Alien Isolation is a 2014 survival horror game based in the same franchise as the Alien movies, in particular this film serves as a tie in for the 1979 Sci Fiction horror film Alien acting as a sequel that takes place between Alien and Aliens, the film is also a first person shooter, stealth game and puzzle game
The game ties in these elements very well, the game uses the first person perspective element to really amplify the horror element, instead of just playing as the character like most third person perspective games, you actually feel as if it’s you being hunted which is a wonderful element that really fits the franchise and the game, this applies to the stealth element as well, it’s absolutely necessary for the game that you don’t get eaten by an alien. The puzzle element is actually incorporated really well, usually when games like this mention puzzles being a major part of the game then there’s worries that it’ll be a very repetitive thing that slowly down, your progress through the story of the game, and whilst it definitely gets a bit irritating every now and again (especially in tight situations where you could get killed any second) it’s not that much of a problem and works nicely within the context
The utilization of the horror element is easily the stand out element from the genres, the game takes inspiration from the Nostromo from the original Alien film with how the ship is laid out and makes it so much more terrifying with survivors ready to kill you at any opportunity, malfunctioning androids that won’t hesitate if you step out of line, and most importantly several murderous alien organisms ready to snack on you in the ventilation shafts. The way this game uses all these genres really makes it the ideal alien video game


Despite the story not being that unique it’s still very engaging, the game is split into several chapters with specific individual goals, the main narrative consists of the main character, Amanda Ripley wandering around the Sevastopol station attempting to bring the station back online, discover what’s happened and why, whilst not being killed by any of the multiple threats on board
the narrative fits within to the alien franchise very well, featuring a lot of similar elements as seen in the first film and definitely feels as if it’s part of the same franchise, this is important for the appeal for the target audience as an Alien fan like myself would be much more likely to want to buy a game like this, whilst the concept isn’t exactly the most unique of concepts, the game is quite unique in regards to video games and horror video games, as far as I’m aware I don’t know any major current generation survival horror games based on a space station being chased by an alien, and that helps it a lot


The main is Amanda Ripley, who is much like her mother in terms of her character, especially her determination, which is a good element to have for a video game character
having her linked to the protagonist of the first 4 Alien films is a particularly unique element as it creates this relationship between the films and the game that we wouldn’t have if it was a purely original character invented for the game, I think part of this game succeeds by the players knowing the true fate of Ellen Ripley which Amanda does not know and desperately searches for, but as well we know the fate of Amanda herself, revealed in a deleted scene of the theatrical cut of Aliens


The game is available on PC, Xbox one and PlayStation 4 although I can only account for an experience on PC
the game runs very well for what it is, especially on my lower end PC it runs really well and looks beautiful
as mentioned my PC isn’t exactly the most powerful and once or twice, I did have the problem of some of the environments being too large with lots of elements which my PC struggled with, but this was fixed by temporarily lowering the quality. Other than that, I had no problem playing the game, especially for several hours on end, I’d definitely like to see how it plays on a console where everything’s already at a set performance capability or on a PC with greater capacity for running games as I think that could make the experience even greater again


Overall summary

Alien Isolation is an excellent game that excels on all levels. The gameplay is unique and truly fun to play with as well as absolutely terrifying in the context and I could play it over and over again and still discover new elements to enjoy and have a lot of fun overall without getting bored
the game is absolutely beautifully crafted for it’s time, sure there’s better looking games out there but for what the game wants to achieve it’s perfectly good
the sound design is top notch absolutely terrifying on all levels, in particular the sounds in the ventilation shafts particularly ramp up the fear factor, you never know if the alien is nearby or whether it’s just sounds of the space ship itself
the alien AI is genius, you can never truly predict what the alien will do and have to watch your back all the time, I absolutely adore this feature, I couldn’t have asked for it to be done any other way, it’s just too perfect
The final element I’d like to credit is the soundtrack, it’s wonderfully done and calls back to the original Jerry Goldsmith score for Alien 1979 which is already an incredible soundtrack

overall I feel the game is very solid, it does exactly everything I’d want from a game like this and I feel as if giving it a very good 9.5/10 is incredibly justified because of all the effort that’s gone into this game, it’s easily one of my favourite games because it just does so much right with my only real criticism being that the story is a bit predictable but even then there’s some excellent twists and plot developments