Alien: Isolation (PC) - Part 2

Click this link if you want to return to where this all began: Part one.

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So here I am, still stuck outside a room full of looters who immediately open fire at the sight of me, finding it very difficult to avoid being seen. But that's okay, because I'm all out of patience with these fuckers now. I want them to see me, I want to lure them out into this corridor one by one and beat them with my space-wrench, until they're left bleeding out on the floor of this cold metal space station, orbiting an alien world 200 trillion miles from anyone who ever loved them.

I don't know, maybe it's time I walk away for a bit and take a break.


LATER.

After the next death I paused it here for a few minutes and went checking the internet for walkthroughs and opinions about this level.

I skipped past all the guides on how to get past it, I don't really want advice, I just wanted to know if people consider this to be an unusually tough part of the game. Thankfully others seemed to have struggled here as well, which gives me a little hope that it'll be smoother sailing after this. I can summon the willpower to stick with it through a difficulty spike as long as I know it'll be over soon and I'm not secretly climbing Difficulty Mountain.



A FEW MORE TRIES LATER.

Looters dead. Woman who called them here dead. Broke all their heads. My room now.

I figured out a trick to get through it in the end, but I'm sure it's not a technique anyone reading will be impressed by: I put a movie podcast on to listen to. Sure hearing three people joking about bad movies is taking the edge off the atmosphere a little and I admit it's making it harder to hear footsteps, but it's cheered me up and I don't feel like I'm wasting my time so much repeating the same bit of game over and over when I've something else to focus on.

Huh? There's only three bodies down there, but I'm sure I had to fight four of them just then. The biggest mystery though is why I can't collect their pistols. I can search the bodies for junk just fine, but not take the weapons lying right there on the floor. Anyway I'd better turn this flashlight off now. The thing runs on non-rechargable batteries so I can only switch it on when I absolutely need it.

Right, now that the looter problem is resolved I need to:

1. Find this data cell for the security access tuner.
2. Use it to get the locked door open.
3. Get to the comms room to contact my ship.
4. Get chased around a bit by an alien.

SOON.

Well it's not a data cell, but knowing this game I'm bound to find a door that needs to be shot open. What's weird is that when I hit the reload button, she only puts a single bullet in. Best guess: she wants to play Russian roulette. Can't think of any other explanation.

Oh speaking of door locks, I've found a keycard as well and it looks a whole lot like the card I use for the save phones. I'm wondering if I can use that instead and load up some other poor survivor's save game, play as Doomed Bob for a bit. I like how they put it under the gun by the way, as it means I'm forced to pick up a firearm to proceed but it doesn't feel forced.


SOON.

Oh speaking of door locks, I've found the data cell at last, and now I can use this hacking minigame to unlock security doors! All I have to do is hit the three shapes in order, with the catch being that the game doesn't pause while I'm doing it. There could be an alien behind me RIGHT NOW!

It's funny how quiet this has gotten since the stealth room though. There's no one around at all in this part of the station, even when the music's trying to tell me that there is. It gets very intense at times, like it's screaming at me to turn around or run, but it seems that the game's just screwing with my head.

I'm immune to being scared right now though, after running 20 laps of these hallways looking for the right computer to interact with. I just want to deactivate the security lockdown and leave!


BUT THEN...

HOLY SHIT there it is... I've found the fucking computer at last! With this I can open up the path to the comm room and send this message out already.

Also the alien has finally made his presence known. Well I saw his tail erupted out of a survivor's chest earlier, but I'm not counting a tail as a proper sighting. I'm reasonably certain I could even go over and pick a fight with him, but... nah.

I already know that the xenomorph is invulnerable and instant death if he catches sight of me, so I waited a few seconds for him to go away, then followed him out to find my way back to the security barrier I just unlocked. Then a door to my left automatically opened up and scared the shit out of me, so points to Alien: Isolation there. Though I would've been more impressed if a cat had jumped out as well, to be truly faithful to the movie.

Hang on, I've just met the alien. That means I finally get to put together my slightly less than exhaustive 'Time to Xenomorph' chart!


It doesn't have all the Alien games on it, but I think I've got most of them on there. What, you guys don't make charts when you need a break from creeping around in the dark looking for a security computer?

What's interesting here for me isn't that 90s console and arcade games didn't make players wait an hour for their first xenomorph fight, that much is fairly obvious, but that Alien: Isolation may be the only game in the last twenty years to be directly inspired by the movie 'Alien' instead of one of the sequels. Amanda Ripley herself was introduced in the 'Aliens' Special Edition, but there's no one here yelling about bug hunts, shooting pulse rifles or driving APCs, and that's not actually such a bad thing. It at least gives me hope that no one's going to say "Oorah to ashes" again.


LATER, AFTER HACKING THE LOCKED DOOR.

It seems that to get into the comm room I first have to get past these Working Joe synthetics patrolling the corridors. Fortunately that's turning out to be surprisingly easy as the creepy mannequin men are happy enough to leave me alone for now.

I know they're going to turn on me though. I've played Condemned, I know what mannequins are like.

Oh, it seems I've ran into a stylish security camera/projector combo and I get the impression that the Working Joes wandering the halls will react aggressively if I walk in front of it to get through that door. You see, there's been some trouble with the Apollo mainframe that's apparently set the things to 'evil', so getting through to restricted areas could be a problem.

Oh, actually it wasn't a problem at all. I just walked around to this computer terminal and turned the camera off.

This is a rewire system control and it acts a bit like the security panels in the Deus Ex games, except it lets me turn on lights and fog up corridors instead of turning the turrets against my foes to cut them all down in a terrible hail of automated gunfire. Doesn't seem quite so impressive, but I do like its beepy startup jingle and the ZX Spectrum/C64 looking loading lines around the border as it boots up. I'm supposed to find the delay unbearably tense, but if they wanted me to feel true terror they should've played the Speccy's loading screech instead (YouTube link). Even the xenomorph would say 'fuck that' and go running for a vent if he heard that playing from down the corridor.


SOON.

Okay, I'm really close to the communications room now, but there's Working Joes patrolling all over the place. Presumably. I'm not going to stick my head over there and count them.

But fortune has smiled upon me as I've found a motion tracker and I'm standing close to a save phone. I usually ignore the motion tracker in Alien games, but this one points me towards my next objective and I really need that feature in this place. There's more than enough robots standing between me and my destination on the direct path, I don't need to drag this out longer by zig-zagging everywhere else as well.

Not that I'll have to sneak the whole way, as I've just spotted a convenient sliding trapdoor that'll take me below the floor.

The motion tracker doesn't work in enclosed spaces! It's like the soliton radar in Metal Gear Solid all over again. Never mind, I know where to go now and it's not like I'm going to be bumping into any synthetics down here. The perfect biological killing machine maybe, but not robots.

You know, I've just remembered reading somewhere that the alien can hear this thing beeping, so I'm going to put it away now. I'll file it away in the same mental locker as my flashlight, only to be used when absolutely necessary. Apparently PlayStation 4 users actually get to use it as flashlight as well, as it emits a green glow from the controller's lightbar when in use. Which sounds cool.

Damn... that is an amazing view. Shame there's a maniac mannequin standing in front of me so I can't walk around and have a look. Wish I could just club him over the head and hide the body, but the game frowns upon violence, so I suppose I'll try to slip behind him when he turns around.

It seems like I can get quite close to enemies as long as I creep, though I don't know how slow I have to walk to be silent and I don't know if light is a factor. I'm really not sure what I can get away with here, so I'm being as cautious as I can.


A HALLWAY LATER.

Man he whipped around and choke-slammed me so fast just then. Come on, I'm tapping the button to fight him off! I'm tapping the shit out of this button. And... it didn't work. Back to the last save phone.

Did I mention that I really suck at stealth games? I'm not so bad when I'm stalking enemies, taking them down one at a time, but I don't really have the patience for ghosting a level and I really don't have the patience for hiding. I know it's supposed to be a scary horror game, but I kind of wish that the fail state for sneaking wasn't so harsh, especially considering I'm carrying a gun here. Wait... I'm carrying a gun!

Ah, I can just shoot them with my revolver, with three or four shots deactivating them permanently. I know that it's a bad idea to be making loud noises when an xenomorph's around, but on the other hand I want these bloody robots to stop choking me so I'll just have to make the hard choice and see if I can get away with it.


LATER.

I've finally gotten past the robots, found the communications console, and now I can send a message out to my ship... just as soon as I've played a few minigames to get the thing working. To be fair these things are about as complicated as a WarioWare game, but I don't get why I have to do three of them. Also I probably shouldn't be messing with the inertial dampeners when I'm trying to fix the radio.


ONE CHAT LATER.

Well that didn't entirely go as planned, but a conversation was had so I'm calling it a win. The trouble is that this is a dead end, so now I have to go out the way I came in: all the way back down the mannequin corridors, across the command center with the giant windows, past the security camera room, and then through the locked door room where the human looters gave me so much trouble.

Oh and the alarm's just gone off, giving every Average Joe in the area a good reason to come over and choke the life out of me. I think... I'm going to check the map for another way out of this room.


A FEW CORRIDORS LATER.

Aha! You're not getting me that easily mate. I know a trail of drool coming from the ceiling vents is never a good sign.

This might actually be my first unscripted encounter with the alien... or it might be a leaky pipe. He's not coming down and I'm not going under it, so I suppose I'll never know for sure. Well, see ya then xenomorph, hope you choke on a Working Joe. There's a phone just down this hallway and I'm saving my game so many times.


SOON.

Okay, I've only got this one map to cover before I'm out of Working Joe territory and I'm already halfway through it. I'm just having a little bit of trouble slipping by the occupants. There's plenty of side rooms for me to duck in and out of, but they've got big windows down the side of them and it turns out that I'm really bad at keeping track of where their glowing robot eyes are looking.

I'm the white CD with the arrow sticking out of it by the way. I came from Comms control access and I need to get down to reception without accidentally creeping around in a loop again.

Crap, I'm back in this room! I keep ending up creeping in circles because of the way this level's designed. Well, more like sprinting now, seeing as that guy over there has spotted me. Now his two friends are going to join in again, and we'll continue running around until one slips away from the pack and cuts me off on the other side of a console. Again. They're not bright enough to do it deliberately, but if I'm running laps eventually the straggler is going to calculate a different path to the others and then I'll be choked right back to the phone.

The last phone isn't actually that far back, this isn't a '15 minutes since saving' situation, but I'd much prefer to be at another phone somewhere further along the level.


SEVERAL HORRIFIC BREACHES OF ASIMOV'S FIRST LAW OF ROBOTICS LATER.

Okay, I've finally made it a little further on this attempt. Maybe even 10 meters!

I'm in kind of an awkward situation though, as there's a Joe behind the boxes to the right, and another one coming out of the darkness to the left. I could be hidden right now, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure if I use the lean button to poke my head out to take a look one of them's going to catch me. It wouldn't be the first time.

I don't know, maybe I can use the motion tracker, if the thing doesn't end up drawing them over to me with its beeping. What have I got in my inventory... a noise maker, an EMP? Maybe there's a rewire system around?

Oh shit, he's seen me. New plan: run for it!

I can't believe I made it! They beat the crap out of me along the way, but I got out of there with the tiniest sliver of health left in the tank and there's no way they're following me through a loading transition. This is still set to the notch below recommended difficulty by the way.

I'm vulnerable here for sure, but there'll be no Working Joes around at least. Plus I already killed off the looters in the area so I won't have to worry about them either. I was expecting the game to give me a reason to regret killing humans, but now it's seeming like smart forward planning. Okay just a couple more corridors and I'll be back at the save phone.

Oh for fuck's sake!

Well I was wrong about the Working Joes. Turns out there was one lying on the floor in the dark waiting to instant-kill me. The game doesn't auto-save on loading transitions.

Yeah, fuck trying to get up to the xenomorph bit, I'm turning this off right now. Then I'm uninstalling it and setting my hard drive on fire. It's the only way to be sure.


A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER.

Okay, I started a new game from the beginning on Novice difficulty, because I couldn't just give up on it before properly playing hide and seek with the alien!

So here he is in the flesh, stomping around the level being all unkillable, unpredictable, unstoppable, and generally behaving nothing like the xenomorphs in Colonial Marines. Thankfully he turned right instead of left when he exited the room or else this would've been an instant game over here. He'll walk into a place and then get bored before properly looking around, which I guess I have Novice level to thank for. Funny thing though, I haven't found this any less tense at all on the lower difficulty, even though I've avoided being caught entirely this far. I've slipped past the humans, robots and even the alien without issue every single time and I just know that next time will be the one he finally gets me.

When I heard the game was about hiding from the alien, I just assumed that he'd pop out of the ceiling occasionally, take a look around, and then go somewhere else for a few minutes, but he is all over this bloody level. I wait for him to leave, creep down the hallway, check my motion tracker to figure out where I'm meant to be going in this place and there's that green dot again! Makes me wish I was still listening to a podcast, but that'd be a bloody stupid thing to do when trying to evade a creature I can't see most of the time. I have to listen out for doors being opened, banging in the vents, stompy footsteps outside, and then when he gets too close I hide... and wait.

Maybe I'll get a magazine to read.


CONCLUSION

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In space, everyone needs to order more of part B-015JC9X5 TRK-266. That's the main thing I've learned from playing this. There's little handwritten post-it reminders to get this component stuck to everything, everywhere, and I get the feeling that maybe things wouldn't have gone so bad on Sevastopol Station if they'd just had more of them in stock.

Alien: Isolation's visuals are pretty much incredible, that much is plainly obvious from the screenshots, and the sound's just as good at setting up the mood and amplifying your unease. The absurdly atmospheric haunted house is half the appeal of the game, and if you play it anything like I did, you're going to have plenty of opportunities to creep back and forth through those meticulously crafted rooms over and over and over again. It's not a game most will be making steady progress in, and I've heard that can make it a very long experience on a first playthrough, especially as you'll be sneaking around all the time.

The designers have made terrifying players their main priority, with every other aspect of the game secondary to that goal, and that means that it's not a comfortable ride. Interacting with things means playing a short minigame or following on-screen instructions, because this leaves players vulnerable. Working Joes can be shoved away, but fighting them rarely works out because it's scarier to be helpless. You have to creep everywhere incredibly slowly to avoid making your presence known. And that phone save system means that the further you get, the more you'll have to replay if you're caught, raising the stakes.

This means that the game asks for more patience than a lot of modern games, and if you're not able to roll with it you'll end up more frustrated than tense. I mean you're going to end up frustrated either way, but if playing long games of cat and mouse with a perfect killing machine doesn't appeal to you, if you don't want to be scared, not even Novice mode is going to give you a fun experience here. You can grit your teeth and push on through each challenge, but it doesn't seem to me like there's anything to look forward on the other side but more hallways and more sneaking.

But if you love survival horror, if you're craving a proper stealth experience, if you think games have gotten too easy, and you want a good long nightmare to endure, this one seems like it's custom engineered just for you! Plenty of suffering to make your eventual victory sweeter. Just make sure you've got a good pair of headphones on, the light turned off, and perhaps consider saving Hard mode for the second playthrough.

Though as I said at the beginning, I'm not generally a fan of the stealth or survival horror genres and I'm also totally biased, so it's probably best to ignore everything you just read.

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Can't say much else, used too many words already, leave a comment if you like leaving comments.