10 Years Later, Alien: Isolation Still Benefits From One Vital Design Decision

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As a seasoned gamer who has been through countless hours of pixelated adventures and epic battles, I must say that Alien: Isolation stands out as one of the most unforgettable experiences in my gaming journey. Having spent countless nights huddled under the covers, heart pounding against my chest, I can attest to the sheer terror this game has instilled in me.

Even a decade after its release, Alien: Isolation remains a standout experience.

This video game stands out as a remarkable demonstration of adaptation within the gaming industry, primarily due to the fact that its developers at Creative Assembly were ardent fans of Ridley Scott’s 1979 film, Alien. Their dedication was such that they meticulously focused on recreating the authentic atmosphere of the movie’s setting. Furthermore, it raised the benchmark in horror game design, as the alien creature followed a set of reactive AI rules that made it terrifyingly unpredictable and relentlessly lethal.

This game distinguishes itself from other Alien franchise-based games, as most opt to disregard Ridley Scott’s original film in favor of developing concepts based on James Cameron’s sequel, Aliens. However, Creative Assembly aimed to create an Alien, not an Aliens game. Their goal was to portray the creature as an unstoppable and enigmatic predator rather than a horde of animals that players would indiscriminately eliminate with pulse rifles.

In a recent chat, director Al Hope shared with me his objective behind creating this game: to recreate for players the atmosphere of the 1970s vision of the future as depicted in the first movie. He aimed to achieve a low-fi, retro sci-fi vibe, putting us face-to-face with the original alien, where even one could be incredibly frightening – quite distinct from most video games. What makes it even more gratifying for him and his team is that we can experience this today, reliving those intense, original feelings.

10 years ago, Alien: Isolation was launched. Instead of becoming less popular as more games were released and time passed, it has surprisingly grown in popularity. Streamers and content creators continue to discover the game, and new versions have been released for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Last year, even a physical collector’s edition for the Switch version was released by Limited Run Games, nine years after Alien: Isolation was first introduced.

It appears that the interest in Alien: Isolation isn’t merely among fans, but is steadily increasing. In celebration of its anniversary, Creative Assembly disclosed they have initiated development on a sequel to Alien: Isolation, with Hope serving once again as its director.

Hope remarked, ‘What’s truly amazing is how it has expanded and gained momentum over the past decade, as more individuals discover it and discuss it. It continues to be a topic in conversations about the scariest games and the best Alien game. One of the most gratifying aspects is that people are still experiencing it for the first time today and having an exceptional journey. Given its age, or labeling it as such, it’s still captivating audiences. I believe this simply underscores the incredible work the team put into it, as it was a project born out of passion.’

The reason Alien: Isolation is so terrifying lies in its ability to adapt to the player’s moves, with an impressive AI controlling its alien character. This creature uses its senses to track down players and, when it fails to locate you, it methodically searches the station. There’s also another AI, acting as a director, that may guide the alien towards you if you’ve been away from any encounter for too long, or steer it away if tension has been high for an extended period.

Other systems operate by intensifying the suspense and dread when situations become critical. The sound design plays a significant role in what makes Alien: Isolation so impactful, featuring numerous responsive elements to heighten the tension–such as gradually increasing the music as encounters with the alien grow more perilous.

Hope explained that our interest stemmed from the unique concept that the creature wouldn’t follow a pre-set choreography and script, which is common in games like this. A moment of realization hit us when we understood that we couldn’t simply ask the composers to create a wav file for us to play, as it would detach the music from the ever-changing action. Since the creature, drama, and action were all dynamic and unpredictable, we decided to take an entirely different approach. This revelation felt significant, especially for the music, as it needed to convey tension, anticipation, and action, but we had no idea what was going to unfold.

We kept getting, ‘We need more deaths. Everyone’s dying all the time. We need more deaths.’ Like 90 different death cues.”

“So much is going on under the hood with the music, to get on with the mixing of all the ambient sounds and local sounds,” he continued. “We’re doing some really fun and pretty clever things, where, when the alien is getting close, we might push the music so we have this emotional content that’s kind of being more present than what the player’s receiving. But, say there’s an alarm going on in the room, we’ll actually duck that down, so it’s almost like we’re replicating the player’s focus on the alien so everything else doesn’t matter. It’s doing really quite brilliant, interesting things to really enhance the experience. And so what you’re receiving is this constant, ever-fluctuating soundscape that’s being remixed in real time.”

In line with the increased popularity of Alien: Isolation during its 10th anniversary, another eagerly anticipated launch took place – the release of the game’s soundtrack. Now, you can stream it, and preorders are open for vinyl and cassette editions at iam8bit.

Composing music that would seamlessly integrate with the systems proved to be quite a task for Joe Henson and Alexis Smith, collectively known as The Flight. In an interview, they shared this with me. Alien: Isolation wasn’t their debut game; they had experience from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and LittleBigPlanet. However, in previous projects, they were still learning the ropes of how music fits into games. With Isolation, they finally got an opportunity to implement their ideas freely, as Henson mentioned, and they were attracted to its retro, 70’s-inspired vibe.

In Alien: Isolation, the challenge of creating a dynamic music system might have appeared complex initially, but the composers found it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed. They primarily needed to construct various layers of tracks for each level. These layers included a calmer exploration track when the player was safe, a heightened layer with the alien present but not hunting, and a tense “imminent danger” layer as stated by Henson.

He mainly recalls creating the third layer, which was aptly named the ‘you’re about to die’ layer, and it turns out, crafting a five-minute ambient exploration piece was part of that process. To ensure this ‘you’re about to die’ moment could occur at any point, we had to produce a five-minute segment specifically for this purpose. Eager to make our mark on the first game we were truly proud of, we meticulously crafted these original five minutes without borrowing from other works. We added elements like crescendo and decrescendo, following the music’s flow. It turned out wonderfully, but writing it was quite taxing.

Smith added with a chuckle, “There were countless fatalities,” he said. “The requests poured in, ‘Give us more deaths. Characters are dropping like flies. We require more deaths.’ A total of ninety distinct indicators of demise.

In Alien: Isolation, the music plays a significant role in connecting the game to the film and establishing its mood. The music incorporates themes composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the movie, but it should be mentioned that there isn’t an abundance of music in Alien: Isolation itself as pointed out by The Flight.

The game uses parts of Goldsmith’s original score (the “DNA of Alien”) to maintain a sense of isolation, while also incorporating its own unique sounds using synths and electronic elements from the same time period.

Smith mentioned an intriguing finding during their work. When they noticed a potential loss of the alien sound, they found it quite effective to add pepper instead. The sounds produced by these pepper drops were remarkably similar to certain sounds from the Alien movie score, making it simple for them to reintroduce and regain focus.

We never thought about trying to compromise.”

Henson explained that the theme for “Alien” isn’t like a traditional song that repeats over and over. Instead, Smith agreed that it has memorable musical fragments and short phrases, rather than a full-blown melody. The unique aspects of the score, such as the clicking sounds, various noises, and authentic sounds from the equipment and instruments used to create them, were instrumental in making Isolation’s soundtrack reminiscent of Alien.

Henson explained that they viewed the samples as something akin to additional components to mix with other elements. Given their deep affection for the film and its music, they approached it in this manner. They didn’t want to revere it so much that they wouldn’t modify or alter anything, but they knew how to ensure that the electronic additions and changes would fit, as long as the new components were as old and grungy as the computers on the space station.

According to Hope, “releasing that soundtrack has been quite the saga.” For the past decade, they have had a version prepared for release – Henson and Smith created an audio equivalent of a film score during Alien: Isolation’s production phase. However, the intricate network of shareholders, copyright holders, and legal agreements proved to be an obstacle in its release.

Over the past while, I’ve noticed a shift in the landscape of game soundtracks. It turns out they’re quite the hot commodity these days! This surge in popularity has given me the push I needed to finally release the soundtrack for my game, Isolation.

Regarding the flight (or project), this launch stands out significantly. Among all the games they’ve been involved with, Smith mentioned that Alien: Isolation is the one they’re asked about the most frequently.

Isolation [approximately 1 million units]. While this figure doesn’t surpass some of our other games in terms of sales, it holds a unique place for us due to the fervent admiration and respect it has garnered from fans and industry peers alike.

Smith mentioned that this game was a significant event for us, essentially kick-starting our journey. Therefore, its soundtrack holds a unique significance for us. To this day, I still enjoy playing it with friends. Recently, I even gifted it to a friend whose children have recently discovered the Alien series. They’re around 18 and 19, and one of their kids is particularly captivated by it. Now, I’ve been receiving delightful calls from the family as they all find themselves quite terrified.

Last year, I managed to play the game with my oldest son, but he didn’t. He wouldn’t participate,” Henson commented. “He spends a lot of time playing games. He refused to play it alone because he gets scared when it’s dark and I turn off all the lights. I think there are many people like that.

Today, I find myself immersed once more in Alien: Isolation – a game that remains as nerve-wracking and unpredictable today as it was back in 2014. Despite its enduring appeal to many players, there was a time when it seemed to face some challenges upon release. Sites like Metacritic, which aggregate reviews, give Alien: Isolation an average score of 79. However, the scores vary widely – ranging from perfect 10s and near-perfect 9s, to significantly lower ratings. For instance, TopMob initially awarded it a 6.5 out of 10, while IGN gave it a 6 out of 10. Critics praised the game for its immersive world creation, but some found the gameplay challenging and the alien encounter intimidating.

I inquired from Hope, reflecting on the past, whether there were any actions he or the team regretted not doing differently. His response was concise: “In retrospect, considering all aspects, no.

Last year, I managed to play the game with my oldest child, yet he was unable or unwilling – fear had him frozen. It seems many individuals share this same apprehension.

He mentioned that since the essence of what we were doing wasn’t aimed at pleasing everyone, it was understood. Some players might find it challenging. Would we then make it less demanding? But if we did, those seeking a challenge would be dissatisfied. So, we didn’t seriously consider this option because our goal was to create an Alien experience with a specific level of inherent difficulty given our approach. We never contemplated compromising on that.

The uncompromising vision was, ultimately, the correct call. It didn’t happen all at once, but Alien: Isolation has left its mark both on the extended Alien universe and on the horror game landscape at large. Fede Alvarez, the director of the newest Alien movie, Alien: Romulus, has cited Isolation as an inspiration for the kind of horror he wanted to conjure up with the movie, and he even included the iconic emergency phone save points from Isolation as Easter eggs in the film. Amanda Ripley, Isolation’s protagonist, has also become a recurring character in ongoing Alien comics and other media.

Other horror game creators are adopting elements from Creative Assembly’s creature design strategy, resulting in some genuinely frightening new gaming experiences. Games like Amnesia: The Bunker and The Outlast Trials can be seen as unique variations on this theme, placing players in nerve-wracking scenarios involving elusive, invincible adversaries.

The launch and mobile adaptations, special edition releases, and soundtrack debuts all hint at a growing interest in Alien: Isolation rather than a waning one. This trend extends to the potential sequel as well; although Hope remained tight-lipped about it, he mentioned that Creative Assembly has been consistently receiving requests for a sequel since the game’s launch on a daily basis.

Hope expressed great satisfaction, along with the Alien: Isolation team, about the incredible feat they accomplished with the game.

He expressed that our team successfully accomplished our goal: delivering a unique, one-of-a-kind experience that nobody had access to before. It was something we deeply yearned to explore and play ourselves, he added. A decade later, individuals continue to discover it for the first time, immersing themselves in an exceptional adventure and expressing their desire for more. In essence, we’re incredibly grateful for our audience. They have truly resonated with what we created.

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2024-12-11 22:10