Alien: Isolation

 PC
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2310 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,921 out of 2310
  2. Mixed: 226 out of 2310
  3. Negative: 163 out of 2310

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  1. ChunkySaurus
    Nov 11, 2014
    7
    The atmosphere in this game is great. The visuals and sounds all fit very well with the situation. I often found myself getting anxious just from the environment or the ambient noises. They did a great job on that part of the game. The rest of the game is just so-so.

    In terms of story, it is OK. I wanted to see what happened to Ripley in the end. Sadly, the ending was very    The atmosphere in this game is great. The visuals and sounds all fit very well with the situation. I often found myself getting anxious just from the environment or the ambient noises. They did a great job on that part of the game. The rest of the game is just so-so.

    In terms of story, it is OK. I wanted to see what happened to Ripley in the end. Sadly, the ending was very underwhelming. After several earlier crescendos that seemed like the end of the game, the final scene was a low point. Instead of a dramatic user-controlled action scene, they went with a short quick-time event. They literally paused the action and said "Press Button X". The rest of the ending was left open-ended. They were either planning for a sequel/DLC or they expect you to be familiar with the Amanda Ripley story from the Aliens movie.

    The scripted encounters with the Alien felt pretty forced. The Alien from the Alien movie is a stealthy predator that ambushes people one at a time. The scripted encounters in this game had the Alien drop into a room and walk around in erratic patrols. As you moved on from room to room, the patrols moved with you. It always felt like the Alien knew where I was, it was just waiting for me to break a rule before it attacked. Sort of like, "I know you are in that locker, but you haven't made a loud enough noise yet so I'll just circle 'round again.".

    Speaking of circling around again, the backtracking got a little silly. No device on that station worked with any less than three switches in three separate corners of a room. You could never walk down a straight corridor, you would always get to the end to find the door locked and need to take the long way around. I get that it was meant to drive the tension when trying to avoid the Alien but it got annoying pretty quickly. The "You mean I have to go back?" moment loses some impact after the tenth time.

    If you like stealth games you will like parts of this game. If you like the Alien franchise, you will like parts of this game. I enjoyed most of my experience; maybe some DLC will fix up the ending but I hate paying for a better ending.    … Expand
  2. damianshrinivas
    Jan 26, 2016
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game is OK. Very nice graphics, feeling of Alien movies and interiors. Seriously not scary at all (scared once - it was explosion, not an Alien) but I like that kind of games. Game can be pretty hard sometimes but also frustrating because of the bugs but it happened to me few times only. I have just one thing that I hated in this game: backtracking. So go to a room to hit the switch that opens the door in next room -> go to that door and open them (2m), power down ->go to the same previous room to just power on generator(2m) -> go back to open the door(same 2m)...seriously?… Expand
  3. Captain_Chaos
    Feb 24, 2021
    7
    Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival horror game set in the film franchise of the same name, specifically, 15 years after the events of the first film- and still some decades prior to the second. Broadly speaking it is in the style of the Amnesia games and Outlast, the former I have played before.

    The player takes the role of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourny Weaver's character    Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival horror game set in the film franchise of the same name, specifically, 15 years after the events of the first film- and still some decades prior to the second. Broadly speaking it is in the style of the Amnesia games and Outlast, the former I have played before.

    The player takes the role of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourny Weaver's character Ellen and only mentioned in passing in the films. It was made clear in the director's cut of Aliens that Amanda never saw her mother again. But did she ever even get to know what happened? Isolation seeks to answer that question. Amanda, a Wayland-Yutani employee like her mother, has received word that the flight recorder from the Nostromo, the ship her mother was aboard, has been found and brought to a far-flung space station called Sevastopol. Together with two WY reps, Amanda sets out for the station aboard the freelance ship Torrens.

    Before Amanda can even set foot on the station things go awry, and as soon as she is aboard, she enters a nightmare on a scale unrivaled by the films. Not only is there a Xenomorph on the loose, the station, having been decommissioned by its failing company Seegson, is already in a steadily declining state of disrepair, and surviving personnel have given to lawlessness and disorder. Critical systems are down, supplies are scarce, people are panicking and shooting anything that moves, outside communication is all but impossible, and the stations creepy, rubber-forehead androids are not doing anything to help, slaved as they are to an unresponsive AI called APOLLO.

    Using engineering tools, scant weaponry and improvised explosives of various types, Amanda must make her way through the station, engaging or preferably evading threats, in an attempt to reestablish communications, find out what happened to her mother, and maybe get off the station alive.

    Of any newer adaptations of the Alien franchise, Isolation is far and away the the highest achievement in capturing the zeerust of the original film. This is a future where the internet and the ipod never existed, a future of mechanical keyboards, toggle switches, cathode ray monitors, wired phones, tape deck servers, cassette boomboxes and radio communications, not to mention synthetic jackets and white high-top sneakers. Sevastopol is not only a flying relic of the late 1970s, it's considered a piece of **** in-universe besides, a truck stop at the ass end of known space left behind by a now-long-past boom of interstellar exploration.

    The primary threat to you in this game, the Xenomorph, cannot be defeated or even effectively combatted. The most you can hope for is to drive it away with flame, and your best option is simply to evade it at all costs- taking alternate routes, using distractions, or even just hiding in lockers and cabinets. A two tiered adaptive AI ensures that the alien "learns" as you progress, making it harder to avoid as the game goes on.

    And the game does go on, perhaps a bit longer then it needs to. A number of reviews for Isolation complain of padding- the game is tense and thrilling sometimes, but between major events are many moments of slowly creeping through corridors and rooms, using the motion tracker and audio cues to avoid the alien, the androids and the trigger-happy survivors, and sometimes shooting it out with them when no other option presents itself. These encounters are interesting at first, but there end up being a few too many of them.

    The tension extends itself into places it probably shouldn't. You are almost never safe in Isolation, even while saving your game. There is nothing stopping the alien from dropping down right next to you and eating your face while you're saving, cutting a panel with your torch, hacking a console or keypad or just walking down the stairs to the transit station. It might make you jump out of your pants the first time or the first dozen times, but as you play, die and reload your save for the nth time you will notice an element of randomness to the game- contents of item boxes, enemy placement and movement and so on. The game is deliberately designed to prevent you from getting trapped in an unwinnable scenario, but you're going to die a hell of a lot anyway. Eventually you might turn the difficulty down out of boredom rather then frustration. Where Alien: Isolation succeeds brilliantly in presentation, visual and audio design and film accuracy, it suffers a bit in actual gameplay.

    It is far from a terrible title, and I suppose it is inherently better then Colonial Marines, through in spite of that game's problems and shady development history I found it a little more entertaining to actually play. It has more in common with Aliens: Infestation on the DS, however, such as finding engineering tools to access new areas. For its flaws however, Isolation was tense and compelling. It is a game worth at least trying.    … Expand
  4. glinski
    Oct 13, 2014
    6
    Why they have to do this ? The game have fantastic graphics, great atmosphere (that make envy to any survival horror ) and fidelity to the movie series in every aspect, BUT they almost destroyed the game trying to make it last longer.

    The game, from the middle on forward, gets really boring, with stupid missions that make you do the same thing twice. Literally. You know that the game    Why they have to do this ? The game have fantastic graphics, great atmosphere (that make envy to any survival horror ) and fidelity to the movie series in every aspect, BUT they almost destroyed the game trying to make it last longer.

    The game, from the middle on forward, gets really boring, with stupid missions that make you do the same thing twice. Literally. You know that the game don't have more "content" to show off, but keep pushing you to play without fun or a good reason.

    And the AI could be better. Sometimes, is like you're playing a Playstation 1 game. The enemies find and see you in unbelievable situations. This work kinda OK with the Alien or the robots (as they aren't human and could have better 'senses'), but the humans make it clear that the AI is not ok.

    Yet, I think Alien Isolation is a good game, but with STUPID things that make it a 6/10. It's like they had to finish the game in a close deadline ?    … Expand
  5. Apolsc
    Oct 25, 2014
    7
    The environment stands out, that 70s future. The tension the game generates is intense, and the scenarios are huge and dark. There is a good story well narrated. Its real survival horror. The down part is this forced stealth, you can confront and kill your human enemies with a tool, even when they are shooting at you, it is not hard. When you kill them they don't let you grab their guns,The environment stands out, that 70s future. The tension the game generates is intense, and the scenarios are huge and dark. There is a good story well narrated. Its real survival horror. The down part is this forced stealth, you can confront and kill your human enemies with a tool, even when they are shooting at you, it is not hard. When you kill them they don't let you grab their guns, how fake is that?… Expand
  6. Quink666
    Oct 13, 2014
    6
    So the game start of kinda slow and keeps on going slow for quite a few missions. After that its exciting for 2-3 mission, then suddenly its just repetetive and not scary anymore. Way to much backtracking. 6/10
  7. TomasLacerda
    May 2, 2020
    7
    I really tried to play this game, it's gorgeous, the mood is absolutely fantastic. It can really be a terror experience sometimes which is awesome. The latest part of the game is absolute crap, it's the typical scenario where everything goes wrong and your character is a god. Really bad script at the end of the game, which is unfortunate. At the beginning I was loving it, but the curveI really tried to play this game, it's gorgeous, the mood is absolutely fantastic. It can really be a terror experience sometimes which is awesome. The latest part of the game is absolute crap, it's the typical scenario where everything goes wrong and your character is a god. Really bad script at the end of the game, which is unfortunate. At the beginning I was loving it, but the curve kept going down. I felt that most of the gadgets and weapons were dispensable, only 3 to 4 weapons were worth using it, they could have gone more strategic options. The alien AI was a bit off, he was always around your areas despite one not doing any sound. Too forced.
    Cool game though.    … Expand
  8. xZippy
    Oct 14, 2014
    6
    Time to break the chain of positive reviews and end up making this one an "unhelpful" review. This game has excellent atmosphere, and the stealth survival horror element is well placed here. The story holds up alright, but isn't the greatest.

    Despite the game's beauty, there's a lot of things that really drag it down. The worst of it is the repetitive tasks. "Alright run across the map    Time to break the chain of positive reviews and end up making this one an "unhelpful" review. This game has excellent atmosphere, and the stealth survival horror element is well placed here. The story holds up alright, but isn't the greatest.

    Despite the game's beauty, there's a lot of things that really drag it down. The worst of it is the repetitive tasks. "Alright run across the map and hit this switch and come all the way back to run this generator ok ok now run across the map two more times because the lights suddenly went out and you need to find a hidden keycard to-" Yeah, painful.

    Another downside is the layout of some of the maps. You can find yourself running into tons of locked doors and going in circles just finding that 100th generator you need to turn on. Though this is redeemed by the atmospheric design of everything, so at least you're running around pretty well-lit maps and crawling through convenient rewarding vents anyway.

    Despite the fact that I didn't enjoy the game as much as everyone else, I would STILL recommend it to ever other gamer out there.    … Expand
  9. Tscherni
    Oct 13, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The atmosphere at the beginning of the game is really quite something and when the alien first shows up it's pretty terrifying. You probably will try to hide a lot, crouch and go very slowly the first few times you strive to circumvent the beast and provided that you play this game on hard difficulty setting (as you should), you will die rapidly and frequently. This is due to the omniscient AI, which somehow always knows where you are (even if you clearly tricked the alien into going in a totally different direction) and is glued to the player, while mostly ignoring other survivors and completely ignoring Androids. It goes from terrifying to frustrating all too quickly here.
    After a while I figured out that not going slowly, breaking the line of sight and only hiding as a last resort is much easier, which is counterintuitive and not really what a stealth game should be about. The game still manages to built atmosphere and tension though.
    At the midpoint of the game you'll be introduced to the flamethrower. As soon as you acquire this gadget, the Alien is not a threat anymore. You just hit it with a burst and it flees. Now the alien is no more than a chore to be dealt with. It will pop up every once in a while, sometimes as soon as 15 seconds after you last repelled it. This can get quite tedious. You will still die to some of those unfair alien appearances though.
    I've read some reviews where people claim the flamethrower fuel is scarce. Not true in the slightest; it only takes one gush of flame to repel the alien, which consumes about 6 or 7 points of ammo. I stopped hiding as soon as I got the flamethrower and never had less than 400 fuel for the rest of the game ...why they would add a weapon this gamebreaking I do not know.
    After you deal with the alien for the first time, the game evolves into a mediocre shooter during the midgame. A barrage of angry androids are thrown at you to disassemble, which is very easy to do, because they don't have any weapons and can't shoot back. 2 shotgun rounds to the face, 6 pistol shots, 1 stun baton hit followed by 7 melee attacks, EMP's, Molotovs, Pipebombs, and the OP bolt gun, all of these deal with them very quickly and with close to no risk. Even human enemies are more dangerous, they at least shoot back. I found this part of the game to be overly easy; on hard difficulty.

    After experiencing all these flaws, I still found Alien Isolation to be a good game. The graphics are good, but nothing special, the sound is amazing and so is the voice acting. The story is a bit lacking, but it stays close to its role model and I especially enjoyed the flashback to the movie plot. The level design is also quite good, there is a lot of backtracking, but I didn't mind it that much (it would be a little odd to be wandering around a confined space station for 15+ hours and never see the same place twice).

    All in all it's a game worth picking up. It's certainly not a perfect game and whoever rates it at 10 really needs to come down from that acid trip.

    Ps: what's up with all those devices to open certain doors, it felt like playing Legend of Zelda from time to time.    … Expand
  10. xDaudex
    May 25, 2015
    6
    Pros:
    Atmosphere
    Keeping technology to the right time period The aliens animations Cons: Game is too confusing before you get the motion sensor Once you get the motion sensor it becomes a follow the motion sensor game The aliens actions do not seem organic, he's always hanging around where you are. I know it's a game but it kind of breaks the illusion when it seems like he always    Pros:
    Atmosphere
    Keeping technology to the right time period
    The aliens animations

    Cons:
    Game is too confusing before you get the motion sensor
    Once you get the motion sensor it becomes a follow the motion sensor game
    The aliens actions do not seem organic, he's always hanging around where you are. I know it's a game but it kind of breaks the illusion when it seems like he always knows where you are but he's following the games rules and won't come after you unless you do something stupid.    … Expand
  11. Erobouzu
    Oct 13, 2014
    5
    Alien: Isolation is a faithful recreation of the original movie and captures it's spirit perfectly. Everything about the game practically screams dedication and love towards the original movie. All props, environments and actors feel like straight from the original set and is a delight to look upon for a hardened Alien-fan like me. The game looks graphically good and performs well.Alien: Isolation is a faithful recreation of the original movie and captures it's spirit perfectly. Everything about the game practically screams dedication and love towards the original movie. All props, environments and actors feel like straight from the original set and is a delight to look upon for a hardened Alien-fan like me. The game looks graphically good and performs well.

    Ambience in the game is excellent, with various machines whirring and clicking about, dark corridors with flicking lights and rooms that always feel slightly too small. The space station is claustrophobic and well executed.

    But that's about as far as the good things go. For the developers have forgotten one very basic thing: unknown scares you. And trust me when I say, the Alien will not be unknown to you. Not in the slightest. Always crawling around the vents, guided by an erratic "hunter a.i." the alien will kill you. Several times.

    Practically, after the two first encounters with the alien, I grew so jaded towards it, that I no longer felt even a tinge of fear when it was prowling around. Especially as the game progresses and you will learn to know how the alien acts, you will most likely start to get annoyed by it.

    And that is the greatest downfall of this game. The Alien, one of the greatest movie monsters around, has been reduced to an annoyance. A nuisance. After clocking several hours in to the game I am having serious doubts about whether or not I should bother to continue. In fact, I was forced to lower the difficulty from the hardest setting, because of the sheer tediousness of having to dodge the alien. This decision had nothing to do with the game being too difficult, and everything to do with the fact that the alien encounters are so tedious they were boring me to death. There is no tension, no horror, no thrill. It's simply business.

    All in all, Alien: Isolation turns into a boring game of hide and seek, where if you fail, you are given few seconds (if that) to use up resources to scare off the aggressor, or you die and load the latest save.

    It's a decent game with good graphics and awesome atmosphere, but it gets absolutely murdered by the developer's idea, that having to constantly dodge something is scary.

    I can not with good conscience recommend this game, unless you're buying it somewhere cheap.    … Expand
  12. Avadon
    Oct 12, 2014
    6
    Graphics: Atmospheric but dated. Especially the NPC models have a strong air of X360 to them. Antialiasing seems to be a big problem, because every option you pick makes the game extremely blurry.

    Sound: Good stuff. Good use of positional audio and great dynamic music that also warns you of danger. Voice acting is really good. Fear factor: Some people think that the alien takes too    Graphics: Atmospheric but dated. Especially the NPC models have a strong air of X360 to them. Antialiasing seems to be a big problem, because every option you pick makes the game extremely blurry.

    Sound: Good stuff. Good use of positional audio and great dynamic music that also warns you of danger. Voice acting is really good.

    Fear factor: Some people think that the alien takes too long to appear. I disagree. Buildup is really important in proper horror games. I found the introduction well done and effective. Up until the mid game, everything is well designed and tense. Then it goes downhill for a few hours, but picks up again towards the end. The game could have been slightly trimmed down and lost nothing, in fact it would feel more tightly paced.

    Optimization/bugs: People are praising this game for its polish. Maybe they played a different game than me, or are judging it by usual CA standards of releasing a mangled carcass of a game and fixing it in a year or two. Yeah, for CA standards it's good, but it's nowhere near polished. In several occasions, events failed to trigger for me, which left me stuck, wandering around, trying to find out what I missed. Turns out I missed nothing and I had to reload the last save, go through another 30 minutes of sneaking and then pray the events would trigger properly this time. NPC's would not open elevators, the med lab white board would not update my objectives, and other things. As for optimization, the game runs well but it was EXTREMELY crash happy on my system. After several hours of experimentation, I eliminated the crashes by lowering my screen's refresh rate from 144hz to 60 hz, and playing the game in Windowed Fullscreen mode with Vsync on. If I tried increasing my refresh rate again, the game would promptly send me to desktop. Not acceptable. It's not 2007, people use varying refresh rates. Do some basic stability/compatibility testing, not go "it works on 60hz, it's a wrap". Ridiculous that I pay full price for a game and then have to test it for 3 hours to find a setup that stops it from crashing.

    In conclusion, it's worth playing, but I suggest you wait. It's shaky and needs several patches, you may have problems that will test your patience.    … Expand
  13. Jonathan117
    Dec 11, 2014
    5
    Although a lot better than last years Alien Colonial Marines I must say this was a disapointment for me, the game was just a huge hide and seek game with the Alien with regular interruptions combating annoying AI's . The game would have been way better off if it included multiple Aliens that you could tackle with methods other than hiding in cabinets, a real shame I must say. A decent butAlthough a lot better than last years Alien Colonial Marines I must say this was a disapointment for me, the game was just a huge hide and seek game with the Alien with regular interruptions combating annoying AI's . The game would have been way better off if it included multiple Aliens that you could tackle with methods other than hiding in cabinets, a real shame I must say. A decent but repetitive and sluggish survival-horror, basically Outlast in space but with less originality.
    Pros:
    - The graphics are spectacular
    - Love the 80s film grain
    - Nice looking environments
    - Interesting Characters
    Negatives:
    - Way, way too long
    - Repetitive
    - Gets extremely annoying getting glitched out and caught by the Alien
    - Bad story
    - Bad enemies    … Expand
  14. Silentway
    Oct 11, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First off the game is visually amazing. The graphics and environment are top notch and the sounds and lighting are great, but gameplay is extremely lacking. I'm surprised it got such high reviews but then again, most people like games that require very little thought. The game forces you to play the way they want you to and you can't progress unless you meet the checkboxes the developers put in. If you just want a walk-thru game with a predetermined path that the developers hold your hand through then this game is for you.

    The game is very linear and scripted to the point of predictability which I will explain more. Subtle things are quite annoying such as not casting shadows while standing in front of lights or unable to step over suitcases. Literally you are prevented from walking down a particular hallway because a small row of suitcases block the way, thus making the game feel even more linear and controlled. The story is driven by waypoints meaning as soon as you enter the area either a small cutscene or event occurs but only when you enter that specific spot or area. Another item I thought was silly was after blugeoning a person I could not pick up their pistol, odd right? Well you can get a pistol but a specific one the game tells you to pick up..

    Adding to the scripting and predictability you will quickly learn when and why the alien appears. My first play through was on hard and after about 3 hours I figured out how to avoid ever seeing it. Additionally you will learn quickly where and when the alien is active. This predictability essentially made the game unplayable to the point that it wasn't scary nor tense at any point of the game.

    *SPOILER BELOW*

    Basically the Alien operates only in areas where drones aren't and only comes out if you run or shoot so you can walk around freely without worry..Yes as long as you walk and not run you'll never be attacked by the alien.    … Expand
  15. CasperRosewater
    Oct 20, 2014
    7
    Everything about this game is good or very good: graphics, gunplay, story, voice acting, and sound design with just a few lapses ('fair' rather than 'good' or 'very good'). It's playable on my PC but it's a rushed release. Wait a few weeks or months until they resolve the many bugs and story issues. Two weeks after release there has been only one update and that was a "day one" update.Everything about this game is good or very good: graphics, gunplay, story, voice acting, and sound design with just a few lapses ('fair' rather than 'good' or 'very good'). It's playable on my PC but it's a rushed release. Wait a few weeks or months until they resolve the many bugs and story issues. Two weeks after release there has been only one update and that was a "day one" update.

    Bugs I have encountered:

    1. Game occasionally/frequently freezes after reloading from last checkpoint (after dying).

    2. A few game device called 'rewire boxes' are supposed to be hackable but some will freeze the player (not the game) if you attempt to hack them (requiring game restart).

    3. Doors that are needed to continue the story, that should be open, are locked tight. This is interesting. On the AI site people are experiencing this at random places and, as it turns out, are sometimes a result of player error (player failed to hack a terminal, rewire box, press a switch or whatever). However at least one is the result of the developers' failure. The objective indicator shows two different paths to reach the objective yet one path leads to a locked door that will only open if the other path was taken with no game message/cue/explanation offered at the locked door. It looks like a bug. If one looks at youtube walkthroughs it would appear that the door should be open by default and one is left scratching one's head. Its a story logic issue. So I spent an hour in-game trying to figure out what I did wrong, then spent a half-hour watching youtube videos and came away empty without a solution. It wasn't until my second playthrough that I payed close attention and came to understand that the objective indicator was faulty, was the source of the problem. I have a hunch that many of the bugs are really similar 'gameplay' story problems.

    These are the bugs I have experienced but there are myriad more on the AI web. The bugs seem to be random.

    It's a little irresponsible to not have fixed one bug over 13 days since release. The AI website is a POS, too. I was trying to help by posting my bug experiences and solutions but today the 'login' link is broken (on both IE and FF) so i say ef it. It's playable on my PC but check the AI website for an indication of the scope and randomness or the bug.    … Expand
  16. Hogwa
    Oct 10, 2014
    5
    I have bought Alien Isolation and now I am asking myself will I bother. The fact is that there is nothing to give me an incentive to play the game because I can see it getting a bit boring. It seems from what I have been reading that without any means of protection one is supposed to try and out wit this scaly long in the tooth down in the mouth off worlder and in the end do what, perhapsI have bought Alien Isolation and now I am asking myself will I bother. The fact is that there is nothing to give me an incentive to play the game because I can see it getting a bit boring. It seems from what I have been reading that without any means of protection one is supposed to try and out wit this scaly long in the tooth down in the mouth off worlder and in the end do what, perhaps shove it out the back door and hope it gets caught in one of the boosters? Collecting bits and pieces and knitting them together to form some sort of defensive weapon whilst trying to stop your butt getting a going over from your only passenger and ending up as a giant easter egg somehow has no appeal. At the end of the day I suspect this game will get a vote of not that exciting. Oh I have gone through the opening sequence of the game and I suppose now that I am searching for my alien spotting thingy I shall be safe to head out and hunt or be hunted!?… Expand
  17. TyrannicalDonut
    Oct 9, 2014
    5
    This game is far too long and repetitious. Many parts of the story are entirely unneeded and felt like they were added simply to hamper the player while adding nothing to the story. Some parts are fun, others drag on for hours. While you do get weapons in this game, you will find yourself fighting synthetics the entire game, while aliens are impervious to damage (except for face huggers).This game is far too long and repetitious. Many parts of the story are entirely unneeded and felt like they were added simply to hamper the player while adding nothing to the story. Some parts are fun, others drag on for hours. While you do get weapons in this game, you will find yourself fighting synthetics the entire game, while aliens are impervious to damage (except for face huggers). In short, pacing was awful and I would not recommend purchasing for $40, maybe $20.… Expand
  18. compooter
    Oct 8, 2014
    7
    7... seems harsh for a game that appears as polished as this, but there is a good raisin for giving Alien Isolation a 7.
    This game offers fantastic environments, I mean talk about experiencing the movie franchise we have enjoyed for so many years in a whole new, immersive way. It’s the polished, well executed graphics and character movements that really bring this game to life. One can    7... seems harsh for a game that appears as polished as this, but there is a good raisin for giving Alien Isolation a 7.
    This game offers fantastic environments, I mean talk about experiencing the movie franchise we have enjoyed for so many years in a whole new, immersive way. It’s the polished, well executed graphics and character movements that really bring this game to life. One can tell that a lot of effort was put into cooking this visually stunning smorgasbord to the player.
    But does it really matter how much energy was exerted in bringing a visually engaging game to the player if the players avatar lacks some basic human capabilities. If I cannot scale a couch in order to traverse from one part of the room to another than this entire beautiful virtual reality becomes a real life frustration. Ok, so I can't jump... but what about all of those useless little items that are scattered throughout. That box on the floor, the cute little monkey wrench, the coffee cup on the counter, why can I not lift these things? Why is the cup on the counter if I cannot throw it onto the floor? What is the purpose of these freely moving items that seem to all have physics when I run into them, but I cannot be interacted with using my hands.
    OK, so I can't pick up useless junk... how about emptying my hands. I have been holding this med-pack for an hour, why can't I place it back into my pocket? Let me 'holster' stuff.
    Look, the game is gorgeous, no doubt about that, the game-play even feels good, but immersion suffers from some goofy things your character just can't do.
    Sorry guys but you have to be able to jump. If you design a level and then figure out that jumping from point A to point B circumvents some gameplay triggers then you should redesign the level or put up some invisible walls... idk if less of two evils is removing ability to jump... arg why does not jumping bother me so much? I'm not a very active person in rl so... well the character is a young woman, she looks fit. I just think she should be able to lift things like coffee mugs, or scale over a couch. What's the point of these amazing environments and graphics if the basic human movement is unrealistic?
    So 7 it is.    … Expand
  19. CnlSandersdeKFC
    Oct 9, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's not that this game is bad, for quite a bit it's actually pretty amazing. It's visually stunning, engrossing with atmosphere, and for a good bit of it absolutely terrifying. However, my main beef with the game isn't as some major outlets have said it's length, which is perfect. Any game should be this long, and it's a shame that anything can be considered "too long." My main beef has to do with the acquisition of a certain weapon, that may count as a small spoiler, be warned, but shouldn't to any seasoned fan of the franchise. That weapon is the flame thrower. The flame thrower thoroughly ruined this game. It turned the menace of the Alien into an annoyance. Instead of something that made me crawl everywhere from fright, the Alien became something that I was forced to repetitively deal with every time I heard him stomping around. Instead of being something I ran from it was something I went toward in order to flame him back into his hole, but this happened all to often. I found that after setting fire to the beast he would reappear not 30 seconds later in some cases, and force me to deal with him again so that I make any progress on the objective. It went from frightening, and fun to annoying and tedious all with the addition of one item to my inventory.… Expand
  20. kuehnau
    Oct 10, 2014
    6
    Alien: Isolation should be proud of the technical work they did with the game, it runs fantastic even on aging hardware. The graphics look superb and you can tell the developers really optimized the software for the PC platform. This is what it is about for PC gamers, right here.

    With that being said, when you first start Alien: Isolation, you'll enjoy it and be genuinely interested in    Alien: Isolation should be proud of the technical work they did with the game, it runs fantastic even on aging hardware. The graphics look superb and you can tell the developers really optimized the software for the PC platform. This is what it is about for PC gamers, right here.

    With that being said, when you first start Alien: Isolation, you'll enjoy it and be genuinely interested in the environment and feel a need to explore. Unfortunately this will fade away quite quickly and give way to repetition. The game is largely a stealth based game, it fools you into believing there's some form of combat survival by supplying a paltry amount of weapons, but don't be fooled, combat is never a good option in this game.

    The game gets stale quickly as you sneak through halls, avoid androids and hope to god you don't fall victim to another alien. And while I think that is measured doses, this would have been great, I think largely ignoring the action element from the 'Alien' series was a big mistake. Alien was a Sci-Fi horror movie, but it also had strong bits of action as Ripley fought back for her life.

    This is a good game for short bursts of game-play, but as soon as you feel frustrated, walk away, take a break and come back later. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. A average survival horror game at best, which is sometimes the best we can hope for.    … Expand
  21. llamayarmybar
    Oct 15, 2014
    6
    To be blunt, Alien "Isolation" is a pretty boring experience. Creative Assembly could've released anything, but as long as it functioned (to some extent and didn't deeply anger players) it was already miles ahead of the infamous "Colonial Marines" fiasco. This is troubling since for one, not one person that claims to adore the game, seems to want to mention how terribly paced it is, orTo be blunt, Alien "Isolation" is a pretty boring experience. Creative Assembly could've released anything, but as long as it functioned (to some extent and didn't deeply anger players) it was already miles ahead of the infamous "Colonial Marines" fiasco. This is troubling since for one, not one person that claims to adore the game, seems to want to mention how terribly paced it is, or how the dialogue is awkwardly written or how the cinematic sequences are deeply underwhelming. Even worse than that, they fail to mention how unbelievably silly of a notion it was to place Ellen Ripley's daughter in as the main character and give her an equally silly motivation such as: "My Mother has been missing for 15 years, guess its time to fly out on the same looking ship, meet a bunch of generic characters in space on another ship and ultimately get nowhere in the search for my own Mother."

    This is that entire plot, excluding the Alien, and of course the other humans on board this theoretical "Station," who will stop at nothing just to kill you and only you (unless they spot the Alien of course or by proxy are spotted by it). You can dress up the ugliest little girl in the whole wide world, teach her how to play the Violin like a grandmaster, and at the end of the day someone is still going to call her only "passable" on of those abilities. That's what this whole game feels like, they borrowed the look, the sound, the music (which I'll give them a pass on since it actually involved some of the composers from the film itself) and of course the actual Alien just to smack it all together to form a boring re-envisioning of the first film. Its not even shocking how lazily this was thrown together, but looking back at the seminal Aliens versus Predator 2, a game that embodied the second Aliens film amongst other things, wrestled three intertwining story lines, three races with individual player campaigns and managed to make the whole thing immensely original to boot- its easy to see just how terribly unoriginal Alien: Isolation is at its heart. It mimics a time and a place that some people feel is where the series began and ended. However, their is a balance that other titles in this sub-genre have managed to lock down to some degree, whereas Isolation seems to be focused on some rather poor stealth sections in stiff, metallic, dark, dull environments that unbelievably DON'T provide you with any cover from the laser beam eyes of the humans and Alien alike. Amnesia gave you a stealth system that made sense, it even slapped you on the wrist if you hung around the shadows for too long by winding up your insanity meter, you got into a room, you analyzed what the objective in said room was, you completed it as quickly as manageable and stayed out of the sight of the wandering monstrosities. It was tense, it was interesting and you were unarmed throughout. Which is why the "crafting" in Isolation seems like a chore. Most of the times the Human artificial intelligence is lacking to a degree that would make the rent-a-guards from the Thief series blush. They sometimes see you and then sometimes... they just don't. Doesn't even matter how close you are to them in some situations. The Alien itself is equally as stupid. Either that or its a "clever girl" super genius that will sniff out your location in a millisecond and kill you. I found this garbage stealth system to be a failure, the crafting to be ultimately pointless in many situations and on the whole the game itself is deeply in need of a patch to address these issues. What they implemented only works correctly something like 75% of the time and that's not good enough. I understand that they wanted to play it safe, especially with the brilliantly stupid casting decision of "Amanda Ripley" as our protagonist, but it stands out and speaks volumes about the team behind all of it. Its like reading fan fiction, Alien fan fiction and that's been done to death (thanks comic books). What I would've really liked to have seen here was a stealth and A.I. system that actually worked, but mostly what I really wanted to play was less rip-off material incorporated from such games as Dead Space, System Shock, Amnesia, and Bioshock. However it ultimately doesn't matter what I think about the game, its getting loads of positive feedback from most sites just from its "atmosphere" alone, but I still think it needs a patch as soon as possible.    … Expand
  22. DKCasus
    Oct 20, 2014
    5
    Alien Isolation

    In space, no one can hear you scream at the repetition. Well, talk about a MASSIVE disappointment. The first third of the game is superb, the middle section is mediocre, and the last third is terrible. This is a 6-8 hour game with, literally, 10 hours of completely superfluous padding that does absolutely nothing except serve as a major source of deja vu and    Alien Isolation

    In space, no one can hear you scream at the repetition.

    Well, talk about a MASSIVE disappointment.

    The first third of the game is superb, the middle section is mediocre, and the last third is terrible. This is a 6-8 hour game with, literally, 10 hours of completely superfluous padding that does absolutely nothing except serve as a major source of deja vu and frustration with the lack of imagination demonstrated by the developers.

    You won't believe how many times you have to go back and restart a generator or something similarly uninteresting - because the game has no more tricks up its sleeve after the first handful of hours. It's the way they try to create tension and it works in the beginning.

    But as the game progresses, you adjust to the Alien and it's no longer as scary as it is at first. This means that every implausible accident causing a delay becomes ever more about despising the process and ever less about appreciating the tension.

    The exploration is mostly linear or deceptively non-linear at places, and you find very little of interest. The audio logs are there just because that's what these games have in them, and not because the developers had something interesting to say.

    Same goes for the crafting system, which is perhaps the least interesting crafting system I can recall. I didn't use half the things I could craft - because the game gives you very few opportunities or reasons not to use the much faster and more efficient approach of your normal weapons.

    Clearly, the game was NOT developed by people who understood the games they were inspired by. System Shock 2, for instance, has more interesting choices in the first hour of the first level than the entirety of Isolation. That's no exaggeration.

    It's very unfortunate, because the game CAN be a masterpiece. The atmosphere and level of immersion is perhaps the best I've ever experienced in a game. It's just that good. The sound design is also on a level that's hard to recall in any other AAA game. The sound is so good that it ends up being your primary tool, because you NEED to know where your enemy is at all times - and your motion tracker, as useful as it is, is not as efficient as your ears. Just make absolutely sure you're playing with surround sound!

    The level design is fantastic when it comes to recreating the Alien film - but it's also lacking in originality for the same reason.

    To me, the game feels like the developers wanted to have sex with the Alien movie, but since they couldn't quite have that - they chose to make this game instead.

    What I mean by that is that they bring almost NOTHING of their own to the table in terms of story or imagination. It's like they're idolizing the film to such an extent that they consider any deviation sacrilegious.

    Such a slave-like disposition is not how you create strong art. You have to use your own vision, and they should have let the movie serve as inspiration - not a rigid blueprint.

    To make my point clear, I have to say that Aliens: Colonial Marines had more original material than this game does, and as terrible as that game was, at least it tried to expand a little upon the familiar stories.

    Isolation does NOTHING without it having been part of the source material, and everything you see can be traced back DIRECTLY to Scott's film.

    Maybe a lot of the fans just want to exist in that environment, and nothing more. That's cool - but I was never really into seeing the same things over and over.

    After I got used to the strong sense of place and ambience, I started hungering for something interesting to happen in the story - and nothing ever really did. It doesn't help matters when the game gives you more "endings" than you can count, and each of them more ridiculously drawn out than the next.

    Near the end of the game, it becomes a big "experience-fest" - like you'd recognise from the worst AAA titles - with explosions going off everywhere you go and constant little QTE triggers that you have to do.

    It's like they had too much money and they felt like throwing in a pointless and trivial action movie at the last minute.

    Oh well. It started on such an unbelievably high note - and I've never been that scared of a computer game in my entire life. I guess there was no way it could sustain that throughout - but I must say I couldn't have imagined the negative direction the game starts taking around halfway into it.

    The ONLY reason this game doesn't get a lower score from me, is because it did something no other game has done in terms of atmosphere and immersion. During the first hours of the game, I was THERE. In that place. No barrier.

    That's too rare for me to ignore, and so it gets a higher score than it might deserve.    … Expand
  23. Wolverinemetacr
    Oct 10, 2014
    6
    This is a stealth game not a horror game. If you figure out the pathway you can get through it pretty easily its okay worth a playthrough but I wasnt scared. Maybe bored a little I dont have headphones maybe that was the problem. Everything looked great except the humans and androids why scimp on that? Buy on sale for a playthru.
  24. savionen
    Dec 30, 2014
    5
    Amazing environments and visuals, but gets repetitive quickly and overstays its welcome. The game is about 5 hours too long and the story plods along for hours and hours, and is nothing you haven't seen before.
  25. Jetpil0t
    Oct 16, 2014
    6
    Overall the game makes great use of the license and introduces a few really great mechanics into the non combat horror game formula, while allowing you light combat options in limited situations.

    I did however find the level design and encounter design to be very linear and repetitive. Animation quality isn't great. The small amounts of combat that are in the game feel very poorly put    Overall the game makes great use of the license and introduces a few really great mechanics into the non combat horror game formula, while allowing you light combat options in limited situations.

    I did however find the level design and encounter design to be very linear and repetitive. Animation quality isn't great. The small amounts of combat that are in the game feel very poorly put together. The save system can create huge frustrations with infrequent checkpoints placed behind quick time events and story components. This type of game is generally quite short and available for less than full retail, thus with this title coming in at full price it feels extortionately padded out to justify it's price. This in turn reduces the quality of the game considerably and is probably one of it's most noticeable lows with some sections dragging on into an hour or more of walking around. There really isn't any replay value here and the DLC is both short and overpriced.

    On the plus side it looks great, highly atmospheric and true to the genres well executed formula.

    If you don't already enjoy games like Outlast or Amnesia, you really won't enjoy this one. However if you do enjoy this type of game, Alien Isolation adds a few interesting chemicals into the mix and makes good use of the Alien License. Fortunately too it is a strong PC release with plenty of graphics options, very few bugs and performance is excellent.    … Expand
  26. xTobyMc
    Oct 22, 2014
    7
    For me this game was a 50/50, there was a lot I liked about the game, but also a lot I disliked. Firstly, the atmosphere is amazing. Playing on PC in max settings, which the game is very well optimised for, the feeling of isolation really is apparent. Quite a few times I jumped like a little girl when the alien found me and there are plenty of jump-scares throughout. I also like theFor me this game was a 50/50, there was a lot I liked about the game, but also a lot I disliked. Firstly, the atmosphere is amazing. Playing on PC in max settings, which the game is very well optimised for, the feeling of isolation really is apparent. Quite a few times I jumped like a little girl when the alien found me and there are plenty of jump-scares throughout. I also like the fluidity of animation and the real emphasis on stealth and movement tactics. I often found myself pausing to think about my next move and the game does a nice job of guiding you, but not making it too linear. Lastly, the game also follows the story very well and those who have seen the films will feel the nostalgia.

    In terms of the game's negatives, for me the biggest one was story length. The game took me 17 hours to complete and felt (surprisingly) too long. I feel like the developers have tried too hard to extend the game length by adding in more and more and more and more inconveniences forcing you to do missions which seems pointless. For example, you'd be told to open a door, only to find the door has no power. The game will then send you back the entire route you've just travelled to activate the power. Upon returning to the door, you require a keycard or pin code... everything in the game was like this. It was just fetch mission after fetch mission, and something would ironically always go wrong the moment you got close to completing an objective.

    The alien also gets extremely annoying. At first I was scared of it, but after 7 hours or so I was just fed up of it. I was constantly having to stop and just wait for the alien to walk around the scripted route it was given before it went back into the vents, making it safe to move. I also find it silly how the alien follows you EVERYWHERE, despite going up and down elevators, across rail networks and keeping almost silent compared to other noises on the ship. Of course I understand the point of the game is to hide from it, but the realism of it just following YOU everywhere is frustrating.

    Overall the game is worth the buy if you've got 15-20 hours spare, but personally I think the game is far too stretched, it would have been ideal to me as a ~12 hour game instead.    … Expand
  27. 8bitg33k
    Feb 28, 2015
    6
    It's alright. Mildly entertaining. mostly because it's a great genre. SciFi Horror, who can argue with that. If it wasn't for the fact that you're mostly hiding in closets when not sneaking around or clumsily attacking Androids, it might actually make the leap from ok to great. But all in all, it's gets the job done if you have nothing else to play and just to get the next piece of theIt's alright. Mildly entertaining. mostly because it's a great genre. SciFi Horror, who can argue with that. If it wasn't for the fact that you're mostly hiding in closets when not sneaking around or clumsily attacking Androids, it might actually make the leap from ok to great. But all in all, it's gets the job done if you have nothing else to play and just to get the next piece of the genre collection under your belt. Just don't spend more than 20 bucks on it.… Expand
  28. aciphex
    Oct 11, 2014
    7
    Alien isolation fundamentally achieves what is set out to do. Put you in an almost powerless position and toy with your senses. This however comes mostly from the fear of jump scares which definitely adds to the experience, but you can't help but think its too easy...nonetheless the game had me frantically searching the screen and pausing quite a fews times. The experience is quiteAlien isolation fundamentally achieves what is set out to do. Put you in an almost powerless position and toy with your senses. This however comes mostly from the fear of jump scares which definitely adds to the experience, but you can't help but think its too easy...nonetheless the game had me frantically searching the screen and pausing quite a fews times. The experience is quite emersive and fans of survival horror where quick thinking is your best weapon than this will definitely tickle your fancy… Expand
  29. Osmanecek
    Oct 30, 2014
    7
    I like it, yet I do not feel this games is something out of ordinary experience in genre to give higher result.

    I have been really hyped about the Alien and the "scariness", but to be perfectly honest - been playing on my own in midnight, and I was actually looking forward to meet alien and than been little bit dissapointed about it. Alien is randomly spawning around, and therefor many    I like it, yet I do not feel this games is something out of ordinary experience in genre to give higher result.

    I have been really hyped about the Alien and the "scariness", but to be perfectly honest - been playing on my own in midnight, and I was actually looking forward to meet alien and than been little bit dissapointed about it. Alien is randomly spawning around, and therefor many times it is completely unlogical and impossible.

    I really feel that design of Nostromo is perfect, graphics, sound and atmosphere of this game is well optimized and looking really good. I even watched Alien straight after game and the job done in movie and in game is amazing - like a twins. Well done guys!

    Game design and AI (understand the core gameplay) is on the other side weeker point in this game. And lowers the general result really high. It´s simply feel like Call of Duty, without enemies, weapons, and rambo style - which is cool and I am happy about it.. Though, what else is in this game left than? Minigames are repetitive. Hiding - understand crouching and Alien which sometimes see you where no-one else could and overlooked you in situation where half-blinded person with 2 promiles would see you just prooves one thing - AI is the weakest link in this game. If Alien was more "intelligent" it could be much more interesting and build on this would be much more easier. First Half-life for example had an amazing AI. Where army guys were talking to each other and seeking tactically thru the enviroment - that was something amazing at that time - and that is something I would really love to see in this Alien game.

    My result to this game is 7/10:

    10/10 for perfect graphics, sound and atmosphere
    4,5/10 for gamedesign and ai

    My final thought is - check it out later, when price is little bit lower - but you should not miss it completely.    … Expand
  30. nitorita
    Jul 29, 2020
    7
    A relatively solid space horror game that does not bring shame to the original movie franchise. Unfortunately, despite wanting to give this game a higher score, I was not able to do so due to the lack of a "wow factor" to the game, some unnecessarily difficult parts, and an incredibly cheap ending. The story and dialogue is rather scripted, the underlying gameplay is repetitive, the aliensA relatively solid space horror game that does not bring shame to the original movie franchise. Unfortunately, despite wanting to give this game a higher score, I was not able to do so due to the lack of a "wow factor" to the game, some unnecessarily difficult parts, and an incredibly cheap ending. The story and dialogue is rather scripted, the underlying gameplay is repetitive, the aliens aren't all that scary, and you never once feel an emotional attachment with the protagonist. However...

    Don't let the first paragraph dissuade you from playing. The AI is good enough to provide a challenge that you cannot Rambo through, although it is a bit primitive and possible to cheat once you understand how it works. The game forces you to be patient and play smart in order to avoid detection, and there is a lot of freedom for you to choose how you want to approach the game with many tools at your disposal. This game is focused on stealth, so if you were expecting an FPS, you're looking in the wrong place.

    The save points could have been placed more reasonably, since there are lengthy sections in the game where it is easy to get cornered and then have to reload your save, losing every bit of progress up until that point. The rubber band AI of the alien also makes it difficult to achieve meaningful progress at times, since it constantly spawns near you. Plus, the alien seems to have a hard lock on you, seemingly disregarding any other people in the game just to hunt you down. Shooting itself is pretty pointless as well since the moment you fire a single shot, the alien will hear and kill you instantly.

    I think, above all else, the biggest peeve I have about this game is that the core gameplay boils down to sneaking your way to one end of a map to fetch or activate something, and then often times having to backtrack to where you came from. The bulk of the game recycles this over and over, and what would theoretically be a quick game ends up being slowed by necessity due to the presence of an alien that forces you to be stealthy.

    Overall, I'm not sure what magic the devs used, but this game never bored me even though there wasn't much in the way of story or gameplay. I feel that a score of 7 is fair due to having missed opportunities in an otherwise promising game. The game is optimized and runs great on modern PCs (although anti-aliasing is non-existent), and it has never crashed on me once. I'd say that it's worth a play if you can get it for cheap ($10-15 or less would be reasonable now).    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

53
#53 Best PC Game of 2014
9
#9 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
8
#8 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 41
  3. Negative: 0 out of 41
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    90
    This game makes you crawl like a goddamn worm, in constant fear of being squashed. I was scared to leave the closet I was hiding in, because the monster was somewhere out there. [Dec 2014, p.68]
  2. Digital Trends
    Nov 25, 2014
    60
    The Creative Assembly’s game, however, is cooked; left to boil so long it loses all flavor and texture. For 10 hours, Isolation is one of the best horror games ever made, until a second, poorly made game bursts out of its heart.
    Read full review
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Nov 15, 2014
    87
    Alien Isolation can be frustratingly difficult at times, but nevertheless it’s easily the best game in the Alien franchise since the original Aliens vs Predator. The fact that the game mimics perfectly the 1970s look and sci fi stylings of Ridley Scott’s Alien film makes the experience even more endearing. By featuring absurd number of “surprise” twists, Alien Isolation’s final act could’ve used some trimming. [Nov 2014]
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