Alien Isolation-worth the money?

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phoenix6153

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So, not a huge horror fan but alien looked super awesome during the quicklook. Is it a lot of jump scare type stuff? Is the atmosphere like bioshock? If so I could get into that

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flaminghobo

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@phoenix6153: It ultimately depends on how much you love the Alien franchise and how patient you are. The game's atmosphere is fantastic and could be described as similar to BioShock but I personally found it to be a chore to play at times. With that said, it's the scariest game I've played this year.

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Ezekiel

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#3  Edited By Ezekiel

I got 70 hours out of it. What kept bringing me back are the atmosphere, almost Metroid-like exploration and combination of scripted and random AI. It does have a few jump scares, but so did the movie. It's not a totally faithful sequel to the movie and it does have some other flaws.

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BeachThunder

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#4  Edited By BeachThunder

All the jump scares.

I preordered the game, but I've just given up on it - I just can't bother putting up with it anymore. Some parts can get extremely frustrating (even on the lowest difficulty). The final straw for me was dying while in the process of saving my game -_-

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ShaggE

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#5  Edited By ShaggE

It's an excellent game that's a few hours too long. I got all I wanted to get out of it and then some, and I don't think I'm anywhere close to the ending.

But hey, that's fine. I'm pretty sure I know where the story goes from there, unless there's some insane twist that the internet has been uncharacteristically quiet about.

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FrostyRyan

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It's a good game. Amazing atmosphere, scary, unscripted moments, nice visuals, but lots of filler and should have been cut in half in length.

If you think you'll like it, chances are you'll like it. It's better than The Evil Within.

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bigmess

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I got it for 25 bucks during a humble store sale and it was definitely worth that much.

I didn't find it too frustrating once you get the hang of dealing with the hostiles. But I died A LOT.

The stealth mechanics were satisfying for me. Those androids were real assholes though. I also made it through the game without killing any humans.

It's tense, but there's not too many jump scares. The only time the game made me audibly yelp was unscripted. It was pretty cool.

I recommend it. I don't think it's gotten the buzz it deserves. I think the manual save system put off a lot of people but if you can handle that, play it.

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Clean

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I absolutely loved it, it was worth the money! It's a really intense terrifying game like man my heart raced through every encounter with the Alien and I really appreciated how the atmosphere nails down the 80's sci-fi look and I was surprised by how the story was really enjoyable playing as Ellen Ripley's daughter.

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KillEm_Dafoe

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If you don't like horror, I would steer clear. I love horror games, though they don't scare me easily, but this one really got under my skin more than a few times. There are a lot of jump scares, but much of the horror comes from the atmosphere and tension. While I wouldn't considering playing the game to necessarily be fun, it is certainly one of the best games I've played this year.

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Ezekiel

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@bigmess said:

I think the manual save system put off a lot of people but if you can handle that, play it.

It would have been much less scary without the save terminals. It's no longer that scary after you realize how many of them there are.

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BeachThunder

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@ezekiel said:

@bigmess said:

I think the manual save system put off a lot of people but if you can handle that, play it.

It would have been much less scary without the save terminals. It's no longer that scary after you realize how many of them there are.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent's save and quit function worked pretty well - it didn't stop it from being scary.

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Ezekiel

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#12  Edited By Ezekiel

I don't remember Amnesia's save system. In a very small way, the Demon's Souls and Alien continue systems implant the fear that the immediate threat of death might. Losing everything is scary. In my first playthrough, there were a few moments which reminded me of how intense Demon's Souls used to occasionally be. Neither game scares me much now, though.

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NTM

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#13  Edited By NTM

Yeah. It's my favorite game of the year. It has the best atmosphere/setting and sound design this year (minus some voice work). It's not real scary, at least to me, and there aren't many jump scares actually; it's more about tension. It's mostly just about being aware of your surroundings through sight and sound. Some people say it's difficult, but it's not. Once you learn how to play it, it's somewhat of a breeze, as long as you don't run through it, because you can't. I suggest saving often. I've never been frustrated by its save system, and I also thought the game used its twenty or so hours of time well, so the thought of "man, is this game almost done? I'm done with it..." never came up. In fact I felt at one point near the end "I hope this isn't the end of it..."

It's not perfect; the story and characters are adequate enough, so you won't be like "wow, this sucked." They're not the best this year though. I would say if you're one to really love a great game setting, get this. I also recommend watching Alien, and even Aliens if you haven't already, before playing this. If you have good headphones or a surround sound, that not only makes the game more immersive and impress with the sound, but it can help you easily locate where the alien is, so you know where to move, when to move so it can easily be avoided. Don't walk or run under vents if it's around, especially when its drool is coming down, and if it knows you're in a vent, vents aren't actually that safe. As for atmosphere like Bioshock, yes and no. It's more like Dead Space. I don't want to sound like a know it all, but I wouldn't mind if you wanted to ask questions about the game.

While the game isn't that scary to me, there is certainly that "Oh fuck, hurry up, it might get me" feeling, though it's not that effective for too long that it would make it draining. It's, really, really great. It's my favorite game based off a film series since Butcher Bay. As for its problems, there are a few, like I mentioned above, some of the voice work isn't great. Also, doors to certain vents sometimes wouldn't open when you walked up to them, because the next room behind it is loading (which I think is the cause), so you'd have to go back and forth until it did, and that was perhaps the only frustrating part to me. Also, while not really a problem, there are some mechanics that are fine, but not really memorable, and kind of unneeded. Crafting is fine, but it's forgettable, and the system on the walls that you can make it so you can fill a room with smoke, and what have you, isn't needed, though it does work. And while the visuals are great, the animations to humans, whether that be facial, or body, isn't that good.

Save after you do big and small stuff. A lot of people's problem is the save system, but that really comes down to user error. It's entirely possible to save enough so you lose little to no progress, which is why it never bothered me. It's ideal not to save when it says there are enemies around, so it'd be best just to hide, unless you don't hear anything, then it may be okay. Crouch throughout a lot of the game, though there are chunks in which you're fine and you can run freely, and though it's less than likely an enemy will find you when you have the tracker out and you're in a locker, it's best to put it away, because one, you'll know where they are if you can hear and see them, and two, they can actually hear the tracker if they're close enough (though I've never been caught using it). So, just pull it up for a second, and then put it away. There are audible cues, so the tracker doesn't need to be out during a lot of the gameplay, so like I said, just as in the lockers, take it out for a second, then put it away.

I didn't use lockers much, especially later in the game. The environment, like hiding under tables, was perfectly fine, and where I would hide most if I needed to. Those, and vents.

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NTM

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@clean: '70s sci-fi look, though close.

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spiceninja

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I'm a pretty big Alien fan and I really loved the game. It's probably my favorite game of the year. It's full of genuine, tense, hiding for dear life horror. It is definitely not a game of jump scares.

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Castiel

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It's great but unless you are a very patient person play the game on normal difficulty. Don't make the same mistake as me and start the game on hard which is the difficulty the game recommends. The first human encounter in the game is probably the most frustrating part of the entire game, and the last 3 hours of the game just drags on for too long, but once you get past that everything is cool between that part and the last couple of hours.

But it's a cool game and it definitely has some of the most tense moments of any game I have ever played.

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Hayt

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I finished the game last night and fucking loved it. I went in expecting Amnesia but got System Shock and couldn't have been happier. It is worth any amount of money they are selling it for.

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#18  Edited By Yummylee

Well, if you're not a horror fan then no, I wouldn't recommend it. It's still a great game all the same, however. Legitimately terrifying and has an incredible atmosphere about it. It's a little more survival horror than it is Amnesia/Slender, which was a surprise. That a game like this managed to get released with its budget is honestly kind of incredible in itself.

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bemusedchunk

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I'm not a fan of survival horror.

I am a fan of alien.

Bought it. Played it. Scared myself crazy. Got confident. Outsmarted the alien.

This was my FIRST EVER survival horror game that I finished.

I highly recommend it.

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Rafaelfc

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I think it's totally worth it. I couldn't put it down after I started it until I beat it.

It is tense as hell!

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Dussck

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@yummylee: It's also one of the best looking games this year.

Anyone know if it sold well?

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deactivated-61665c8292280

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Favorite game of the year. It can be frustrating and tiring, but it's an incredible experience.

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misfittoy

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I'll just reiterate what a lot of others have said. The game is 80% atmosphere and how it makes you 'feel'. It's not really quite in the vein of a horror game. I'd categorize it more as a suspense game. And tension. It has tension for days. No game has put me on edge so consistently for so long. Which loops around to its one flaw - the game is too long to hold that much tension for that long. Sure there are some moments of relief where the alien isn't attacking/hunting you. But you're never really given queues as to when that is so you'll find yourself on edge pretty much the whole game. It can be exhausting but it's glorious at the same time. That said the game is hard to play for any length of time and with it being long on top of that it might take you weeks if not months to completely finish it.

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Fredchuckdave

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#24  Edited By Fredchuckdave

Great game. Horror is a trash genre so if a game/movie is good it'll be good regardless, don't worry about whether you like horror or not.