Alien Isolation – An Atmosphere of Exemplary Horror | Review

Alien: Isolation is an Action-Adventure Survival video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It was originally released for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The game is based on the sci-fi horror film series Alien, and takes place fifteen years after the events of the original 1979 film Alien, following engineer Amanda Ripley, daughter of Alien's protagonist Ellen Ripley, as she investigates the disappearance of her mother. mother.

The game received very positive reviews. Many critics praised the environments, pacing, the film's nostalgic fondness, Ridley Scott's stealthy mechanics, and the Alien's artificial intelligence, while some critics highlighted the lengthy campaign, trite narrative, and poor voice acting.

Alien: Isolation won several awards such as: Game of the Year (PC Gamer), Game of the Year (GameFront's), Best Console Game and Best Global Game of the Year (Kotaku Australia), Best Horror Game of the Year (GamesRadar). It was named the best game of 2014 by the New Statesman's and more.

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History

Set in 2137, 15 years after the events of the movie Alien, Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, is approached by synthetic Christopher Samuels, who informs her that the Nostromo's black box has recently been located by a spaceship, the Anesidora. , and is aboard Sevastopol, a remote space station – free harbor – owned by the Seegson Corporation, in orbit around the gas giant KG348. Samuels offers Amanda a spot on the Weyland-Yutani megacorporation team sent to retrieve the black box from her mother's ship so she can know the fate of such a disappearance.

Ripley, Samuels, and Nina Taylor travel to Sevastopol aboard the Torrens mail ship, owned by Captain Verlaine. The group arrives in Sevastopol and realizes that perhaps the station could be damaged. Ripley, Samuels, and Taylor attempt a spacewalk to the station to investigate but their security cable is broken by rubble and Ripley is separated from them and forced to enter the station on her own to survive.

From there you already know, right? Shit happens. Not just one but several.

A negative point is that the story gets tiring at a certain time and gets a little repetitive, that is, the game could end much earlier, without leaving the player tiring of its repetitions in its last hours. But that's not why the game isn't great.

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Gameplay

Alien: Isolation is described as a survival horror game as opposed to an action game, designing the game more in line with the Ridley Scott film. Unlike most of James Cameron's other action-oriented adaptations. Of the franchise, Alien: Isolation features a single Alien for most of the title's duration that cannot be killed, requiring the player to utilize stealth tactics to survive. Although the game features some weapons: they will only be lethal against human occupants, androids and facehuggers. In the game it is possible to finish the game without killing all human beings, using non-lethal methods. Rather than following a predetermined path, the Alien's artificial intelligence was programmed to actively hunt the player down by sight, hearing and smell.

Read too: Unto the End – A very challenging survival test | Analyze

The Alien's artificial intelligence is magnificent, sometimes the player may believe that he is not being detected by the predator but suddenly he is surprised by an attack. The player can go under tables or inside lockers to hide from the Alien, and sometimes have to press a button to make Amanda hold her breath to avoid making noise. Levels are designed to be non-linear, with multiple entry and exit points for each room to provide alternate routes for the Alien to attack or for the player to escape.

The idea of putting a tracker in the game was excellent, in addition to being faithful to the first movie, the equipment is important to make the player more confident in their decisions. The motion tracker is only able to detect the alien's approximate location when it is in motion; it also cannot detect the alien's specific location nor locate the alien when it is not moving.

A crafting system is present in the game that allows you to manufacture weapons and tools to defend yourself.

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Graphics

Alien: Isolation has great graphics, the quality of environmental details and lighting are excellent. The animation of the characters is well synchronized with the voice acting. The cutscenes of the game are cinema level and make the game atmosphere much more realistic from the beginning of the game.

The game's setting has references to the movie and passes an air of unending suspense, the graphic quality of the spaceships' ambiance is very faithful to the movie.

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Soundtrack and Effects

The sound effects in this game are unbelievable, from tripping over a can to shooting a gun. The player's movement makes you hear his movements and believe that he is already making an absurd noise that can be detected.

The soundtrack is very faithful to the movie and has a dark air. I confess that at certain times the music makes the atmosphere louder and the player can get desperate. A tip that I leave here is to lower the volume of the soundtrack a little to be able to focus on the noises emitted in the corridors of the ship.

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Conclusion

Alien: Isolation is a highly recommended game, one of the best horror atmosphere games I've ever played. Initially, the player may be hesitant about the game being good, I understand, I was too.

During the game you fall in love with the gameplay and the challenge that the game provides you, it is a challenging game. Make no mistake and play a game that is super faithful to the original movie. By the way, if you haven't seen the movie I recommend you see it, so you'll have a greater immersion in the game.

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