In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream – Alien: Isolation Review

After so many forgettable and atrocious adaptations of such an iconic franchise, Alien: Isolation lands itself in a difficult position. After the bitter taste left by Colonial Marines, faith in the series is at an all-time low. Will developer Creative Assembly finally bring us something that can live up to the name, Alien?

The Alien series needs no introduction if you are of a certain age; it’s 80s Sci-Fi horror at its best (OK, fine, late 70s). An iconic film with an unforgettable introduction to one of popular culture’s most horrifying xenomorph. In a world built from tape decks, CRT monitors and dimly-lit spaceships, it was a long distant future with its grounds firmly planted in then-modern tech.

Alien: Isolation is not a game that is set out to reinvent the past; it does quite the opposite. Instead of shunning old, clapped out, bulky hardware – it embraced it, gave it a home, then did everything it could to destroy it. There are no fancy flatscreens here, holographic displays, streamlined and aerodynamic ships, lasers or shields; this is hardcore space exploration on the backs of hard labour, ignorance and 80s style capitalism.

While Isolation is not a reinvention of the past, it does bring us something new: A story arc based around Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda. It is some 15 years after the disappearance of the Nostromo, and the past rears its ugly head as the ship’s flight recorder is found. It’s collected at the now dilapidated trading station, Sevastopol. Amanda sets course for the station to finally find out what happened to her mother. As one can imagine, things don’t go quite so smoothly.

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