Alien: Isolation unveiled as survival horror with roots in 1979 film


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Alien: Isolation unveiled as survival horror with roots in 1979 film

 

by Sinan Kubba on Jan 7th 2014 11:00AM

 

Sega officially unveiled The Creative Assembly's Alien game as Isolation, a first-person survival horror shooter for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC that's due for release in the second half of 2014. The long-speculated game has been in development at the British studio for just over three years, and firmly traces its roots to the original 1979 film that began the Alien franchise.

As previously rumored, players take on the role of Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda in a new story that stars the original Alien from the film. Alien: Isolation is set 15 years after the events in Alien, and takes place on a large trading station where a flight recording from the Nostromo has been recovered.

"The thing we're always focused on is that first film," Lead Game Designer Gary Napper told Joystiq at a recent press event. "It's making the game as much like that original experience of being focused on a single alien in a single environment, and not being prepared to shoot it. It's that really close-up, personal, and connected experience with the Alien. That's what we've always focused on and wanted to do."

We played a brief demo at the event that pitted us against the Alien, but Napper told us The Creative Assembly already has a build of Isolation that's "playable from start to finish," and the studio is now in the process of "polishing, iterating, and balancing" the game.

We've also confirmed Alien: Isolation is running on an in-house engine built by The Creative Assembly, and that it features "no multiplayer whatsoever" to use Napper's words. The studio is still exploring console-specific functionality, such as Kinect integration on Xbox One; in the PS4 demo we used the touchpad to bring up and manipulate a pause screen map, and the controller's sensor light flashed with the in-game motion tracker.

For the nittier-grit of our experience with the demo, including how we somehow managed to evade the Alien (at the second time of asking), check out our impressions here.

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/07/alien-isolation-unveiled-as-survival-horror-with-roots-in-1979/

 

Announcement trailer:

 

 

 

Gameplay trailer:

 

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As long as Gearbox don't screw it up, all they care about is Borderlands and royally screwed up Colonial Marines.

 

Gearbox aren't involved. Creative Assembly are making it. Known for their Total War RTS series.

 

The chances of SEGA working with GB again are pretttty slim :laugh:

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"The thing we're always focused on is that first film," Lead Game Designer Gary Napper told Joystiq at a recent press event. "It's making the game as much like that original experience of being focused on a single alien in a single environment, and not being prepared to shoot it. It's that really close-up, personal, and connected experience with the Alien. That's what we've always focused on and wanted to do."

I wonder how that will work out. For one, games don't really lend themselves to having a single enemy. Also, what makes it tense in the film is that any of the characters could be bumped off at a moment's notice - in video games, the playable character generally has to survive until the end.
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Will be very interesting to see how this pans out, I agree with some of nick h's comments above but looking at the trailer it appears they've created a pretty intense environment that tries to capture the suspense of 1) not knowing where the alien is going to one come from 2) surviving / escaping from it using tactics.

 

I just can't imagine this game will have a lot of play hours or replay ability to it though.

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...the suspense of 1) not knowing where the alien is going to one come from 2) surviving / escaping from it using tactics.

 

I just can't imagine this game will have a lot of play hours or replay ability to it though.

Ah, I didn't watch the trailer as I'm at work, that would probably clear up some things for me. :laugh:

But from what you've mentioned there, I agree that it doesn't sound like it would be a very long game.

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based on the firs move instead of the second... :/

 

I don't see how this will make for a very good game.

:..its based on the style of the mobiles, the first being serving against a single alien, the rest more about hunting... and ultimately defending with guns and with Ripley more tactics than weapons from my recollection of the series.

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based on the firs move instead of the second... :/

 

I don't see how this will make for a very good game.

 

From the looks of it, if you enjoyed Amnesia or Penumbra, you'll enjoy this game. 

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Watched half of the gameplay trailer, I can see where they would get the intensity from. It's seems like it's a game where if the enemy finds you, your dead!

 

What they could do (but I doubt it) is throw in a few other NPC's that are important up to a certain point. A little like Dead Space where you never really see them but you are always in some form of contact. Looks promising to say the least though, interested to see how this one goes.

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based on the firs move instead of the second... :/

 

I don't see how this will make for a very good game.

 

They should of just went nuts and based the game on the 1st and 2nd movie combined.  That would have made for a longer (perhaps better?) game.  And maybe have you play as some of the other cast members (perhaps a few minutes as the elder Ripley herself).  I think I would help set a better narrative to the game.

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Think this looks to be much more in vein of what Alien was and not what Aliens and some of the more recent films have been.

The Alien is/was an absolute artistic masterpiece in many ways, not least because of Geiger`s involvement in the set design.

At its heart it was always a gritty piece of sc-fi horror and when released originally had people shocked and genuinely scared by it.

Aliens was later panned for being a bit too gun ho, with the 3rd being the go between, which in itself then became the "worst" of the bunch and Aliens was seen as an action classic all of a sudden.

So im pretty much for this type of Alien game, as its much more in line with my own thinking and what I was told of the films by my parents. After having came home with all 3 on VHS when I was about 10 years old. :p

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They should of just went nuts and based the game on the 1st and 2nd movie combined.  That would have made for a longer (perhaps better?) game.  And maybe have you play as some of the other cast members (perhaps a few minutes as the elder Ripley herself).  I think I would help set a better narrative to the game.

 

In the 2nd video they were saying the game will be 10-12 hours, and oddly the people playing it were bitching and saying they wish it were shorter, preferably 4 hours long.

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In the 2nd video they were saying the game will be 10-12 hours, and oddly the people playing it were bitching and saying they wish it were shorter, preferably 4 hours long.

 

 

That's because you can only play hide and seek with a single alien monster for so long before it gets boring. that's why they wish it was shorter. 

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That's because you can only play hide and seek with a single alien monster for so long before it gets boring. that's why they wish it was shorter. 

 

Depends, if it literally does the same thing, or it's taking me 12 hours to do a single objective then maybe I'd get bored. But I imagine it'll be spaced out. From what the developers were talking about the Alien has "senses" and will react to your actions. I really enjoyed the suspense and terror of Amnesia, and while it wasn't the same monster, it was only ever one at a time so it might as well have been.

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Well I haven't played Amnesie but if there was multiple monsters but only one at a time, I figure you got to beat each one and have the accomplishment of beating each one of them before the next then.

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You're not given the means to defeat the monster in Amnesia nor will you in Aliens Isolation. It stalks you the entire game and the gameplay is all about survival/evading it.

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  • 9 months later...

the reviews are coming in...  and many LOVE it.    

however, I read a couple of 6/10 reviews and they make a few good points.    not sure if i am going to like this game or not.

 

 

though, alien and aliens were the first horror movies i watched when i was under 10 years old!  not sure about exact age, but most likely around 9 yo.

so the movies left a huge impression!   i watched both of them in a row.  luckily i watched them with my parents, otherwise i would have pooped myself...

also lucky to have cool parents that allowed me to watch any adult sci-fi movie as a kid (as soon as there was no sex...  they did not see sci-fi as violent, as it was make believe, lol)

 

so i guess i will have to play it...   just to see...

 

 

 

is anyone getting it?

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First thing I did was to play the crew expendable DLC I got for pre-ordering. Words cannot express how terrified I was going down into those dark tunnels as Dallas, with my lights turned off. First sight of the Alien and a fired off nearly all of my flamer ammo and spent the next 20 seconds running through corridors, only for the Alien to pop down from an air vent in the ceiling and grab me...

 

One thing this game does really well is build suspense... I remember feeling almost exactly like this when I watch Alien on TV for the first time all those years ago.

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