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After an absolute failure Aliens: Colonial Marines fans of space safari surrounded by exotic xenomorphs hung their heads in unison. In this situation, any announcement related to the theme of “Aliens” should have encouraged the public. But what might be the reaction of oppressed fans when it turns out that the project is being worked on by someone who ate the dog in the creation of “total” strategies? Creative Assembly, A Alien: Isolation – survival horror?

A woman on board means trouble!

More recently Creative Assembly arranged a presentation where we not only had the opportunity to communicate with the game designer Gary Napper (Gary Napper), but also to come face to face with the Alien himself. The developers immediately reassured us, informing us that Alien: Isolation we employ people competent in the genre who have previously worked in many other well-known companies. Therefore, we have no reason to worry.

And indeed, in the process of getting acquainted with a small fragment of the pre-alpha version, no doubts about the skill of the developers arose. True, I was somewhat confused by the relative transience of the episode shown – its ideal passage would have taken ten minutes at most. The level can be compared to an advertising trailer, the task of which is not to explain the details of the gameplay, but to create an image of the project and attract interest in it. The presented excerpt fulfilled these goals perfectly.

Isolation is a sequel to the first part of the legendary film. Ripley’s daughter Amanda goes to the Nostromo to understand her mother’s past. She becomes convinced quite quickly that this was far from the best idea: on board the aircraft she encounters only torn bodies. But most importantly, an Alien lives somewhere nearby – the reason for the meat grinder that happened..

Yes, our attention was immediately attracted by the stated number of alien creatures. Throughout the entire ten-hour passage, only one Alien will scare us. Maximum horror elements and minimum shooter mechanics – Creative Assembly set a course for creating a real thriller. The motives for Amanda’s behavior are not difficult to understand; they are completely amenable to logical explanation. So, at first she just wants to understand her mother’s past. After meeting with the Alien, the heroine is able to think only about her own salvation. Realism and cinematic authenticity are the main guidelines of the developers.

A stranger among his own

In matters of design Isolation strives https://sistersitescasino.co.uk/casinos/simba-games/ for complete authenticity. We won’t see any LCD displays, tablets or other portable high-tech devices here. The interior lining of the ship, interior items, mechanical doors – all elements of the environment are made in the style of the film Ridley Scott (Ridley Scott). The authors tried not to use technologies that were not available for the filming of Alien in 1979.

The main question that interested us in the light of information about the number of active xenomorphs was the following: what will be the gameplay and how will the high degree of tension be maintained throughout Isolation? We have partially received the answer and now we will try to share with you how we feel about the game.

Gloomy corridor and the hum of the ship’s engines. There’s dead space in the windows. In Amanda’s pocket there is a flashlight that snatches torn corpses from the darkness, and a motion detector that also serves as an indicator of the nearest target. Through the empty rooms we follow the door, which turns out to be closed. We need to go back and find the energy module so we can repair it. Along the way we search the boxes, collecting various objects, the purpose of which we don’t yet know anything about. We can also swing some kind of hammer, obviously designed to protect against something. From what exactly is also unclear.

Ubiquitous scripts heighten the atmosphere with sharp turbulent twitching of the ship and mysterious sounds pouring in from everywhere. In order to unlock an important computer, we go through a simple mini-game. At this point we are already slightly forgetting about the purpose of the detector. Yawning, we begin to look at the surrounding dismemberment as a good design solution. But at this moment It comes onto the scene.

The almighty script releases the monster for a walk. Any sense of comfort and cognitive interest in the environment immediately disappears. The harmless corridors along which we recently wandered turn into the labyrinth of the Minotaur. An alien walks freely around the territory, and the motion sensor does not forget to remind you of his presence. Nothing special happens – there is a wall between us and the monster, but the dot on the detector screen begins to move in the direction of the doors. And then a black something appears from another room… Unable to withstand the tension, we rush back. Behind you there is a wild roar of an approaching beast. Running away on shaky legs, we take out a detector that reports that the xenomorph is somewhere behind. Without stopping, overcoming fear, we still turn our heads and drop the gamepad, finding a grinning creature a meter from Amanda.

“Checkpoint”. We come to our senses and try again. This time the Alien chose a different route, and therefore it was not difficult to reach the door leading to the lifeboat. We break the airlock with a huge noise, and the detector again begins to signal the approach of the enemy. But it takes thirty seconds for the door to open automatically. We hide in a nearby locker and watch the appearance of a monster with monstrous body proportions and a predatory double mouth. Noticing that the beast Creative Assembly turned out great, we run out of the closet and rush past the creature to the shelter. Rescued.

The meeting place cannot be predicted

We have omitted the description of three more dates with the Alien’s stomach. With difficulty Alien: Isolation Everything is fine. It’s not spineless Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. And the “challenge” that creation offers Creative Assembly, exactly what it should be like in a real horror movie. Isolation – this is a test of fear. Saturated, created by the totality of all audiovisual streams. This is the fear of the unknown, of the darkness, of the creepy appearance of the monster and the sounds it makes. The feeling that the xenomorph could be anywhere makes you constantly distracted by the detector. The developers claim that here, unlike other horror games, a high degree of tension will be maintained throughout the game.

Of course, the logic of the Alien’s behavior and the possibility of his free movement are of great importance in creating the atmosphere. The monster really moved through the location, which consisted of several rooms and corridors, completely chaotically. But, despite the assurances of the authors that all encounters with the Alien are completely random, it seems very likely that it is the script that will release the creature to freedom at certain points in the corridor passage. And already within the framework of a specific episode, collisions with her will turn out to be unpredictable. It is unlikely that the entire space of a ship or space station will be freely available. However, it is still very early to draw any conclusions.

Hammer without an anvil

After the game Gary Napper answered some questions that arose. Firstly, those items that are scattered in large quantities throughout the level will be needed to collect traps. The developer promised that the “crafting” system will become very exciting due to the fact that in search of some parts you need to go to the darkest parts of the ship and doom yourself to overtime encounters with the monster.

Traps are the only way to resist the Alien. When asked about the purpose of the hammer, which we never had a chance to use, the designer replied that the weapon in the game would be. Moreover, there is a place for firearms. You just can’t kill a monster with it. However, there are still survivors on the ship – some of them are friendly towards Amanda, while others have already gone crazy, and it is to tame them that weapons will be needed. But you shouldn’t get too carried away with the shooting, since the Alien will probably be interested in the source of the noise and pay us a visit.

Multiplayer in Isolation there won’t be. This is understandable – the developers concentrated on creating a unique “single” experience. Well, a cooperative passage would completely destroy the atmosphere of loneliness and fear.

Before Creative Assembly there is a really difficult task: maintaining the atmosphere for ten hours, using only one enemy. The level from the pre-alpha version looked very impressive, but will the potential of the gameplay mechanics be enough for a long time?? I really want to believe this, because the “horror” aspect of “Alien” Ridley Scott has not yet been fully disclosed in the gaming industry.