Michael Leask

Alien: Isolation, what a great game! Have you ever played it? If you are a Ridley Scott’s Alien fan and haven’t played this game, you should this Halloween or anytime in between. If anything, for the scare factor. This game is the ultimate life or death hide and seek against a Xenomorph! It’s an FPS, and you have to hide in lockers, cabinets, under desks, or if none are available, kneel around an object, so the Xeno doesn’t see you. For most of the game, you don’t even have any weapons that could hurt it; the creature is a non-killable NPC, and you can only wound it to go away. It moves fast and can cross a large room in a second! Sure unrealistic to James Cameron’s Aliens, but why not. It’s sci-fi, and we don’t know how hard and thick a Xenomorph’s skin is or cheetah-like it is in its speed. It’s unnerving to hear it as it moves.

The Xenomorph is not the only enemy that makes this game compelling with the gameplay. Some humans and Androids want to harm you while the Xeno runs around above and below the vents. I think adding this component makes the game more terrifying because though the Xeno is a direct threat, it can take a back seat at times and be waiting in the shadows.

When the Xeno appears from the ducts, it’s always the same heavy breath and growl before it looks around for its prey. It is hunting you! The sound is terrifying and can make you twinge. If the Xeno thinks it heard you when you hide in a locker or cabinet, it will check it out. You can only look out the grilled vent. The Xeno will come up to the vent, drooling, bearing its silver metal teeth as it tries to determine if you are in there. Violin strings pluck while you pull back and hold your breath, even taking damage. You have to take it, so you don’t get caught. If you exhale too soon, the Xenomorph will rip open the locker with one hand and grab you with the other, all in an instant while it roars at you and the controller shakes. The scene will end as its inner mouth strikes at you.

Why do I want to play it if Alien: Isolation makes me so scared? Why don’t I want to move my character for five minutes? There’s something to be said about the ‘easy win.’ If I can move 15 metres without the Xeno finding me, it’s a victory. It gives me the endorphins and motivation to continue. You have to save using manual checkpoints adding to the stakes to clear the level (not entirely true. An autosave is there depending on the start of the scene in little instances). Saving is not instantaneous. It takes something like ten seconds, and the game does not pause (while trying to save, you could be stabbed by the creature’s tail or worse). It will raise your anxiety. You don’t want to lose all that progress of avoiding the Xenomorph or other threats like androids or humans.

This game can be a strange concept to players who are used to action-oriented games, like Aliens: Fire Team Elite (another good game) or Dead Space or Halo. But what makes this game great is the idea that it is atypical of shooter games. The goal isn’t to kill the creature but to survive and finish the story. Give this game a chance; it will make you reconsider out-of-the-box concepts for fantastic gameplay.

Michael Leask