Alien: Isolation announced for PC, PS4, and Xbox One

[Gahars]

Hey, guys, remember Aliens: Colonial Marines?

Oh. Ohhhhh. Oh.

Well, here's another game from the Alien franchise that's not related in any way, shape, or form to that.

Sega officially unveiled The Creative Assembly's Alien game as Isolation, a first-person survival horror for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC that's due for release in the second half of 2014. The long-speculated game has been in development at the British studio for just over three years, and firmly traces its roots to the original 1979 film that began the Alien franchise.

As previously rumored, players take on the role of Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda in a new story that stars the original Alien from the film. Alien: Isolation is set 15 years after the events in Alien, and takes place on a large trading station where a flight recording from the Nostromo has been recovered.

"The thing we're always focused on is that first film," Lead Game Designer Gary Napper told Joystiq at a recent press event. "It's making the game as much like that original experience of being focused on a single alien in a single environment, and not being prepared to shoot it. It's that really close-up, personal, and connected experience with the Alien. That's what we've always focused on and wanted to do."

Joystiq

On the one hand, I'm not sure if anything like this has really been attempted with the Alien franchise before. Usually Aliens is the go-to inspiration, and as much as I love Aliens, seeing a game go solely for the claustrophobic horror of the first film is definitely interesting. Plus, there's no multiplayer, which is good for something like this. On the other hand, it's being developed by Creative Assembly, a team a) without any real FPS or horror experience, and b) responsible for this. Not only that, the protagonist is Ellen Ripley's daughter, which... why?

Seriously, why? What is the point? What are you doing?

Look forward to Rape Symbolism: The Video Game by the end of this year.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Dammit Gahars your opening made me fucking worried we were getting another piece of junk game

 

[retKHAAAN]

As much as I enjoy the fact that they're trying something new with the franchise, I can't picture this working out just yet.

Alien works as a 2 hour movie. A single alien through an entire singleplayer campaign? It sounds like 10-20 hours of jump scares and fetch quests...

 

[ElYubiYubi]

This one looks really awesome! And NO Multiplayer!

 

[calmwaters]

a) no real horror or FPS experience
b) looks at picture

And I was going to say something about the no experience thing, but then I realized you people want games to be made in a specific way and the only ones who can do that are the ones with experience. I mean, there's no way a company barely a few years old could make a quality horror game.

Edit: *Watches trailer* Wow, I'm surprised it's not coming to the Wii U. This is the kind of game that would appeal to North American gamers. I guess Nintendo really is that stupid.

 

[chartube12]

Not after the last game Sega. Ya I know the blame is 90% not your's but still.

 

[CompassNorth]

Amnesia-like game in the Aliens universe.
My god, no.
Just no.

 

[shakirmoledina]

is this the same series that was initially on the snes as a side scroller?

 

[gman666]

As long as this doesn't take years more to develop then i'm interested. Hopefully a 2014-2015 release date

 

[Gahars]

a) no real horror or FPS experience
b) looks at picture

And I was going to say something about the no experience thing, but then I realized you people want games to be made in a specific way and the only ones who can do that are the ones with experience. I mean, there's no way a company barely a few years old could make a quality horror game.

...Or maybe the inexperience is worrying because this sort of thing (atmospheric horror centered around a single enemy) is extremely difficult for experienced teams to pull off, let alone teams that have zero familiarity with first person mechanics or horror. Not to mention that their last title was a bug-ridden disaster that's still being fixed months after release.

Nobody said that it was impossible that they'd succeed, but inexperience means that the odds aren't in their favor.

I mean, there's no way a company barely a few years old could make a quality horror game.

What are you even trying to argue? The Creative Assembly has been around since 1989, and with only two exceptions (a Rugby game and a port of a Sonic collection) they've produced nothing but RTS games since the year 2000.

When you only make a certain type of game for 14 years straight, a complete shift in genre and tone is going to raise eyebrows.

 

[calmwaters]

...Or maybe the inexperience is worrying because this sort of thing (atmospheric horror centered around a single enemy) is extremely difficult for experienced teams to pull off, let alone teams that have zero familiarity with first person mechanics or horror. Not to mention that their last title was a bug-ridden disaster that's still being fixed months after release.

I was being sarcastic; but you thought I was actually trying to argue something? Well now; so, how hard is it really to make a horror game? Scary music, dark sounds, bright flashes of lights; it's almost like a stealth game. You've got to sneak around or else be tackled by hundreds of monsters and have your brain sucked out. You're also inadvertently describing the lack of creativity in the game industry. You don't plan a horror game; it just... happens. The storyboards center around expanding this idea, But the idea must be conceived in your mind. About the bug-ridden disaster: bugs happen. The point is that they're fixing it. Better late than never, I always say. And you can always get the fixed version after it's been repaired if you're still interested in the game.

What are you even trying to argue? The Creative Assembly has been around since 1989, and with only two exceptions (a Rugby game and a port of a Sonic collection) they've produced nothing but RTS games since the year 2000. When you only make a certain type of game for 14 years straight, a complete shift in genre and tone is going to raise eyebrows.

Of course it would. Can you imagine if a company that strictly made RPGs suddenly started working on a dance game?

 

[Foxi4]

is this the same series that was initially on the snes as a side scroller?

Naw man, it's just that niche, not really wel-known comic and movie series.

 

[Gahars]

I was being sarcastic; but you thought I was actually trying to argue something? Well now; so, how hard is it really to make a horror game? Scary music, dark sounds, bright flashes of lights; it's almost like a stealth game. You've got to sneak around or else be tackled by hundreds of monsters and have your brain sucked out. You're also inadvertently describing the lack of creativity in the game industry. You don't plan a horror game; it just... happens. The storyboards center around expanding this idea, But the idea must be conceived in your mind. About the bug-ridden disaster: bugs happen. The point is that they're fixing it. Better late than never, I always say. And you can always get the fixed version after it's been repaired if you're still interested in the game.

Please stop. You're giving me an aneurysm.

 

[calmwaters]

Please stop. You're giving me an aneurysm.

Okay. Sorry; just sayin'... plus this game looks cool anyway.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

calmwaters: professional video game developer.

Horror games (and movies) are much harder to make than you think, good ones at that.

 

[PityOnU]

I am concerned that the Alien franchise has been so over-utilized that the Xenomorphs just aren't/can't be scary anymore.

 

[BORTZ]

With Dead Space being... Dead and all, maybe this is all we have to look forward to in the space horror genre. Then again, it might be for the wrong reasons too.