Alien Isolation is one of the most lovingly crafted games you can experience. Along with Resident Evil REmake, System Shock 2 and Silent Hill 2, it is of one of the best horror games ever made. The incredible attention to detail, the care taken with the story and the settting. It is also probably THE best use of licence in a videogame, with F13th the Game coming far back as capturing the spirit and the feel of the movie(s).
I cannot recommend this game. It hurts me to say it, because the original is one of the best horror adventure games every written and made. But with this "HD" remake, the game lost majority of it´s appeal. The story is still there, though slightly tweaked and the game is still as well written as it ever was. BUT... All chapters have been simplified, you cannot go anywhere or do anything until the game specifically allows you to do so. You could do thing out of order in the original. not so much here. The game is just ugly. Look at the images above. Even some hidden object games look better than this. The perspective of a lot of the locations is screwed up (Mosely´s office being one of the worst examples), some objects are badly inserted into the backgrounds etc. The character models are badly animated and often ugly looking etc. The original was dark and gritty and this looks like a cheap Saturday cartoon. If you want to experience the first Gabriel Knight, one of the best adventure games ever made, play the original. This is a barely "OK" remake, and it pales in all departments when compared to the original
I have spend over 100 hours playing this game on various platforms, with my Steam account currently showing 80 hours alone. This game is long, often difficult and sometimes a little bit frustrating, but most importantly it is extremely fun. The whole experience plays like a "best of" selection of known horror games. - Abandoned mansions, factories and hospitals like in classic Resident Evil games. - Bizarre villages and castles straight out of Resident Evil 4. - Mind bending visuals, changing environment, hellish alternate world like in Silent Hill. - Intense chase sequences, stealth sequences, there is even a short on rails segment. - The boss battles are absolutely amazing and terrifying (my favorite is one near the end of the game, that was clearly inspired by The Faculty). - The DLCs (namely The Assignment & The Consequence) are worth every penny and are better, more focused experiences. What might turn some people off is the fact, that the story is really about the villain and not the main protagonist. There is no emotional attachment to Sebastian (which was fixed in an equally fantastic second game), the whole game is about navigating the mind and story of the main villain. All in all, this is an excellent modern survival horror game and worth every penny.
TEW2 fixed many issues that plagued the first game (which I love dearly). The first and biggest problem TEW had was the story. Because you were most of the time basically flung around the mind of the main antagonist, the game was extremely fragmented, set piece heavy and never really managed to make you invested in anything. You might have wanted to see how it ends, but you never cared enough for anyone. The issue was already getting fixed in the amazing DLCs, namely The Assignment and The Consequence, which managed to tell more focused and personal story while also shedding some light at Sebastian, even though you play a different character. So TEW2 focuses solely on Sebastian (and a little bit of Kidman) and tones down the insanity and location hopping of the first game. There are still amazing, bizzare visuals and mind bending world... well... bending. While the story might be clichéd, it is presented in such a sincere manner, without any needless dramatics or melancholy that it manages to work. You care. The game actually retroactively makes the first game matter for Sebastian, who is suffering from some heavy PTSD. The game now has two "HUBs", which in reality are just two chunks of a city floating in darkness. These locations are relatively big (but not too much, you can run from one end to the other in about two minutes tops), with a lot of secrets (statues with keys, hidden objects or files but nothing over the top or annoying as in Ubisoft titles, so do not worry) but I would not call them open world. It has more in common with roaming the streets of Silent Hill. Even Silent Hill Downpour had bigger city, so nothing too radical to see here. You are given more freedom to explore all locations you visit though, whereas the first TEW felt more claustrophobic and corridor-y. So whole TEW2 might have sacrificed some of the first game trippy insanity, it greatly benefits from having a firmer grip on its story and characters.
I have spend over 100 hours playing this game on various platforms, with my Steam account currently showing 80 hours alone. This game is long, often difficult and sometimes a little bit frustrating, but most importantly it is extremely fun. The whole experience plays like a "best of" selection of known horror games. - Abandoned mansions, factories and hospitals like in classic Resident Evil games. - Bizarre villages and castles straight out of Resident Evil 4. - Mind bending visuals, changing environment, hellish alternate world like in Silent Hill. - Intense chase sequences, stealth sequences, there is even a short on rails segment. - The boss battles are absolutely amazing and terrifying (my favorite is one near the end of the game, that was clearly inspired by The Faculty). - The DLCs (namely The Assignment & The Consequence) are worth every penny and are better, more focused experiences. What might turn some people off is the fact, that the story is really about the villain and not the main protagonist. There is no emotional attachment to Sebastian (which was fixed in an equally fantastic second game), the whole game is about navigating the mind and story of the main villain. All in all, this is an excellent modern survival horror game and worth every penny.
