Alien: Isolation

[Jick Magger]

To be honest, I've watched Alien hundreds of times (Aliens as well) and I still find the creature really scary. It's beautiful and gracious in a way but it's still a scary motherfucker. Alien is a horror film that is still very effective on me despite the fact that I know it by heart.

I think that's more to the skill of Ridley Scott as a filmmaker (or at least his former skill). I still find the vent scene as scary and well-executed today as I did when I first watched the movie, despite the fact that you only see the alien itself for a split-second near the end. He knew the limitations of what he was working with and he planned each and every scene around it.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

 

[Goat Vomit]

To be honest, I've watched Alien hundreds of times (Aliens as well) and I still find the creature really scary. It's beautiful and gracious in a way but it's still a scary motherfucker. Alien is a horror film that is still very effective on me despite the fact that I know it by heart.

I think that's more to the skill of Ridley Scott as a filmmaker (or at least his former skill). I still find the vent scene as scary and well-executed today as I did when I first watched the movie, despite the fact that you only see the alien itself for a split-second near the end. He knew the limitations of what he was working with and he planned each and every scene around it.

It was beautifully shot, had great sets, costumes and props, unique and talented actors and a wonderful score. With qualities like that atmosphere and at least some suspense is inevitable, though I have to say that Geiger's bio-mechanical rapey sexual imaginery has become much less frightening for me since my first time. I liked how they had the alien metamorphose during the film so that you never quite knew what to expect during your first viewing. The only negative thing I have to say about it is how high it set the bar and the disappointment that followed with every sequel.

I have to wonder how much of the aesthetics and content of the film really works in video game format. The Alien was scary because it was unkown and well... alien. It had very little actual screentime in the film but in horror especially less is more, in a video game you can't stop the player from looking and discovering that the unkown wasn't all that scary. Anyhow, since you've played it, skacky, how well did they manage to hit the visual style of the original film? Also, since you've got experience with level design any comments on what you think of that? A couple of screenshots of the PC version would be nice.

Point of reference for comparison of visual styles

 

[Malpercio]

I swear, when I see video of people running in areas with the Alien it makes me want to punch the screen. CROUCH DOWN AND MOVE SLOWLY, DAMMIT.

 

[Alienman]

I have not played the game myself yet, but I have been watching some streams, and one thing that I find odd is the hostility all the others humans shows you. I heard some npcs discussing meeting other survivors for about 5 seconds before deciding that it would be
best if they just killed anyone they met. Wtf? How long has this station been broken? Did society on this station break down in mere hours? Another thing that also kinda feels off is how easy Ripley turns to murder... I don't know if you can avoid all encounters, but the guy I saw
playing was brutally whacking unsuspected people on the head with a giant wrench. Kinda brutal, considering she has never killed anyone before. Oh well. The game looks good though, and the alien seems to be a real troll sometimes

 

[The Fish]

PC gamer addresses the poorer reviews http://www.pcgamer.com/addressing-criticisms-of-alien-isolation/

 

[Starwars]

I have not played the game myself yet, but I have been watching some streams, and one thing that I find odd is the hostility all the others humans shows you. I heard some npcs discussing meeting other survivors for about 5 seconds before deciding that it would be
best if they just killed anyone they met. Wtf? How long has this station been broken? Did society on this station break down in mere hours? Another thing that also kinda feels off is how easy Ripley turns to murder... I don't know if you can avoid all encounters, but the guy I saw
playing was brutally whacking unsuspected people on the head with a giant wrench. Kinda brutal, considering she has never killed anyone before. Oh well. The game looks good though, and the alien seems to be a real troll sometimes

Games like these are still held back by the video-game legacy I think. I guess this game should still be considered a move in the right direction given how part of it at least aims to take away the "power-trip" from the player.

 

[shihonage]

Between Bioshock's and Dead Space's approach of "not all humans are hostile, but you always see them thru plexiglass or video feeds", vs. Alien Isolation's "all humans are hostile, because stupid excuses", I choose the former.

Ultimately both approaches compensate for non-existence of AI in videogames.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Spend 10 minutes hiding under a table staring a motion tracker, brehs.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Getting whacked by the Condom-men:

"Please hold still"

This seems to be a pretty long game.... but I gotta say CA have outdone themselves. Probably the best AAA game I've enjoyed for a long while.

Also kept playing this till 2:00am so I feel a bit kaputt right now.

 

[Aldebaran]

Between Bioshock's and Dead Space's approach of "not all humans are hostile, but you always see them thru plexiglass or video feeds", vs. Alien Isolation's "all humans are hostile, because stupid excuses", I choose the former.

Ultimately both approaches compensate for non-existence of AI in videogames.

But not all humans in Isolation are hostile, you meet a friendly one.

Spoiler

Behind plexiglass.

One thing I have noticed about this game, though, is that the Alien sections aren't particularly effective horror. If it sees you, you are simply dead and there seems to be little you can do about it. While this is fine from a gameplay difficulty standpoint, it completely negates one of the more visceral aspects of horror, which is fleeing from a predator. I suspect the reason they went this way is that the levels can be quite linear (or at least they start that way and open up with time), and they are also on the small side. The game simply doesn't seem to be built for high speed cat and mouse games, as you would run out of room too quickly. Perhaps this is only true for the campaign mode though, I have not looked into survival mode. I also find the ooze leaking vents to be a questionable element of the game. While it was fun the first time, being instantly killed by the Alien isn't particularly frightening. I'd even say it is a bit of a buzzkill.

In fact, some of the better moments in the game involved me trying to weave through androids as they slowly boxed me in. I think they did a great job on the androids.

While I have never noticed the Alien teleport (you can watch him at all times with the motion tracker, but he does move at FTL speed when he enters vents), I would not be surprised to discover that he is psychic. It seems that the second you leave a locker he runs back to within a stones throw of the room you are in and patrols outside of the door. He quickly turns the closet you are hiding in into a maximum security prison, and no one gets parole, not while he's warden. I have not tested to see if this is true for hiding under desks/tables. I suspect though, that when they said the Alien learns from the player, what they actually meant was that the Alien learns the player's position from the Dev Utility. Which is fine to an extent. Thief I+II were certainly guilty of that crime.

 

[skacky]

Goat Vomit They totally nailed the original artstyle, that's for sure. It really feels like Alien. I took some pics along the way but the film grain ruined them. I'll look for a way to reduce it and post some in the future, because the game is incredibly gorgeous.

 

[markec]

First of all, we need to examine the reason why the form is no longer frightening, and quite clearly it is familiarity.

I agree. A big part of what made the movie Alien scary to audiences in 1979 was that the creature was so, well, alien. It didn't look like anything people had seen before, and they had no idea of what it was capable of.

That's also, I think, why John Carpenter's The Thing is so effective (and the prequel is not).

What's a real shame is that Prometheus (despite being a pretty bad movie) gave them a perfectly valid lore reason to come up with a new creature as bizarre and frightening as the original Alien was in 1979, but the developer's wimped out and went with the same tired old xenomorph for the villain instead.

The reason why Alien was scary was not because design of the monster but how he was used. Short glimpses in dark areas, always trying to show as little as possible and let viewer imagination do the rest, after all nothing is scary as what human brain can come up with. The monster was fully showed only at the end of the movie. There are two reasons why it stopped being scary, you know how it looks so your imagination is no longer a factor and its established that it can be killed.

 

[Makabb]

The reason why Alien was scary is human fear of the unknown.

 

[markec]

The reason why Alien was scary is human fear of the unknown.

Well thank you for making TLDR of three sentences.

 

[Makabb]

m'pleasure

 

[WhiteGuts]

That and the creature seamless omnipotence : it could attack the protagonists at any time. This keeps you on your toes throughout the movie.

 

[Davaris]

Ah shit, time to upgrade.

 

[bonescraper]

If it sees you, you are simply dead and there seems to be little you can do about it. While this is fine from a gameplay difficulty standpoint, it completely negates one of the more visceral aspects of horror, which is fleeing from a predator.

Just play more. Once you find some kind of repellent (molotovs, flamethrower) you can buy yourself some time to run like hell.

 

[DragoFireheart]

If it sees you, you are simply dead and there seems to be little you can do about it. While this is fine from a gameplay difficulty standpoint, it completely negates one of the more visceral aspects of horror, which is fleeing from a predator.

Just play more. Once you find some kind of repellent (molotovs, flamethrower) you can buy yourself some time to run like hell.

But you can't kill it with weapons, correct? only drive it away?

 

[bonescraper]

No, you can't kill it. This is Ridley Scott's Alien, not Cameron's bug. The devs made it quite clear they wanted to concentrate on the original expierience and approach this game like the sequels never happened.

 

[skacky]

I tried shooting it with the pistol but it did nothing.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I've made plenty progress and am now in Gemini Labs. The Alien encounters get managable and fair once the Alien starts lurking in the vents and shadowing me wherever I go. That makes the first encounter in Medical by far the hardest part (for me) to deal with, because the Alien didn't use the vents there, it just stomps around on a constant seek and destroy mission. Once the fifth mission is done the Alien starts hanging out in the vents and things get cool.

The QTE in hiding places is definetely bugged, but only if people do what I described earlier in this thread, if you just "stand" normally in the hiding place before the QTE comes up you'll be fine. (Note, this does NOT prevent the Alien from seeing you and getting you, it just minimizes the chances.)

There ARE "innocent" humans you can come across, the fact that they spout the same lines as the hostile ones (and appear in the same place as a prior group of hostile humans did) made me try to take them down, only for the Game Over screen to pop up with "DON'T KILL INNOCENTS!" So checking if the humans are sporting weapons seems to be the only surefire way to see if they're hostile.

(On that note, that the Game Over Screen doesn't have a "Go back to Main Menu" option is a huge oversight.)

I've encountered plenty of other bugs and glitches, but none of them as bad as during that first part in Medical. Some of them include:

# Androids and the Alien walking over desks to get to me, even when there was a perfectly fine path for them to take otherwise. (This bothers me the most because I can't vault over a waist-high desk myself.)

# A survivor gazing out a viewport in Gemini Labs that kept saying various lines but her facial expression never changed, her lips never moved.

# Two humans that were looking for me decided that the best way to do so was to constantly walk in tight circles. (I wish I could have screencapped that.)

# The first security camera in Gemini Labs being able to spot me through walls.

# A handheld computer floating in free air where an android was at one point.

# An android pushing buttons in mid-air.

I tried shooting it with the pistol but it did nothing.

That's Alien lore at work. The Alien's skin is, IIRC, polarized silicate, meaning that it's heavily armoured. Small arms fire is supposed to be ineffective against the Alien except for a few vulnerable spots up close. The Colonial Marines used Armour Piercing rounds in Aliens.

On that note, using Armour Piercing rounds on board a space station/spaceship is just a very bad idea as they can puncture the hull. I'd guess that whatever rounds are in the pistol are either "standard" rounds or flechette rounds, which suck at piercing armour. The shotgun should not be a problem in this regard as long as the "gauge" is low enough. No clue on the nailgun, however.

 

[skacky]

Good thing the USCM guys weren't in a space station in Aliens.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Unkillable Cat Maybe you should post your findings on the devs' forum. Who knows, maybe some of them can be fixed.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Good thing the USCM guys weren't in a space station in Aliens.

The armour piercing rounds became a plot point anyway in Aliens as they pierced the fusion reactor in the atmosphere processor, causing it to overload and go boom.

"Oh, you have weapons that can kill the Alien? Let me take those off your hands, because plot."

Multiple Sarcasm good point, I'll collect more data then post them over there.