Alien Isolation

[RobbieRoy]

Anyone got hold of this one yet and any thoughts on the game's theme of playing hide and seek against that nasty bugger?

[Knoxville]

I have indeed, being the seventh level, class two loader licensed Alien nerd that I am I read the mixed reviews, I umm'd and I arr'd and I went out and cashed in my pre-order anyway. I'm about two chapters in by my reckoning so I can't say much, plus it does seem to be a bit of a slow starter (I have only just seen the Alien properly for the first time after two hours play!) but I can tell you the hide and seek element against just the human enemies is fraught with enough tension to keep a small suspension bridge in check and it's HARD. Properly hard, even on easy mode.

It doesn't explain itself very well at all either. I didn't know I had a map until I decided to see what the back button did for instance. The save system is also brutally old school. I am however completely drawn into the world. Creative Assembly are clearly massive fan boys and it looks, feels and sounds exactly like it should, they've got the retro 8 bit future concept nailed down very, very well.

It remains to be seen if the gamble of picking it up will pay off but I have a feeling I'll be getting a little more play out of it at least, especially as I still have two more DLC packs to download and I am intrigued now instead of merely trepidatious.

[RobbieRoy]

That's good feedback, Knoxville - looks like my wallet might be opening soon...

[SHOGUNXSHINOBI]

I have just recently played it and it is deep.

[RobbieRoy]

I have just recently played it and it is deep.

Deep in terms of gamer immersion or in terms of story depth, or both??

[Disturbedguy]

Deep in terms of gamer immersion or in terms of story depth, or both??

In terms of spamming to get to 20 posts me thinks.

[SHOGUNXSHINOBI]

So far both.

[MrNinja]

Just on pulling this down from steam now purely from what Knoxville said, liking the sound of it

[deejayburnout]

Been playing for a few days now and holy crap.

If you are playing with headphones on and in a dark room, this will scare the pants off you. Very much a hide and sneak than run and shoot but the audio soundtrack and the anticipation of whats going to happen next is very good. Only on mission 4 so far

Awesome graphics as well.

[Hicks12]

Highly recommend this game, horror games just destroy me but I really had to grab this game simply because I am a huge Alien fan. Ignoring the flop that was Alien colonial marines I can assure you that Creative Assembly have made good on their promise for a great game that is true to the film, I am thoroughly impressed with the level of suspense they have generated and I have had to stop playing it numerous times due to the sheer fear!

Pretty much no area has been left untouched and the attention to detail is create, its as if you're in the film (in terms of setting not actual story of course!), the story is believable so far which is nice but I must add I haven't got very far as I have only played around 2 hours .

The most impressive thing though is the OCULUS RIFT SUPPORT!!!!!!!!! Oh my bloody god, it is suspense turned up to 11! I tried out the DLC the nostromo dlc that came free with my preorder and it is good, you literally re enact part of the Alien film going on your own through the tunnels with a flame thrower, the alien found me and I hit it with the flamethrower and it ran away so I kept moving on then it got the jump on me so I tried running away thought I had out ran it but then it hit me in the back and ran infront of me and killed me... I had to take the rift off and quit at that point because I actually felt like I had been attacked by the alien in real life... yes it hit me that bad .

Oculus rift support isnt official as they had a prototype they kept demoing then said it was only a prototype and wouldnt be in the released version but they actually left the code in and the guys over at reddit/r/oculus managed to enable it all and it works really well!

If you got an oculus rift you must get it, if you dont then it still is a great horror game and one that is in keeping with the Alien film. Not sure on length of the game so is it worth full price? I am unsure, I got mine from greenmangaming for £18 and I am very happy so far .

[Knoxville]

Update time!

I'm now deep into mission seven (I think) and I've played through the Crew Expendable DLC too so I've got a slightly better handle on the old girl and you really do have to admire it's..... purity

I'd shy away from even going as far as to call it a horror game in the traditional sense. It's a stealth and survival game first and foremost; whereas Dead Space did it's scares by having things jump out at me, ramping up the gore or making me jab massive needles into my own eye this scares me because of what MIGHT be around the next corner, what MAY leap out at me if I make a noise. I'm even scared to walk past doors that open automatically lest it bring Gigers beast down upon me out of the nearest vent.

I'm impressed the game was even released because while it has all the shiny AAA stuff we've come to expect underneath it all this is an indie game, a kickstarter project gone supersize. It is so single minded in its approach it's stunning. Especially when you think about all the other massive AAA releases recently that have bent to popular opinion and bolted on a co-op or multiplayer mode. The unashamedly old school save system works very well, the lack of hand holding makes you feel your way around the environment rather than blazing through following the big green arrow at the top of your screen.

That said, I can see why it's getting a hard time in the press too. I'm not deep enough in to tell you if twenty hours of this kind of gameplay becomes frustrating. I don't think it will for me but for a generation raised on instant gratification and empowerment this is not an environment they'll last an hour in. Every tool they're used to seeing in their inventory - guns, bombs, grenades - it's all there but it's all thoroughly useless. Even if you take the Alien out of the equation if you take on a group of humans they either out number and out gun you or the noise you make dealing with them brings about a deadlier threat... It's the same story with the androids too. You can use bits and bobs here and there to get out of jail for free but nine times out of ten you have two options - run, or hide. You never really win either. Make it to the next save point and all you feel like you've done is not die. A real achievement for folk like me that hide every time the Alien appears and treat it like death itself personified and gift wrapped wrapped in razor wire but even for those that love games like Dishonoured there's never the fall back option to "go loud" and massacre a rooms worth of enemies you just have to grin and bear it and I can see how that would become very frustrating to some.

Still, I am dutifully impressed. Even if I give up on it in a couple more chapters I've still had a better Alien experience in those ten hours than any other game has managed in the past with the added bonus of having supported a rare, rare thing these days... A game with some different idea's and a sense of self instead of another box with last years favourite logo on it

[Ttaskmaster]

As a massive Alien fan, I was banned from buying it just so people would have something to get me for my birthday!

Mine is downloading right now and I'm leaving work early to go play!

[woodi]

The game reminds me of outlast but this game is much better visually and the atmosphere in alien isolation is better too. One thing that annoys me with this and outlast is the way you slam locker doors when you are trying to hide. Just takes me out of the immersion each time. Still a very good game though.

[Ttaskmaster]

It's OK... Not gotten that far in yet. Still not fully immersed.
Had a quick go on the Crew Expendable and got my first proper stalking by the Alien... Heard it coming with it's thumping footsteps.

Kinda disappointed upon figuring out that I will have a wealth of homicidal humans, androids and probably station computer to battle against, *as well as* an Alien. Seems a bit too reminiscent of A:CM for my liking.

But I've not given up yet.

[Knoxville]

I like the human element to be honest, changes the game up every so often although I almost always pit the Alien against them. Androids however are a right pain in the harris, I can't disagree with that at all!

[csgohan4]

downloaded and played this game due to this post. My goodness this game is not for the faint hearted. I thought I had seen it all with deadspace and resident Evil, but the constant running and seeing if you have enough bullets in your gun is intense. Even the lockers you can't escape, they will find you eventually. Sure it takes a lot to take down an android, but it's not a run and shoot game, but stealth and survival.

The game has fulfilled it's objectives as a stealth game.

I have rage quit after mission 2 as the alien found me jerking off on the motion tracker in the locker. Might do it again when it's not dark and by myself