In the game, players take on the role of Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. Set 15 years after the events of the first film, the game sees Amanda going up against the same kind of monster that her mother faced, though her experience will likely vary. Players will be forced to crawl, run, and fight their way through the game, but it’s definitely more advantageous to stick to the shadows than go in guns blazing.
I managed to sit down to play the game for a few minutes and was very pleased, even with the limited amount of time I had to play. Firstly the game is an atmospheric delight. Sound and music play a key role in setting the tone for the game and drawing players into a sense of both dread and excitement. The motion tracker is the most important thing in your inventory, adding yet another dimension to player’s fear, but when you have an unpredictable enemy in the xenomorph, sometimes it’s not all the useful. I played the demo twice, dying rather quickly both times, but each time the alien found and mutilated me even though I did my best to avoid him and track his every move. That’s one thing to keep in mind for the game, players not only have to keep quiet but make sure to find enclosed spaces to hide in. Though there is no guarantee that any given strategy will continuously work.
If there’s one thing to know about Alien: Isolation it’s to expect the unexpected. At one point in the demo video the wall exploded in the middle of the hallway and pipe jutted out emitting a huge wall of flames. Luckily, this happened just as the alien was rounding the corner and prevented it from immediately chowing down. The player quickly ran into a nearby room and ducked into a cabinet. Players might see parallels to another survival horror series Outlast in this moment, but even though it’s reflective of another property it’s still terrifying to watch. Creative Assembly does make this moment a little different and gives the player the option of holding their breath so as not to fully alert the monster to their presence, once again adding a new, ahem, breathing new life into this kind of scenario.
Alien: Isolation had me on the edge of my seat the entire time I watched and played the demo. It’s a claustrophobic, haunting, and nail biting experience. The game is also a visually impressive assembly, though the environments do appear sharper than the title monster. I hope this game ends up being the Alien game we deserve because it was without a doubt the most heart pounding thing I witnessed at E3.
Alien: Isolation will debut on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC on October 7th.
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