Alien: Isolation

[Clockwork Cupcake]

I played it with a mod that made the Xenomorph ignore me and also a mod that made the androids easier, so that I could just enjoy the story and the atmosphere and take photos. I really enjoyed it that way.

Anyway, it's a great game and I loved it (the way I chose to play it).

I too got it for free from Epic back when it was last available for free.

(As an aside, I played SOMA in its story mode too)

[FourWheelDrift]

I haven't finished it or played it for years, I think my save game is hiding in a locker somewhere.

[Narcisus]

Now have this on iPhone, iPad, Steam Deck, Xbox and I’m still to scared to play it. I’m 55 !

The film really fu#### me up as a kid not over it yet

[Wayoftheflower]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

I played it with a mod that made the Xenomorph ignore me and also a mod that made the androids easier, so that I could just enjoy the story and the atmosphere and take photos. I really enjoyed it that way.

(As an aside, I played SOMA in its story mode too)

Similarly I enjoyed it more when about a third of the way through I reduced the difficulty to "Easy". Still pretty challenging though imho.

Last level absolutely rams in the jumpscares.

I also have SOMA in the queue.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

I played it through again a year or so ago, but to be honest it's the perfect example of having too much of a good thing. As a 10 hour game it's utterly fantastic, full of atmosphere, constant tension and absolutely nails the atmosphere of the film.

The issue is that the story reaches a natural conclusion, but you then have another 10 hours to go. Towards the end the gameplay loop of get this object/oh the doors locked so find the keycard/oh you can't get the card until you fix the lifts/oh the power unit is missing so go and find that etc etc does start to wear out its welcome.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Wayoftheflower said:

I also have SOMA in the queue.

I absolutely loved SOMA (when played in story mode). The science was a bit hokum, but for me it is one of those games whose experience just stays with me, like with "What Remains of Edith Finch" and also "The Stanley Parable".

[Clockwork Cupcake]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

The issue is that the story reaches a natural conclusion, but you then have another 10 hours to go. Towards the end the gameplay loop of get this object/oh the doors locked so find the keycard/oh you can't get the card until you fix the lifts/oh the power unit is missing so go and find that etc etc does start to wear out its welcome.

I can't disagree with you there. There did indeed come a point where you start to say "What, REALLY?? "

Still enjoyed it though.

[Wayoftheflower]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

I played it through again a year or so ago, but to be honest it's the perfect example of having too much of a good thing. As a 10 hour game it's utterly fantastic, full of atmosphere, constant tension and absolutely nails the atmosphere of the film.

The issue is that the story reaches a natural conclusion, but you then have another 10 hours to go. Towards the end the gameplay loop of get this object/oh the doors locked so find the keycard/oh you can't get the card until you fix the lifts/oh the power unit is missing so go and find that etc etc does start to wear out its welcome.

Didn't drag too much for me, from about halfway with enough kit it became far more classic FPS like with the exception of preserving flamerthrower ammo for the Xeno and facehuggers

The level design is fairly old school/unhelpful getting lost and frustrated more than once and had to reference walkthroughs at several points, I ended up replaying the entire "Find Samuels" mission over because I missed that an anonymous platform was now able to be moved.

The EVA levels while a change of pace took too much autonomy away for too long and were the low point for me.


But for all those niggles it would still be one of the best games I've ever played and fits nicely into my Aliens head cannon of three films and a decent set of graphic novels.



As mentioned above both SOMA and The Stanley parable are in my pile of shame and I think I'll give one of them a go after maybe a few palate cleansing rounds of Fortnite

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Wayoftheflower said:

Didn't drag too much for me, from about halfway with enough kit it became far more classic FPS like with the exception of preserving flamerthrower ammo for the Xeno and facehuggers

The level design is fairly old school/unhelpful getting lost and frustrated more than once and had to reference walkthroughs at several points, I ended up replaying the entire "Find Samuels" mission over because I missed that an anonymous platform was now able to be moved.

The EVA levels while a change of pace took too much autonomy away for too long and were the low point for me.

But for all those niggles it would still be one of the best games I've ever played and fits nicely into my Aliens head cannon of three films and a decent set of graphic novels.

It wasn't so much that it dragged, more like when you're having an argument with someone and they storm out the room, then come right back in and say "AND ANOTHER THING!" and go off on another one and then storm out. And then come back in and do it again. And again. And again.

As CT05 said, it kind of reached a natural conclusion and then off it went again. Several times.

Don't get me wrong, I did love it. But it just started to outstay its welcome towards the end. Which is very different from dragging, btw.