My husband is in love with it but then he is the world’s biggest Alien fan. Like, it’s his comfort movie. When he’s having a rough time he puts it in the player and watches it to sleep.
It is arguably the finest game adaptation of Alien. I do hope an upcoming DLC allows one to be the alien.
One of the things I noticed while playing the game is that I ended up being much like the alien: I would sneak through the vents and lurk in the shadows, preying on the humans and withdrawing when resistance was too strong.
In that way, it was a bit like playing one of the aliens from the second movie.
Was anyone else far, far too conservative in their use of items? I think I used the noisemakers and the Molotov one or twice, the EMP a few times more. I was always so concerned that the upcoming bit that going to require everything I had that I wanted to have as many items as I possibly could, lest I get stuck and have to start over again.
This often happens in the games I play so it may simply be a reflection of my plan-focused, cautious mindset. Yet, I wonder if there is a way that game designer could use to reassure the player that using special items will not screw them over later.
From a designer’s point of view, you want the player to make the most of the means available to him, yet in a game like that, the player will become paranoid and extremely stingy.
How would that problem be solved?
Here are a few of my screenshots so far: Steam Community :: Whack-a-Mole :: Screenshots
Unfortunately screenshots do not do it justice really. The game looks excellent and its atmosphere is stellar. It really puts you there ala the original movie. In particular the lighting is outstanding as is the audio.
DEFINITELY play this with headphones. Preferably a good pair and preferably with virtual surround sound (pretty common for most a lot of soundcards these days…you’ll have to check you system to know). Positional audio is pretty important on this one (not necessary but really helps).
Dark room at night helps too.
I have an AMD 7970 with 6GB of RAM, Intel i7-930 2.8 OC’d to 3.8Ghz and 8GB of RAM (so a bit long in the tooth but still good) and this game runs with all settings maxed and as smooth as can be. I have not checked my framerate but honestly…smooth as can be and looks great. My video card fans aren’t even working all that hard…dunno how CA did it.
Yes.
Definitely.
I had to take a break to write this after being chased by the alien for awhile.
The atmosphere is oppressive and brooding. Every little sound can be a “What was that?” moment. Indeed the soundwork is great, you learn the usual noises of the place and I absolutely use them to help discern where the alien is (a distant door opening for instance not to mention the thud of its footsteps). Even so there is enough miscellaneous noises that picking out the important one sets you on edge (in a good way).
When you start the game set your gamma per instructions. This is one game you do not want too bright. The lighting is brilliant in this game and you really do wonder what is lurking in the shadows.
Perhaps more creepy is the glow of Average Joe’s (androids) eyes down and otherwise dark corridor.
As mentioned it takes awhile to be really threatened in the game but even before the alien things are there that will get you (eg Average Joes). My first freak out moment, actually yelped out loud in my room, I was running from an Average Joe, thought I had made it into a locker and did not realize another one of them saw me, popped open my locker and dragged me out. Good stuff.
In particular the denizens of the station are not really predictable. Unlike other games where you figure out the timing these bad guys can do whatever (Average Joes are somewhat predictable when not chasing you but even then they do some random stuff). As a result you are on pins and needles hoping the bad guy doesn’t turn and see you while you creep slowly behind them (sometimes they do and it sucks…in a good way).
All-in-all a very good game. The save scheme is my only quibble. On the one hand making saves few and far between you really sweat it out sometimes hoping you make it through. On the other hand sometimes you die repeatedly and re-treading the same thing over and over can be a drag.
If you are a big fan of the movie Alien (NOT Aliens which is a whole different thing) then this is a must have.
If you are a big fan of survival horror this is a must have.
For everyone else I would say it definitely should go on your short list as a very well done game unless you actively dislike Alien and/or survival horror.
What this is not:
It is NOT a run and gun game. Not even close. You die real easy and while there is some combat it is almost always a losing deal for you. This is 99% a sneak wherever you go game and it is unforgiving.
NOTE: I am playing on Hard per a recommendation. Replayability for the game is iffy so having the challenge right up front makes the game that much scarier. You can adjust difficulty at any time though.
Here is a good part that highlights the scariness and stress the game can engender. It is a teeny bit spoilerish but not horrible. I’d say watch it for about ten minutes from the part I have linked to and you will have a pretty good sense of how scary it can be.
FWIW this, I think, is the best done video review of Alien Isolation:
Alien: Isolation in Close Review by Noah Caldwell-Gervais - [21:07]
Having just seen the part where the game stops, I have a short message for the developers.
Fuck. You.
Any moron who thinks it is acceptable to have a bullshit cliffhanger instead of a satisfying conclusion at the end of a 15-20 hour game needs to find a new line of work.
So, I take it you weren’t a very big fan of Rage.
How would you have liked the game to end? I’m not asking you in an accusatory sense, I’m genuinely interested in how you or others would have ended it.
I remember liking Flashback’s ending (- YouTube ) although now that I think about it, it seems to owe an awful lot to Alien’s ending. It would have been a little too “like mother, like daughter” to end it like that.
At the very least, the game should end…
…with Amanda, Verlaine and the navigator alive on the Torrens, and no aliens or chestbursters on the Torrens.
Winning the game should feel like winning the game. The real ending of Alien: Isolation wasn’t just less like winning the game than any of the fake endings that were snatched away, it was “Amanda’s not dead, cut to black.”