaceship where Dead Space takes place isn’t exactly a floating Hilton once its crew have been turned inside out by a bunch of drooling flesh moths, but there is ample evidence that the Ishimura was a miserable place to live and work long before that happened. This is why the planet cracker class vessel is still remembered as fondly as other iconic spaces such as City 17, Rapture and the Spencer Mansion. Despite its fantastical contexts, the Ishimura is a believable location, one where the work itself is deemed more important than the workers who do it.