Alien: Isolation

[Ivan]

BUG:

my flamethrower caught on fire (section where 5 bots charge you)

 

[Unkillable Cat]

That's nice, but neither CA nor Sega care about the bugs in this game.

 

[Jaesun]

CA have no control over bug fixes, this is SEGA's game.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

When does this game pick up? I started playing it in like 30 minute chunks, but it's just so fucking boring so far. The writing and dialogue isn't up to snuff and the human stealth sections are annoying. Worst part is all the fucking locked doors that each need their own unique kind of key, which all just seem like unnecessary padding to make the game longer and slightly more gamey.

I loved Amnesia and Outlast, but those games had a sense of mystery going for them which added to the horror and the impulse to explore. But I already know what an Alien looks like and have wandered these corridors in many video games before this one, which kind of ruins the "survival/horror" aspects along with the game's general appeal.

I've only had one actual encounter with the alien so far, so I assume it gets better after it starts appearing more?

 

[Excidium II]

Yes

 

[Deleted member 7219]

The best parts of the game for me were the opening sections, and basically any section that was more about exploration / mystery than hiding from the alien. That was when the game was at its most atmospheric (like the best parts of the movies).

Everything about the visual and sound design is absolutely perfect. Made me really feel like I was in that universe.

If you don't like any of that then you really shouldn't keep playing.

 

[A user named cat]

Just started playing this last week and have one major graphic whore complaint. THE JAGGIES, OH THE JAGGIES. AA seems to barely do shit and Google searching seems to confirm it. Can't even force better AA through AMD panel. I normally don't mind aliasing whatsoever but it's pretty blatant in this game.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Just started playing this last week and have one major graphic whore complaint. THE JAGGIES, OH THE JAGGIES. AA seems to barely do shit and Google searching seems to confirm it. Can't even force better AA through AMD panel. I normally don't mind aliasing whatsoever but it's pretty blatant in this game.

Seems like it doesn't work in Crossfire. http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Alien:_Isolation

 

[A user named cat]

Seems like it doesn't work in Crossfire. http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Alien:_Isolation

I'm not using crossfire, just a single r9 290. In game AA seems to do very little and apparently can't be overriden. It's the same with both AMD and Nvidia. Not a huge deal but all the aliasing can be an eyesore.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

You can get rid of the jaggies by using VSR, 'cause the ingame AA option is worthless.

 

[A user named cat]

You can get rid of the jaggies by using VSR, 'cause the ingame AA option is worthless.

Okay. I enabled VSR, set the game to 4k resolution and the jaggies are a little better now but they're still there. Not bad though.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.onlysp.com/alien-isolation-post-mortem-interview/

 

[funky_koval]

That's all well and good but where is the last patch they were working on and never released?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Never getting released, they're all up in Warhammer: Age of Reckoning now.

The lesson from this game?

NEVER trust Creative Assembly.
NEVER trust SEGA.

 

[Jaesun]

That's all well and good but where is the last patch they were working on and never released?

You would have to ask SEGA, this is their game.

 

[Beastro]

The best parts of the game for me were the opening sections, and basically any section that was more about exploration / mystery than hiding from the alien. That was when the game was at its most atmospheric (like the best parts of the movies).

It's also because the scares come when you don't expect them. As soon as you're locked in a stage and know you're in a "hide from Xenomorph" area the fear goes away, and after a few deaths, so does the tension.

Truth is that the scariest moments are when there's nothing in the dark, but games also have to work on not telegraphing those parts when you know there actually is something because the change is tone or even level design. Once you get the mission from the Doctor in the Medbay you know right away you're being shoehorned into a small space with the Xeno and it's no surprise when it pops up. It would have been better to play on expectations and have it be empty or have the Xeno be triggered by too much noise, not a simple plot trigger, that way you could get confidant and brush the Xeno off before you realize you fucked up.

That or make it completely silent, have it have better eyesight to pick you up hiding, but have it wander more aimlessly like it's actually an independent beast on a station with you doing it's own thing that you run into or can draw closer by doing too many things in one place.

I think it's why the robots are so much more scary. You know they're around and it lets you forget about them, then when they go come up on your hostile it's a shock because of the sense of security. There's no sense of security when you hear your Xeno in the air ducts, you know what to expect if you're not crawling around hugging the wall.

TBH the good thing they could do for a sequel to this game, or for a movie, would be to set it up being a typical Alien game/film, then have you encounter a Xeno corpse that's fucked up and brutalized making you realize there's something else around that's new - and not a Predator. Hard part would be making a new monster design nearly as good as the Xeno, have it avoid the traps of being seen too much (in a game making the deaths only show small parts of it keeping you ignorant) and have it function differently than a Xeno to keep you from expecting jump scares when you expect them.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

It's also because the scares come when you don't expect them. As soon as you're locked in a stage and know you're in a "hide from Xenomorph" area the fear goes away, and after a few deaths, so does the tension.

Truth is that the scariest moments are when there's nothing in the dark, but games also have to work on not telegraphing those parts when you know there actually is something because the change is tone or even level design. Once you get the mission from the Doctor in the Medbay you know right away you're being shoehorned into a small space with the Xeno and it's no surprise when it pops up. It would have been better to play on expectations and have it be empty or have the Xeno be triggered by too much noise, not a simple plot trigger, that way you could get confidant and brush the Xeno off before you realize you fucked up.

That or make it completely silent, have it have better eyesight to pick you up hiding, but have it wander more aimlessly like it's actually an independent beast on a station with you doing it's own thing that you run into or can draw closer by doing too many things in one place.

I think it's why the robots are so much more scary. You know they're around and it lets you forget about them, then when they go come up on your hostile it's a shock because of the sense of security. There's no sense of security when you hear your Xeno in the air ducts, you know what to expect if you're not crawling around hugging the wall.

TBH the good thing they could do for a sequel to this game, or for a movie, would be to set it up being a typical Alien game/film, then have you encounter a Xeno corpse that's fucked up and brutalized making you realize there's something else around that's new - and not a Predator. Hard part would be making a new monster design nearly as good as the Xeno, have it avoid the traps of being seen too much (in a game making the deaths only show small parts of it keeping you ignorant) and have it function differently than a Xeno to keep you from expecting jump scares when you expect them.

My favourite bits in the film Aliens were when they arrived at the colony. The marines get all pumped up. They land. And... THERE'S NOTHING THERE. They see blips on their motion detectors a couple of times. They hear weird noises. They see nothing. That was like the opening of Alien: Isolation.

It was still scary. You're thinking, "Where are the aliens?" You're looking for them in every frame. The characters are on edge; you can feel their tension. In the game, you are the one that is tense (they made an excellent decision in making it first person). For me, the game never stopped being tense, even at the end because I had learned how to deal with one alien, but multiple aliens? I was still getting killed.

 

[funky_koval]

Never getting released, they're all up in Warhammer: Age of Reckoning now.

The lesson from this game?

NEVER trust Creative Assembly.
NEVER trust SEGA.

You would have to ask SEGA, this is their game.

Fucking Sega agh. That's too bad because I enjoyed most of the game. Yeah it was too long and had tons of filler content but the vibe was good. I got bitten by quite a few bugs during my run that's why I asked.

 

[A user named cat]

It's also because the scares come when you don't expect them. As soon as you're locked in a stage and know you're in a "hide from Xenomorph" area the fear goes away, and after a few deaths, so does the tension.

Yeah, I lost interest because of this and uninstall/deleted. Game wasn't really tense at all, more annoying and tiresome than anything else with the alien's lame patrol behaviour. Better off just playing Clocktower or Penumbra.

 

[LESS T_T]

Sequel (with a big budget) is unlikely, according to CA boss: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-09-30-sega-europe-were-definitely-on-the-right-track

According to Heaton, the studio has almost 400 employees now, and "between a third and half" of them will be working on Halo Wars. More specifically, the team working on Halo Wars will be a modified version of the team that worked on Alien: Isolation, and the rest will develop the various iterations of Total War.

"Yeah, we've reconfigured it, that team," Heaton says. "But that's definitely the starting place."

Here, we can glimpse another possible context for Sega allowing its most experienced AAA console team to create a game for another company. Alien: Isolation was, after all, far from an unqualified success, selling 2.11 million units in a six month period that Sega's management described as "weak" in terms of unit sales. Post claims that the game's sales in that period were, "close to expectation, as in maybe we're achieving 85 per cent," and that Europe proved a stronger market than North America. He also believes that the game will enjoy a long tail on digital platforms, and he is probably correct.

But there's no avoiding the facts that, to some degree, Alien: Isolation fell short of what Sega saw as its commercial potential, and the bulk of its team will be working directly for Microsoft for at least a year, and probably two. Creative Assembly cannot be faulted for the quality of its work on Isolation, but both Post and Heaton were reluctant to discuss plans for a sequel. With Halo Wars, the risk of the AAA console market will be Microsoft's to bear, and Sega will have, "a team to make an action-RTS for console," when it's over.

"2.1 million sales? It just didn't break out," Heaton explains. "Am I happy about that? I'm not happy about that, right. I think it did under-index in America. I think the genre just didn't shine with an audience that would let us break out. 2 million is fine, right - let's be clear - but we were unsure right till the very end about whether we would hit that break out space or not.

"Making a AAA console game is bloody hard. We absolutely sweated blood for that game, we came through, and felt really happy at the end of it.

"Alien: Isolation 2 is not out of the question, because we're so proud of it and there's possibly more to be said. But do we really want to be spending very significant amounts of money, and getting close to break-even or just about in the black? That's not where Sega wants to be, when we have a brilliant portfolio of other games that do great business."

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Creative Assembly cannot be faulted for the quality of its work on Alien: Isolation

Bollocks.

 

[Psquit]

I blame Colonial Marines for the poor sales.

 

[Higher Animal]

Never getting released, they're all up in Warhammer: Age of Reckoning now.

The lesson from this game?

NEVER trust Creative Assembly.
NEVER trust SEGA.

Whiny faggot. I bet you pre-order popamole.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

It's all Randy Bitchfraud's fault.

 

[Jick Magger]

To be fair, I'm surprised it sold even that well. Especially since it was released so close to the absolute unmitigated disaster that was Colonial Marines.