RTTP: Alien: Isolation

Deleted member 17402 · Jan 12, 2018

Amazes me that this game came out in October 2014 when it feels like it was yesterday. I'm starting a new run, something I've done every six months or so since the game came out. It still impresses me, to say the least. It's one of my favorite IPs that sadly will most likely not see a sequel. It really deserved better sales than what it got, especially when you consider that the Alien game before it - Colonial Marines - sold better.

If you haven't played it yet, I highly recommend it (well, depending on whether you have patience and enjoy horror and an unrelenting AI).

Also, if you're into speedruns I highly recommend this guy's YouTube page:

He keeps breaking his own records and is so pleasant to watch. I love it.

Mikebison · Jan 12, 2018

Goes down into the survival horror greats, phenomenal game. And really handles that licence and authenticity better than I could have ever hoped.

WyLD iNk · Jan 12, 2018

Great game. Probably responsible for 40% of my hypertension.

Deleted member 17402 · Jan 12, 2018

Mikebison said:
Goes down into the survival horror greats, phenomenal game. And really handles that licence and authenticity better than I could have ever hoped.

I think that's what elevates the game for me. It's so faithful to its source material, it really feels like it's set within a few years of the actual Alien movie. Everything feels so authentic, it's unbelievable.

zombipuppy · Jan 12, 2018

Started a new game with the MotherVR mod! Terrifying! This game is among my favorites of all time.

Zomba13 · Jan 12, 2018

Such a fantastic game. My favourite survival horror game.

RavenH2 · Jan 12, 2018

Played for the first time this year. Wonderful game that really captures the desperation feeling of the original Alien movie. It really doesn't hurt that it's also beautiful to look at.

TheFallenSaboteur said:
I think that's what elevates the game for me. It's so faithful to its source material, it really feels like it's set within a few years of the actual Alien movie. Everything feels so authentic, it's unbelievable.

Couldn't agree more.

Shake Appeal · Jan 12, 2018

I still get mad about once a month when I remember that nobody bought this and we won't get a sequel.

Spike Spiegel · Jan 12, 2018

Good game that fell short of being great because of the godawful rubber band alien AI.

apocat · Jan 12, 2018

I honestly had to stop a few hours in because it stressed me out too much. I don't think you can praise a horror game more than that. I should go back and finish it someday. I would love an update for psvr. It would be worth it, even though it would probably give me a heart attack and kill me.

Max|Payne · Jan 12, 2018

Great game and I hope it gets a sequel soon.

BrokenFiction · Jan 12, 2018

The world design was spectacular, and the tension when hiding from the alien...my god.

trudderham · Jan 12, 2018

Spike Spiegel said:
Good game that fell short of being great because of the godawful rubber band alien AI.

This. I pretty much stopped playing when I realised the alien AI had rubber banding.

Supervlieg · Jan 12, 2018

This reminds me, I have yet to play it in VR. How easy is it to set up for oculus?

OnanieBomb · Jan 12, 2018

I absolutely love this game. I'd say it's my favorite survival horror game this gen.

JosephMichael · Jan 12, 2018

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I don't know that I've ever felt more immersed in the universe of any other film-to-game adaptation. This is actually the cherry on top for me.

Even if the Alien franchise didn't exist, this would still be an exceptional standalone game.

MazeHaze · Jan 12, 2018

Man, that shitty IGN review really fucked things up for this game. Everyone I know who follows games media had heard it was terrible, myself included. I didn't even play through it until 2016 because of this! Fuck IGN reviews, didn't he play on hard mode and then gave it a shitty review because it was too hard?

Hawkeye 131 · Jan 12, 2018

I admire it's purity...

Absolutely phenomenal game. The attention to detail, level of authenticity and overall commitment to quality make it a wonderful game. The lengths the game goes to setup and maintain it's atmosphere and tension throughout the campaigns is truly admirable. The pacing may be slow at times but once the tension starts it slowly builds into some incredibly scary moments. There's nothing more nerve racking than knowing YOU are the one being hunted. And as a fan of the original Alien film, having the opportunity to play a game like this is simply amazing. I can't recommend it enough and would love to see a sequel in the future.

Markitron · Jan 12, 2018

My favourite game of the last decade. Absolutely nothing comes close to how well they transferred a property from one medium to another, and retained everything that made it great.

Honestly believe it's one of the all-time greatest achievements in gaming.

MazeHaze said:
Man, that shitty IGN review really fucked things up for this game. Everyone I know who follows games media had heard it was terrible, myself included. I didn't even play through it until 2016 because of this! Fuck IGN reviews, didn't he play on hard mode and then gave it a shitty review because it was too hard?

Yep, this is exactly what he did. It barely got a better score than Colonial Marines, that review did serious damage. I remember the OT well, it started off slow at first as hype had deflated at launch. Eventually it got busier and busier as people were discovering just how good this game was. I honestly don't think I have ever seen a game with as many LttP threads as AI.

El_Chino · Jan 12, 2018

It's a shame it might never get a sequel.

Secretofmateria · Jan 12, 2018

Man op, i think i need to start a new game, thanks for the inspiration, it really is the best horror game
Of the generation, iv never played a game that instilled such dread before

Mikebison · Jan 12, 2018

Also, wasn't this made by creative assembly? So, always done total war games and nothing remotely similar to this?

Even more impressive because of that.

Markitron · Jan 12, 2018

Mikebison said:
Also, wasn't this made by creative assembly? So, always done total war games and nothing remotely similar to this?

Even more impressive because of that.

Yes, and instead of a sequel they made Halo Wars 2, such wasted talent.

Shake Appeal said:
I still get mad about once a month when I remember that nobody bought this and we won't get a sequel.

It actually sold a reasonable amount of copies, over 2 million IIRC, so I think it was played by a decent amount of people all things considered. Problem is that most of the sales were heavily discounted.

David Ricardo · Jan 12, 2018

trudderham said:
This. I pretty much stopped playing when I realised the alien AI had rubber banding.

Me too. I don't understand how anybody can enjoy that kind of gameplay. It feels really cheap.

Doomguy Fieri · Jan 12, 2018

Not just an awesome game, but awesome PC software. Ran like a dream on my old computer which was damn near toaster status.

Markitron · Jan 12, 2018

David Ricardo said:
Me too. I don't understand how anybody can enjoy that kind of gameplay. It feels really cheap.

The Alien is ever-present. Any moment he is not actively there is a gift, you will never get away from him. The tension is generated by the notion that he can show up at any moment to ruin your day, so you need to be always on the lookout for a way out incase he does.

Play it with that mindset and it's great.

Doomguy Fieri · Jan 12, 2018

Spike Spiegel said:
Good game that fell short of being great because of the godawful rubber band alien AI.

Meaning the alien is always kind of "warped" nearby the player? I don't know how the game works otherwise. The alien has to be nearby for it to be scary.

KORNdog · Jan 12, 2018

perhaps a little overlong which hurts the game's pacing quite a lot, but still excellent and some of the most faithful art and atmosphere i've ever seen in a game.

Fairy Godmother · Jan 12, 2018

A lot of people criticised this game for its length, but I didn't feel it was too long. The story managed to hold my attention until the end, even though fans of Aliens should know what happened to Amanda at the end.

Shake Appeal · Jan 12, 2018

Markitron said:
It actually sold a reasonable amount of copies, over 2 million IIRC, so I think it was played by a decent amount of people all things considered. Problem is that most of the sales were heavily discounted.

Yeah, it had a long tail (I had a joke thread once that compiled all the LTTP threads this game had: there were around 30), but it had mediocre sales on initial release. Sega called the sales "weak."

Al3x1s · Jan 12, 2018

It also looked so damn good (still does) and ran so damn smoothly on just about any old PC, like on my old 7970. The only thing it's missing to be on par with new games is a good AA solution. There's a little mod for PC that adds a good TAA implementation eliminating jaggies with minor performance cost, look for Alias Isolation, it has a minor issue with the scanner enabling red/green glow on screen borders and for me the occasional crash.

Fullscreen it (if you don't the downstretch causes more shimmering even on the AAed part) and watch all that ugly aliasing shimmering disappear when it hits the TAA border (or the opposite).

Reckheim · Jan 12, 2018

Doomguy Fieri said:
Not just an awesome game, but awesome PC software. Ran like a dream on my old computer which was damn near toaster status.

I was thinking of double dipping just for the performance increase. Probably my game of the year for 2015.

Jamie Summers · Jan 12, 2018

i couldn't even get past a third of this game - its way too tense for me. but i still dont feel ripped off - it is absolutely the best ever Aliens franchise game.

Markitron · Jan 12, 2018

Shake Appeal said:
Yeah, it had a long tail (I had a joke thread once that compiled all the LTTP threads this game had: there were around 30), but it had mediocre sales on initial release. Sega called the sales "weak."

I remember that thread! You had an Antonio Conte avatar right?

I blame Colonial Marines on it's weak sales, yet another reason to hate Randy Pitchford.

BrokenFiction · Jan 12, 2018

Doomguy Fieri said:
Not just an awesome game, but awesome PC software. Ran like a dream on my old computer which was damn near toaster status.

I had the same problem, some frameskips that were annoying but not unplayable, then I upgraded and OMG.

Shake Appeal · Jan 12, 2018

Markitron said:
I remember that thread! You had an Antonio Conte avatar right?

Yup.

Dussck · Jan 12, 2018

After playing RE7 in VR I really want a sequel to Alien:Isolation in VR. That would be ... quite something ...

Ge0force · Jan 12, 2018

If you play on pc, don't forget to install a few graphics mods for improving the AA and lightning. This game looks so much better with these mods!

NealMcCauley · Jan 12, 2018

TFS Gaming had a great "Krillin plays" run of the game.

So fun but damn it is terrifying. Funny too in a dark way. I remember trying to get past a room of five or so armed people, spent five minutes planning my tactics, was just about to distract the ones closest to me, and then the Alien swooped down and took them out in ten seconds. I said out loud "Thanks, Alien."

myojinsoga · Jan 12, 2018

Just finished this wonderful game last week. I stopped maybe a year ago at about the halfway mark (something to do with engines, and a facehugger infestation). It was just too awful to carry on with, in a good way. I'm glad I went back and persevered. I love Alien, and the faithfulness in this game is amazing, it's such a love letter. Makes me go all misty.

I will say facehuggers are bullshit insta-death enemies in this though. Maybe because I was playing with stereo speakers instead of headphones or surround sound, but I could never tell where they were.

Vincent4756 · Jan 12, 2018

Game of the Year of 2014 for me. Took me till January to actually finish it, but I loved every second of it.

I will forever despise that IGN review.

It's a shame we will never see a second game, but the survival mode adds to some replayability. I should go back and get the platinum, I think I have only 3 trophies left.

Deleted member 17402 · Jan 12, 2018

myojinsoga said:
Just finished this wonderful game last week. I stopped maybe a year ago at about the halfway mark (something to do with engines, and a facehugger infestation). It was just too awful to carry on with, in a good way. I'm glad I went back and persevered. I love Alien, and the faithfulness in this game is amazing, it's such a love letter. Makes me go all misty.

I will say facehuggers are bullshit insta-death enemies in this though. Maybe because I was playing with stereo speakers instead of headphones or surround sound, but I could never tell where they were.

Yeah the facehuggers are considerably worse than the alien. lol

NealMcCauley said:
TFS Gaming had a great "Krillin plays" run of the game.

So fun but damn it is terrifying. Funny too in a dark way. I remember trying to get past a room of five or so armed people, spent five minutes planning my tactics, was just about to distract the ones closest to me, and then the Alien swooped down and took them out in ten seconds. I said out loud "Thanks, Alien."

I really love the way the space station looks from both the inside and outside.

Deleted member 3925 · Jan 12, 2018

Yep. It's one of my all time favorite horror games.

NealMcCauley · Jan 12, 2018

Paying attention to sound doesn't really help with facehuggers outside their screeches IMO. You basically can never blink in those situations.

zombiejames · Jan 12, 2018

Would have been my 2014 GOTY if I had played it in 2014.

HellforLeather · Jan 12, 2018

NealMcCauley said:
Paying attention to sound doesn't really help with facehuggers outside their screeches IMO. You basically can never blink in those situations.

Fuck those little bastards!

Markitron · Jan 12, 2018

NealMcCauley said:
Paying attention to sound doesn't really help with facehuggers outside their screeches IMO. You basically can never blink in those situations.

Thankfully they go down with even a slight touch of the flamethrower, and the savepoints/checkpoints near them are quite generous. Just not generous enough to make you casual about it.

Raptomex · Jan 12, 2018

I'm not a fan of the horror genre but I absolutely loved this game and it has become my favorite horror game to date. The middle section kind of sucks here and there, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. At some point I need to try the Unpredictable Alien mod. Apparently, it enables the Alien to roam around freely and not gravitate toward you. Once you realize how it moves around and never leaves your vicinity, some of the tension is gone. If this mod works, that's kind of a big deal. At least for me.

ffvorax · Jan 12, 2018

Best Alien game to date, one of the best survival horror out there. It's a fantastic game, really. Everyone should buy it (if like the genre) at the price it can be found now...
Yes it's a real shame it will never see a sequel... :(
(still hope for a VR remaster)

Dalek · Jan 12, 2018

Absolutely brilliant game.

RTTP: Alien: Isolation

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