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Alien: Isolation |OT| 1 Alien. 1 Ripley. No Jonesy.

danwarb

Member
The game deserved a much higher Metacritic rating compared to other AAA games. I can't see why some of those reviews have been scoring so low. I acknowledge their subjective complaints if they get too annoyed by the design choices, but in relation to other games, Alien: Isolation excels in so many different ways that I wouldn't hesitate to call it a brilliant example of experimentation and execution of atmosphere in an otherwise stagnated landscape of AAA video game offerings.

It's only a shame if it prevents more of this with a decent budget. A proper game it is. I'd give it at least a 9 and a bit.
 
Medical section is the most terrifying part of the game, hands down. The game gets less scary as you go on, in my opinion.

Agreed, medical section is actually my favorite as it keeps you on your toes the most. Once you get the flamethrower and can keep the alien at bay the tension definitely goes down. Also I don't know if it was a bug but after the medical section I didn't see the alien for probably a good hour of gameplay it was kinda weird. I actually missed the sucker's company lol. Game just felt like a ho hum stealth shooter without it around.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
You have to lean back and hold your breath separately. The Alien still gets you if you do both sometimes though.

No, it doesn't kill Androids. I guess it can't detect their heartbeat. The Androids do say funny shit when the Alien is next to them though.

Haha, okay, that's good enough. I was kinda hoping that if I threw a flare it would go towards it if it was near an android.
 

GavinUK86

Member
Agreed, medical section is actually my favorite as it keeps you on your toes the most. Once you get the flamethrower and can keep the alien at bay the tension definitely goes down. Also I don't know if it was a bug but after the medical section I didn't see the alien for probably a good hour of gameplay it was kinda weird. I actually missed the sucker's company lol. Game just felt like a ho hum stealth shooter without it around.

No, it did disappear for ages.
 
Agreed. One section took me about 45 minutes to get through because it was such a small area with almost no hiding places and the alien would just not leave for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Do not read this if you haven't beat or are about to beat the game.

Two Xenos and plenty of instant kill Facehuggers in combination with what is essentially a useless motion tracker.
 
I'm finding the game better described as tense than scary. Intimidating rather than creepy. That isn't a knock - it's a style thing. The movie isn't exactly creepy either, it's more tense.

Anyway, I'm cooking up some food and once I've eaten that I'm gonna jump back in. The gameplay is fascinating so far.
 
I'm not sure I'm scared or annoyed that the Alien is just following my every step in the vents. Like literally every time I walk past a vent, under it, crouching, standing, or otherwise, it moves on to the next one.
 

Fattness

Neo Member
Do not read this if you haven't beat or are about to beat the game.

Two Xenos and plenty of instant kill Facehuggers in combination with what is essentially a useless motion tracker.

Yeah the last i'd say 3-4 sequences were some of the most insane in the entire game. I loved it haha.
 

shiba5

Member
Agreed. One section took me about 45 minutes to get through because it was such a small area with almost no hiding places and the alien would just not leave for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Ugh. It's going to take me forever to get through this. I'm only halfway through mission 10. I had to stop after I
set off a huge explosion
. I yelled and that's when I noticed that my husband had turned off the light and shut the door so I was in pitch black darkness. I had to kill him.
 

-Deimos

Member
It gets better. I haven't finished the game so I can't speak for all of it, but so far those first sections with the alien have been the worst. In later levels, as long as he didn't know I was around, he spent a lot of time up in the ceiling and I only saw him a few times. I haven't had to flame him yet - did flambé a human though.

Argh, hope you're right. It keeps cornering me into this one room and never leaves. As soon as I leave the locker it comes running back. I might have to set the game to normal.
 

Fattness

Neo Member
Argh, hope you're right. It keeps cornering me into this one room and never leaves. As soon as I leave the locker it comes running back. I might have to set the game to normal.

As you go further in the game you'll get more tools to deal with the Alien. The first sections are some of the hardest because you don't have a lot of options. Don't give up on hard yet!
 

Lime

Member
Creative Assembly deserves serious praise for this game. Like someone posted on their forum:

Bravo Creative Assembly, Bravo.
Well, you've done what many thought impossible. You've created an instalment in the franchise that stands as arguably better than any of the film sequels. I mean sure, Aliens was great, but it wasn't exactly a tonal masterpiece, rather a solid popcorn action flick with an interesting expansion on the Xenomorph life cycle. Everything about Alien: Isolation (so far - been playing it for 2 day but still haven't finished it yet) is just perfect. The alien is convincing and terrifying, the game mechanics are all extremely fine tuned, and it's mind boggling that it has taken an art style heavily rooted in the late seventies to show just what the new gen of consoles are capable of visually. The music and sound design are utterly breathtaking. In summary: Thank you, Creative Assembly, for finally giving a film masterpiece the game that it deserves. If you don't rack up the awards for this then there is just no justice in the world.

Considering their design aims with this game, I think they've done a masterful job at recreating what basically amounts to a very well-executed video game version of Alien.
 
The atmosphere in this game is SO GOOD. Haven't gotten too deep (haven't even seen the alien yet) but I'm loving it so far. Aesthetics are perfect, besides the terrrrrible mouth syncing and choppy ass cuts energy framer rate.
 

shiba5

Member
Argh, hope you're right. It keeps cornering me into this one room and never leaves. As soon as I leave the locker it comes running back. I might have to set the game to normal.

I know the lockers feel safer, but I think they make the alien more suspicious and less likely to search elsewhere. If he thinks you're in the vicinity he never really leaves. I found it was better to just keep moving around and under stuff.
I kept jumping in and out of the same locker and he eventually caught on and waited just out of sight until I was almost dead from holding my breath. Then he ripped me out of it. I died way more trying to hide in those lockers than I have from just keeping him out of line of sight.
It has a pretty steep learning curve, but once you figure out how the alien moves around and what attracts it, it gets easier - plus you eventually get better tools to deal with him.
 
So I was in an area with a locker, a cart, a nonhostile android, and the Alien (it kept hopping down repeatedly in the room I was in, and the vent was in plain sight of all the hiding places...). The Alien was getting suspicious of the locker, so I hid in the cart, suddenly the android says "I've been looking for you" and grabs me out of it. In the meantime the Alien had hopped down right next to us and killed me D:

It was just sitting there staring at me in the locker and when I tried exploring the room, so I dunno why it suddenly felt the need to go hostile when I hid in the cart...
 

ElTopo

Banned
Amnesia is overrated is fuck. Not scary and annoying physics puzzles. Never played the sequel.

I did play and beat Outlast and that was pretty good for a $20 game, good Halloween shit.

I'd say Alien Isolation is probably the best of these kind of games. Amazing graphics, loyal to the Alien franchise, and so far it's really good and doesn't just consist of hiding and completing a physics puzzle.
 

stufte

Member
Those of you who've played both Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation, how would you compare the two?

I'd say that Amnesia was more about the dread of the unknown, jumpscares, etc. and Alien is more about a known enemy stalking you relentlessly and (with the aid of the motion sensor) fairly easy to keep track of. Alien is more tension than horror.
 
Oh god I must be a huge wimp and never knew it before. I was just playing and got to the very first section where the alien is actually wandering around.

I got so tense. It got me and I immediately shut the PS4 off. Went and hyperventilated for 15 second or so in the kitchen and got a glass of water.

Amnesia did nothing like this to me. God.


Oh thats cool. Love having both views.
 
Going to start my first playthrough tommorow. Two questions: Whats the recommended difficulty to be playing on? Also, are the dlc missions any good? Thanks in advance
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Hmmm after the intensity of mission 10 you would think they would give you a bit of a relaxing level. Nope, even more intense than the last.
 
Man, you can be a real monster towards the other survivors in this game. You can lure an alien into attacking a group of NPCs and use the ensuing massacre to run towards the objective. I had to burn 3 guys alive with a flamethrower once.

I guess humans are the real aliens.
 

frontovik

Banned
I hope this game sells well financially or is at least (but most importantly) remembered historically as not only an obvious labor of love with really great examples of superb artistry and craftmanship, but also as the best Alien video game that has ever (yes, ever!) been made.

Well said. I've always been quite fond of Creative Assembly's work on the Total War games (been following it since Rome) and was unsure if they'd be able to deliver with Alien Isolation. They have definitely exceeded my expectations and I hope that they'll continue to make games of this caliber.

That being said ... *mission 7/8 spoilers*
so I've finished the section where you revisit the Derelict Ship. Will there be more flashback missions to depict how everything went to hell in Sevastopol?
 
Man, you can be a real monster towards the other survivors in this game. You can lure an alien into attacking a group of NPCs and use the ensuing massacre to run towards the objective. I had to burn 3 guys alive with a flamethrower once.

I guess humans are the real aliens.
I've been telling them to leave, whenever I'm able to. I did try and attract the Alien to one lady in particular, but she sprinted down the hallway I was going down and ended up getting the Alien on my tail D:
 

Chabbles

Member
Played through the first 2 hours right after watching Alien Directors cut.. man they did a great job at recreating some of the set. The atmosphere is top notch, like a more mature version of Dead space or something., the choppy cutscenes are a bitch though and you should be able to unequip the flare... anyway, good stuff so far.
 

Nemesis_

Member
To anyone who has finished - I'm getting pretty close now. I just (Mission 14 spoilers)
purged the nest
.

But when is the ideal time to backtrack and find the collectibles with my items I've got now?

You think a Predator game of this caliber could work?

Dense jungles and stuff. This engine could do it.

Depending on who you played as and what not, I feel like this could work well for Jurassic Park.
 

JDHarbs

Member
I think it would be pretty hard to do an Amnesia/Outlast-like game in the jungle. Hiding areas are limited especially when your enemy can see body heat. Instead of moving from room to room hiding in lockers and under tables, you'd be moving from mud-pit to mud-pit hiding behind trees until it wears off and you gotta cover yourself again. Meanwhile, your enemy is invisible so you don't know where he is. Plus, the Predator has weaponry to hunt you from a distance.

It has potential though and I'd love to see it done. Day 1 if it happens.
 

AlexIIDX

Member
Being so fucking careful sneaking around to find Morley's key card, and i'm still getting found in lockers. About 10 attempts. Goddamn this shitty checkpoint. Yes i'm holding my breath. Never got caught before this.
 
Being so fucking careful sneaking around to find Morley's key card, and i'm still getting found in lockers. About 10 attempts. Goddamn this shitty checkpoint. Yes i'm holding my breath. Never got caught before this.
Try hiding other places. It weirdly doesn't see you hiding under most tables unless it's a few feet away looking straight at you, for instance.
 
Just beat it. That was the best Alien game I have ever played and it also has tied itself with TNO as my game of the year (so far). Amazing work on Creative Assembly's part and I hope we get the chance to see more Alien games of the same quality in the future.
 
Being so fucking careful sneaking around to find Morley's key card, and i'm still getting found in lockers. About 10 attempts. Goddamn this shitty checkpoint. Yes i'm holding my breath. Never got caught before this.

Was it even possible to get caught by the alien before this, or do you mean by androids/humans?
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Agreed, medical section is actually my favorite as it keeps you on your toes the most. Once you get the flamethrower and can keep the alien at bay the tension definitely goes down. Also I don't know if it was a bug but after the medical section I didn't see the alien for probably a good hour of gameplay it was kinda weird. I actually missed the sucker's company lol. Game just felt like a ho hum stealth shooter without it around.

I've gone about 1.5 hours without seeing it.
 

MattyG

Banned
I just hit hour 9, thinking this might be my second or third favorite game of the year. I haven't had a single moment where I felt bored or like I wanted to stop playing. This game has had me completely engaged for every second I've been playing, and everything about it is just so well done. I really hope we either get a sequel or more games similar to this.
Hmmm after the intensity of mission 10 you would think they would give you a bit of a relaxing level. Nope, even more intense than the last.
Fuck. I just finished mission 10. Welp, I guess tomorrow's play sessions is gonna get off to an interesting start.
Predator's never really been big on horror though.

It would be neat to see a Halloween with Micheal Myers styled like this game.
I was actually thinking that yesterday when I was playing. There are so many horror franchises that could do games with the same mechanics as this and have it work really well.
 
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