10 Years Later, A Survival Horror Masterpiece Achieved Perfection In Its Restraint
Alien: Isolation remains one of the strongest cases for how great licensed games can be.
It’s been a very strong decade for the survival horror genre. Resident Evil returned to the top of the mountain with three fantastic remakes and two new entries to bring things back to basics; Alan Wake 2 scared the bejesus out of us while being the most original experiences of the year; Dead Space (2023) made a timeless game even greater. And early reviews suggest Konami’s return to Silent Hill has been well worth the wait.
Still, despite playing almost all of the games listed above, its Alien: Isolation, Creative Assembly’s divisive spin on the genre, that has stuck with me the longest. It recreated the sinking feeling of helplessness better than any other game mentioned, while crafting an experience that plays like nothing else. Playing Isolation some 10 years after its indelible impact was first made, it’s remarkable how well its elements hold up. It balances challenging the player with rigid but mostly fair stealth mechanics without being a frustrating bore to play. Its environments and props still look like scans ripped directly from the sets of the films. And its story is a satisfying interquel that entertains without cheapening the overall franchise.
Perhaps more than anything, Isolation is one of gaming’s truest swings at translating a beloved movie to an entirely new format. While countless other games with Xenomorphs put a pulse rifle in your hands and squad mates by your side, this game strips you of all your power and puts you in the shoes of Ripley. Isolation plays the hits that no other developer bothered to and builds on those in an unforgettable way.
In Alien: Isolation, you play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley seeking closure on the disappearance of her mother 25 years earlier.
Surviving the Alien in Isolation is less about fighting it, and more about engaging in a constant battle of wits and cleverness. You are constantly crafting new ways to keep yourself in tip-top shape and building distractions that even the odds against one of the smartest AI opponents in gaming history. Noisemakers can lure the Alien away when you’re trapped under a table with the hunter just inches away. Smoke bombs and flash bangs can give you just enough coverage when you sneak out of a room or past a doorway. It is as kinetic as a stealth/survival horror game gets, making for some dynamic, cinematic moments that feel like the movie it's based on.
Speaking of the movies, something must be said about how accurately Isolation recreates the fabric of Scott’s original vision of life in space. In the moments between outsmarting the Xenomorph, Amanda Ripley spends significant time exploring Sevastopol Station, meeting the other poor souls trapped in space with the beast. Characters all possess the same blue-collar charm that made the crew of the Nostromo, or more recently the ragtag group of teens in Alien: Romulus, so memorable. It even takes some fun twists on the soul-less corpo trope the franchise is known for.
The Metroidvania formula that the game leans on for progression is also key to making this horror adventure game fun. Discovering new tools helps you uncover more of your environment, providing more options in the field. While the game has its issues with length — at least 18 hours — its pacing is executed extremely well.
Alien Isolation’s primary threat, a single Xenomorph, is one of gaming’s most intimidating AI opponents.
Isolation is a template for how to properly adapt a film oozing with its own tangible character to the medium of games. And it’s far from the only stellar example of this happening. In 2005, Rockstar Games’ masterful beat-em-up spurred new appreciation for Walter Hill’s The Warriors. The 2002 video game adaptation of The Thing retained the tension of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic. And last year’s Robocop: Rogue City from developer Teyon showed similar reverence for Paul Verhoeven’s satirical masterpiece. In December, Indiana Jones is getting a potential second lease on life through Wolfenstein’s Machine Games.
Still, a fawning, careful adaptation is rare. In an era where video games are profitable enough to warrant crossovers with any and every multimillion-dollar IP, Alien: Isolation remains a standout case for why admittedly awesome Fortnite skins or Dead By Daylight’s roster of playable slashers can’t replace to a more considered love letter to source material that has inspired developers for decades. Creative Assembly’s vision is so exceptional, director Fede Alverez cites it as a major inspiration for the most successful film in the franchise in years.
Alien: Isolation is an all-timer video game that pushes the boundaries of its genre in creative ways. But it’s also one of the few modern-day examples of what a great gaming adaptation looks like. If you’re looking for a fun survival horror title to play right now, Alien: Isolation is well worth the time, even ten years later.
