Since the first xenomorph terrorized screens, the creatures of Aliens have made appearances in many video games. They ranged from beat-um-ups to first person shooters. While some of them were good, no one had captured the feeling of terror from the first movie. Creative Assembly went back to the basics to create a game that put the tension and helplessness back into the experience. Alien: Isolation is probably the closest thing to a true sequel to the original film.
Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen, has spent the last 15 years looking for her mother and the ship she was working on. She learns that the flight recorder has been recovered and joins an expedition to the space station Sevastopol. An accident during docking strands Amanda on the space station. She finds that the base is almost deserted and the survivors talk about a strange monster that has been picking them off. Amanda must survive as she tries to find out what the station was doing and what happened to her mother.
Alien: Isolation is not about hunting the Alien. You cannot kill it. You must escape as one encounter is enough to kill you. The developers do not have a relentless assault by the creature. You hear it or see it across a massive room. You have to use noisemakers to drive it away from areas you need to access. Eventually you get a flamethrower, but this can only drive it off momentary. While the sequel to the movie, Aliens, brought guns to the franchise, this returns to people confronted by something they cannot kill.
Since the Alien is used sparingly, there are other dangers to deal with. The android workers of the station (Working Joes) do not like you going places you do not have access to. The conditions have turned some of the remaining humans to scavengers and killers. This game is about stealth, as you do not have the fire power to deal with all the threats. Finding materials to craft noisemakers and smoke bombs is the only way to stay alive.
Alien: Isolation is also fun for fans of the series. It plays with character types from other movies. Samuels is an android and you will go back and forth if he is good or bad. Weyland-Yutani corporation is here as well, though not as prevalent in future titles. The setting also looks exactly like the first movie down to DOS computers. The game is pretty recent and it is coming to the Switch later this year. Play it if you are a fan of the series or like a very tense and scary game.
