If you didn't read my half-way review it is here: http://www.giantbomb.com/alien-isolation/3030-44296/forums/my-half-way-review-1497393/#4

I have no idea if I should've made a new forum thread or what so I just went with a blog post.

There will be spoilers, and I'm not going to touch on a lot of what I said in the first review because the majority of it still holds true, I'm mostly going to be touching on things that I feel have changed since I wrote that. I don't want to bore people by writing an essay on how good the sound design is (it's fucking amazing.)

I will also say that I continued by path of playing in short bursts which I felt helped my enjoyment of the game tremendously especially as the game wore on. If I finished it one sitting I would not have as many good things to say about this game because frankly, the pacing in this game didn't start great and completely falls to shit towards the end of the game. While there are still some decent set pieces towards the end of the game, namely you releasing your ship from Sevastopol while you can see Aliens hopping up the framework to encircle you, the majority of the game's end content feels directly opposed to the tension and anxiety that it spent so much time and effort creating in it's early game.

After enough time with the flamethrower the Alien starts to move away from the creeping death it had been at the start of the game and transforms into another obstacle not dissimilar to the humans and androids. I started welcoming it's arrival so I could send a few fiery blasts it's way and be guaranteed 30 seconds of peace while it tucked it's tail between it's legs and ran off to the nearest air vent. The game also broke it's promise to me in regards to the Alien, it sold itself as providing an experience in the spirit of Ridley Scott's movie, but at a point it goes all James Cameron on us without the explanations that Aliens gives us.

I've seen the plotholes for this explained on various forums, how there was a deleted scene in the first Alien that showed how the creature could turn it's victims into eggs. This explanation doesn't work, if we're to take that as fact it throws the plot of the subsequent movies out the window. So am I to believe there was a queen on board? I wouldn't be surprised if the DLC touches on that, if they don't though they're doing themselves a massive disservice as asking the player to accept a parthenogenetic Alien is so far removed from the universe already created that it's borderline insulting.

That's not to say that the plot in this game is great beyond that snafu, it's not, it's just non-existent. The driving force behind Amanda's motivations are dropped for most of the game, which I can understand being that she's being hunted by a monster, but the resolution is so brief and pointless that it probably didn't need to be included. Her being Ellen's daughter really adds nothing to the game except a feeling of "it sucks to be a part of this family." As soon as that resolution is done it's immediately back to the back stabbings from characters you met once and explosions that again would be more suited to James Cameron's vision of the franchise.

That's not to say I gained nothing from the plot of Alien: Isolation. I felt the story of Sevastopol was far more interesting than anything than they had done with their characters. I heard the station referred to as "Space Detroit" and that's an accurate reflection. I genuinely enjoyed running around the game and reading about the financial troubles, the dissolution, and the disarray of what was once a booming economy. It focuses on the expendable nature of blue collar workers when corporations are involved, a theme that the original Alien touches on as well. It was all stuff that felt like it was very much a commentary on society today but it did not feel as heavy handed as we're used to from games. It's the one part of the game's story that I can give a genuine thumbs up too.

Alien: Isolation was supposed to be a game about enduring anxiety, something unconquerable and ceaseless but ends up transforming the player into it's own unstoppable beast, only threatened by cheap deaths (looking at you face hugger on the elevator.)

That's not to say this is a bad game, while it does drag on at the end, and while I personally felt it let go of some of it's core concepts. It's still a game I enjoyed playing through, it is a beautifully crafted game that like most AAA games these days has some short comings that are easy to complain about but don't particularly affect the game's overall ability to be enjoyed.

Finished score: 4/5

I might do Lords of the Fallen next, we'll see how that game goes.