This is easily my “I know it’s a much better game than my feelings about it are game” game. I wanted to love it. I see why people love it. At times I did love it and times I thought it may click to where I kept loving it. But in the end it ended up being a game I think it brilliant but simply and disappointingly not for me. But before we get into that, side note, this game may have my favorite box art of all time.
Being a big horror game fan but a huge stealth game hater I knew going in that I would be conflicted but hoped the horror would win out. This last sentence is probably the biggest reason this game didn’t work for me as the stealth won out. See, the thing is this game is brilliant in that you need to do these varied task across a vast spaceship while being quite and hide from the alien. At first it is super tense as you can almost always hear the alien as it’s surprisingly good AI roams around you both in the level with you and above you in the vents. You never know when you may make a wrong turn or make to much noise drawing attention to yourself and before you know what to do your dead. At first I loved this as the horror was easily the star of the show. However the longer I went through the game it got less and less scary and more and more a game of walking extremely slow and if I made a noise changing into a game of hide and seek. I no longer cared about the horror of the game, I just wanted to progress the story without waiting under a desk or in a locker for what felt like 5 minutes at a time so I didn’t get caught sending me way back to the last checkpoint, which are typically spaced good distances out. It became an annoyance and not horror.
I understand why people love it. The atmosphere is fantastic, the game is tense and the horror at the beginning is great. I know many enjoy the stealth aspect and with the good AI of the alien even for me it was fun at first. There just wasn’t enough in the gameplay loop to keep me wanting more and once the tense scare factor turned into a “ugh here we go again, a wait and hide montage” I just lost all interest.
Even though it wasn’t for me I’m still giving it a 3 star because I know I’m in the minority here and do respect it as a good game because it is. I also still recommend people play this because I think most people won’t have the same feelings I have towards the stealth “hide and seek” moments.
Also this may be and probably will be the last game I finish in 2023 as we are now a week away from 2024, as well as it’s Christmas time, as well as me and my wife are having our second child very soon. So I went ahead and made my Games I played in 2023 ranked list so if you’re interested check it out!
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2023-ranked/
Being a big horror game fan but a huge stealth game hater I knew going in that I would be conflicted but hoped the horror would win out. This last sentence is probably the biggest reason this game didn’t work for me as the stealth won out. See, the thing is this game is brilliant in that you need to do these varied task across a vast spaceship while being quite and hide from the alien. At first it is super tense as you can almost always hear the alien as it’s surprisingly good AI roams around you both in the level with you and above you in the vents. You never know when you may make a wrong turn or make to much noise drawing attention to yourself and before you know what to do your dead. At first I loved this as the horror was easily the star of the show. However the longer I went through the game it got less and less scary and more and more a game of walking extremely slow and if I made a noise changing into a game of hide and seek. I no longer cared about the horror of the game, I just wanted to progress the story without waiting under a desk or in a locker for what felt like 5 minutes at a time so I didn’t get caught sending me way back to the last checkpoint, which are typically spaced good distances out. It became an annoyance and not horror.
I understand why people love it. The atmosphere is fantastic, the game is tense and the horror at the beginning is great. I know many enjoy the stealth aspect and with the good AI of the alien even for me it was fun at first. There just wasn’t enough in the gameplay loop to keep me wanting more and once the tense scare factor turned into a “ugh here we go again, a wait and hide montage” I just lost all interest.
Even though it wasn’t for me I’m still giving it a 3 star because I know I’m in the minority here and do respect it as a good game because it is. I also still recommend people play this because I think most people won’t have the same feelings I have towards the stealth “hide and seek” moments.
Also this may be and probably will be the last game I finish in 2023 as we are now a week away from 2024, as well as it’s Christmas time, as well as me and my wife are having our second child very soon. So I went ahead and made my Games I played in 2023 ranked list so if you’re interested check it out!
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2023-ranked/
2 Comments
@FallenGrace believe me I’m disappointed too. The first 7 chapters were a 4-5 star type game for me. But I just wanted it over once the tension was gone.
I agree there are so many things you could do with this universe to make great and varied games. I’m surprised there isn’t more already.
I agree there are so many things you could do with this universe to make great and varied games. I’m surprised there isn’t more already.
FallenGrace
4 months ago
I'm a huge Aliens, horror and stealth fan so this ticked all my boxes. I wish there were more Aliens games as the universe has a lot to explore. Played Fire team with a friend this year which I enjoyed though it's objectively mediocre lol.