As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt, I must say that Alien: Isolation is a game that left me both enamored and bewildered. Much like my first encounter with a real-life cat, it was terrifying yet intriguing, and I couldn’t look away.
10 years ago, on October 6, 2024, Alien: Isolation marked its anniversary. Let’s take a look back and assess whether perhaps the game might not have effectively conveyed its expectations to players due to some of its brilliant concepts.
It’s been a decade and I’m still mad about Alien: Isolation.
I’m frustrated that one of the best horror games ever made hasn’t received the recognition it deserves over the past decade, instead of being celebrated with awards. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get a sequel to Alien: Isolation to delve deeper into its story and characters, explore more of its unique 1979 film-inspired world, and build upon the innovative and consistently terrifying aspects of its design. Alien: Isolation deserved a better fate.
Every now and then, I find myself replaying the game Isolation, usually once every year or two. This time around, I challenged myself on the Hard mode. By now, I’ve become quite adept at Isolation, remembering enough from previous playthroughs to skillfully navigate a group of aggressive androids or swiftly solve the power system restart puzzle, leaving enemies with little reaction time.
But then there’s the alien.
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The design of the creature born from isolation continues to be a chilling masterpiece of AI monster creation. Standing tall yet nimble, relentless and incredibly intelligent, it remains as frightening for me now as it was in 2014—and when I decide to play on the challenging, terrifying Nightmare setting, it still manages to reach those heights. Even a decade later, this extraterrestrial entity remains an overwhelming force, ruling the compact spaces of Sevastopol space station in every aspect. It’s truly terrifying… and I can’t get enough of it.
The unusual behavior pattern of this alien character is renowned for its complexity and subtlety, making each playthrough a nerve-wracking yet exhilarating experience even after a decade. The game continues to captivate on subsequent plays not due to typical rewarding mechanics like landing perfect shots or solving intricate environmental riddles, but because it effectively evokes the sensation of being pursued by the most formidable predator in the cosmos.
Every few years when revisiting Alien: Isolation, I find myself exploring various gaming review sites from its launch to see the perspectives back then, even though they sometimes infuriate me. Ten years ago, Kevin VanOrd from TopMob gave it a 6, expressing disappointment over challenging trial-and-error sections and inconsistent mechanics. Ryan McCaffrey from IGN was even more critical with a score of 5.9, admitting he died numerous times.
Well, let me tell you, after countless hours immersed in Alien: Isolation, I’ve become quite the survivor. It’s not really fair to compare my experience to those who played it for the first time upon release. However, just for a bit of contrast, on my latest playthrough, I found myself swimming in craftable items – so much so that I couldn’t carry any more of them or their components! By the end of the game, my flamethrower was brimming with fuel. I only met my maker four times during my 15-hour journey.
My point here is not to shame or dismiss either VanOrd or McCaffrey, of course–especially as a game critic, I’ll be the first to tell you that their experiences, and any experiences with a game, are valid, and their assessments are well-reasoned. I keep revisiting their reviews and others because my experience is so vastly different from theirs and I can’t help wondering why.
I’ve been checking out various YouTube discussions on Alien: Isolation, focusing on commentary about the alien’s advanced artificial intelligence. Some videos tried to break down the intricacies of its behavior, while others questioned whether the alien was ‘fair.’ They debated if the alien truly adhered to Creative Assembly’s statement that it only used data gathered through its senses to pursue players, or if there were hidden advantages given to make it seem scarier or more dangerous.
This is a complaint I’ve heard over the years from other players–some people really don’t like the alien. They find its unpredictability to be cheap instead of terrifying, complaining about things like the tension-driving systems that keep it lightly tethered to the player (you know, so it doesn’t wander off and leave you alone to complete simple puzzles with nothing scary going on). Some claim that it reacts as if it knows where you are even though it shouldn’t have that information. People find the game difficult, but for many, it’s not difficult in a fun and engaging way.
As I observed one video where the author criticized an AI character labeled ‘alien’, I found myself reflecting on the gameplay, realizing that the player’s skills weren’t up to par. For instance, when the alien abruptly spun towards the player despite a distraction, it was due to the player’s lack of caution and loud noise-making, as they assumed a noisemaker would shield them from detection. To me, the alien acted appropriately given its sensitive hearing, successfully catching the player off guard, but only appearing cheap or unfair if one overlooked the oversight in playing stealthily.
Could it be possible that some critics who gave negative reviews to Alien: Isolation simply found it challenging and may have misunderstood their own skills instead?
In Harry “H. Bomberguy” Brewis’s analysis of Fallout 3, he employs the term “play conditioning” to highlight a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of game design. This concept refers to how games subtly instruct players about their mechanics, not through explicit tutorials, but by orchestrating the types of experiences the design provides. To illustrate this in Fallout 3, Brewis points out that hacking computers is an example of play conditioning. When you initially distribute character points for skills, and subsequently come across a computer in Vault 101, you’re able to hack into it if you focus on the computer alone. However, if you take a moment to explore the area around the computer first, you quickly discover the password required to successfully crack it, demonstrating how the game design subtly guides players.
Brewis contends that the lesson Fallout 3 attempts to impart is that issues may have several resolutions, and that honing a skill can provide one answer, but careful examination can uncover another. However, what he claims it truly imparts is that if you allocate skill points towards hacking, they are essentially wasted because passwords are conveniently accessible nearby. This moment leaves the player feeling foolish for investing in hacking, and they’re subsequently discouraged from making that choice again.
Reflecting on Alien: Isolation, some players might argue that certain design choices could have contributed to its less-than-favorable reception for certain gamers. For instance, VanOrd pointed out in his review that the game’s use of passwords was problematic – each computer had the password clearly displayed next to it, and every camera’s disable switch was located conveniently underneath it. This design might have unintentionally diminished the fear factor and challenge for some players.
What that criticism fails to recognize, though, is that Isolation wasn’t testing your ability to figure out passwords or track down junction boxes. Those computers force you to stand there, your attention on the screen, as you try to quickly tap in the password while your heart slams in your throat, because your guard is down and your senses are hindered. You’re stuck rewiring a junction box for a few achingly long seconds, totally exposed, able only to hope nothing is sneaking up on you. In just about every other game, hacking into a computer is about the skill of cracking the code, whether finding it through investigation or mechanics. Here, the computer exists purely to make you vulnerable. And maybe the problem was, fundamentally, that Alien: Isolation failed to make that clear.
In the beginning of Alien: Isolation, there’s a room that often proves challenging for me. Before the alien becomes a significant part of the narrative, you encounter a human attempting to hack an elevator. As soon as she spots you, she retaliates with gunfire and flees to gather her comrades. When they return, they start hunting for you in this complex, two-story area that can be confusing. It’s difficult to determine where you should go and where the humans might be hiding to ambush you. I usually die here, and a friend who recently started playing for the first time this week also found it frustrating.
This room introduces new players to the fact that enemies in this game are exceptionally skilled at locating and eliminating you, often before you can retaliate or even figure out how to avoid them. The space lacks cover and clear instructions on how to evade detection, instead suggesting that stealth will be unreliable and that the game’s rules may not always favor you. This contrasts sharply with the rest of Alien: Isolation but sets the stage for the rest of the game by establishing a tense, unpredictable atmosphere.
In an immersive sim-like manner, understanding a significant portion of the alien’s behavior often requires learning from experience, which might lead to a sense of trial-and-error for some players. For instance, if you use a noisemaker to lure the alien away but fail to notice that it can hear you while you flee, you may not grasp the need for quiet movements in those instances; instead, you conclude that your tools are unreliable. This gives rise to the belief that the alien might react differently than anticipated and that death could occur at any moment. Such unpredictability makes players feel that their actions carry little significance.
In most stealth and horror games you’re familiar with, creatures follow predictable paths or routines. However, this alien, a unique element, doesn’t adhere to such patterns. It may abruptly change direction, appear from vents seemingly out of nowhere, or vanish without warning. This unpredictable behavior sets it apart from the usual gameplay dynamics found in similar games.
As a devoted horror gaming enthusiast, I can’t help but draw parallels between Outlast and Alien: Isolation, two terrifying masterpieces that graced our screens less than half a year apart. Outlast, much like its extraterrestrial counterpart, employed a run-and-hide gameplay style that players had grown accustomed to over the years. This strategy involved learning the predictable patterns of the enemies, allowing us to evade them with precision and cunning.
10 years after diving into Alien: Isolation’s terrifying universe, I can still say it’s a game that left an indelible mark. Now, we’re witnessing other developers taking cues from its masterful storytelling and atmosphere. Resident Evil 7 boldly shifts the franchise to a first-person perspective, delivering a campier yet bone-chilling experience that echoes similar themes. Amnesia: The Bunker, in my opinion, is a more compact, focused version of Alien: Isolation, leveraging many of the same elements to create an equally tense and suspenseful journey. The Outlast franchise’s latest entry, The Outlast Trials, also draws on those same threads, with roaming, unpredictable assailants that become increasingly more menacing as you crank up the difficulty.
But something for developers that’s worth learning from Alien: Isolation is that you can make a game that’s great to play, but there may still be factors within the game and outside of it that work against it, and understanding those elements is important to how we think about games and how games are made. The problem is not that players needed to “git gud,” and gatekeeping games through difficulty does nothing but make games weaker and less interesting for everyone. Alien: Isolation isn’t that difficult mechanically–but it can be frustrating when you don’t understand it. Maybe the takeaway is that, sometimes, games need to do more to make themselves understood.
After a decade, my anger towards Alien: Isolation hasn’t subsided. However, I have a better grasp of why it didn’t resonate with many gamers. Despite this, it remains an exceptional masterpiece and one of my all-time favorites. I encourage you to give it a try. Keep in mind that like many games, it may need patience, keen observation, and effort to fully appreciate Isolation as intended. Here’s hoping future games will emulate its strengths and learn from its missteps.
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2024-10-07 18:10