Warning: this review contains minor spoilers that reveal names and other details about locations, levels and events in Alien: Isolation. I avoid major spoilers and significant details are not discussed, but if you want to go into the game completely blind consider this your heads up.

On many levels Alien: Isolation is an exceptional game. It is an expertly crafted homage to the world and aesthetic of the original film. Every surface, corridor, container, sign, structure and sound is faithful to the original film’s production design. Playing this game is the closest thing one can get to living the movie.

The Alien terrifies me. The original Alien always has. It’s one of those rare movies that remained scary years, and multiple screenings, after I first watched it as a kid. The alien design is something nearing a true articulation of pure fear. Even when I knew the alien was coming when rewatching the film, I nearly always felt just as terrified as the first viewing.

Alien Isolation captures that feeling well. The Alien slinks in and out of tight openings, it corners you in while you crawl around in the air ducts, it surprises you silently as you turn a corner. Alien Isolation’s alien is terrifying, at least initially. The second time you catch a glimpse of the Alien is in the Cristobal Medical Centre. I honestly spent around 10 minutes cowering in a locker. I was terrified of dying, of confronting the monster. I dashed out and hid under a gurney, thinking I was still safe. Well, it saw me hiding there and came straight for me. My first death. Time to try again. Dead. Again. Dead. Again. Oh this time I made it to next wing. Eventually I made it safely out of Cristobal, after letting one person die (he tried to kill me) and murdering one synthetic with my maintenance jack. I made it, my heart beating a mile a minute. My only thought? This is one damn scary game!

Flash forward a few levels and that initial fear is gone. The alien no longer retains the power to scare. Rather it’s grown into something annoying rather than frightening. I’ve rerouted power lines, or activated terminals, or backtracked to find alternate routes a few too many times. Now I’ve spent multiple occasions trekking down the same corridor five separate times, sent back and forth by a game that revels in repetition, to think any monster is scary. Not even the monster of my childhood nightmares is scary after this much repetition. By the middle of the game every occasion the alien appears is not an occasion filled with terror. It comes with the thought “ah, fuck! You again? Piss off.” This sentiment is exacerbated once you have a flamethrower and can shoo it away without any real effort.

Alien Isolation suffers from a desperate need of an editor. There are just simply too many repeated tasks, creating the impression that the game designers ran out of ideas half way through. And this greatly diminishes the fear I felt while playing. At one point I even appreciated the synthetic filled levels in the latter third of the game because it meant I could essentially glide through the level and complete tasks at lightning speed. A great deal of the middle can be cut out of this game. There are a few crucial narrative events that are all bookended by the same five or so tasks (most of which are reroute power, power up system, disable system, reboot system, find an alternate route). Cutting some of those out wouldn’t have made Alien Isolation a lesser game, but rather a tighter one that imposes a real sense of urgency. That urgency is absent in the game as at exists now simply because you find yourself acting out routine tasks ad nauseam. I might even argue that a third of the game could be cut out without damaging the narrative or game flow.

I think that the game has one common reason for both its strength, the faithful homage to the look, feel and sound of the original film, and its weakness, the repetitive nature of in-game tasks. That reason? The impulse to precisely reproduce everything about Alien. This impulse is everywhere in the game. It explains the meticulous detail of things like the materials on the walls of the space station, the various signs found throughout Sevastopol, the look and feel of computer terminals, switches, buttons, doors, all the way down to equipment like the motion tracker. This expert reproduction is likely why everyone tends to love the game, myself included. Alien Isolation’s world feels and sounds like Alien. Even one of Amanda’s last acts involves a device that looks strikingly similar to the Nostromo’s self destruct mechanism. And then we have the Nostromo and the game’s DLC, all astoundingly crafted reproductions. Not only can you walk around the Nostromo, the characters even speak precise lines from the film. Creative Assembly went more than all-in on homage. And this is wonderful. That is until that same impulse is applied to the actual mechanics of the game. Here is where copying the film faithful does the game a disservice.

Alien is full of dead ends, futile tasks and missed opportunities that each result in the crew attempting a plan that inevitably fails and leads to a need to find alternatives. Furthermore, the last half hour or so witnesses Ripley retracing her steps multiple times before she can escape the Nostromo and the Xenomorph. And then her best plan, like all those before, fails and she is required to desperately find one last alternative solution to “defeat” the alien. This works well in a two hour run time, creating both a sence of urgency and an atmosphere of tension and uncertainty. Creative Assembly, in their attempt at fidelity, mapped the structure of the film onto the game. However the what works well over the course of two hours suffers greatly when stretched over 15-20 hours. It works for a time, but as I point out above, drags the experience out just a little too long to maintain the tension.

Despite the repetition and the extended sequences that I feel added little more than extra padding to the game, I repeatedly came back to it. Simply said I love the world. And even if the alien is missing it’s more frightening edge, I did enjoy the vast majority of the game of cat and mouse between Amanda and the xenomorph. It’s quite satisfying to out stealth that bastard. And my desire to continually return to the game is due to my willingness to focus on its design strengths rather than weaknesses. The production and sound design, the spot on use of music, the absolutely superb way the game pays homage to the original film (in all aspects except structure) makes it an appealing universe in which to spend time.

I actually played it in 2015 but abandon it because I was too scared. Now that I've finished it for the first time, I don't think it's actually THAT scary. Just a lot of jumscares. Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Outlast still takes the cake for me in terms of horror. But compared to those 2 games, the length of this game is A LOT LONGER. The moment I thought I've finally reach the final level, the game give me another mission lol.

The start of the game when the alien is being introduced to us for the first time is definitely scary but as you play more and progress, you kinda get used to it and the horror is reduced. Probably the scariest part of the game is the lack of autosave point, which makes you really want to avoid death as best as you could in order not to replay the same scene that took a long time to pass over and and over again. The thought of losing my long progress is what scares me the most in the game.

You need to be very stealthy in this game for the most parts.. it's nothing like Dead Space where you can shoot and kill the aliens. You have weapons and can craft one anytime you like but there's a limit to how many items you can carry. The weapons are specific for certain enemies. In most scenarios, open fire is definitely not the best idea because sometimes the weapons can't kill the enemies but only can help you to escape from it. And sometimes, the weapon you use will attract another enemies nearby. Some people may not like it but I think it's realistic.

As you almost reach the final level, the alien's senses become more sensitive which makes the game even harder. The androids and humans also becomes stronger, and make some of your weapons become useless against them at some point. My only complain about this game is, I noticed that there's actually more androids than alien.

As for the graphics, I find it quite stunning despite not very graphically demanding. Dialogue, story writing and voice acting are also good. Overall, it's a great survival horror game that's very challenging. Another good thing is, the vibe of the game is really similar to the original 1979 film. From set design, alien behaviour, the sound of alarm, the sound of door opening, the device use, it's all super similar! It's mind-blowing. Even if you don't like the game, you still will think the developer has done a superb job in recreating the world as in the film.

The Good

• Alien: Isolation is a sight to behold. The design of the space station is on point with all its retrofuturistic goodness. Its abandoned corridors are filled with dread and anticipation.
• This game pays tribute to the first Alien movie and does it well. The design, atmosphere and story perfectly fit in the Alien universe. A lot of embedded references are available for fans to enjoy. Be sure to dim the lights and turn up the volume.
• A:I is extremely exciting. For once in an FPS, you won't feel like an invincible hunter but more like nervous prey. You will often hide for an imaginary enemy and skittishly listen for clues. Successfully escaping the clutches of death feels like an immense victory, time and time again.

The Bad

• A:I is extremely exciting. This is great, but there is not a lot of downtime to recover and take a breath. You won't have a lot of time to relax and go sightseeing.
• A:I can be very punishing. You will have to reload often, but you will learn to play it carefully. Some deaths will feel unfair though.
• For a game this intense, it sure is long. This is a weird complaint, but it might be valid for some.

I loved playing this game and consider it one of the best in my library. I can't wait for the sequel and it sure makes me yearn for the release of the new System Shock and Cyberpunk 2077 games.

"Alien: Isolation" é uma verdadeira obra-prima do gênero survival horror, destacando-se como uma das experiências mais imersivas e aterrorizantes que eu já pude jogar. Ao terminar minha jornada por essa obra prima, senti a necessidade de compartilhar os aspectos que tornam este jogo uma referência no gênero.

Ambientação e Atmosfera

A Creative Assembly conseguiu capturar com perfeição a essência do filme original de 1979. Cada corredor, sala e compartimento da estação espacial Sevastopol é meticulosamente projetado, evocando uma sensação constante de desconforto e perigo iminente. A atenção aos detalhes, desde os painéis de controle até os efeitos de iluminação, contribui para uma imersão total. A ambientação sonora merece uma menção especial; os sons ambiente, os rangidos metálicos e os alarmes distantes criam uma atmosfera tensa e opressiva que mantém os jogadores na ponta da cadeira.

Inteligência Artificial

A estrela do show é, sem dúvida, o próprio Alien. A IA do xenomorfo é uma das mais impressionantes e realistas já vistas em um jogo. O comportamento imprevisível do Alien, que patrulha, rastreia e caça o jogador, garante que cada encontro seja único e assustador. O Alien aprende e se adapta, forçando o jogador a constantemente mudar de estratégia, o que mantém o jogo fresco e desafiador até o fim. A tensão de nunca saber exatamente onde o Alien está ou quando ele pode aparecer cria uma sensação de pavor constante que poucos jogos conseguem replicar, posso usar o exemplo até do Mr X de Resident Evil 2 (2019) que consegue ser um incrível perseguidor, porém nem perto do que o Alien pode fazer, Mr X te persegue, porém é lento e tem movimentos extremamente repetitivos, o que realmente tira a tensão do jogador ao longo até da primeira jogatina. Concluo esse tópico dizendo que até então, foi a melhor IA que eu já vi em jogos como esse.

Jogabilidade

"Alien: Isolation" oferece uma jogabilidade que premia a paciência e a estratégia. Recursos são escassos e cada ferramenta ou arma deve ser utilizada com sabedoria. O jogo incentiva a furtividade e a exploração cuidadosa, o que pra muitos pode ser um ponto negativo, ficar até 7 minutos esperando o Alien entrar na ventilação para poder avançar, mas em meu ponto de vista, isto torna o jogo muito mais assustador e uma experiência realmente realista e diferenciada. Os quebra-cabeças e a necessidade de gerenciar recursos adicionam camadas de complexidade que enriquecem a experiência.

História e Personagens

A narrativa é envolvente, girando em torno de Amanda Ripley, filha de Ellen Ripley, e sua busca por respostas sobre o desaparecimento de sua mãe. A trama é bem construída, com reviravoltas e momentos de alta tensão. Os personagens secundários, embora não tão desenvolvidos, cumprem bem seus papéis, contribuindo para a imersão no enredo.

Desafios e Dificuldade

O nível de dificuldade é desafiador, mas justo. Cada morte serve como uma lição, e a sensação de conquista ao superar um obstáculo ou escapar por um triz do Alien é imensamente satisfatória. A curva de aprendizado é íngreme, mas aqueles que persistem são recompensados com uma experiência rica e gratificante.

Conclusão

"Alien: Isolation" é um tour de force no gênero survival horror. A combinação de uma atmosfera incrivelmente imersiva, uma IA inimiga brilhantemente projetada e uma jogabilidade que exige inteligência e paciência resulta em uma experiência que é tanto aterrorizante quanto gratificante. É um jogo que não apenas faz jus ao legado do filme original, mas também estabelece novos padrões para o que um jogo de terror pode alcançar. Para os fãs de horror e para aqueles que apreciam um bom desafio, "Alien: Isolation" é absolutamente imperdível.

Having only recently become a PS4 owner, Alien Isolation was one of the games I knew I wanted as part of my collection. I read the novelization last year and really enjoyed it. Having been a fan of the original Alien film for many years this was such a nostalgia high for me. My short review might be a little rose tinted even though there were a few personal problems I had with the game, it does deserve the 5 stars I give it. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of the not so famous yet, Ellen Ripley, who is out looking for signs of her mother that went missing so many years ago. Information trickles down to Amanda about a recovered flight recorder and that the name Ellen Ripley is brought up in the same sentence means this is where the adventure begins for Amanda.

She has grown into woman who knows her way around the engineering side of the Alien franchise, not knowing that it will pay off in the possible prolonging of her life for an extra few hours or so. That is as much as I want to say story wise as I am not a fan of spoilers. I played this on the recommended Hard mode on my first run and will return to try it on the survivor difficulty soon.

Alien Isolation takes place between the movies Alien and Aliens as far as I figure. It sets a pretty cool narrative for what Ripley wakes up to in the movie Aliens, finding ut she has been in hypersleep long enough for her daughter to have grown old. That is at least the story I told myself up until the ending of the game, the game leaves a lot to speculate on regarding Amanda's outcome at the end of her Sevastopol trip.

Why I love this game:

-It pays homage to the original films. -I loved all the scenery. -That first encounter with the Alien was tense as Hell -This game does not hold your hand -Sevastopol had a fair open worlded feel to it apart from when you reach certain checkpoints. I missed a lot of things by not going back to previous levels with tools gathered in the next one. No worries, I will be going back in... -Sound design and the environment was just perfect to me personally and I loved the feeling of certain set pieces that made me feel like I was on the Nostromo. The Alien design and A.I was pretty intense, and I was at the edge of my seat nearly throughout the whole game. -When the Alien was not on your heels you also had to face off against humans trying to survive the place going to the crapper. -In some sections you also had to face off against the Seegson Working Joe's. Seegson is kinda like Wayland Yutani, but a knock of version in this universe that also have a version of androids that could spell trouble for Ripley. In some sections you had to not only deal with one group of individuals, but also while the Alien was on your ass. -There was some light resources gathering for item building needed to navigate Sevastopol. Using some of these also meant that you would attract the Alien a lot quicker. -For a game that came out in 2014, I feel that it looked pretty amazing on the PS4 still. -This game makes you die often, with not being able to kill the Alien who just one shots you (as it should be). -Face huggers = insta death (also as it should be). The save system was pretty nerve wrecking too. You are never truely ''safe'' while saving. I was killed right after a specific save, which meant that the next load I had to act quick to get the Alien frightened off before it got me. Thank F@!k I had some juice left in the flamethrower for that bit.

Things I had a personal gripe with:

• In some cases the audio seems to stop working and I would end up just being scooped up by the Alien with no audio cues being given.
• The last part of the game was a tiny bit annoying but did not overstay it's welcome.
• Much like Deadspace, there is a lot of ''Ripley go do this, go fetch that'' while npc's who have been on the station longer than Ripley did almost nothing to make her journey easier. This should not annoy me that much as who plays a game only to let all the npc's do the work?
• Too much starting generators back up for me personally. I get that the tech on Sevastopol represents the ideas that were still floating around the 1980's era of tech, so I can forgive the game for that. -Some parts where the Alien was particularly aggro and on your case and could just sniff you out of wherever you found yourself at the time meant that big parts of the game needed to be replayed after a death scene. Seeing a the save system was not always easy to get too. This was my first playthrough though and I am sure I could do better on the next run on the next difficulty setting.

Conclusion: Alien Isolation is a game I had fun with while at the same time slightly pissing my pants with at certain points. The Alien does tend to get a little frustrating after a point, but the payoff when you outsmart, or outlive the mission you are on does wonders to the dopamine. I had a decent time with it and I could easily recommend it to other likeminded fans of the franchise.

A 2020 Review - Alien: Isolation (PC, 2014)

Score: 7/10

Mediocrity Score: Not Mediocre

Alien: Isolation is a death-by-alien simulator masquerading as a first-person survival horror game. Dripping with late-1970s tech-ambiance, Creative Assembly has produced a rather safe narrative that closely follows the original Alien's tale of Ellen Ripley. Not falling far from the tree, the protagonist you play is none other than Amanda Ripley - Ellen Ripley's daughter. In what must feel like the family curse, Amanda is stricken with a far-too-similar fate being stuck on a space station trying to survive against aliens. If you aren't a fan of the series or haven't seen any of the movies - don't sweat it. Just bring an extra pair of underwear and dive into this insanely atmospheric and engrossing experience.

Tags: A few words or tags that come to mind are: atmospheric, stressful, powerless, tedious.

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Avg. Time to beat: ~20 hours

Quickest Speedrun: ~2.5 hours (even on nightmare difficulty)

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2020 Retail Price: $40

Lowest Historical Price on Steam: $10

Lowest Historical Price outside Steam: $7.50

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Quick Take: Alien: Isolated is not fun. It is not an enjoyable experience by traditional standards, but it is a horrifically beautiful and a completely immersive one. Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton said it better than anyone else, "While many a video game has been designed for people who enjoy killing aliens, Alien: Isolation can only have been created for people who derive some perverse pleasure out of being killed by an alien." This game in its purest form is an engrossing simulation of how it would feel to try your odds against the alien xenomorphs in a bout of survival. Your odds are very slim. Between the sound engineering and the visual design, the two complement each other like two peas in a pod or...two facehuggers in an egg-sack, if you prefer. Together the two bring about an utter sense of dread, panic, and stress. You can hear the alien scampering through the ventilation; you can see its slimy drool ooze down in wait. You can hear the rich pops and sizzles of the CRT screens and analog devices used throughout the game. From opening production credits to end-game credits, it's a technical marvel...but is it an entertaining one? Well, that's where things get complicated... That's where I begin to feel the ol' quote "I want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride" becomes relevant again. At 16 hours in, I decided that's all the thrill I'll be getting out of that ride. Are you ever 100% glad you did or tried something, but wouldn't ever do it again? I appreciate Alien: Isolation for having done so much, so right - but I can't say I enjoyed or had fun playing it. It's stressful. I'm a huge horror film buff, yet this is a much longer and interactive experience - one that did not give me that "just 5 more minutes" feeling. It was more of a "where the hell's the savegame telephone at?"

Pros:

• Scarier than I expected. Panic-inducing experience, as designed.
• Completely engrossing experience thanks to the top-notch audio and visual quality.
• Alien AI is something to behold. Something other developers should aspire to accomplish.
• Great map design and setting. The rough state of things on the Sevastopol station really add to the effectiveness of the game's darker, more dreadful tones.

Cons:

• Boilerplate story that does its best to imitate its original source rather than set itself apart more meaningfully. Doesn't hold together the weaker points of gameplay, but sags down with them.
• Second half of the game becomes incredibly tiring and tedious when managing your alien woes mixed with having to frequently backtrack the map in order to accomplish new goals. The alien never lets up and the game feels like it will never end.
• The feeling of powerlessness and stress become exhausting. The trial-and-error quality to survival leaves me feeling like I've wasted a lot of time and that I can't win. (What can I say? I'm a mentally weak man.)
• No replayability. 100% glad I played it, but have no interest in ever playing it again.

Concept: Aliens (the movie) themed survival horror game. You're Ellen Ripley's unlucky daughter, Amanda - who also finds herself face to face with the same alien species that cost her mother's life. In a fight for survival, will you lead Amanda to her victory or just die 1,000 times trying? Yes. The answer is, yes.

Graphics: Impressive. Certainly so by 2014's standards but even for 2020 standards, this offers a high bar to pass. Compliments the audio design incredibly - both pairing together to reel you into the space-station, Sevastopol, along with all its horrors. For users looking to play at minimum or low specs, the game surprisingly doesn't look terrible when adjusted down. It holds up well enough, however, my advice would be to hold off until you can play at top specs. A huge amount of the value comes from the visual and audio. Unless you're easily entertained by horror games, I'd wait until you can get the full experience. It's worth it.

Sound: The sound design is killer. It breathes life into nothingness and fills the space with dread. From the menu screen, it is apparent that the audio will set the tone through much of the game. Hearing the alien bang around the ship or scamper about in the ventilation is disturbing when you've been hiding in a locker for ten minutes contemplating what actions led you to this awful place.

Gameplay: In one word - stealth. You will be crouching, hiding under desks, leaning, hiding in lockers, tip-toeing, and generally avoiding anything that moves or makes a sound. This will be much of your gameplay experience for a large portion of the game. Lots of tools and consumables/throwables to aid you in your fight. These won't be useful in killing an alien but should help separate you from the Alien a bit more easily. Unless you've memorized the maps and are an experienced speed-runner - you'll need to take the slow and steady approach. Kicking-down-the-door style of gameplay will get you killed. Although, hiding will mostly do the same. Perhaps my one word for gameplay should have been - dying.

Entertainment: Did you like the movies Source Code or Edge of Tomorrow? Then you'll enjoy experiencing it first-hand in an interactive simulator game, only with Aliens and Facehuggers. I found Alien: Isolation to be akin to a thrill-ride. A lot of fun in short bursts, but it is not something most people would enjoy for long stretches. I could only take so much stress and tension before growing tired of it and wanting to move on. "I want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride." comes to mind.

Replayability: How enjoyable is revisiting the same haunted house over and over again? Sure, the actors will always do things a little differently but it's always the same song and dance in the end. For me, it does not have replay value. It doesn't much affect my purchasing-interest if a game isn't replayable, so I'm cool with it. Maybe you are too.

Cheats??: None natively. There are existing trainers that can be downloaded and run alongside the game. I didn't find them to be useful or fun and led to achievements halting early on in my play-through. Use at your risk.

---Full Review Below---

Alien: Isolation is an immersive, first-person survival horror game set in the universe of the popular 1979 movie series, Alien. It provides a linear, puzzle-like progression with sci-fi and horror elements that are reminiscent of the 1999 PC game, Half-Life. You play as Amanda Ripley - Ellen Ripley's daughter. Hunting for answers relating to her mother's disappearance fifteen years ago - Amanda arrives at the retired space station, Sevastopol. She soon discovers the station has been ravaged by the same Alien that her mom had once faced. Going up against the legendary alien Xenomorphs is a terrifying experience to endure. A position you will find yourself far too regularly.

Creative Assembly has created a game true to its source material. Die-hard fans of the series are rewarded with its similar effect on the senses. Its richness and melding of audio, visuals, and narrative are a strong part of what made the original film so great. Alien: Isolation provides a horrifying simulation of facing the alien parasites head-on and struggling for your own survival. The unnerving atmosphere seeps its way through the halls and corridors of the maze-like Sevastopol station. I applaud the creators for doing an excellent job recreating the same intensity and unease as the films. The game surpasses the movies in many regards, including its effectiveness at bringing the audience in for a much closer, more frightful experience. Even in 2020, there is no better way to experience the thrill of being trapped on-board with the Alien Xenomorphs. It's a harrowing engagement to play this death-by-Alien simulator, and as the player, you get a real sense of what it might be like to have to defend yourself and survive against one.

The story falls a bit flat and too closes mirrors its source of inspiration. I can forgive the creators for not wanting to alter a working story-formula too much. Especially when the original worked so well. But this story feels shoehorned into place. It works, but it's not interesting and takes a back seat to everything else. Maybe it helps the Alien AI and horror elements stay in the spotlight. Maybe keeping a potentially too-radical story from imposing too heavily upon the game's features. I don't know. But to me, a more compelling story would have made for better cohesion thus more driving power during the slower, more repetitive parts. Instead, we have to endure an already long, stressful journey with lower motivation to continue forward.

Much of the game's effectiveness stems from its sound and visual direction. From the very second it launches, the player is met with a rich, filling audio that tickles the ear with its static hums and hisses. If it weren't for the technical accomplishments of the audio and visual, Alien: Isolation would be far less than the success that it is. Honestly, this might be the most stand-out game in terms of its audio design and ability to draw in the player with sound alone. It's an impressive achievement. The throwback themes of the late-70s technology are strewn about. Looking to the past for inspiration, the Sevastopol space station's design and appearance bring us right back to the same point in time that the original Ellen Ripley found herself face-to-face with the Xenomorphs. Warped CRT screens, static-noise eliminating from the security tuner box, or the beeps and blips from the motion detector are all great examples of the aesthetic the design team worked into the game. I feel like the flamethrower and Molotov could have better flame effects; the flames don't last long enough, the smoke effect is very weak, and could have made for a more serious impact in its use.

The Alien has both the most advanced and impressive AI designs, as well as the most frustrating ones to endure. It never gives up, it never relents. It's realistic to the series. For sure, this is how the Alien would behave if hunting you - but it is frustratingly difficult to progress the game at times. It is true, no two reloads of a save game are the same. The Alien does not always follow the same path. It shadows you, learning your habits and tendencies. It adapts to your play-style to better get the drop on you. While impressive, this makes for a very challenging experience in avoiding its traps. The other enemy type, Androids, are very thorough in their scans and sweeps when they see or hear you. If you are outside of a vent or locker, they'll find you rather quickly. The Androids, formally named "Working Joes", are the physical form of the APOLLO AI mainframe system. The APOLLO system provides security, communications, monitoring, and Android orchestration to the Sevastopol station. Alien: Isolation fumbles powerfully in its attempt at creating consistent human animations of movement and speech. Non-combative human-AI behavior and mannerisms are uncomfortable and confusing. The humans act skittish to a cartoon extent, just shy of a parody. They wail about in terror, while also frequently getting stuck in place halting all emotion. Cut-scene animations commonly have audio and video synchronization problems with mouth-movements and voices falling out of sync.

Fear, panic, and stress will be the prevailing emotions throughout playing. This game is about stealth and silence. It's difficult. You'll die a tremendous amount, often in startling ways. You cannot kill the Alien. You can trick it to go looking for you elsewhere (via equipment/throwables) or you can temporarily scare it away with a flamethrower. Rushing the Alien will mostly earn you another death animation. The androids will stop and hurt you before you can land a blow. Rushing around the map will make more noise and attract the Alien to your location all the quicker. This will likely wear down certain players, keeping them from finishing the game. It's frustrating and leads to replaying and re-accomplishing goals until you can hopefully get to the next save-phone. Watch-out! - if you save with the Alien right behind you, guess what will still be behind you once you reload?

For all the hassle required to finish, I found the end cut-scenes and conclusion to be lackluster. There were several times I felt like quitting out of frustration. It shines brightest within the first 4-8 hours while the horror and intrigue is still fresh and alive, and before any of it becomes tedious or repetitive. As much I enjoyed the many thrills Alien: Isolation has to offer, it was rather taxing on my ability or will to keep playing. Having an unsatisfying story, the game failed to hold-together my motivation to help power me through some of the more difficult or slower parts. Nonetheless, this release serves as a standout technical achievement for the genre. It accomplishes staying true to the movies, being masterfully designed in its cohesiveness between the sound and visual designs, and is powerfully scary to experience.

The worst thing I can say is that through all its thrills and immersion, I never found it to be a fun experience. It's one I'm glad I had, but not one I enjoyed much. I think this might be the case for many players or potential ones. It's made for a difficult game to review; how do I recommend something that I did not enjoy? My advice is to view i like a thrill-ride. Look for a low price point (have seen it go for $10 on Steam) and keep expectations realistic. I don't see the need to put more than 4-10 hours to really get the full experience. If you scare or get startled easily, perhaps see if any of your friends have a copy you could check out with them. It's absolutely worth experiencing but I'm not convinced the price for admission is priced right for most of the year. At being 6 years old, I feel $40 is quite a reach. $20 seems fairer - but I personally would wait until it falls to $10 or less.

Thanks for reading!

TL;DR: Map bad, stealth bad, everything else pretty damn good. You geniuses who play legit on Nightmare, you're goddamn wizards, I don't know how anyone manages it.

God. It really could've been a flawless game. The story? Amazing. Sound design and music? Fantastic, as they should be for a horror game. (The sounds of a shitty space station distracting you from actual threats in the environment, and making you afraid before you need to be!) The graphics? Really really amazing for 2014. Those are the good parts.

My biggest beef is with the stealth mechanics. In a game that is ostensibly about stealth, they kind of suck. Case in point, on medium difficulty, the first real test of this, when you pick up the data hacking thingy and then have to hide because four people are coming in (and you have to go where they came from), left me frustrated as hell after half an hour of attempts and finally turning to Youtube. If they can see me from halfway across a very large room when I'm in a vent, in the dark, but none of them notice me when I'm lurking in an open doorway that they all walk past right at the start? That's not good. I freely admit I turned to Cheat Engine after that, and I'm glad I did, I can't imagine how many additional dozens of frustrated hours it would've taken me to get through it legit, all the sections with multiple erratically patrolling enemies. Instead I enjoyed the story, got severely spooked by explosions and the alien dropping out of vents unexpectedly, and had fun tossing explosives and shooting bad guys point blank in the head. Also it's very satisfying to walk up behind the alien and goose it with the flamethrower and watch it scurry away. That said, it sounds from other sources like the alien's AI had a lot of thought put into it, and I am admittedly a huge baby who was too much of a weenie to even experience it once. I guess I'll see how it is when I go binge-watch Let's Plays of the game.

Beef number two: The map. Please at least color code the rooms by ones I've been in, like Resident Evil does. I spent so much time sprinting through loops trying to determine if I'd been in there and looted yet or not. And all the environments look extremely similar and just chaotic enough that I get very confused. Also, by the time I got to the last couple of panic-inducing missions I was tabbing out to check a walkthrough every five seconds because the map indicators weren't clear enough for me to be able to function. The map needed floor indicators, too. Yes, I can look at other floors, but are they up or down from where I currently am?

Overall, it WAS a really good game apart from those two enormous categories of issues. I don't startle very easily, but I got seriously jumpscared multiple times. I appreciated the aesthetic of everything and how closely it matched the original movie (idk about the others, I've only seen Aliens besides the original, and that was a while ago). I'd forgotten the cool samurai sort of look to the EVA suits! And with the opening scenes I instantly knew it was correct by how sweaty everyone seemed to be, I remember that from the movie. I did have a couple of objects randomly yeet themselves due to physics, but otherwise there wasn't any weird clipping, stuck animations, anything like that, visually it felt extremely polished. I liked all the different hacking puzzles although the basic symbol one stresses me out and the first of the ones to do the observatory near the end made me have to look up how to do it. I appreciated (although again, I was playing with stealth mode on via Cheat Engine) how much time all the hacking and various door opening methods and even saving took; I imagine playing legit it just makes things that much more stressful. The whole game gave me a lot of Bioshock vibes, honestly, but with like 10x the chaos and stress and fear.

I apologize for rambling, but I just shotgunned the entire story mode in 15.5 hours with only a break in the middle for dinner, I have many thoughts whirling around still. I would've given it four stars, but I hate space and looking out the windows of the space station by mistake usually made me want to barf, so I'm probably not ever going to replay it. So, I liked it, but I didn't really like it (the four star mouseover info). It's a very good game, but not a perfect game.

I hesitate to recommend this game. On the one hand it's perfectly constructed: the set pieces, sound, voices, music, textures, lighting, and more all really drive home the atmosphere, and the storyline could very well make a great addition to the franchise. It's probably the best Alien (not Aliens) game we'll ever get, and I hope they reboot the game with HDR and ray tracing sometime in the future. I will also say that the alien is still really freaking scary even when it's just standing there motionless. The scripted movements are truly well executed and terrifying every time I see it. This is a dream for acolytes of the original film and a case study in fidelity to what makes scifi great. Just the opening menu of the space station near the gas giant with the original score is enough to make you feel dread, and the menus beep and click perfectly in the Air and Space museum style fonts of the 60s and 70s.

The downside is that this game IS TOO FREAKING LONG and the MECHANICS ARE ALMOST ENTIRELY BROKEN. After about 2 hours of throwing noisemakers 5 feet away from a monster/robot/human and watching them not react to the element at all, I just edited out the Alien entirely (ah thanks mods from 5 years ago!). The game became a lot more enjoyable for what it shined at which is the raw atmosphere and placement of the levels.

The other reason is that the level design has you backtracking MANY times within the same level for no reason. I went A-B-A-B-C-A-D near the end and my patience couldn't take it. Pretty much the entire game is doing the same task in the same room but multiple times in different spots, intentionally forcing you to cross the same puzzles of stealth until you're sick and tired of this game at the end. It doesn't help that you're basically crawling through the last section as well (you'll know what I mean when you play it).

Ultimately, this game gets a thumbs up, but just barely. Please make this again, but better. Hell, make the entire movie and I'll buy it (they made 2 DLC on the original story and they're some of the highlights of what this team can do with the property). Add HDR to it and cut it down about 50% to 10 or so hours (similar to RE7) and it's perfect.

PC Notes: Played 6k@60Hz on Apple XDR with 3090