Alien: Isolation

Spoiler Alert - some vey minor spoilers. I spent 25 years in the Marine Corps, including a tour in Iraq. Playing this game for an hour is more scary then the enitire 7 months I spent in Al Anbar province. To be clear, I was only shot at a few times, the insurgents weren't good shots, and knowing I was with other Marines and that I had an assault rifle was more then enough to keep me calm and confident. This game is the exact opposite of that. It's essentially a horror stealth game where the alien is unkillable and you the player are alone and defenceless for most of the game, You basically spend almost all your time hiding (or in my case, cowering in fear, especially when the alien is nearby) as you try to make your way through Sevastopol Station. The Alien is smart, fast, and lethal. And I've lost count on how many times it's killed me. I don't like horror stealth games, mainly becasue I don't like hiding and I don't like being defenceless. So why 4 stars and why do I play it? Mostly because I 've been a huge alien fan since 1979 when I first saw the original movie. The story still intrigues me 50 years later. And I like a challenge. And this game is certainly that. A terrifying, gut wrenching, heart pounding, soul searing, nightmairsh challenge.

"Alien: Isolation” is a survival-stealth game that captures the classic “cat and mouse” feeling, where tension peaks, especially when played on Hard mode. Its main strength is in the way it portrays the Xenomorph, staying true to Ridley Scott’s iconic vision: a single, deadly, terrifying threat constantly looming over the player. The sound of its footsteps will make your skin crawl as you hide, distract it, or fend it off temporarily—only for it to relentlessly return. The game demands careful resource management, as essential supplies are scarce. The atmosphere is beautifully enhanced by the retro-futuristic art style, embracing a 1970s/'80s aesthetic. The sound design, too, is phenomenal, adding a layer of suspense to every moment. Interspersed with tension are calmer moments where the soundtrack immerses you in chilling yet fascinating atmospheres, reminiscent of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Unfortunately, the game occasionally breaks up this core rhythm with sections featuring hostile humans and androids, but these encounters aren't nearly as compelling as the terrifying Xenomorph. The hacking minigames also leave something to be desired, feeling more like filler than integral gameplay elements. Another minor downside, which can slightly detract from the experience, is the plausibility of Amanda Ripley's tasks. Sometimes they seem designed simply to move you across the map, rather than adding meaningful engagement. When performing repairs, for instance, you’re not solving puzzles; you’re just following a checklist to progress the game, waiting for more exciting things to happen. That said, despite these minor flaws, “Alien: Isolation” is still an excellent title for fans of horror and suspense. If you’re seeking an immersive experience, I highly recommend starting on Hard mode right away. Personal rating: 8/10. While we wait for a potential sequel, this game is well worth picking up and playing through

I could write about the graphics still being even better than some new releases, or, how fluid the gameplay is; I could write about how the sound effects force you into the moment and make your hair stand on end, and, how the music just attacks you, sounding like it's right out of the movie. This game is a continuation of that experience, ensuring that the first Alien movie didn't end with Ellen Ripley escaping the Nostromo by the skin of her undies with Jonsey, the cat. But, no. A deep story and Sevastopol station, the stage for Alien: Isolation - became a living and breathing entity on it's own - making me wish I had been aboard during it's better days, is what made me love this game. Amanda Ripley, the protagonist of Alien: Isolation and daughter of Ellen Ripley from the movies, was a child when her mother failed to return home after encountering the alien on a routine deep space mining haul. Now, an engineer, she heads to Sevastopol station in hopes of finding a clue to her mother's whereabouts, and, the Nostromo flight recorder. You can explore every inch of the abandoned station and unlock it's secrets in the form of logs and computer entries left behind by the inhabitants. Hack terminals and doors to find collectibles and movie lore, expanding the Alien universe and clues to the disaster on the Nostromo. I'm writing this review after my fourth playthrough, and, before beginning my fifth. See you on Sevastopol

Alien Isolation is a favorite of mine when it comes to the genre. It is overall a well-crafted game. Starting from the environment, which is mostly a retro-futuristic space station in disrepair. It's often dark and foreboding, it sets up the atmosphere quite well. The environments while similar, they remain distinguishable with a few fulfilling specific functions (hab block, starport, manufacturing... and sigh medical). The game is surprisingly well optimized and its graphics hold up quite well (at least outside character models which are a bit less good looking). The game's strongest point (and at times its Achilles heel) is the titular Alien. the game lets it roam around a few sections actively hunting whatever human is in the area. Stealth is an absolute necessity (at least early on, and in higher difficulties). When everything fits into place, the game is fantastic. While it may not be necessarily scary, it is tense, due to a combination of the sound design, the graphics, and the seemingly smart xenomorph. However, this is where the game can also fail, the tension does dissipate after repeated deaths, leaving only place to frustration. The game does try to diversify the threats outside of the Alien, you may have to deal with androids and other humans (a good chunk of which are hostile, but not all), however their AI pales in comparison to the alien's. The campaign is quite lengthy (sometimes overly so) and there is enough side content (especially with the various DLC). The story is the basic kind you'd expect from an Alien movie, it is serviceable, nothing more. The gameplay being mostly stealth based may not be everyone's cup of tea, especially those used to the more combat focused Alien games, but I still loved it.

I tried very hard to like this game, and in the end, I couldn't. It's extremely pretty, visually. However, and mind that this is a personal opinion, it fails to deliver on a crucial aspect. Fun. This game simply wasn't fun for me. On the contrary. This game wants to scare you, desperately, but instead of resorting to a well rounded narrative to set it up, it relies instead on gimmicky game mechanics to attempt this feat. That is my main issue with this game, it never stops being a gimmick. It never lets you forget that you're playing a game, it never quite allows you to suspend your disbelief long enough for you to be sucked into the story. Now, in a game that is supposed to give you a few good scares, this is counter-productive. The story itself, is competent enough, but nothing to write home about. It feels tacked on and ultimately serves as just another excuse to take the player to the next, game, level. It actually feels like there are two different games here. One is the story driven one, that had to be there just to serve as base for the main game, and then the main event, a game of Less-Fun-Alien-Pac-Man. Perhaps the importance of these two elements should have been reversed, or better balanced at least. I kept thinking that if I could indeed get pulled in by the story and the ambient noises and all the visual goodness, this game would actually deliver in a big way. It would be genuinely frightening, and memorable. That would explain all the 5 star reviews, and I get it. If this game is for you, you will enjoy it a lot. Sadly, it's not for me. I wasn't scared, I was annoyed. Annoyed by the artificiality of the main game's mechanics, annoyed by the randomness of the alien and its unrealistic, player focused aggression. Ultimately annoyed by the game's inability to scare me, I guess. It's hard to be scared when you are constantly reminded that "this is only a gimmick", and to me, this is this game's greatest failure. It's simply not fun.