Future Classic: Alien Isolation
Darran’s too scared to revisit it, so Drew is happy to champion this modern Alien game
THE BACKGROUND
When Sega acquired the rights to develop games based on the Alien series in the mid‑noughties, UK developer Creative Assembly saw an opportunity. After the studio shipped Viking: Battle For Asgard in 2008, a small team of Alien fanboys pitched a rough prototype where a Xenomorph hunted down a hapless human in a game of hide‑and‑seek. In this initial pitch, the alien was controlled by a developer, but the idea was that in the final product, a deeply refined AI would control the creature. The idea rippled throughout Sega, and Creative Assembly soon found itself holding a golden ticket, granting it the licence to create an Alien horror game. While the studio possessed a deep love for the source material, it was known as a strategy game developer and lacked the knowledge on how to make a first‑person horror game, so it had to staff up with specialists, bringing in developers who’d worked at Ubisoft, Crytek, Bizarre Creations and more. What that team created was a pant‑wettingly perfect sci‑fi horror experience, and one of the best licensed games ever made.
THE GAME
Alien: Isolation is a sequel to the original 1979 film, and before you get triggered by the words ‘alien’ and ‘sequel’ don’t worry: this one’s good. Set before the filmic follow‑up, Aliens, it follows Amanda Ripley as she searches for the truth behind what happened to her mother – Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver in the original movie. Amanda is approached by the shady Weyland‑yutani Corporation which tells her the that recorder of her mother’s ship, the Nostromo, has been recovered and is residing on a space station called Sevastopol, and she’s invited to retrieve it. Upon arriving at the installation, Amanda soon discovers that it’s pretty much derelict, and the people she does come across are terrified and paranoid that there’s something hunting them. Of course, that ‘something’ is an alien Xenomorph. Amanda finds herself trapped on Sevastopol, a mouse in a gigantic maze – with a very hungry, competent cat always on her tail – and has to find a way to escape the doomed space station, as well as locate and retrieve the Nostromo’s flight recorder.