In terms of games that hit the brief, Alien: Isolation is right up there. All you need for the best Alien game ever is a massive atmospheric space station, a few humans and androids, and one very deadly Alien hunting you from start-to-finish. With all that said, after the first movie the problem of a sequel came up and, as urban legend has it, James Cameron’s solution was to go to the ideas board and simply add an “s” to “Alien”.
Such is the way with Aliens: Isolation, by modder Zyr0511, a package of mods that pretty much does the same thing (thanks, PCGN). It aims to make the game even more terrifying and difficult than it already is, as well as adding a bunch of visual and AI mods that further enhance the pant-wetting potential. It has three ways to play, which seem to range from “very deadly” to “you’re gonna die chum”.
The lite setting only adds 2-3 more aliens. The standard setting adds 2-5 more aliens with enhanced senses, which now spawn in rare zones, search for you in ducts, follow you more effectively when you flee, with the only saving grace being you can make them retreat with gunfire.
We’re all here for true nightmare mode, obviously, which increases the alien AI to its maximum level, adds 2-5 at any given time, further amps up the xenomorphs’ senses, makes them generally react faster and able to stalk you more effectively, and they do greater damage. Most amazingly, this mode adds an even bigger threat than the aliens: the working joe androids can now run and, per the notes, “Alerting them will be worse than facing 5 aliens”. Y’know, I think I’d probably rather be killed by an alien than a working joe. Feels less humiliating.
Alien: Isolation remains one of the best licensed games ever made and, sadly, we’ll never get a sequel to it: much of the key talent left Creative Assembly following its completion, and the studio’s now beavering away on its own sci-fi project. As for the Alien series, sadly the recent videogames have returned to type, the most recent example being Aliens: Fireteam, which was alright but nothing next to Isolation’s take.
