Alien: Isolation

[Jick Magger]

I can see the fanservice on youtube and imagine the gameplay as a shitty, broken version of Amnesia.

Cost of playing: Zero.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

I can see the fanservice on youtube and imagine the gameplay as a shitty, broken version of Amnesia.

Cost of playing: Zero.

And that's why we can't have nice things.
Granted, CA are terrible at AI, but something non-popamole comes out of AAA shit factories only once every blue moon. Games like this are something worth supporting, I think.
I'll probably wait a few months to see if CA patches some of the stuff mentioned in this thread (e.g. alien teleporting), but I know I'll be buying this, if only in hopes of seeing something else released that at least tries to be genuine.

 

[Makabb]

Playing this and it's just another hike, this time through sevastopol, good riddance.

Thank god Alien killed this Axel guy, i hated the douche bag.

Games like this are something worth supporting, I think.

This is not a game.

 

[Multidirectional]

Is it just me or does this game really use low internal rendering resolution? Shit just doesn't look right, so many jaggies everywhere.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Had another go at it. I can confirm my second point with 100% certainty, the game teleports the Alien where it needs to be.

I actually managed to find the keycard this time, and was well on my way to getting back to the doctor whom asked for it. I examined my surroundings, watched the sensor and listened for the Alien. (Alien is the first game to use sound in such a manner since the Thief games, at least that I know of.) When I knew that it was in a dead end quite a way aways from me, I got out and walked in the other direction.

When I get back to the spot where the Alien first appeared the sensor lets off that sound to inform you it has a signal, and I check to see that it's in FRONT OF ME, right by the door that I need to go through, and by its speed it has clearly found me. I wasn't quick enough to hide this time. No matter, this time I know where to go and what to do.

Yes, there's a chance that I need to "git gud" at this game. There's also a chance that any encounters with the Alien are luck-based.

 

[Makabb]

Is it just me or does this game really use low internal rendering resolution? Shit just doesn't look right, so many jaggies everywhere.

The more i play this the more it looks like doom 3

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I don't have cutting edge tech, but the only problem I have is some people's skins seem like they're glistening with sweat ALL THE TIME.

It happens rarely, though. Also, the Alien sometimes has a greenish hue for little to no reason.

 

[Jick Magger]

... something non-popamole comes out of AAA shit factories only once every blue moon. Games like this are something worth supporting, I think.

If something is shit, I will call it shit. I don't give David Cage a pass just because his games aren't popamole. "At least you tried" isn't a passing grade.

 

[Derek Larp]

Disappointing, but expected.

You had ONE fucking job to do, CA.

 

[Ebonsword]

Thanks for all of the gameplay impressions, folks.

Looks like I will be waiting for this to drop below $20 before purchasing.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Progress has been made, and a bug has been found!

I finally managed to get back to the doctor who asked for the keycard, but I think the Alien got him (I was too busy saving my progress). Went to the next level, and a very intense section starts where the Alien is in the vents above you, and will only drop down if it hears you. Due to the small space involved, death is almost inevitable if this happens. THIS section is done right, where only your own stupidity can get you killed.

It was the section beyond that where I discovered the bug.

The locker I had hid in previously is a locker that's located between two beds. In this new section I found another one of those and hid in there. From what happened next I can state two points if you hide in such a locker:

# The Alien knows you're there. It will make a beeline straight for you. (80% certain of this.)

# The Alien WILL KILL YOU because the "hold breath" feature bugs out. I held my breath and waited until the Alien had walked away and disappeared off the sensor (number in bottom left corner shows distance in numbers, max is 0.96), then I released the right mouse button. ALIEN RIPS CLOSET DOOR OFF AND KILLS ME.

Out of fucking nowhere.

Feel free to try this out, but I suggest people wait for the first patch.

 

[Angthoron]

Hm, something came to mind, are you having the sensor out all the time? I've not played this one, and don't know how it works in Isolation, but shouldn't the sensor basically be attracting the alien towards you with beeping and shit? Could be the reason it knows where you are, if you're using it a lot.

 

[Starwars]

Played this for a few hours at a friend's house yesterday. Will not buy it at the current price.
The one good thing is that it looks really nice, and that it sounds really good. It seems very well-optimized, even on my friend's rather old rig, the game looked and ran really well.

Other than that, I dunno... I mean, it's nice that they want to spend the time to build up. I applaud that decision, but it's just... no. It's not scary. You have a few jump-scares here and there, you have ye standard logs to read, as soon as you go into a corridor or vent the game throws its creepy noises at you. It's predictable as hell and as such, the build-up fails. And again... we fucking know what it's building up to. We've seen the alien a *million* times.

As for the alien itself. The idea of it is nice, and when it works it tends to work nicely. It *is* stressful. Trouble is, it tends to either feel like the alien is downright cheating (as we can see in above posts also). Sure, it feels like a real threat, but gameplay-wise it feels like a cheat. Or, at times it feels like it's basically blind/dumb when you manage to hide from it. It's much rarer that the game manages to hit that sweet spot in the middle ground.
Which is why I feel it is somewhat of a futile effort to make a game like this based around the alien. The alien is a movie creature, it's scary because the movie can do its tricks with it to make it feel almost "godlike". If the game does that, it feels like A) a cheat and B) a lesson in trial-and-error.

So, yeah, might get it when it goes for hella cheap. But I was not particularly impressed or scared (I even had the apartment to myself, played with excellent headphones and everything), though it is certainly stressful at times. Good effort I suppose, especially audio and visuals, but I suspect also a somewhat futile effort when it comes to the alien franchise.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Angthoron I'm still trying to determine if the Alien registers the sensor bleeps or not. I usually put the sensor down the moment I hear the Alien well enough that I don't need it, but I've both had the sensor out when the Alien is RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR (unaware) and just not taken it out at all and still be found in a non-bugged hiding place.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

If something is shit, I will call it shit. I don't give David Cage a pass just because his games aren't popamole. "At least you tried" isn't a passing grade.

You haven't even played the fucking game and admitted to imagining the gameplay. Try harder.

 

[Angthoron]

Unkillable Cat That sucks then. I was kinda looking forward to Isolation, just out of the principle of something different, but it sounds like it shipped with a fuckton of bugs, or that the AI scripting was shit to begin with.

Oh well, my Kinguin order finally shipped, so I'll see for myself soon enough.

 

[Astral Rag]

Alien Isolation performance analysis

edit: looks like they don't talk about PC performance in this article

 

[Talby]

Pretty sad considering the graphics aren't even on par with a lot of games from the 360/PS3 era, yet "next-gen" can't even get a consistent 60FPS out of it.

 

[Angthoron]

Pretty sad considering the graphics aren't even on par with a lot of games from the 360/PS3 era, yet "next-gen" can't even get a consistent 60FPS out of it.

Human eye doesn't see beyond 30 FPS anyway.

 

[Astral Rag]

 

[Garryydde]

Well I was originally kinda upset that AMD didn't deliver on that Steam code but if it really is that bug ridden it's not that much of an issue. It is a CA game after all.

 

[DragoFireheart]

# The Alien WILL KILL YOU because the "hold breath" feature bugs out. I held my breath and waited until the Alien had walked away and disappeared off the sensor (number in bottom left corner shows distance in numbers, max is 0.96), then I released the right mouse button. ALIEN RIPS CLOSET DOOR OFF AND KILLS ME.

Out of fucking nowhere.

Feel free to try this out, but I suggest people wait for the first patch.

Maybe your sensor is broked?

I'm still trying to determine if the Alien registers the sensor bleeps or not. I usually put the sensor down the moment I hear the Alien well enough that I don't need it, but I've both had the sensor out when the Alien is RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR (unaware) and just not taken it out at all and still be found in a non-bugged hiding place.

It's possible he's aware that you're in the room and is waiting for you to come out of hiding? Maybe the sensor does make noise?

Do you leave/let go of breath as soon as you no longer hear the Alien? Maybe wait a little longer to fool him into thinking you're not there? I guess I'm not sure what is a bug and was is intended behavior.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

This is a bug, believe me. I think I know what's causing it too.

When an Alien investigates a hiding place, the player is supposed to perform a 2-step QTE. First to hold down the Right Mouse Button to hold your breath, the second is to push "Back" to lean back in the hiding place.

What I'm thinking is happening is because I'm already leaning backwards when the first prompt comes (it gives a better view of the scanner) is that the game considers the QTE to have failed (meaning death) but the game can't kill me because I am also fulfilling the requirements of the QTE event. The minute I am no longer fulfilling those requirements - releasing a button - the game kills me off, even if that means breaking things quite spectacularly.

...

I just realized that this bug makes me Schrödinger's Cat to the Alien. I'm both in and NOT in the hiding place at the same time.

 

[Untermensch]

So if the hypersensitive Alien gets fixed, is it worth purchasing?

 

[The Fish]

So if the hypersensitive Alien gets fixed, is it worth purchasing?

If you play on normal it's fairly easy to survive I've found and that's without the difficulty becoming trivial. Also, the alien teleporting stuff can be countered somewhat with liberal use of the motion detector. I would say it's worth it but if the money means a lot to you there's no reason not to wait for a sale.

If you're expecting a scary game it's not that. It is tense however.