Alien Isolation (2014) - Review
- Sam Bateson
- Apr 25, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 20, 2023
Reviewed on Xbox Series X
Discover the true meaning of fear in Alien: Isolation, a survival horror set in an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger. Fifteen years after the events of Alien, Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda enters a desperate battle for survival, on a mission to unravel the truth behind her mother's disappearance.
As Amanda, you will navigate through an increasingly volatile world as you find yourself confronted on all sides by a panicked, desperate population and an unpredictable, ruthless Alien. Underpowered and underprepared, you must scavenge resources, improvise solutions, and use your wits, not just to succeed in your mission but simply to stay alive.
Run. Hide. Survive.
That's how we were introduced to Alien: Isolation in 2014. Fresh off the heels of the disastrous Aliens: Colonial Marines, SEGA surprised us with news of a new approach; a horror stealth game set in the Alien universe that was aesthetically, atmospherically and thematically similar to the original film as opposed to the action-oriented sequel. This was a brave move; the vast majority of games (in particular the early Halo titles) take their cues from Aliens in one way or another, and whilst there have been horror-stealth games in the past (Outlast, Metroid), these had been fairly niche releases; Alien: Isolation looked to break the perception, and though the intent never ended up working out, we were left with one of the best sci-fi horror games of the decade.
Set 15 years after Alien, we are introduced to Amanda Ripley (Keiza Burrows | Andrea Dreck), Ellen Ripley's daughter, a character first alluded to in the Aliens Director's Cut in a deleted scene that fans have decided is canonical. She has been looking for clues about her mothers disappearance and has been offered a lead; the flight recorder of the Nostromo has been found and is being stored aboard Sevastopol, a distant space station. Hoping to discover news of Ellen's fate, she travels to the station only to find it a crumbling ruin, overrun by - you guessed it - a Xenomorph.
When the game was first announced, I was very excited.
Once I'd completed it, I immediately started another run.
Alien Isolation features a much longer narrative than its film counterparts; first of all, we're treated to Ellen Ripley's closing monologue from the first film, lovingly rerecorded by the queen of sci-fi Sigourney Weaver herself, gently bringing us back into the world and putting us back where we last saw her; the words Alien: Isolation fade out and the first cutscene begins. We're introduced to company man Samuels (Anthony Howell) and Amanda; the flight recorder of the Nostromo has been found and is being held aboard Sevastopol station; Ripley is offered a place on the recovery team along with Taylor (Emerald O'Hanrahan). All seems to be going well, but upon arriving at the station, you become separated from your fellow crew. From here, there's little in the way of a narrative; the main storylines consist of Amanda trying to figure out what happened to her mother, how the Xenomorph got aboard & how to get rid of it and finally, how to escape with her crew. As for much of the time, you'll be sneaking through corridors and evading enemies whilst completing various quests; these range from powering on transit systems to finding medical supplies. You'll do this alone most of the time, apart from an early tutorial with the wisecracking Axel (George Anton) by your side or sections with Colonial Marshall Waits (Aliens alumni William Hope) or Ricardo (Richie Campbell | Syrus Lowe) in your ear, giving you guidance. The story is an original entry into the series, and breaks from the established Alien formula, which is not only welcome, but also done well for a change. The game does stray into fan-service at times, particularly a stunning section where you're put on the planetoid from the first film, explore the Derelict, climb the Space Jockey and shove your face into an alien egg... but towards the fifteen hour mark, the story begins to run out of steam and most of your time will be spent backtracking or chasing more objectives. The final two missions are largely a slog, but they make the eventual ending something you've earned as opposed to something you're entitled to.
Exploring Sevastopol, the space-station setting of the game, is an absolute joy. Instantly, this is Ridley Scott's world; Ron Cobb's designs have been sympathetically recreated, kit-bashed together and brought to life with original sound effects, musical cues and the same grim, grimy atmosphere we know and love. I've long held the belief that things need to evolve to remain relevant; nostalgia can often be gunned down as imitation and rehash, but here, the setting is an extension, not just a reproduction. The developers were brilliantly beholden to the rule that if something could not have been build in 1979, they wouldn't have built it in the game. Graphically, the game is unremarkable - it's not up there with the pantheon of games with totally photorealistic looks. Characters in particular are poorly realised, with wooden animations and expressionless faces; particularly in cutscenes, lighting often stalls for a few frames before appearing as normal, but in-game, the experience is very different; volumetric lighting give rise to realistic smoke and particle effects, and there's a constant smoky haze for lights to swim through.
ALIEN ATMOSPHERES
There are so many superlative rooms to explore, vents that lead nowhere and terminals filled with background information that fill the empty corridors with life. This isn't just a space station, it was a living, thriving community, destroyed by corporate misdemeanours and a collapsing economy even before the Xenomorph turned up. It's a stunningly realised world that feels like a real place you can go into hyper-sleep and fly out to visit. As you travel through the station, you'll need to solve puzzles to open doors and make use of tools and weapons that the game gifts you ever and again. Here and there, you'll find blueprints, which unlock improvised devices you can build to tip the odds of survival in your favour; noisemakers to distract enemies, flash bangs to incapacitate them or pipe bombs to out and out kill them. These are things that never guarantee your survival, and they can't be relied upon to get you through a tricky situation; often, you'll need to use combinations of tools to dispatch an enemy. Or rather, enemies. The Xenomorph isn't the only threat you'll find on the station; rogue human factions roam the corridors, some of whom are friendly, but the vast majority will not hesitate to shoot you on the spot. The Working Joes are the resident androids of the game (no Alien property would be complete without one), blank-faced, utilitarian and serving a dangerous, higher authority, their terrifying stare suits their murderous lifestyle. Repeating the same corporate mandated, welcoming statements in monotone voices (You're going to have to be more careful. You're becoming hysterical. Good day.) as they smash your head against a wall, or tear your head off, they're deeply creepy, unsettling and sheer nightmare fuel;
Distracting them with noisemakers is often your best bet, but this risks attracting the Xenomorph, and whilst he may make swift work of the human enemies, he's just as much a risk to you. The Xenomorph cannot be killed by any weapon, only distracted, scared away or hidden from, but even hiding doesn't guarantee your survival; the Xenomorph can smell and hear you inside of lockers, forcing you to hold your breath, lest he hear you and tear the door open. At that point, it's game over, man. Game over.
This is all a welcome change from Colonial Marines, which pitted you against hordes of Xenomorphs that could easily be killed with a few spurts of gunfire. Quantity, not quality. Isolation makes the alien scary again, and in a horror game, that's as it should be.
I won't lie, Alien Isolation is an exceedingly difficult game (no matter what difficulty you play on; Novice, Easy, Medium, Hard, Nightmare) and is quite unforgiving; you'll spend a lot of time being killed. Once the Xenomorph spots you, it's pretty much game over (...man. Game over! - no, I doubt that will get old) - if you can break the line of sight and hide in a locker or under a desk, you can escape any of the enemies, but they don't go away. Worse, the enemies have no scripted behaviour; they walk around, hunting you and investigating any noises you might make. The Xenomorph even smells the air for you, and if you have an Xbox Kinect (remember those?), it can hear any noises you as a player make. You can turn that off in the settings...
It is possible to complete this game with blazing guns, but you'll be better served taking advantage of the environment and the tools you find to sneak your way to your objective. This serves the narrative well, because Ripley isn't a combat expert; she's just trying to survive moment to moment, as a normal person would. Some tools make the job easier, including the flamethrower (which appears way too late in the game), one of the only weapons that can clear your way of most enemies, and the motion detector, an unreliable device that shows you whereabouts enemies are; but everything has limitations.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating gameplay components is the inclusion of manual saves; the game will only auto-save at the end of missions or at select moments; otherwise, it's up to you to find one of these:
These are save points. They're few and far between, and you're not guaranteed the right to use one if another has been used recently. They give off an audible whistle, so once you hear one, you're best to track it down and use it straightaway but beware; many a time I've rushed to use one, only to be brutally killed before the save countdown finishes, putting me right back to the last save point, which could have be half an hour before.
All of the foibles, however, pale into comparison with the overall experience; finally giving us an Alien game that's based on horror as opposed to gung-ho Marines (as valiant as they are). It's unforgiving, it's tense and it will have you shivering in your chair all throughout the duration. Best played with headphones on and the curtains drawn, it's a refreshing take on a franchise that was fast becoming stale. Sadly, it looks like we won't be getting a mainstream sequel (there was a mobile sequel called Alien: Blackout that was little more than a Five Nights at Freddy's ripoff), but if we ever did, there is little it could do to improve the concept, so perfect was it in Isolation. Sure, it's frustrating, but dammit, it's one hell of a fun ride.
Sam's Score: 8
Alien Isolation is available on Windows, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Linux, OS X and Nintendo Switch.
All images © SEGA
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