Hello, Internet and welcome to our next round of Game Club. I’m TruLegendKiller, and for this round of Game Club we will be playing through Alien: Isolation. I was hoping this would have fallen into October but it is what it is. Released in October of 2014 to, largely, high reviews. Classified as an action-adventure game, make no mistake, this is a survival horror. And one at its finest. Developed by Creative Assembly (the minds behind the Total War series and the upcoming Halo Wars 2) the game is based on the Alien science fiction horror film from Ridley Scott. By based, I mean a direct sequel to the first film. This is no James Cameron science fiction action film. The game takes it back to the series roots of horror. In other words, it is you, and a monster, and you are struggling to survive. And because of this reason, this is why we are playing this game.
I have been an Alien fan for many years. Equally, I have been a horror fan as well. Most horror games have little to no effect on me. Games like Five Nights At Freddy’s or Outlast hold little interest to me. Those games throw jump scares and think it makes it amazing horror. In my opinion they do not. What makes good horror is when it is natural. When no matter what you do, be it have weapons or reach a save point, you can still lose. That is what makes this game so amazing. The Xenomorph’s AI is smart, it learns, it predicts, it adapts. In games like Outlast you can hide in a locker and the AI will almost never find you. Here… Well, never think you are safe. Oh, you found a check point? The Xenomorph will kill you as you are trying to save.
Set in the year 1237, 15 years after the events of the first film. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter to the missing Ellen Ripley. Approached by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation with the promise of maybe finding her mother. After the flight recorder of the Nostromo was located, she is tasked with recovering it from a space station. This is where the nightmare begins. This is where your nightmare begins.
This is a long game and will, likely, take several episodes of Game Club to get through. There are 19 main story missions. As such, try to play up to mission 7 (Seegson Synthetics). Good luck, have fun, and get good.
Until next time.
Stay Geeky Faithful Readers.