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"This place had such promise when I first came here. It's a tragedy. A waste of my talents."
―Dr. Kuhlman (from Alien: Isolation)

Doctor Kuhlman was one of three resident doctors at the San Cristobal Medical Facility aboard Sevastopol Station, along with Dr. Lingard and Dr. Morley. When a lone Xenomorph was unleashed on the station by the crew of the USCSS Anesidora in 2137, he became one of the survivors desperately waiting for rescue. He was encountered by Amanda Ripley when she arrived on Sevastopol to recover the USCSS Nostromo's flight recorder, which had also been brought there by the Anesidora.

Kuhlman was taken by the Alien when it broke into his office behind him as he prepared to leave the medical center.

Biography[]

"Tragic, tragic cases. Far from the rhythms of earth, sunrise, sunset... the mind has a tendency to wonder. Tragic cases, but Morley wasted too much time on coddling them. They should never have come here. None of us should."
Kuhlman to Amanda Ripley, regarding mentally unstable patients (from Alien: Isolation)

Before the incident, Dr Lingard was suspicious of Kuhlman "self-medicating" as well as giving out drugs to several patients who did not need them. Due to this, Lingard and Morley locked him out of the dispenser room for his own good.

Eventually, Amanda Ripley, who initially came to the station aboard the Torrens in hope of recovering the flight recorder unit of the USCSS Nostromo, entered San Cristobal Medical Facility to find supplies for Torrens crew member Nina Taylor, who was injured boarding the station.

Kuhlman met Ripley who was in need of medical supplies. Kuhlman said he too needed them and agreed to help Ripley retrieve them in the dispenser room. In order to do so, they needed Morley's passcode to the service elevator as well as his keycard. Although Kuhlman didn't accompany Ripley, he helped her by guiding her over the intercom. Unbeknownst to Ripley, the Xenomorph that was slaughtering Sevastopol's inhabitants was also present in the medical facility.

After a series of grave encounters with the creature, Ripley returned with the keycard and passcode. Khulman then left his office to use the code and activate the elevator. Once he was finished he told Ripley he needed to get his things and then they could both leave. However, when Kuhlman opened the door back to his office, he was met with the Xenomorph standing in front of him. Kuhlman, frozen in fear, was swiftly seized and taken into the shadows of his office as the doors closed behind them. Ripley, however, was able to access the elevator, managing to avoid the same fate as Kuhlman.

Personality and Traits[]

"I'm sorry for putting you through this."
Kuhlman, to Amanda Ripley (from Alien: Isolation)

Terminal logs suggested that Kuhlman was slightly corrupt and had a drug addiction, Due to this, he was locked out of the dispensary by the other two doctors. In an audio log recorded by Kuhlman, he angrily claimed to Morley that his patients were suffering and that they "will relapse without medication," also concluding that he did not "have a problem."

When Ripley met Kuhlman, he seemed to be quirky and kind to her and suggested that if they worked together, they could both accomplish each of their objectives.

However, it is implied that Kuhlman knew the Drone was lurking around the medical station when he sent Amanda to retrieve the passcode for the service elevator. In his response to Ripley's accusation, he said, "Now that's unfair. I thought it might be there. There's a difference."

Regardless, Kuhlman apologized to Ripley for the ordeal and held up to his part of the bargain.

Trivia[]

  • Kuhlman's face is modeled on a scan of the lead programmer, Clive Gratton. A lot of the team's faces were used in the game as crew including some friends and family members of the development team. Looking through the game's NPC textures, you can see the names of the original staff that the faces are scans of.
  • Kuhlman's apparent addiction to medication shares similarities with Kane from Alien and Clemens from Alien3, both of whom also suffered from a medical addiction that ruined their careers, though Kuhlman had managed to retain his job on Sevastopol by the time of the game's events. It is possible Kuhlman's troubles were a nod towards Kane from the original movie.
  • Like Ransome, it seems Kuhlman was hacking into the station's security cameras, this is shown by the way he is able to spot Amanda walking by Medical.
  • In an unused script for the game Kuhlman has a chestburster growing inside of him. As a result he is evicted from the hospital and is seen to use other survivors to test ways to remove it from himself. Interestingly when trying to entice other survivors in, he says "I need...you there! What is it? A hurt friend? Need a fix? Perhaps we can help each other." which is very similar to the way he speaks to Amanda in the final story.
  • For an unknown reason, Kuhlman is wearing Sevastopol Biochemical Research patch instead of a San Cristobal Medical Facility patch.
  • It is possible that Kuhlman is psychiatrist, as him handing out medication is mentioned several times. He also says that he "can't do his job" withount access to the dispensary.
  • His death is not witnessed by the player, but through utilizing the free camera with mods, he can be seen getting killed with a Headbite.[1]

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Alien: Isolation, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One version, Creative Assembly, 2014.
  2. Alien: Isolation - Archive Log 031 - Torrens Hail
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