No one can hear you scream… except the Xenomorph… It hears everything.
Survival-Horror is a beloved and embraced genre amongst the gaming industry. However, it has had its bumps in the road. While Resident Evil 4 is arguably the greatest horror game ever conceived, it did have its negative impact as well. It set the bar too high and almost every horror game that came after would incorporate bombastic action set pieces alongside its “horror”. This essentially is what killed off Silent Hill, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame and the “Horror” aspect of Survival-Horror. Luckily for us, this course has been corrected. Before Resident Evil 7 would bring Survival-Horror back into the mainstream, we got Alien: Isolation. Alien is a series that ironically mirrors the evolution of the genre itself. The first installment being a straight up horror film before transforming into an action series that started to resemble its original self less and less. Thankfully, like the genre as a whole, this game also corrects its direction and goes back to its roots. The fact that we got this after the steaming pile of alien vomit that was Colonial Marines is nothing short of a miracle.
Alien: Isolation is a Survival-Horror-Stealth game. While the game takes place in the same continuity as the films, it is not based on a specific installment and is a self-contained story. Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, hears the black box of the doomed Nostromo ship has been found. Wanting to finally solve the mystery of what happened to her mother, she sets out with her crew to the space station known as Svastapol. Upon arrival, it is clear something is VERY wrong. The station is in a state of disrepair, mostly abandoned, and the few people remaining are in a violent state of paranoia – all this combined with a rampaging Alien on board really makes this welcome party feel a tad uninviting. Amanda and her crew must venture into the space station and see how the situation had spiraled so far out of control.
Amanda is not special forces, a secret agent or super soldier. You are merely a repairman-engineer who must rely on wit and resources to survive. As the title would suggest, there is a bloody Alien out and about looking to make a meal out of you. To quote Ash in the first film “ You can’t kill it”. Stealth is the name of this game. You can hide and try to avoid it but under NO circumstances should you try to run- you won’t make it. Being an engineer, Amanda can craft an assortment of weapons. These can only stun or cause the creature to flee. Having the Alien is bad enough, but this station is also filled with hostile survivalists and worst of all, the Working Joe. Working Joes are synthetic androids who are tasked with maintaining the upkeep of the station. Unfortunately their AI has gone haywire and are now killing any human on sight, in the most frighteningly polite way possible – snapping your neck like a piece of raw noodle and telling you to have a nice day afterwards. The humans and Working Joes can be killed, but making too much noise will attract the Alien and cause your situation to go from bad to intergalactically screwed. The one drawback to this is that the stealth can seem a little drawn out and slow down the pacing at times. It feels like it’s just an hour or two longer than it should have been.
The design of this game is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Isolation captures the look and soul of the films it is based on FLAWLESSLY. Svastapol looks like a station that was once a stunning and thriving piece of human engineering and achievement. Seeing how it all went so horribly wrong is what makes the juxtaposition so effective and frightening. I can tell they definitely used Bioshock’s Rapture as inspiration. Retro-futuristic art direction is on full blast. The computers all look and sound like they did in the film – even down to the beeps and boops of the tech. The Alien looks phenomenal and the animation of it is peak, moving and behaving just as you would expect. A horrifying creature with a surprising level of grace. But I dare say the scariest of all are the Working Joes. Unlike Ash or Bishop who are indistinguishable from regular humans, Working Joes are obviously mechanical and low grade. Speaking with an unsettling robot voice and blank stare makes these enemies some of the scariest villains in any game. All around, the designers did their homework and passed with flying colors.
Isolation is one of the few genuinely scary games to come out before Resident Evil 7 helped put real horror back into the mainstream. It goes to show that you don’t have to have a bad-ass, boulder punching super soldier to make a compelling character or narrative. It’s been over a decade and a direct sequel doesn’t look likely. That being said, hopefully if more games based on the franchise are produced, they can keep it in line with its horror roots. This game shows not only can it be done, it can be very well executed if crafted with care. Until then, check this game out. Grab a flashlight, lay low, and don’t become an Alien’s human meat platter.
Game over man, game over!
Fil
Verdict: 9/10