Alien: Isolation

[Azrael the cat]

Then, it is another Penumbra...

Nah, it's more than that, just not combat focused. Perhaps you can combat androids or crazies, we don't know yet.

I don't know that I'd trust a modern gaming company to pull this off, but I'd love it if combat was treated as something you might occasionally do depending on what comes up from character interaction, rather than mowing down mooks, as in Azrael's Tear. Smallish initial crew, some with conflicting motivations (but not necessarily villainish per se), then partway through a military team turn up - keep combat small-scale, and in the context of 'I'm killing this particular guy', not 'I'm killing so many random dudes that any sane moral caclulus would conclude that it would be better if the 1st guy had just capped me straight up'.

In any event, if they wanted to include combat, there's plenty of other enemies they could use while keeping the alien unchallengeable.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Then, it is another Penumbra...

Nah, it's more than that, just not combat focused. Perhaps you can combat androids or crazies, we don't know yet.

I don't know that I'd trust a modern gaming company to pull this off, but I'd love it if combat was treated as something you might occasionally do depending on what comes up from character interaction, rather than mowing down mooks, as in Azrael's Tear. Smallish initial crew, some with conflicting motivations (but not necessarily villainish per se), then partway through a military team turn up - keep combat small-scale, and in the context of 'I'm killing this particular guy', not 'I'm killing so many random dudes that any sane moral calculus would conclude that it would be better if the 1st guy had just capped me straight up'.

In any event, if they wanted to include combat, there's plenty of other enemies they could use while keeping the alien unchallengeable.

 

[Vibalist]

No, it sounds like they're doing it wrong.

Being totally powerless to fight back in real life is scary because, once you're dead, you stay dead.

In a video game, though, once you die, you just hit the reload button and you're back to life again. At that point, facing an opponent that can insta-kill you just gets annoying, not scary.

For a good example, play through the section of Arx Fatalis where you get chased by the unkillable monster.

Playing the same section over and over can fuck up the tension, true, but any horror game worth its salt will make you dread replaying that section you keep failing rather than merely make you feel annoyed at the prospect. This is what games do (if they're done well, mind). They make you forget you're actually playing a game.

But I digress. You're saying that horror games fail at being scary when you die because you merely reload after getting instakilled, which doesn't mimic how real life works. if we're using your line of reasoning, you might as well say that a shooter where you get killed repeatedly is a poor shooter because annoyance will kick in and yank you out of the immersion, leading to frustration and reminding you that you're just playing a game and not actually murdering Iraqis like a badass supermarine.

No simulation can recreate the real experience perfectly. That doesn't mean it can't provide fear/tension or whatever other emotion it aims to instill in you. That this emotional state only lasts for a certain amount of time until you're done with the game or until you reach the point where dying too much kills the immersion doesn't make the game a failure, it just makes it a limited experience like every game in existence is.

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Starwars]

I'd love it for this to be succesful but I am really, really skeptical they'll pull it off. For example, I *love* Alien. I love the design of it. It's a much better monster than most. But... we've seen it a *million* times now. There is no mystery left. We know exactly what it is. And even moreso, the golden rule of a lot of horror is to keep it in the dark. Always keep it concealed. In these trailers, you've already seen the alien clearly a lot of times. And again, it's a design that is now very familiar to us. It's just... there is no fear of the unknown there. To compare it to video games, take Silent Hill. Was plenty scary for the first two or three games. But now? Who gives a shit about it now? As soon as you delve too deep, or too many times, into the mystery of the horror you're trying to create, it loses its horror.

Secondly, I'm afraid that this amazing AI will be... impressive in how it acts. But... it will always be dumb enough to give the player a fighting chance. In movies, you can create a smart creature that surprises everyone and kills them off one by one (clever girl). In video games, things work differently. You have to kinda design around the fact that the player (which will include the low-born console peasants) have to be able to beat it. So the fearsome alien, maybe impressive and dynamic enough to surprise (don't get me wrong, this can certainly be horrifying) will have to be dumb enough for us to be able to outsmart it pretty easily. I highly doubt the game will be complex enough for us to go "fuck yeah, I'm so smart, I outsmarted the alien with this *awesome* solution duuude".

I dunno. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Morgoth]

Thief's guards were dumb too but that didn't deter the fun. They just need to strike a balance between tension and a learning curve/patience.

I want this game to succeed but I also acknowledge that there's a high chance of failure. Therefor, I'll amend my D1P stance to "Let's wait and see".

 

[Morgoth]

If that wasn't one brilliant trailer then what is?

Also some new screenshots: http://www.alienisolation.com/en_us/media/screenshots

 

[DalekFlay]

They simply couldn't be presenting this any better. Whether it's all marketing bullshit or not who knows at this point, but damn.

 

[Morgoth]

Previews:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-game-in-which-weapons-are-never-the-solution
http://www.shacknews.com/article/84930/discussing-alien-isolations-difficulty-and-amandas-inventory

 

[Jick Magger]

After the disaster that was Colonial Marines, they have to really double-down on their marketing in order to win back the crowd.

 

[Morgoth]

This "crowd" are mostly Cameron fanboys. I doubt the devs give a shit about them. This isn't 'nam in space.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

It's more like 'mnesia in space, amirite?

Jokes aside, they seem to be distancing themselves from the pure survival horror and at least giving the player a means of deterrent.

Only 4 months to go now.

 

[Morgoth]

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/alien-isolation-e3-hands-on/

Isolation makes you realize that every Alien game for the past decade has been a thematic mismatch. Alien isn’t about its marines, its pulse rifle, or its action. It’s about fear, uncertainty, and how a single, fragile human copes with a genetically superior monster-predator. It’s wonderful to see Sega supporting a premise—admittedly after supporting one or two other conventional directions for Alien that didn’t pan out—that’s driven by emergent storytelling and trusting that the game’s systems are well-enough designed to produce a great experience for everyone.

Amen bro.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Sounds like Citizen Kane of Gaming bullshit to me. I'd rather have the marines, but done well. Yeah the first film was the superior one but i doubt anybody is going to nail the atmosphere, and without that, what else you got?

Still, more power to them if they can pull it off. Bestest Alien game evar if they can do it.

 

[Jaesun]

Is till am fapping cautiously that this will be at least OK.... please.....

 

[Daedalos]

It's gonna be a smash hit.

Stop with the fear and shit..


Shits gon' be epic bros.

 

[Angthoron]

Daedalos needs more Fanboy tags.

 

[spekkio]

So, it's about human hiding from an alien?
A human trying to outsmart / outrun an alien?

.
.
.

Allow me to go back to this:

 

[Unkillable Cat]

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/alien-isolation-e3-hands-on/

Isolation makes you realize that every Alien game for the past decade has been a thematic mismatch. Alien isn’t about its marines, its pulse rifle, or its action. It’s about fear, uncertainty, and how a single, fragile human copes with a genetically superior monster-predator. It’s wonderful to see Sega supporting a premise—admittedly after supporting one or two other conventional directions for Alien that didn’t pan out—that’s driven by emergent storytelling and trusting that the game’s systems are well-enough designed to produce a great experience for everyone.

Amen bro.

Fucking bullshit. With ONE exception, EVERY game ever made that even associated itself with the Alien license tried the same old "conventional directions"; give the player guns, and use them against the xenos.

The exception? The original Alien game from 1982. That was a top-down strategy based game where you controlled the Nostromo crew and tried to deal with the Alien. I'm fairly certain that "killing it with guns" was not an option in that game.

Whomever wrote that paragraph needs to check their facts at the very least.

 

[Excidium]

So, it's about human hiding from an alien?
A human trying to outsmart / outrun an alien?

.
.
.

Allow me to go back to this:

AvP campaign is trash

 

[DalekFlay]

AvP was trying to be Aliens.

This game is trying to be Alien.

Large difference.

Also AvP is massively overrated.

 

[Morgoth]

Download the FullHD, high bitrate E3 trailer here:
http://www.gamersyde.com/download_alien_isolation_e3_trailer-32320_en.html

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Damn beautiful.
One thing that still bugs me is the motion tracker with a display. It's not a major thing, but the original one from Alien would've added quite a bit to the atmosphere and fear factor, I think.

 

[Darth Roxor]

AvP campaign is trash

and so is your face

 

[Morgoth]

AVP's campaign was maybe trash with arbitrary connected maps and encounters, but it was still a very effective survival horror FPS that kept you deep in your seat and sweating bullets (of course without the savegame patch).

AVPII's campaign on the other hand was well designed, but it lost all survival elements and atmosphere due to scripted events and the clunky Lithtech engine.

I'd still choose AvP99 as the most faithful Aliens experience created in video game format. It was comparatively a little bit the Dark Souls of 1999.