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Xenopedia
"A classic high caliber revolver, equally popular amongst both Frontier Marshals and lowlifes."
Alien: The Roleplaying Game

The Spearhead Armoury .357 Revolver is a 6-round, semi-automatic revolver chambered in .357 LR. It was entirely ineffective against Xenomorphs. However, it was fairly effective against humans and Working Joe Synthetics.

In 2137, the revolver was standard issue for security aboard Sevastopol Station. It was also used by many residents aboard the station, especially when a Xenomorph Drone was birthed aboard the station. Notably, Axel and Amanda Ripley, who found hers on a table aboard the station, used revolvers aboard Sevastopol.

Appearance[]

The .357 Revolver strays from the staple "Cattleman" design of a typical revolver, with a bulkier barrel and a less circular cylinder appearing more cubed in nature. The .357 Revolver also appears to be double-action, as Ripley nor any survivors equipped with it including Axel are seen to cock it back before or after firing a round.

Gameplay[]

Revolver next to corpse

A revolver, next to a corpse.

The revolver is one of the first weapons acquired in Alien: Isolation, found in Mission 3 - Encounters on a white table in the Lorenz Systech Spire. As is typical for revolvers, it can hold 6 rounds in its cylinder. Ammunition for the revolver can be found in cabinets, containers, etc. or looted from corpses. However, revolvers themselves cannot be taken from corpses, even if the player doesn't currently have one in their inventory. Most human enemies use the revolver as their weapon of choice in earlier missions, but only sometimes in later missions.

As with almost all projectile weapons in the game, the revolver has no meaningful effect on the Alien. Like the shotgun, it may cause the creature to bleed acid blood with a direct hit, but this effect is purely cosmetic and the Alien is seemingly unfazed by this. It can, however, be used to shoot propane tanks next to the Alien, which will force the creature into the vents if it is close enough to the explosion. Unlike the Alien, other human survivors and standard Working Joes can be killed with the revolver, usually taking 2 to 3 and 5 to 6 hits, respectively, although hitting a foe's head will reduce the amount of shots required to kill.

One of the major drawbacks of the revolver is that firing it creates a lot of noise, which will alert other survivors and Working Joes, as well as attract the Alien (if the player is in an area it can appear in). This can, however, be used to the player's advantage if they want to lure an enemy into a trap or summon the Alien to dispatch humans. Another drawback is the reloading process; as Ripley loads one round at a time, it can be a time-consuming process as all rounds are ejected at once no matter how many bullets are left in the cylinder (though the ammo that was in the cylinder is returned to Ripley's inventory)

In Mission 13 - Consultation, Ripley is forced to leave her revolver and other weapons at a security check to access APOLLO. However, another revolver is found and picked up as the player descends toward Sevastopol's reactor core.

Behind the scenes[]

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Mateba Model 6 Unica[1]

The .357 Revolver appears to be based on the Mateba Model 6 Unica, an Italian revolver that fires from the "6 o'clock" barrel position (bottom chamber of the cylinder) and can fire .357 rounds, like the .357 Revolver (although the Unica 6 fires Magnum cartridges, while the .357 Revolver fires LR). However, the .357 Revolver features a more conventional cylinder release not present in the Unica 6, as well as a shiny chrome finish.

50 AE, .44 M, .357 M, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, 9mm and

Various cartridges compared, including the .357 Magnum, 9×19mm Parabellum and .22 Long Rifle.[2]

The Alien's invulnerability to the .357 rounds fired by the revolver seemingly contradicts the 1986 film Aliens, where Private Vasquez kills an Alien with a few 9×19mm Parabellum rounds (which are similar in size to the revolver's rounds) fired from her Smith & Wesson Model 39 at point-blank range into the Alien's head; though difficult to attempt without modding the game to make the Alien less aggressive, shooting the head of the Alien in Alien: Isolation from a similar distance will only cause superficial damage to its mesoskeleton.

A possible in-universe explanation for why all weapons found aboard Sevastopol, including the revolver, cannot kill the Alien is because they are purposely designed to have weak penetration capabilities in order to avoid a hull breach, which would be a catastrophic event on a space station. It makes sense that the Colonial Marines, being a military force, would use armor-piercing bullets capable of penetrating enemy combatants' ballistic armor, or, in this case, the mesoskeleton of a Xenomorph. For the civilians aboard Sevastopol, though, using this type of ammunition would make little sense due to the incredibly low likelihood of encountering an armored threat, and the incredibly high danger of causing a hull breach by firing armor-piecing bullets. Instead, it's more likely that the .357 ammunition available for the revolver aboard the station is all frangible ammunition, wherein the bullet is structurally designed to break apart upon hitting something hard, protecting the walls of the station and, unfortunately for Sevastopol's inhabitants, the Xenomorph.

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