Gamersledge First Look: Alien Isolation

All Gimmicks aside, a giant xenomorph egg is a giant xenoporph egg. That was the conversation piece that SEGA brought to the table for the Gamestop EXPO 2014. Inside the egg was a screen and a controller. The challenge? Beat the selected run from the game in under 3 minutes. Outside the egg, a big screen TV showed what the player inside was trying to accomplish, start the run, stay alive, and make it out and away from an Alien hunter who wanted to eat you (or prep you for implantation, either way isn’t good).
The line was full the whole day, and with at least an hour wait time, we just couldn’t fit it in our schedule, plenty did though, and why wouldn’t they? The challenge was a tough one, and if you could do it, beat that demo in under three minutes, you could win a jacket, designed exclusively from the NOSTROMOS Jackets in the game.

“There’s nothing in the closet but us clothes!”

I did get a chance to play though, there were several sitting stations that had the demo. The game itself was layered thick with suspense, with sounds and music playing in all the right ways, and the occasional loud noise or sharp shadow to make you jump. The main character, Ripley’s daughter (mentioned in the movies but never really seen in person), is trying to understand what happened to her mother, and while doing so, ends up on the menu for an intelligently programmed xenomorph. The Alien hunts using sound, smell and hearing, and there were a couple of times where it would follow right behind where I had gone, moving calmly and stealthily as they did in the movies.
The main aspect that sets this game apart from other games in the series is the suspense and tension. You aren’t a marine in this game. You don’t have lots of huge guns and special equipment. There aren’t an infinite number of xenomorphs running rampant across the space station. For the most part, its you, an alien, and an attempt for survival that sometimes seems impossible.

“I don’t know what’s worse, the ever-present thump of the motion tracker, or seeing the xenomorph ahead with my own two eyes.

The campaign, written much like the first movie (Alien) is meant to make the player feel isolated (get it), and in danger for most of the scripted events, that doesn’t take into account though, that the Alien is programmed to be dynamic, almost learning from the way you play, and changing its habits. If you were shying away from this title because of Aliens: Colonial Marines, you shouldn’t. This title stands on its own, and it stands nine feet tall with acid blood.
I thought this demo was mind-blowing, but I may be biased, I love the series and I thought this game was amazing. Look for it October 7th.

Here is the Video of the interview with some playthrough in the end.  I am talking through what I am seeing, they didn’t want straight gameplay footage just yet : )

What do you think? Are you looking forward to this title? Why or why not? Hit us up in the comments.

–Trialaccess