I beat it last night. I chose the hard difficulty because the in game description said something to the effect of "the way it's meant to be played". I rage quit several times but it was impossible to keep away from for very long. I found mission 17 pretty grueling but other than that I really have no complaints about the game being too long. It reminded me of the first Half-Life in its scope like how there is a really long opening sequence before you get in actual danger. Or how you see enemy humans fighting the alien or androids. I did not find the alien attacks as random as some people are complaining. If you don't sprint and look for drooling vents its possible to avoid most sudden attacks.

I don't really think the game is fun so much as it is a completely engrossing experience. You have to accept what you are getting yourself into and meet the challenge.

Yep, I beat it around seven this morning. I loved it. I tried to make a spoiler thread once I finished it, but it didn't load properly so it didn't go up. I was wondering, what are peoples favorite moments or moment? For me, I enjoyed the entire thing actually, but two parts that stick out to me in my mind that I want to mention is the moment that you have to escape and jettison the xeno out of the ship. I loved how the ship was out of control, and you could see the planets and moons, or planet and moons. Then stepping in the shoes of that other character, going to LV-426. There are a lot of great moments to me. I never say this word, but ecstatic is how I feel right now about it. Oh, and yes, I agree, the alien attacks aren't random, you just have to take it slow and listen, as well as at times look at your tracker. I honestly didn't find any of the main problems reviewers talked about to be problems I had with it.

I loved seeing the reactor. How it's in a room so big it has its own weather. The look, sound, and feel of that place was amazing. Then when you were blowing it up after the alien nest and all those synthetics were just chasing you around. At one point I turned around and 10 new ones were entering the area. When the reactor finally started burning the androids i was completely cornered. It was just an amazing perfect moment.

Nope, I've only just hit chapter 6. Been taking my sweet time with it thus far; really want to savour it all, though given that The Evil Within is coming out in a matter of days I'm starting to feel the pressure to get it completed... Not like I haven't divided my attention between multiple games before mind, but two survival horror games?

Also, from what I've played you're right, the alien appearances don't seem nearly as random as I've been lead to believe. So long as you use common sense (like you said, never sprint ever when you know it's around basically) it's not that hard to keep out of its grasp. It's still killed me plenty, but it feels more down to my own mistakes rather than the game fucking you over.

@drbroel: Yep, that's one of the other moments I thought about too. That was great. I was actually expecting to be hunted by that one xeno, and when it was jettisoned off, I thought it would somehow, predictably come back because it had latched on or something, but nope, there were just a bunch of them later, and that individual one did die. This game surprised me in a few ways. It also had way more variety, big and small than I was expecting. I liked learning about the Sevastopol and Seegson, but the story of Amanda going from point A to B was pretty basic stuff. That doesn't bother me much, but just saying. To your point though, I hit that final switch and then heard the Working Joes behind me, so I checked behind and the bunch of them were coming, so I ran to the right, thinking about how I'd take them out, and wondering if I had enough ammo or what have you, but the reactor did the job, which was great.

@yummylee: For what felt like the entire first half of the game (minus the first hour or so), I pretty much crouched the entire time, and throughout the game, I really only sprinted when it wanted me to. It wasn't until the second half that I finally felt safe enough to simply stand and walk, whether the be because of the equipment I had, or because the situation didn't call for me to be as stealthy anymore. You say 'nearly', do you really mean nearly, as if it has at times been cheap, or do you actually mean never? Not sure how people's sound set ups are, but playing with the home theater system, I always knew where the xenomorph was when it was close, and knew when I needed to pay attention to his whereabouts (especially as I tried to read on the computers). I could understand people thinking it's cheap if they can't hear it properly... I don't know.

Wonder for those who have beaten it what was your gameplay time for this game?

@i_stay_puft: I don't know actually. If the time on the save is correct, then it's more than most, and I have no idea how. I did pretty well, so minimal dying, but I did check every area I could and try to read everything. From what I read, 25 plus hours (and this was not even the end), but if that's not correct, I don't know. The game used its time well in my opinion. I also never felt the thing some reviewers said: how it seems it's going to end a few times, and yet it just keeps going. The length was good to me. I just wish I had a real answer for you, as I'd like to know how long it took me too. It's a pretty long game. I played it in three sittings, and as such, it was a game that I couldn't stop playing.

Beat this game on hard also. Think my gameplay was at about 23 hours. Had a much harder time in the beginning than later on. Kinda learned how the alien moves and behaves and so it became a bit easier to move around. Still got the achievement for over 100 alien caused deaths.

Sometimes I think that the game journalists dont like long games because it takes them longer to play through and delays their review of the game. Since playing games is also a job for them it might explain why this seems to be a common complaint for a lot of game journalists. Ordinary gamers on the other hand usually enjoy a longer game since its a hobby and not a job.

Thought that Alien:Isolation was one of the best horror games that I have played. It did get a bit frustrating a times but the athmosphere in the game was like straight out of the first alien movie.

Just reached the credits. I'll probably want to say more in a future blog, but initial feelings after finishing the game are very positive. It definitely felt like one too many things started going wrong for Amanda near the end, but the atmosphere never really let up and the gameplay remained engaging throughout. And the game is simply gorgeous. The art and sound teams really deserve their props for this game. I'm still going to sit on it for a bit before forming my final thoughts, but I think it's pretty safe to say that this is one of the best horror games I've played.

save : 16 h 18 mins on Normal

Amazing game. To the game's credit, even though there's parts I'm not a fan of and the one-hit kill of one particular enemy was aggravating, the game never felt boring but I will admit the game kind of feels long. You're doing a lot of things and then it's like "oh no...Ripley we need you to.." whatever it is and it's like really?

Just finished it an hour ago, loved every second, never ran into any problems with the games length or pacing and I think I like it more that is wasn't afraid to pull things back and give you periods of time without the alien or any real danger just time to explore about, as for best moments going to LV-426 and the hive stood out more than anything, the story was pretty good as well did enough to keep me wanting to see what was next.

with any luck this will maybe turn a page for the franchise, feared the worst after colonial marines, but isolation did everything right.

Finished it last night and I enjoyed the hell out of it, much more than I thought I would.

I also never once felt that the game dragged in anyway, CA did a great job with keeping tension prevalent throughout.

Those last few chapters though...holy fuck

I just finished it also, loved the game but feel a bit dissapointed by the ending. Honestly I would prefer if the game had a single alien in the entire thing. It felt forced to push entire hive on the station. 4 stars for me then.

I just put the final touches on this game and boy. This game man, I thought it was phenomenal. It surely has its fear of issues but as an alien fan I finally feel at peace. It's not going to be mentioned but this is by far one of the best looking and sound next gen games to date. The atmosphere here is seriously second to none. Like many of you said, the reactor core just about made my jaw drop along with the last two parts where you are space walking, especially as the ship is crumbling apart. I'm gonna write a bit more later but I absolutely loved this game.

In my opinion it wasn't as scary as it was intense, especially the last two missions but it certainly did make me tremble a few times. In fact, every time I heard the alien fall from a vent are walk around my heart skipped a beat. Awesome game, time to dig into those pieces of dlc.

Also, moment of the year so far from me: there is a part where you open these shutters and the windows all open and you can see the huge planet searing into the window just as that iconic flute flurry plays from the film. Gave me some genuine chills. They 100% succeeded in putting you into the world of Alien, hats off to SEGA and CA.

I finished it today. It's easily one of the best games I've ever played. The sound design is by far the best I've seen in a video game, the visuals are out of this world (they've nailed the look of the movies: the lighting and the attention to detail are unbelievable, and the alien is intimidating as fuck), and it's relentlessly tense -- partly because of the presentation, but also because you're so vulnerable and because the enemies are so good at spotting you (for instance, unlike in many other stealth games, peeking around a corner is an actual risk as enemies can see your exposed head). It reminds me a bit of the Souls games in that there's nothing that's especially difficult: the game just forces you to be careful, take things slow and pay attention (to what you hear as much as to what you see), and has no qualms about immediately fucking you over if you start being the least bit careless. The AI works so well, too, and makes for some fantastic unscripted moments, like when human enemies attack you and the noise attracts the alien, who drops down out of a vent and takes them out as you're cowering under some table, hoping it won't find you as well. Or when you're sitting in a vent with your motion tracker out, waiting for the xenomorph to leave the area outside so you can exit, and then you hear some loud clanking and suddenly you're being pulled away by the alien, who heard the tracker's beeps and entered the vent to get you.

The only things that hurt the immersion are the cutscenes, the part where you play as the dude finding the alien ship (the part itself is good, it's just jarring to suddenly be pulled out of Amanda's perspective) and the HUD (it's minimal but never completely fades away). They should've gone with Dead Space's no-HUD, no cutscene approach.

Aside from that I can't really think of any complaints. It's a masterpiece.

I'm on board with most people here, they did a wonderful job, it is like they copy and pasted the movies into a game engine, they captured them flawlessly and it looks amazing, all of it looks amazing, the lighting is great too, I would spend so long just looking out the windows at the planets and sun. The audio is great, playing it with headphones was a must.
The character of Amanda was really well done, certainty fitting to be called a Ripley, the voice actress did a really good job capturing fear and strength at the same time, very well written.
As everybody is saying, the reactor room was just so cool, the ship is basically run on an infinite thunder storm, how cool is that? That's so damn cool! The stealth was done masterfully, finally a game where the enemies see you when they actually would see you and don't just have a convenient 10 foot vision cone only.
I mean, I'm not saying anything anyone else hasn't so I'll try to keep it short, but it is my favorite game of the year that is for sure, haven't had this much fun with a game in a looooong time.

However, with that praise out of the way, the ending was a bit of a let down for me. I just wanted something more... conclusive. I mean, the obviously cliff hanger, will be continued ending is cool in that there is most likely going to be another game, which is awesome, but I just like an actual ending to a story, not just to be continued.
But that in no way took away from the rest of the game. Also like a true survival horror game player I ended it with WAY to many unused supplies because "oh god, what if I need it for later?"

It's a gorgeous, tense game, but I definitely had some issues with it nonetheless. I really hated how over-the-top it was with everything breaking down and objectives constantly having you do a thing to do a thing to do a thing to do a thing. There were a few instances where it really didn't explain what the hell I was supposed to do, leading to some frustration. I had a few occasions of people seeing me out of nowhere and messing everything up. The spacewalk sections were striking visually but SO DAMN LONG AND BORING. And, of course, the ending is a load of shit, one of the laziest I've seen in quite some time. There were also a few performance issues (cutscenes on PS4, in particular) and I thought the voice acting, particularly from Ripley, was pretty terrible.

In the end, I probably came down on the middle of the grading scale for it. It's very unique and I played it for about eight hours straight last night, which speaks to its enjoyable nature, but it still has some noticeable problems. Anyone who isn't patient or forgiving of some harsh stealth design is going to HATE it, that's for sure.

I'm just going to assume that anyone reading this is prepared for spoilers.

I just finished it. I enjoyed it but had a lot of problems, too. I'm in the "it's too long" camp, even though I'll admit that I don't think it took me as long as it did most reviewers. I don't know how to see total play time so I can't say exactly how long it took me.

The reason I thought it was too long was because the gameplay itself doesn't really vary that much. You're pretty much always sneaking around to find some switch or terminal or keycard to open up a locked door that you saw at the beginning of the area. The story isn't particularly engaging either. I didn't think there were any super developed characters. A bad thing happened and everyone responded to it. It was cool, but nothing special. By the end of the game I was kind of forcing myself through it so that I could be done and move on to something else. The last few chapters were very intense, though. But by then I had lost most of my respect/fear for the alien because I realized that every time it showed up I could just pop some flames at it.

Also, facehuggers are a cool inclusion but horrible to deal with in this game's systems. You usually only have a second or two to react to hearing one and the game just isn't made for twitch aiming. One in particularly killed me about 5 times in a row. I'll admit it was partly my fault because I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but the bottom line is that I just was not having fun.

I have to agree with the common sentiment that it was a great ride that went on for too long. Spending so many hours in the same overly-tense loop makes it lose its novelty. It started feeling more and more mechanical as the game went on.

I'm not usually a huge stealth fan, especially first person stealth. Maybe that's why I'm not as high on it as some other people. I just felt like I got spotted too often, and that the game poorly communicated when I was and wasn't visible.

All in all, I'm glad I played it. I love horror and this was a great week for it.

I just finished it, loved it. Managed to get the no death and kill no humans trophies too, though I did only play through on normal.

I'm slightly bummed that there are trophies tied to collectables like I.D tags and the Nostromo logs (especially after the story relevant one is a bust, but there's 10 more apparently?). I like that when I was spotted it was because they could clearly see me, going under tables didn't make me invisible and just peeking out to the side of a box didn't mean they couldn't spot me.

The music was great, although it bugged me in mission 17 (I think) where you're in the crew lounge area with all of the air hockey tables, I was busy trying to listen to where the alien was after turning on the generator but the music just kept going and going and was so loud I couldn't hear its footsteps.

I had a pretty big bug in mission 16 too, just at the end when you've passed all of the security team after communicating with your ship I got to the elevator and that was the end of the mission. Only it didn't trigger, and wanted me to go back to comms. I went back, the trophy triggered but the game was bugged, there was no sound and everyone in the level was frozen. I walked around for a bit but then quit out and loaded again, did this 5 or 6 times before it updated my objective. And as much as I loved the mission on LV-426, but it really pulled me out of it once I saw the guys arm had no collision and you could just jam it through peoples backs.

All in all it took me a while to finish, because real life things were stressing me out too much to go through the game, but it's possibly my favourite game this year, it's definitely the best looking and sounding one I've played. I really hope there is a sequel and I hope they don't make it a Dead Space 2 or Aliens type of action game instead of stealth.

Playing it shot my nerves to pieces and tested my patience to the maximum but finishing it felt satisfying... When I got to the end, I felt both accomplishment and a degree of relief that the ordeal was over.

Isolation is astonishingly true to the atmosphere and ambiance of the 1979 Alien film. In fact, I don't think you could make a better video game experience that stays true to the feelings of dread and being hunted that the original Ridley Scott film evoked. The attention to detail borders on reverential and being a huge fan of Ridley Scott's films of that era I absolutely appreciated the constant stream of little details that call back to them (for instance Blade Runner's spinners had the message 'ENVIRON CTR PURGE 24556 DR 5') on their monitors and the same screen makes a couple of appearances in Isolation).

It feels (perhaps) a little long but this is my only major criticism. Otherwise, this is a quite unique game experience that is very compelling once you progress far enough into it (after 3-4 hours). It doesn't have the stickyness of a truly great game and there are some moments that feel unreasonably frustrating. The Alien appears too frequently to sustain feelings of horror but there is never a time when threat can be taken lightly. You are always being hunted. There could have been a little bit more in the way of NPC development, but really these are minor quibbles. Alien: Isolation should be celebrated as a genuine achievement, albeit a slightly flawed one.

While it isn't the best game I've played this year, it is one of the stand out unique experiences I've had.

The ending was VERY weak. It's so clearly baiting a sequel that I just can't help but shake my head in disappointment. It's very ambiguous too, something I also really dislike about endings. I also hate how EVERYONE - and I mean absolutely EVERYONE - you try to save in the game dies. Even the crew of the Torrens dies... Just... Damn, what a downer.

That being said, the game was VERY good outside of that. The first third or so I felt was definitely the weakest part, but the moment you pick up the flamethrower and can actually combat the alien to some degree, it becomes SIGNIFICANTLY better. Hell, it's not even a horror game at that point, but more of an action-thriller. Missions 9 and 10, when you're baiting the alien into traps has to be the most fun I have had in a LONG time in a video game, those were seriously some FANTASTIC missions. Also, I like how the game kinda follows the movies, in that it starts off with just one Alien, as in the first movie, and then when you become a bad ass with the flamethrower and all your guns, it introduces MULTIPLE Aliens, like the second movie.

Seriously though, I can't stress enough how much significantly better this game is once you get the flamethrower. It's as if something just clicked with me once I got it. I was playing the game more out of obligation prior to that, since I purchased a 50 dollar game and I wanted my money's worth, and then BAM. It's suddenly significantly more fun and thrilling, since encountering the alien isn't just a dumb one-hit death, but more of an intense stand off. Having to conserve your incredibly limited flamethrower ammo, and knowing when to fight or hide the alien is just SO much fun.

Edit: for the record, I have 15 hours played on Normal, according to Steam.

I just finished this last night. I thought it was a solid game(8/10). The art design and sound team should win an award. I think the the game is certainly a tad too long. But, I circumvented slogging through by playing the game over the course of a month. It certainly prevented the game becoming a chore. If you only play a chapter a night the game never seemed to overstay its welcome. I can't imagine marathoning this game at all(which is why I feel some reviewers had problems with it).

The game in its earlier parts really does give a real sense of dread/fear. But, after you settle in that gets replaced with occasional moments of tension.

I grabbed pretty much all the collectibles(I missed one archive log 149?). I found the archive logs to give some interesting context on occasion. The Nostromo Logs/ID tags ended up being pretty much pointless.

I found the crafting and inventory system to be largely extraneous. I rarely used any of my items. They became even more irrelevant when you get the flamethrower. Since I was always looking out for collectibles, I always had supplies.

I got the vast majority of the trophies(I think I am missing 4?). However, I do not feel like getting the platinum. The game doesn't make me want to replay it again. After putting in about 25 hours, I think the game is too draining for another round. I felt I got all I wanted out of the game once I finished.

Also, I kinda felt the ending was kinda stupid:

I'm with the game trying to make the Alien more or less invincible. But, I think it went a bit too far times. It kinda defied the established canon from the films on a couple of occasions. I can get with the fact that your firearms have no effect as a game conceit.

But, the ending where you are on the space walk and you detonate the umbilical to the Torrens: that kinda broke it for me a bit. The aliens can now survive the vacuum of space? How were they not getting sucked off the umbilical?

Not to mention, how did an alien even get on the Torrens?

Anyways, that didn't ruin the game for me by any stretch. I just thought it was kinda goofy.

Beat the game on Hard because my brother started it on Hard for whatever reason. Very solid game and definitely an interesting addition to the franchise, amazing ending (Arkham City caliber). The problem with the game aside from being way more difficult at the beginning than at the end is that once you die the game becomes a bit of a chore, you already know what's going to happen it's just a matter of whether you get one hit killed on the way to your objective or not. However if you go hours and hours without dying it stays really tense and suspenseful the whole time. Game is really long which I like, you're never quite sure when it's going to end and it avoids most of the predictable pacing issues that almost every horror game has. They mixed AI scripting with AI routines which I thought was interesting, certainly makes the Alien a more challenging opponent than if it were all scripted or all routine. I like the gadgets in the game even if I didn't always use them; was really interesting figuring out what exactly they were useful for. Maybe the 5th best game I've played this year or thereabouts.

It could just be me but I don't really get scared by this sort of thing so it's just a matter of whether I find it "suspenseful" enough as it were and most of the time it was; certainly things I could predict along the way but not everything was rote. The most frightening moment was when an Android did not follow me directly and instead went around a totally different direction, who knew they could do that? Apparently not the game as it never happened again.

There's definitely sections of the game that will make you groan though, having to walk down the same corridor 4 times in quick succession for example.

@goldone: Did you actually beat the game without dying or save scum or something? Just curious if it's worth trying. Granted playing on Hard almost everything spots you instantly so could be an entirely different experience.

It's probably my game of this year. Also played it on Hard and it was very challenging, the suspense was always there. I felt very much like someone from the (old) movies. Loved the graphics, design and gameplay.

Although I must say the later parts (where the game becomes a bit more lineair and scripted) were not that much fun anymore in terms of gameplay. Sometimes I had to retry a part for 5 to 10 times to become lucky with the Alien's pattern.

@brad should really get back to this game... Not sure if the pm got to him sife this is on my phone but he REALLY should keep playing this game!

Glad to see people are still playig it and enjoying it

I'm playing it for the third time. I like this kind of exploration, as well as the look of it, the sound and the random AI. The story keeps me motivated enough. Before I mastered sneaking, there were a few moments which reminded me of how tense Demon's and Dark Souls used to be. A lot of that has to do with the save system.

A few minor complaints:

• There's too much of the alien, which takes away from the suspense. It's kind of silly how sometimes you take a tram or an elevator away from the alien and then it's there when you get off. I would prefer a smaller, more compressed space station for an alien that moves around the environments more realistically. There's a lot of wasted space for a space station, if you look at all the wall between the rooms on maps. Those moments when the alien would randomly show up would be scarier then. It could also be alerted by some of the loud machines you have to activate to progress.
• I loved the dread as Ripley was picked up into the air shaft, but why was she the only person in the Alien series who managed to break herself out of a cocoon. If she had some kind of tool in her hand which helped her it wouldn't be so crazy.
• Also, sneaking around the alien is too easy. I like that I don't have to crouch most of the time, but there are moments where the alien should be able to see me. And there are too many lockers to hide in.

I want a sequel. But if they're going to make a sequel, I hope they don't try to make it so much like the first Alien again. The series should feel like a sequel with its own identity. I want to see more of the civilization on the derelict. Or, it would be cool if there were other organisms, like pets, for the facehuggers to impregnate and the babies to replicate. The humanoid alien should still be there. It earned its place as the star of the series. But I want a new enemy too. The androids should return, I think. You should be able to melt them and blow off parts of them. I want mutilated androids to crawl towards me with distorted voices. The sequel would obviously star Amanda again, so I won't get into that.

Just beat the game on hard as well. Got through it tonight after taking some time away and maybe this is why I don't have as favorable opinion on it. The last 2-3 hours of the game just felt like a big chore. A lot of going back and forth to hit switches and fending off alien attacks. I know there were multiple aliens at points but I think the game may of glitched at one point... I'm not sure because I had two aliens hunting me in one room which was the only time that ever happened.

And perhaps the thing that got the biggest grown out of me was when you go around this entire room because all the doors are locked so you can unlock another door on the other end of the structure. You do that and go back to the door you just unlocked to have a power failure happen which makes you go all the way back around to the other end again to turn the power back on so you can go all the way around once more to go through the door. So you go around this room 4 times to hit 3 switches to get through one door all while being hunted by the alien. That pretty much describes the back end of the game.

Also, it felt like the last few chapters kept dragging on. I was sure the game was over and yet it just kept going. And then the ending, while I like the somewhat ambiguous and depressing endings like the next person, felt rather unsatisfying.

The game was enjoyable overall and I thought about playing through it again up until those last bits. I got my fill. I will say the bolt gun is so much fun to use... loved blasting synthetics in the head with it.

edit: Oh, and one more thing... I really rolled my eyes when the game takes all of your weapons away. That's fine, it had a reason to. But about an hour later you walk up to a random ladder and literally all of your guns are resting neatly against the ladder for you to pick back up. No reason at all. I guess the devs knew you needed your guns back but didn't have a good reason to give them to you.

Bought this game day one and finally just finished it tonight. On hard mode, since I realized I probably wouldn't play the whole thing again. I got a new job and work nights now, so I've only had about one night a week to play this game for the past month or so. I refused to play this game during the day.

Anyway, it felt good to finally finish it. Its absurd length was somewhat offset by the fact that most my sessions with it were spaced far apart, and that I immensely enjoyed my time with it. The last act does really drag and feel padded out, but it's still really intense. The last mission was rotten with cheap, unavoidable deaths, though. It got old quickly. The ending was a bit of a downer, though I'm assuming the very last shot indicates a ship is coming to find Ripley? I feel like this will be expanded upon with DLC rather than a full sequel.

I loved the hell out of this game, though. Definitely one of my favorites this year. The presentation and production values are second to none. The set-pieces were some of the most intense I've experienced in a game in years. The visuals were jaw-dropping in spots. The reactor level, the outside sequences, any time you saw the exterior of the ship and the planet...all incredible. The interior of the space station is so beautifully detailed, too. From beginning to end, I was regularly stopping at points and admiring just how damn good the game looked, both technically and artistically.

I could go on and on about this game, but I may do some kind of proper write-up on it for my GOTY list.