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Neiteio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,127
Weirdly haven't seen anyone write out a summary

+ 1080p docked (majority) dynamic resolution: lowest recorded resolution was 752p
+ Modern TAA that makes a less aliased images than even the PS4
+ Adaptive sharpening that further refines the image
+ Great Audio (equivelant to PS4)
+ Nearly locked 30fps: Known stress areas have a more consistent fps than Xbox One
+ No screen tearing (vs other console versions)


- Comparable but demonstrably worse loading times
- Ambient Occlusion Removed (or changed dramatically)
-/+ Motion blur disabled
- LOD/Shadow draw distance pushed in
- In game videos running at a lower res

Everything else (chromatic aberation, film grain, reflections, lighting etc) are in tact.
Groovy, thanks for consolidating this

On a side note, the alien gets all the hype, but damn the androids really psyche me out wherever they appear
 

mikehaggar

Developer at Pixel Arc Studios
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
1,379
Harrisburg, Pa
This is pretty cool. I've always wanted to play this, but have never gotten around to it. I'd bite on Switch version if there was a physical copy. Otherwise, it's hard for me to justify buying digital when it's available on Game Pass.
 

Deleted member 11637

Oct 27, 2017
18,204
Amazing work! That image stability more than makes up for a reduced resolution, and the framerate is (outside of certain moments) rock-solid. I can't justify paying full-price for it right now, but I'll be damned if I don't pick this up for the third time just to support CA and Feral.

BUY THIS GAME!
 

Neiteio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,127
This is pretty cool. I've always wanted to play this, but have never gotten around to it. I'd bite on Switch version if there was a physical copy. Otherwise, it's hard for me to justify buying digital when it's available on Game Pass.
However you play it, it's worth your while. It's a deeply immersive game, and it's epic as heck. Like it goes on forever, but it's consistently quality content and inventive throughout. Super-cool scenes that sear into your mind. Better than the movies!
 

Deleted member 3010

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,974
Wow, seems like an extremely solid and commendable port.

Now I'm interested to try it, never played Isolation yet.

EDIT: No physical copies???? Daaaaw. :(
 

Imitatio

Member
Feb 19, 2018
14,560
Switch = 2 PS4s duct taped together. Yesss, finally!

Looks like a fantastic port. Feral Int. is absolutely rocking it with this and Grid.
 

Yuuber

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,151
Wow, this is an incredible feat! I've always been really curious about this game, and despite multiple sales I could never purchase it.
 

JudgmentJay

Member
Nov 14, 2017
5,216
Texas
I remember at the time that a lot of people were complaining about how soft the anti-aliasing was on PC. I didn't mind it too much, as I found the hazy image and chromatic aberration suited the 70s sci-fi aesthetic. The bigger problem was that in spite how much it softened the image, it didn't do enough to stop the jaggies!

J6eo9JY.jpg

zSrRcBI.jpg

There's a mod for that. Alias Isolation. That and the mod to get rid of the save confirmation prompts are essential imo.
 

Pargon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,996
There are zero sharpening artifacts in the switch screen.
There's clear ringing in the Switch image. All the bright lights have dark black halos around them, so it's obviously sharpened.
TAA plus sharpening clearly offers better image quality despite the presence of sharpening artifacts and rendering at a lower resolution though.

On PC, rendering at significantly higher resolutions; e.g. native 4K, or downsampling from even higher than that, was still not enough to take care of the aliasing in this game. So it's not that they "botched the PS4 version" as some people here are saying.
It required a mod that replaced the game's SMAA T2x anti-aliasing with a superior TAA implementation:




If only there was a generic way to inject TAA into older games, rather than requiring a custom solution like this. Not that I'm likely to return to it, but Metal Gear Solid V is a game which stood out to me for its awful aliasing even when downsampling from 4K native on a 1080p display.
I'd still recommend that anyone play Alien: Isolation on PC if you can (though it's not perfect - the mouse implementation is bad) but this Switch conversion looks great.
I'm usually not one for horror games, but this is one of my favorite games this generation.

I remember at the time that a lot of people were complaining about how soft the anti-aliasing was on PC.
I don't remember people complaining about softness, but that the SMAA T2x anti-aliasing was completely ineffective, and mostly added ghosting in motion rather than improving the image.

I remember dropping this on PC cause the flickery edges drove me crazy and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Am I to understand the image on Switch is even cleaner than PC?
Cleaner than PC in its default state.
Playing on PC with the Alias: Isolation mod should provide a similar anti-aliasing implementation, but you have the option to render at higher resolutions and run the game at higher frame rates (it runs really well on PC - not demanding at all).
 

plagiarize

Eating crackers
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,511
Cape Cod, MA
There's clear ringing in the Switch image. All the bright lights have dark black halos around them, so it's obviously sharpened.
TAA plus sharpening clearly offers better image quality despite the presence of sharpening artifacts and rendering at a lower resolution though.
you have the option to render at higher resolutions and run the game at higher frame rates (it runs really well on PC - not demanding at all).
You are right, I tip my hat to you.
 

ZSJ

Alt-Account
Banned
Jul 21, 2019
607
Playing the video on a TV, the game looks really low res on both. Next gen can't come soon enough.
 
Jan 27, 2019
16,073
Fuck off
This reminds me, I need to buy a microSD card for my Switch then predownload this, I have done long bus rides over the weekend, th8s will be the perfect way to pass that time.
 

mogwai00

Member
Mar 24, 2018
1,249
This.

Play it on PC for 60 FPS people, it runs on a toaster and should've been 60 on current consoles (probably would have today with pro/x).

It's cool tense game, if a bit overlong.

If you're at all an Alien(s) fan, it's essential

Yeah.
On PC you can easily achieve very high FPS, great IQ via SS and several graphics improvements through tweaks.

I also owned the PS4 version and was meh.
 

Richietto

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,964
North Carolina
Obviously the PS4 version wasn't great but that doesn't take away from the Switch version looking fantastic for being a tablet. Like damn. Put in the work and you get results.
 

Barn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,137
Los Angeles
I love everybody handwaving away the previous versions like people were never impressed by them. This game has always been a looker; time, tech advances and Feral Interactive approaching the project with care have made some improvements on those looks, in some areas. That's great.

And here I thought I was done buying games for the year.
 

Pariah

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,944
I completed this for the third time a few months ago. Still an atmospheric, irregular but mostly brilliant experience. Such a shame it didn't take any significant advantage of the upgraded systems (Pro was more stable with Boost Mode, if I remember correctly).

I'd be down to try this, and obviously, here's a great single player, very polished game for anyone who's willing to discover it.
 

PJsprojects

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,066
England
I played this maxed out on pc and class it as one if not the all time greatest games ever made.
Looking at the footage if I ever buy a Switch this is a certain purchase! I might even just grab one of those Switch Lite models just to sit chilling with headphones on.
 

dedge

Member
Sep 15, 2019
2,429
I can't overstate how much I enjoyed this game on PS4. I only had some of the DLC so getting that + gyro and it being a strong port, I'll definitely be double dipping at launch.
 
Jun 17, 2018
3,244
I really enjoyed my time with the game on PC but like I said before, it was just a tad too long. That being said, this looks like an amazing port and I hope more people play this because a sequel would be great.

On another note, could anyone else tell that Dark1x was gutted about the lack of motion blur???
 

Deleted member 9305

Oct 26, 2017
4,064
Looks like a great port and the dev team applied the lessons learned on PC and its TAA mod



github.com

Releases · aliasIsolation/aliasIsolation

Anti-aliasing mod for Alien: Isolation. Contribute to aliasIsolation/aliasIsolation development by creating an account on GitHub.
 

Xater

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,905
Germany
Wow this port actually looks really good. I didn't really play much of the Xbox version when it was on Gamepass because of the extreme shimmering. I might actually get this.
 

Deleted member 46493

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 7, 2018
5,231
Would love to get it but I went through the game a few months ago. Maybe when I am itching for a replay.

And yeah it's a great game but feels too long because of backtracking.
 

ika

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,154
MAD, Spain
I was going to wait for a sale, but damn, I guess I'm going to Day 1 it. Can you preload ahead of the release?
Yeah, I got it preloaded since last week ^_^ Can't wait to play it tonight (after the mandatory check out of SMM2 update of course).

I love everybody handwaving away the previous versions like people were never impressed by them. This game has always been a looker; time, tech advances and Feral Interactive approaching the project with care have made some improvements on those looks, in some areas. That's great.

And here I thought I was done buying games for the year.
Yeah, god forbid Switch having nice ports that somewhat looks better than the PS4 counterpart, there must be something wrong with it :P
 
Last edited:
Oct 27, 2017
1,031
For those who played this before....from what im reading it sounds like basically the Alien is always stalking you. I love horror games and this being in space and what ive seen looks great. My only concern is that it would be annoying to have the alien constantly stalking you to where it becomes where you constantly die and have to redo areas over and over and not have any safety time at all to explore, etc.....can someone who's played it tell me what the gameplay is like in terms of how much of a constant threat the Alien is to you?
 

dodo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,997
extremely good looking port. I think the only sacrifice made that would bother me at all is the lack of AO, that seems pretty key to a game like this with such striking lighting. Still relatively minor overall. Between this and GRID, Feral really seems like an incredible studio.

For those who played this before....from what im reading it sounds like basically the Alien is always stalking you. I love horror games and this being in space and what ive seen looks great. My only concern is that it would be annoying to have the alien constantly stalking you to where it becomes where you constantly die and have to redo areas over and over and not have any safety time at all to explore, etc.....can someone who's played it tell me what the gameplay is like in terms of how much of a constant threat the Alien is to you?

The encounters are random (mostly, there are some ones you'll always get) but usually the pacing of them is well spaced-out. The one major criticism of this game most people have is that it's just too long for its own good, but I definitely recommend it if you love horror games. It's a classic!
 

BloodshotX

Member
Jan 25, 2018
1,593
Dark1x wow excellent video once again. Really hope you guys take the surround sound aspect of switch games and put them in future analyses. I know you did it with aliens(5.1) and astral chain(stereo). But its such a hit or miss, eshop pages that are straight out lying (eshop page of LA noire on switch still states LPCM to this day while it doesnt have it) Or games that do have it all be it in a not great way(only pokecry's in the grass in places like veridian city) in lets go pikachu and eevee, dont have it on the eshop page at all.

Its such a hit or miss with switch sadly.

On a sidenote are you guys going to do an analysis of assassins creed the rebel collection, after the disatrous work that ac3 was im not gonna buy it untill i know the sound and framerate are okay.
 

Mr Swine

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,033
Sweden
Looks like a really, really good port. Looks much much better than the PS3 version, like holy cow that looks bad
 

TitanicFall

Member
Nov 12, 2017
8,264
Steam says I've put 80 hours into this game. I've only beat it twice, but I keep booting it up every few weeks for the atmosphere.
 

Leo-Tyrant

Member
Jan 14, 2019
5,083
San Jose, Costa Rica
Weirdly haven't seen anyone write out a summary

+ 1080p docked (majority) dynamic resolution: lowest recorded resolution was 756p
+ Modern TAA that makes a less aliased images than even the PS4
+ Adaptive sharpening that further refines the image
+ Great Audio (equivelant to PS4)
+ Nearly locked 30fps: Known stress areas have a more consistent fps than Xbox One
+ No screen tearing (vs other console versions)


- Comparable but demonstrably worse loading times
- Ambient Occlusion Removed (or changed dramatically)
-/+ Motion blur disabled
- LOD/Shadow draw distance pushed in
- In game videos running at a lower res

Everything else (chromatic aberation, film grain, reflections, lighting etc) are in tact.

Thank you for this. How about portable mode? I traded my OG Switch for a Lite so I sadly no longer have my "as long as docked looks good I dont care" priority.
 

Slappy White

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,205
It's a bit of a slow burn of a game but when it gets going it's amazing. Buy it if you haven't played it. I've already done my part twice with PS4 and PC.
 

HeyNay

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,495
Somewhere
One of the best games ever. Certainly the best survival-horror game I've ever played. I got totally immersed in this title and it never let me down.
 

JahIthBer

Member
Jan 27, 2018
10,376
AA on PC was trash too, good news is you can mod in TAA, but it's not a demanding game, might as well run it at 5K resolution & downsample with FXAA, i got no doubt Pro & X could run this at 4K.
 

Flappy Pannus

Member
Feb 14, 2019
2,340
I remember at the time that a lot of people were complaining about how soft the anti-aliasing was on PC.
Uh...they were? It's the opposite ime - there's lots of shader aliasing with the default AA methods.The 2TX SMAA helps over the console versions, but not much. The CA can contribute to the softness yes, but you can turn it off.

As others have mentioned, the Alias Isolation mod is essential for the PC version for this very reason. Massive IQ improvement, there's also a sharpening slider available to offset any added bluriness.