This year will see the release of Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Alvarez and released by 20th Century Studios—a ‘requel’ which will take place between the 1979 original and its 1986 sequel. Shortly after, there will also be a television series on FX that will greatly expand the universe 30 years before the events of the Nostromo. It appears that the Alien franchise is gaining new legs. In light of this, now is the time to take another look at Alien: Isolation by Feral Interactive, released in 2014 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and Android.
During its initial release, it garnered some rather lukewarm reviews and unjustly so. During the 7th generation, the survival-horror genre was rather thick throughout the gaming landscape. In the wake of Outlast and Amnesia, Alien: Isolation somehow got lost in the shuffle. This game is a spin-off of the original movie. The daughter of Ellen Ripley, Amanda, is in search of her mother after she went missing 15 years ago. She tracked the Nostromo’s flight recorder, which was found by the salvage crew of the Anesidora. In return for payment, they turned in the recorder on a giant space station called the Sevastopol for safekeeping. When Amanda boarded the Sevastopol to collect data on her mother’s whereabouts, things suddenly turned for the worse.
Design
The moment players start their game, they will “feel” like they’re on the set of Ridley’s Scott 1979 classic. Everything from Jerry Goldsmith’s score to H.R. Giger’s set design, this game drips with that movie’s atmosphere. Hence, there’s a strange mix of “biomechanical architecture” to “cassette futurism” laced together throughout the game’s map. Loneliness and dread will seep into your veins as you begin exploring Sevastopol. The graphics are crisp and well-realized. The lighting, reflections, and texture are impressive to look at to this day. The character models, however, look rather aged given that this game is over ten years old now.
So, with all that said, Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival-horror game. It’s a slow, deliberate, and intimate adventure. This game is all about stealth. Players must take Amanda through the innards of the Sevastopol, accomplishing all manners of missions all while avoiding certain death. This station is a big place. A giant floating city, in fact. Therefore, not only is there a Xenomorph sniffing about, but also a panicking populous and malfunctioning synthetics coming after you. There isn’t much action in this game. Frankly, it doesn’t need it. The feeling of being watched, stalked, and toyed with will loom over you the entire playthrough. That is more than enough to keep you on your toes. The rush of engaging in combat while gaming is one thing, but knowing that you’re being hunted is another. It’s a very different experience and provides an exotic flavor of horror.
Gameplay
Now, Ripley won’t be totally harmless during this adventure. She will have an arsenal at her disposal. Mostly, she will be able to craft items that can distract enemies and ward off the Xenomorph. Keep in mind, that you cannot kill the Xenomorph in this game. All you can do is chase it off. So, being an engineer, Ripley is rather handy in crafting things from scraps that you will find strewn about. Everything from; molotovs, pipe bombs, smoke grenades, and noisemakers. Thus, you will also find a; revolver, shotgun, and flamethrower down the line. These are for taking out synthetics and even other people if needed. Not so much for the alien. The only thing that’s useful against it is fire. As mentioned before, this is not an action-oriented game. You will need to remain quiet no matter what. Some gamers will want to open fire as an impulse, but it’s best to not do it unless as a last resort.
Gamers who are longing for more of a bombastic Alien adventure should check out Aliens: Fireteam Elite. When it comes to Alien: Isolation, you will need to force yourself to not shoot. Which, by the way, can be tricky sometimes. Ripley will come with a tracker. It will go off whenever there’s movement nearby. The location of organics moving around you will be vague and initially so. The Xenomorph could be above, below, or even behind you. Hence, its A.I. is completely random and quite intelligent. It will come chomping at your goodies for an entire segment, then it’ll just go away for a while. There’s no rhyme or reason here. Whatever happens, happens. So, whenever the Xenomorph decides to come out to play, Ripley can do a variety of things to get rid of it. She can blast it with fire, distract it with noise, or hide in a closet or under a desk.
Enemies
So, doing this may seem ‘cut and dry’ while playing Alien: Isolation, but it isn’t. There are a lot of nuances here. Hiding is only a ‘means to an end.’ If your tracker accidentally goes off, you will be heard and found, for example. Footsteps will give away your position, not to mention welding and pushing buttons. This game is a Metroidvania. The Sevastopol is separated into three towers, which players can freely explore via the transit system anytime they please. So, there is backtracking involved, which isn’t much of a problem considering the opening of new passages with upgraded tools. Besides the Xenomorph, enemies will work as a team. You will be; flanked, cornered, surrounded, and even called out.
Humans will say out loud, “it was nothing, call off the search.” Only to have them waiting for you when you decide to crawl out of your hiding place. Given the age of this game, the A.I. is surprisingly sharp. Toward the end of the game, things will happen that will make every orifice in your body pucker up. You will need to manually save your game, too. You will come across phones on the walls, which you can use to save your progress. They’re generously placed throughout the game, until near the end. This is when they get pretty scarce. Which, by the way, only heightens the tension. This is especially true when nearing the end of an objective, with barely any health and crawling through a dark vent. Will the Xenomorph be waiting for you in there? Only one way to find out. Especially since your tracker doesn’t work while inside vents.
Graphics
Alien: Isolation is not without its faults. The crafting feature is a little clunky and the lack of a jump or parkour move may aggravate some players. In all fairness, this could have been a deliberate design choice. Making Ripley too nimble could deflate the tension during a pursuit. Nonetheless, there will be a situation where the alien will have you cornered next to a desk or couch. You will be yelling at the screen, “jump over it” and you can’t. Other than that, the game is rock-solid. There are no; bugs, glitches, or crashes. There is variety in the environment and even with the puzzles. The thing about Alien: Isolation is that it treats you like an adult. It doesn’t highlight or lead you toward your objective. It was made so that players would need to fumble around and figure out where to go. It’s an important element of the horror aspect of it.
The tracker, however, does come with a line at the edge of its screen that subtlety shows you which direction you should be going, and that’s it. The campaign is also fairly long, too. One playthrough will last roughly 15-20 hours. There is also a ‘Survivor Mode’ where players must complete challenges while outwitting the Xenomorph. Lastly, there is also some DLC that involves the crew of the Nostromo. So, there is quite a bit of content and replayability to be found, here. So, if someone is craving a; dark, stealthy, and challenging adventure then Alien: Isolation should be looked into.
Conclusion
Alien: Isolation is one of those rare games that get better with age. With all these new Alien projects in the works, now is the best time to revisit this title. The user reviews throughout the years have been stellar, which is a far more accurate representation of this title. Sometimes, what’s old becomes new again. Alien: Isolation is available for; PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Android, and Nintendo Switch.
