Alien: Isolation

Template:AlienIsolation

"How will you survive?"

―Alien: Isolation tagline

Template:Game Infobox Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival/horror/stealth video game for current and next-gen systems by British studio The Creative Assembly. The game follows Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, as she tries to locate her mother following the mysterious disappearance of the Nostromo. Her search leads her to the decommissioned space station Sevastopol, where she encounters a deadly Alien.

Gameplay

The game is played from a first-person perspective and incorporates stealth and horror elements. Inspiration has been taken from BioShock and Dishonored. Creative Assembly confirmed in their "Origin" video that only a single Xenomorph will be present for all of the game, which focuses on survival horror with a slower pace rather than the frantic action seen in other Alien games such as Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013) and Aliens vs. Predator (2010). However, the player may also spend some time destroying or killing several types of enemies which include hostile androids and humans. Vents, lockers, and melee weapons factor into the gameplay. The U.K. gameplay trailer for the U.K. version of the PlayStation official magazine, it is stated that any damage taken from the Alien would be instant death, thus the player would have to avoid and hide from the Alien. 

The game does not feature any Multiplayer features excluding the indirectly multiplayer survivor mode leaderboards.

Plot

In 2137, Weyland-Yutani technician Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, is approached by the Weyland-Yutani synthetic Christopher Samuels, who informs her that the flight recorder unit of the Nostromo, the ship her mother worked on before it disappeared, has been located and is being held aboard Sevastopol Station, a remote freeport space station owned by the Seegson Corporation in orbit around the gas giant KG348. Samuels offers to allow Amanda to be a part of the Weyland-Yutani team sent to retrieve it, so that she can have closure regarding the fate of her missing mother. Ripley, Samuels, and Weyland-Yutani lawyer Nina Taylor travel to Sevastopol onboard the cargo ship Torrens, owned by Captain Diane Verlaine. The group arrive at Sevastopol to find the station damaged and communications dead. Ripley, Samuels, and Taylor attempt to spacewalk over to the station to investigate, but their EVA line is severed by debris from an explosion and Ripley is separated from Samuels and Taylor.

Ripley enters the station via an airlock and finds a complete breakdown of civil society, with the station's inhabitants reduced to small groups of frightened, paranoid looters hoarding scavenged resources and shooting non-group members on sight. She is briefly held hostage by Axel, but convinces him to help her in exchange for a ride off the station aboard the Torrens. Axel explains the current situation is due to a "monster" loose aboard the station. The 2 escape evade a group of hostile survivors, but Axel is killed by when an Alien stabs him with its tail and drags him into a vent, scaring Ripley, who leaves the area on Sevastopol's transit system.

After encountering more hostile survivors, Ripley finds the flight recorder, but discovers that it contains no data. Ripley evades the Alien and encounters Seegson synthetics, who appear to not be hostile. After acquiring a modified motion tracker, Ripley watches a synthetic kill Hughes, a human survivor. Ripley manages to evade the now-hostile synthetics and contacts Samuels, who tells her that Taylor was injured. After joining them in person, Ripley goes to retrieve medical supplies from the San Cristobal Medical Facility to treat Taylor. In San Cristobal, Ripley encounters Dr. Khulman, who helps Ripley locate the supplies via the intercom, but he is killed by the Alien.

Upon returning to Samuels and Taylor with the medical supplies, the group is joined by Colonial Marshal Waits, and his deputy, Ricardo. Waits explains that the Alien was brought on board the station by Marlow, the captain of the salvage vessel Anesidora, the ship that found the Nostromo flight recorder. Ripley speaks with Marlow, who is kept in a cell by Waits, and learns that the Anesidora crew discovered the derelict on LV-426 by following the Nostromo's flight route, and Marlow's wife, Foster, was impregnated by a Facehugger in the ship's cargo hold. Marlow brought her aboard Sevastopol for treatment, and the Alien hatched from her and began to wreak havoc onboard. Waits convinces Ripley to help him contain the Alien by luring it to the Gemini Exoplanet Solutions module, a remote section of the station, then sealing it inside. However, once the Alien is contained, Waits ejects the module from the station with Ripley still inside. She manages to find an EVA suit and eject herself from the module and back to Sevastopol, while the Alien is left behind in the jettisoned module as it falls into KG348.

With the Alien disposed of, the situation aboard the station appears back under control, but the station's androids abruptly begin hunting down and killing the station's human inhabitants, including Waits and his remaining men, though Ricardo survives. Samuels attempts to interface with the station's controlling artificial intelligence, APOLLO, and get it to stop the slaughter. Despite Ripley's attempts to save him, APOLLO's defensive countermeasures end up killing Samuels, but not before he opens a path for Ripley to APOLLO's control chamber.

Upon reaching the control chamber, Ripley discovers that Sevastopol was recently purchased by Weyland-Yutani, who, by Special Order 939, instructed APOLLO to protect the Alien at all costs so the company could acquire it, even if it meant killing the station's crew. Ripley demands to know why APOLLO is continuing to carry out this directive even though the Alien is no longer aboard the station. APOLLO directs her to the station's reactor core, where Ripley discovers a "nest" with multiple Aliens, Facehuggers and Eggs. Ripley initiates a reactor purge to destroy the nest, but multiple Aliens manage to escape into the station.

Ripley learns from Ricardo that Taylor was sent by Weyland-Yutani to retrieve the Alien, and that she freed Marlow in exchange for the location of LV-426. However, Marlow took her hostage and fled to his ship. Ripley uses an ambulance shuttle to pursue them in hopes of using the Anesidora to escape the station. However, Marlow shows Ripley the data from the Nostromo flight recorder, which includes a message for her from her mother regarding her motives for destroying the ship. Marlow reveals he is attempting to detonate the Anesidora's fusion reactor to destroy the station and his ship, ensuring the Aliens do not come into contact with the rest of humanity. Taylor hits Marlow with a wrench while he is arguing with Ripley, and both work together to try to prevent the reactor explosion. They are only partially successful, however, with Taylor being killed by an electrical overload and Ripley barely escaping as the ship explodes. While the explosion does not destroy Sevastopol, it damages the station's gravity stabilizers, causing it to begin falling into KG348's atmosphere.

Ripley and Ricardo realign Sevastopol's antenna to contact the Torrens for evacuation, but Ricardo is attacked and subdued by a Facehugger. Ripley starts to don an EVA suit, preparing to release the clamps securing the Torrens to Sevastopol, but gets captured and cocooned by an Alien. She escapes, dons an EVA suit and releases the clamps just as Sevastopol is destroyed. Aboard the ship, Ripley abruptly loses contact with Verlaine, and subsequently discovers an Alien has boarded the ship as well, cornering her in the airlock. Still in her EVA suit, Ripley hits a button to open the airlock, jettisoning both herself and the Alien into space. The game ends with Ripley adrift in space, waking up to the light of a vessel approaching her.

Characters

Torrens

• Amanda Ripley (playable) - Weyland-Yutani Technician and Ellen Ripley's daughter.
• Christopher Samuels - Weyland-Yutani executive and a synthetic.
• Nina Taylor - Weyland-Yutani lawyer.
• Diane Verlaine - Captain and owner of the Torrens.
• William Connor - Navigation and communications officer of the Torrens.

Anesidora

• H. Marlow (playable) - Captain and owner of the Anesidora.
• C. Foster - Marlow's wife.
• Lewis - Crewmember (voice only).
• Heyst - Crewmember.
• Meeks - Crewmember.

Sevastopol

• Axel - Sevastopol inhabitant and scavenger.
• Marshal Waits - Chief officer of the Colonial Marshals.
• Ricardo - Deputy officer of the Colonial Marshals.
• Seegson Synthetics - Maintenance and workforce of the Sevastopol.
• APOLLO - Seegson A.I. who is in charge of running Sevastopol's systems.
• Xenomorph Drone - An Alien inadvertently brought aboard the station by the Anesidora's crew.
• Xenomorphs - Other than single Drone, there are more Xenomorphs.
• Facehuggers - Mostly found in nested areas.
• Jana - Survivor and scavenger.
• Hughes - Survivor.
• Kuhlman - Doctor of San Cristobal medical facility.

Sevastolink Terminals

• Julia Jones - A reporter covering the Sevastopol's decommissioning.
• Zachary Watson - Mechanical engineer.
• Turner - Colonial Marshal.
• Lindgard - Senior medical officer of the Sevastopol.
• Ransome - Seegson's head of operations.
• Speeding.
• Russell.
• Sinclair.

Development

On May 12th, 2011, a new game based on Alien was announced on Twitter by Ed Vaizey, who had recently visited Assembly's studio. No information was known about the project at the time, except that it was to be developed by Creative Assembly, best known for their work on the Total War game series.

"Great visit to Creative Assembly one of UK's best developers. Now hiring for new blockbuster based on Alien"

―Vaizey (from Twitter)

Sega later confirmed to CVG that studio Creative Assembly was making a new Alien game and hoped the title would be a "peer to Dead Space 2". Neither the studio or publisher would be drawn on confirming a genre for the game, and wouldn't say if it was a strategy title - the category Creative Assembly is best known for. However, CA did confirm to CVG that the game would be making its way to "console", but didn't specify formats. Creative director Mike Simpson said that he'd been given the directive to win awards by Sega, but wasn't overly pressured because "we like winning awards". "This is very much a triple-A project," Sega West boss Mike Hayes added. "We want this to be a peer to the likes of Dead Space 2."

A job ad for Creative Assembly's Alien title.

CA began hiring to ramp up production on the title, and wanted to take its staff from 160 people to 200 in a matter of months.

In February 2013, a verified Sega QA Tester for Aliens: Colonial Marines briefly mentioned the game in a post on Reddit:

"we are making the new alien game with creative asembly who make total war. That game looks amazing. Very dark, very slow paced (in a good way). The textures and lighting look really really good. I’ve seen it running on a PC. The PS4 devkit looks like a computer. It looks as good rif not better running as any super high end pc. We did not have those controllers, but they look like what was promised."

―QA Tester

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The section of the interview with Jurgen Post mentioning the new Alien IP.

In August 2013, MCV UK interviewed Jurgen Post, president of Sega Europe. He mentioned Aliens: Colonial Marines and the upcoming Alien game from Creative Assembly. The interview was published in MCV UK's August 9th, 2013 issue.

"SEGA isn’t giving up on the Alien franchise, despite the negative critical reaction to Colonial Marines in February.

How can it bounce back from a disappointing release?

"Aliens is still one of our pillars," says Post.

"In May 2011 we announced that Creative Assembly is doing something with that brand – we've said nothing else so you have to read between the lines there.

"But it's a great IP, and very rich. Colonial Marines, although it didn't review well, did sell well to start. So there is an appetite for Aliens.

"Going forward Creative Assembly is a good quality developer and our aim is to create a good quality game."

Sega's kept its cards close to its chest when it comes to this next Alien title. Colonial Marines was announced days after a developer deal was signed and before production started - so every twist for that games (and its many delays) became a very public situation for Sega.

Comments Post: "Creative Assembly's Aliens game is being produced in-house so it’s easy to manage the production of it."''"

―MCV UK's interview with Post

In October 2013 it was revealed, that 20th Century Fox had filed a trademark for "Alien: Isolation" for use with computer game and video game software, downloadable mobile software, and decorative magnets in October of 2013.

In December 2013, two pieces of artwork for the game were found on Twitter. December 12th, Twitter user "lifelower" leaked the following four images from the game on Twitter.

The first leaked image.

The second leaked image.

The third leaked image.

The fourth leaked image.

Also sometime in December, a press event was held at Creative Assembly's

The image leaked Jan. 6th.

January 6th, 2014, lifelower leaked an image of the game's Xenomorph antagonist and an image and link to the game's page on the Xbox Live Marketplace, which was viewable to the public.

The leaked material was being dumped from XBL and the game itself had been publicly listed on XBL. The Xbox Live Marketplace featured a description of the game and placeholders where the game's banner image and box art would be. The page featured information which seemed to be placeholders and was later removed such as listing the game's release date as January 7th, 2014 (a mere day after the page was posted), stating that the game's features are "Offline players 1" and "Offline co-op 1" and the game's online features are "Online multiplayer 1 - 4", "Online co-op 1 - 4" and "Leaderboards".

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The page for Alien: Isolation on the Xbox Live Marketplace as it appeared January 6th, 2014. Note that the "ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE" lists "1/7/2014", just a day after, which obviously isn't the true release date.

"Discover the true meaning of fear in Alien: Isolation, a survival horror set in an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger. Fifteen years after the events of Alien™, Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda enters a desperate battle for survival, on a mission to unravel the truth behind her mother's disappearance. As Amanda, you will navigate through an increasingly volatile world as you find yourself confronted on all sides by a panicked, desperate population and an unpredictable, ruthless Alien. Underpowered and underprepared, you must scavenge resources, improvise solutions and use your wits, not just to succeed in your mission, but to simply stay alive."

―Xbox Live Marketplace's description of Alien: Isolation

On January 7th, the following day, the game was officially announced. The game's official site, simply titled "Alien Isolation" was launched and the first trailer for the game, Alien: Isolation Official Announcement Gameplay Trailer -- "Transmission", was posted on the game's official YouTube channel, Alien: Isolation, in many different languages. The Xbox Marketplace page was also updated, with previously leaked images and new ones being added and the placeholder information being removed.

Alien: Isolation was the cover story of the January issue of the Italian magazine, Game Republic. The 10-page article featured new images and details on the game by Sega and Creative Assembly. Details revealed included:

• The expected gameplay length is 12+ hours.
• Other than improved visuals, the game will be the same across all platforms.

Sometime prior to January 8th, 2014, and presumably after the announcement of the game, Amazon.de posted a page for the game listing the release date as December 30th, 2014 listed and began allowing pre-orders for the game, but only for the "Windows XP / Vista / 7" platforms. Steam also posted a page for the game around the same time (presumably after the announcement). The Amazon.de page was later updated to allow pre-orders for all platforms.

The game was released worlwide on Steam on the 6th October, 2014.

Downloadable Content

Extra content in the form of two bonus levels, featuring most of the original cast of Alien reprising their roles from the film, are to be packaged with various pre-order editions of the game. While they are initially to be exclusive to these special editions, it has been confirmed that both will later be made available for download separately.

Crew Expendable

Main article: Crew Expendable

The first bonus level, Crew Expendable, is packaged with both the Nostromo Edition and the Ripley Edition of the game and takes place soon after Brett is killed by the Alien. In it, players assume the role of either Ripley, Dallas or Parker as they attempt to flush the creature into the Nostromo's airlock, with the player's path and starting equipment varying depending on which character they chose.

Last Survivor

Main article: Last Survivor

The second bonus level, Last Survivor, is exclusive to the Ripley Edition of the game, only available from select retailers and takes place just when Parker and Lambert are killed by the Alien. In it, players take control of Ripley who becomes alone after the rest of her crew has been wiped out. She must activate the Nostromo's self destruct system and flee the ship whilst being stalked by the Alien.

Reception

Alien: Isolation received generally positive reviews from critics, especially in contrast to Sega's previous Alien game, Aliens: Colonial Marines. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 82.36% based on 11 reviews and 80/100 based on 30 reviews, the Xbox One version 78.92% based on 12 reviews and 77/100 based on 16 reviews and the PlayStation 4 version 78.22% based on 29 reviews and 78/100 based on 37 reviews.

David Houghton from GamesRadar gave the game a 4.5/5, praising the graphics and its intelligent AI which keeps the game unpredictable. He also thought that the game provided a lot of thrilling, engrossing, profoundly fulfilling rewards and will probably make players feel more alive than a video game has in years.

Andy Kelly from PC Gamer gave the game a 93/100, stating that the game is the one the Alien series has always deserved. He praised the audio design, as well as the reactive AI of the Alien. He also thought that the pacing of the story was perfect, even though it took him about 25 hours to finish the game. However, he criticized the disappointing story as well as the flat voice acting and insubstantial characters, but he still summarized the game as a "deep, fun stealth game set in an evocatively realised sci-fi world...".

Alex Dale from Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a 9/10. He described the game as a "unique stealth-horror thriller that combines great pacing and smart design with razor-sharp AI that's unpredictable in all the right ways". However, he criticized the punishing difficulty of the game, saying players will suffer harsh punishment for small failures.

Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game a 8.5/10, praising the unscripted and dynamic Alien AI. He also praised the Survivor mode which could be unlocked roughly after 15 hours. He described it as the best part of the game because the mode offered different feelings and experiences for players every time when they played it.

Dan Whitehead from Eurogamer gave the game a 8/10. He praised the superb lighting and unusually compelling environment design. He said that the game has created some of his most tense and memorable horror gaming moments ever. He also described the Alien's free-roaming AI creation as "a stroke of genius". However, he criticized the crafting system as too simple to the point of being shallow. He also criticized the length of the game as it is too long and felt that the game overstayed its welcome.

Dave Meikleham from Computer and Video Games also gave the game a 8/10, praising its sound design and the horror moments, but noting he encountered occasional frame rate issues. He also thought that if the game were 30% shorter, it would be a much bolder and sharper experience.

Jeff Marchiafava from Game Informer gave the game a 7.75/10. He too thought that it is the closest game to capture the promise of the Alien franchise and believed that it is the experience fans of the franchise have waited for a long time. However, he compared the game to Dead Space and believed that the environments and actions failed to instill the sense of dread that the movies or other horror games had delivered. He also criticized the 'wooden' animation of the characters, as well as the unhelpful map, unimpressive voice acting and dialogue.

Trivia

• Actors Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Yaphet Kotto (Parker), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) and Harry Dean Stanton (Brett) reprised their roles from the original Alien for several recordings found in-game as well as the characters themselves in additional playable content missions.
• Actor William Hope (Lt. Gorman in Aliens) voiced a new supporting character called Marshal Waits that appears during the Campaign.
• Notably, many of the game characters have the original winged sun emblem for Weyland-Yutani (as seen in Alien) on their uniforms, indicating that the more recognizable interlocked W/Y logo seen in Aliens had not yet been adopted by 2137.
• Gameplay is similar to other first-person survival-horror games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast and the recently released Among the Sleep.
• The novel Alien: Sea of Sorrows, Rollins mentions that both Ellen and Amanda Ripley have previously thwarted Weyland-Yutani's attempts to recover a Xenomorph specimen.This is a hint at the events of Alien: Isolation.
• Previously, it was believed that the distress signal from the Derelict ship was shut down by a volcanic eruption, but the game shows that was in fact H. Marlow who disabled the signal when he and the crew of the Anesidora found the ship on LV-426.
• Despite the developer claiming the game "will have no facehuggers and no more than 1 Xenomorph", there are several facehuggers at nested areas and at least 4 Xenomorphs near the end of the game. Such claims were probably made to surprise the actual players of Alien: Isolation when reaching those levels.
• While the Xenomorphs appear in certain scripted events, they will also appear randomly. After Axel is killed by the Drone in a cutscene (the first time it's seen), if the player remains in any location for too long, one of them will appear. Similarly, if the player makes too much noise (i.e running, knocking over objects or shooting/being shot at by human survivors), a Xenomorph will appear and begin tracking the source of the noise.

Gallery

Alien: Isolation featured on the cover of Italian gaming magazine Game Republic.

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The upcoming game's official case design.

Artwork leaked on NeoGAF December 7th, 2013.

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Leaked artwork.

Amanda watches as the Xenomorph Drone walks through a corridor.

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The Xbox Marketplace page after being updated. Image taken January 7th 2014.

The header used on Steam.

Gary Napper (left) and Jude Bond.

Screenshot of the Drone entering a laboratory.

Synthetic blood

View of the Drone

Alien Isolation Screenshot

Videos

Alien Isolation (VG) (2014) - E3 2104 trailer, FM Towns PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Alien Isolation - Announcement Trailer

Alien Isolation - Announcement Trailer 2

Aliens Isolation - Origins

Alien Isolation - Creative Assembly Interviews

Alien: Isolation Developer Interviews

Alien Isolation - Sound of Alien Isolation Trailer Featurette

Alien Isolation Devs Discuss the Game's 'Lo-Fi' Art

Alien Isolation Creating the Cast Featurette

Alien Isolation - E3 2014 Accolades Trailer

Alien Isolation Pre-Order DLC Trailer

Alien Isolation - "The Cast Of Alien" Insider Video

Alien Isolation - Gamescom 2014 Trailer

Alien Isolation - No Escape Trailer

Alien Isolation - Misdirection Vignette

Alien Isolation - Vignettes 7 Crowd Control

Alien Isolation - Accolades Trailer

Alien Isolation - Launch Trailer

External Links

• Alien Isolation - Alien: Isolation's official website.
• Alien: Isolation - Xbox.com - Alien: Isolation at Xbox.com
• Alien: Isolation (Video Game 2014) - IMDb
• Alien: Isolation - Xbox.com - The announcement trailer's page at Xbox.com.