Alien: Isolation

[Outlander]

 

[shihonage]

I want a version of this game with godmode and without scripting, just to walk around environments. "Alien" museum. That's about it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

To be fair, the atmosphere of the game isn't completely reminiscent of that of the film, but i think that's because the graphics are too clean. It almost looks like a plastic version of the Nostromo.

And i guess there's really no way to gouge whether the game is good or not by any of those reviews, we just have to look for ourselves.

 

[Drakron]

It almost looks like a plastic version of the Nostromo.

Let be honest here, the Nostromo had the crew in Cryo-sleep during the voyage until it was necessary for some reason, it mean things were secured and to preserve power the ship would not even have a breathable atmosphere so the ship would be in fact clean because there was nothing to create dust and nobody was living there, if anything Sevastopol Station looks clean because its just a more "dirty" version of the Nostromo but I could pull Hadley's Hope and it was about as the same, again its a set and thus doesnt look "lived in".

I suppose there are some reasons to why Sevastopol Station doesnt look so lived in, according to the game the station was just about ready to be dismantled and only had a fraction of the expected crew as it was kind of a blunder.

 

[Forest Dweller]

So, I guess androids in this game do not go under the 3 laws of robotic.

Also, when does the game get... scarry? I had my meeting with the alien, but it was mostly hilarious than anything, due to the fact he glitched into the air vent I ran into and he disappeared into thin air. :<

How are you playing this game?

Naked, and with my socks on.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Morgoth]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/214490/announcements/detail/237887374503183042

Looks like the game will already be unlocked today, in under two hours from now to be precise. Unusual to be a day early.

 

[Talby]

A retailer where I live broke the street date early so I've been playing this for a few hours. It starts off pretty rocky because it sends you up against boring humans and androids and the alien is a no show for several hours, but gets much better once it's stalking you. Not sure if it will hold up over the long campaign, though.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Guess who just this game?

It's the first time I do that in 9 YEARS, bitches.

At least I'm not diving in blindly, I have a good idea what to expect.

 

[The Fish]

Guess who just this game?

It's the first time I do that in 9 YEARS, bitches.

At least I'm not diving in blindly, I have a good idea what to expect.

What was the previous game you deemed worthy of a day one purchase?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Serious Sam 2.

Which might explain why I haven't repeated the gesture in all that time.

 

[Lyric Suite]

It almost looks like a plastic version of the Nostromo.

Let be honest here, the Nostromo had the crew in Cryo-sleep during the voyage until it was necessary for some reason, it mean things were secured and to preserve power the ship would not even have a breathable atmosphere so the ship would be in fact clean because there was nothing to create dust and nobody was living there, if anything Sevastopol Station looks clean because its just a more "dirty" version of the Nostromo but I could pull Hadley's Hope and it was about as the same, again its a set and thus doesnt look "lived in".

I suppose there are some reasons to why Sevastopol Station doesnt look so lived in, according to the game the station was just about ready to be dismantled and only had a fraction of the expected crew as it was kind of a blunder.

Dude, its just the graphic style they used, which is very modern. The film is out there for anyone who wanted to replicate that atmosphere and this game needed to be a lot grittier.

For the record, i actually like this new style and i think it is probably the only virtue modern games have. It is a very good style, clean, clear, with emphasis on good texturing and modeling. I just don't think it was entirely appropriate for a game like this. But then, i'm just judging from the videos i've seen, maybe it looks different in game.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I wonder if the Alien is programmed to troll the player. Many of the video previews talk about its adaptive AI and how it will learn from the player. Would it be purposely programmed to just fuck with us and not kill us when it could?

 

[Zewp]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/214490/announcements/detail/237887374503183042

Looks like the game will already be unlocked today, in under two hours from now to be precise. Unusual to be a day early.

Probably because so many retailers broke the street date for the console version last Friday already.

 

[Drakron]

Dude, its just the graphic style they used, which is very modern.

Hardly, its almost a replica of the Alien set movie down to CRT monitors.

The film is out there for anyone who wanted to replicate that atmosphere and this game needed to be a lot grittier.

I think you are confusing things, the "grittier" is the Nostromo air shafts and lower decks.

For the record, i actually like this new style and i think it is probably the only virtue modern games have. It is a very good style, clean, clear, with emphasis on good texturing and modeling. I just don't think it was entirely appropriate for a game like this. But then, i'm just judging from the videos i've seen, maybe it looks different in game.

Except its a almost carbon copy of the Nostromo, you are just misremembering things and likely thinking the air shafts were the prevent style because of how Aliens and Aliens 3 were much darker movies.

 

[Volrath]

Just give me a pulse rifle and I'll squash this little bug

 

[Unkillable Cat]

First impressions:

# With all these cool little things to see, I WANT TO BE ABLE TO ZOOM IN TO SEE THEM BETTER. But no.

# I just came from playing Thief, so the limited movement options are bothering me. There's no jumping and leaning is confined to one special button.

# Invisible walls are really immersion breaking. I saw a group of survivors and actually beat them to a closing door, yet they ran through while I slammed into...nothing.

# Almost every audio sound seems taken from the Alien film. Computers clicking, medical beds rotating, screens beeping, etc.

# The ads are a wonderful touch. So deliciously retro, before fag and booze ads were bannzored everywhere.

# I heard a cat at one point, didn't see the bugger though.

# I foresee a LOT of backtracking, with passcodes, access tuners, two kinds of blowtorches and a maintenance jack acting as "keys".

# The "rewiring" interface adds a interesting dimension to things.

# Axel was always blocking my way and pushing me around. Now that he's no longer following me I can't say that I miss him. (When you look and sound like an extra from Alien 3 - well...)

# WTB one revolver, have ammo.

 

[Malpercio]

For a suppose "Non-scripted IA that learns and wanders through the station" this thing seems to be always in the proximity of the room I'm hiding in...

On other hand, I haven't found the Alien so hard to avoid, as long you stay crutched and don't run around like a moron (thing that I have no doubt many "game journalists" did) he doesn't seem to see you even if you circle him around a table, only got a couple of "unavailable deaths", but as soon I learned the the Alien seems to check rooms 2 times I avoided it next.

Game is not really scary though, it's trying to, but It's failing pretty badly. The only two times I actually felt scared were 2 silly jump scare (an android graped my leg... both times).

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Just had my first encounter with the alien.

Spoiler

The tramcar turned up but I was wondering what would happen if I just stayed there and listened to the scary music. Then the alien ran up to me and raped my skull. Nice touch.

The game feels very un-handholdy so far and punishes stupidity. No wonder the likes of IGN and Gamespot hated it. I really like it.

The visual and sound design is excellent -they nailed it. No idea what people are on about here, saying the station is too clean. It is filthy and really feels like the scummy end of the universe. The ship at the start was a lot cleaner, and it was meant to be - the crew of that ship really looked like they took care of it.

Most of the first part is a walking simulator, then it slowly starts building up the atmosphere, then BAM. Can't wait to play more.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm currently in medical, having spent the better part of 10 minutes in a closet waiting for the Alien to sod off. It seems to be camping the outside corridor. It's been twice in the room I'm in and took the time to knock over a skeleton model the second time.

I am otherwise somewhat disappointed by the enemy detection rate. Sometimes I'm close enough that they can see me, and are in fact LOOKING RIGHT AT ME, but choose to ignore me. At other times I'm on the other end of a large room and they spot me.

The human AI seems several shades of retarded, though. There's a place where 5 humans are actively patrolling and looking for me, I ran up to one of them and beat him to death, another human runs up, shoots me once then puts down his gun and starts walking away. Instead of running away like I intended, I turned back and bashed his skull in as well. Then I ran off with 2 of them in pursuit where I lost them in a vent. They stood outside looking stupid, I waited until they were both facing away before emerging from the vent and did them both in. Last one went down without incident, not even bothering to check where his mates went.

Also, the androids telegraph their status like the guards in Thief do. I hid in a cupboard and listened for their awareness to die down until they left to sodomize a toaster or something before skulking off.

 

[DragoFireheart]

The human AI seems several shades of retarded, though. There's a place where 5 humans are actively patrolling and looking for me, I ran up to one of them and beat him to death, another human runs up, shoots me once then puts down his gun and starts walking away. Instead of running away like I intended, I turned back and bashed his skull in as well. Then I ran off with 2 of them in pursuit where I lost them in a vent. They stood outside looking stupid, I waited until they were both facing away before emerging from the vent and did them both in. Last one went down without incident, not even bothering to check where his mates went.

Just like in the movies, most of the non-Ripley humans are exceptionally retarded. Some notable examples:

A genuine Alien experience!

 

[skacky]

I've been out of the loop with regards to this game intentionally, and I also this after seeing a friend of mine play the first 20 minutes. It looks incredibly faithful to the base material in terms of aesthetics. It's quite insane, seeing as I know Alien by heart having seen it countless of times.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I don't believe this. I've been sitting in that closet for 15 minutes with the motion tracker watching the Alien move.

It seems the Alien teleports around. One moment it was right outside the room, then suddenly it's running down a hallway that takes it far right of my position and then behind me before seemingly disappearing.

I used the chance and advanced, and suddenly it was coming right for me. I managed to crawl into a vent and now it's circling the vent, teleporting at certain intervals.

I'm 80% certain that the Alien teleports, either to cut corners or bring itself into "pursuit range", i.e. remove all barrier between it and me, like locked doors and such.

Yeah, the Alien doesn't seem to care much about doors either.

I still don't know if it can get me if I'm in a vent or a closet/cupboard.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I am otherwise somewhat disappointed by the enemy detection rate. Sometimes I'm close enough that they can see me, and are in fact LOOKING RIGHT AT ME, but choose to ignore me. At other times I'm on the other end of a large room and they spot me.

There's a scripted scene early on which absolutely infuriated me. A person magically turns around and sees you, 100% of the time, and alerts her friends. I understand why they wanted the others to see you, because it does create some really good gameplay, but it felt so cheap having it unavoidable like that. Would have been awesome if player skill allowed you to completely skip that, and manage to go around them without them ever knowing you were there.

I don't believe this. I've been sitting in that closet for 15 minutes with the motion tracker watching the Alien move.

It seems the Alien teleports around. One moment it was right outside the room, then suddenly it's running down a hallway that takes it far right of my position and then behind me before seemingly disappearing.

I used the chance and advanced, and suddenly it was coming right for me. I managed to crawl into a vent and now it's circling the vent, teleporting at certain intervals.

I'm 80% certain that the Alien teleports, either to cut corners or bring itself into "pursuit range", i.e. remove all barrier between it and me, like locked doors and such.

Yeah, the Alien doesn't seem to care much about doors either.

I still don't know if it can get me if I'm in a vent or a closet/cupboard.

I hope this isn't true and you're just having some very bad luck. Cheating alien AI removes the point of the game for me. I thought the game was trying to make you be smart and subvert traditional horror shooter "keep on running!" mechanics.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Good news... I found out that it can crawl into the vents to get me. The Game Over screen said "Hiding is only ever a temporary solution."

I'm gonna try to collect more data/get skullfucked and see if I can't find a way out of this.

EDIT:

I am otherwise somewhat disappointed by the enemy detection rate. Sometimes I'm close enough that they can see me, and are in fact LOOKING RIGHT AT ME, but choose to ignore me. At other times I'm on the other end of a large room and they spot me.

There's a scripted scene early on which absolutely infuriated me. A person magically turns around and sees you, 100% of the time, and alerts her friends. I understand why they wanted the others to see you, because it does create some really good gameplay, but it felt so cheap having it unavoidable like that. Would have been awesome if player skill allowed you to completely skip that, and manage to go around them without them ever knowing you were there.

Yeah, it was the search party from that scripted encounter that I am referring to, though they did spot me from the other end of that large room one time, so I'm not saying that because of the scripted encounter.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Good news... I found out that it can crawl into the vents to get me. The Game Over screen said "Hiding is only ever a temporary solution."

I'm gonna try to collect more data/get skullfucked and see if I can't find a way out of this.

I have this feeling too when I'm playing the game and I'm not as far along as you are. The area after my encounter with the humans, I kinda rushed through (I didn't run, I just sneaked and tried not to stay anywhere too long) because I got the feeling the alien was going to get me sooner or later. I kinda like this. I don't know if I missed any computer terminals (I really, really want to soak up this game as much as possible) but I didn't want to die either.

This game is bloody brilliant. I feel on edge when playing it, quit to take a break, and I instantly want to load it up again.