xrnzaaas
Member
Too much time hiding.
I'm excited and since it seems to be still in early development I won't be in any rush to replay the first game.
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Alien Isolation 2 | Summer Game Fest Trailer
- Thread starter KyoZz
- Start date
I'm excited and since it seems to be still in early development I won't be in any rush to replay the first game.
Vaga
Member
Varteras
Member
Hadoukens
Member
The length of part 1 was perfectly fine. It was the magnum opus Alien game and it came out in 2014 and not only was the original team disbanded but a sequel was never happening until now.
It also had plenty of variety from beginning to end and none of the mission objectives felt forced or out of place for padding. If it isn't your cup of tea, fine whatever. But part 1 doesn't feel padded at all to me, everything made sense within the confines of the story and let you settle into each objective without feeling rushed so you can soak in the atmosphere of the Sevastopol.
I also loved how it switched the pacing by having the Alien around for some sections, and then not having it around in other sections to give you some much needed breathing space.
It also still looks phenomenal in 2026 on PC and runs like a dream, and that shit came out in 2014.
It also had plenty of variety from beginning to end and none of the mission objectives felt forced or out of place for padding. If it isn't your cup of tea, fine whatever. But part 1 doesn't feel padded at all to me, everything made sense within the confines of the story and let you settle into each objective without feeling rushed so you can soak in the atmosphere of the Sevastopol.
I also loved how it switched the pacing by having the Alien around for some sections, and then not having it around in other sections to give you some much needed breathing space.
It also still looks phenomenal in 2026 on PC and runs like a dream, and that shit came out in 2014.
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
Watching a Let's Play of it, it seemed wildly repetetive. Go to this area, unlock. Go to the next area unlock. It lives on the suspense, but the rest of the gameplay design lacks variety.
Hadoukens
Member
Tons of games seems shit when you're watching a stream or video and not playing it.
Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, Sekiro, Alien Isolation, Far Cry games, Resident Evil, etc. Pretty much anything honestly. Watching someone else play things makes it all look pointless and going from point A to B. Games are meant to be played, not watched, unless you've already beaten them and are just watching vicariously.
I like watching \streams and videos but I always know something is going to be very different feeling depending on if I'm watching or playing.
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rsouzadk
Member
The first game was one of the greatest experiences any Alien fan could have hoped for. I still remember how excited and happy I was when I played it for the first time. And the DLCs made it even better, allowing us to step into some of the most memorable moments from the movies. This is without a doubt a day-one purchase for me.
forsakkenSoul
Member
Polaris
Member
There's nothing more boring than watching someone else play a game you could be playing yourself.
Nocty
Currently Steaming
lil bro what is wrong with you
Badly designed?? it's one of the best games of that gen, but each to their own I guess
I'd love to see what games you consider well designed
Hadoukens
Member
You probably already know this but there is a mod for some kind of vr glasses support on pc for part 1
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Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
I watched a Let's Play of TLoU1 and enjoyed it greatly. Tried to play it and got bored out of my mind from the shallow mechanics and puzzles.
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Minsc
Gold Member
Yeah, that's pretty neat, and I could barely make it through Village in VR, I know there's no way I'd be able to do this game. So I've never taken to trying out the mod. But if it had support on the PS5 from the main game, even knowing I'm too scared to play it that way, I could probably check it out for 10 minutes before I nope out, haha.
Polaris
Member
Heimdall_Xtreme
Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
Great work by SEGA. It blends horror, atmosphere, retro technology in a futuristic world, oppression, and nods to the movies.
I played the DLC with Ripley, and you feel like you're inside the film.
And the idiots at IGN gave it 5 score.
kevboard
Member
lil bro what is wrong with you
Badly designed?? it's one of the best games of that gen, but each to their own I guess
lol. one of the best games, and it's just a standard hyper basic stealth game with minor crafting in it and a really bad enemy AI.
as if you'd actually care. let's be realy most people aren't really interested in any real discussion about game design, because it takes more than 2 sentences to explain why something is good or bad, when instead you can just say "it's the best game of the generation" without elaborating on it, and people will agree with you if the game was popular enough, and disagree if it wasn't popular enough... or depending on if it's on the correct side of the current culture war of course.
Hadoukens
Member
Re7 vr took the scares to a whole new level so i know what you mean
Alex11
Member
There's a video on the other page explaining the AI and how it's great. Your opinion is its shit, our that it's great and it doesn't mean anything.
It may lack variety but it's also an AI and design meant to mimic the 1st movie and atmosphere, it's not some great philosophy here.
A whole fuck ton of games have bad designs and stuff in them, but overall are viewed as amazing games.
AtomicStarving
Member
First game was disturbing... will they create same vibe? gonna wait
forsakkenSoul
Member
Funny thing is I thought the first Alien Isolation was great when I played it, and back then I hadn't even watched any of the Alien movies. Now I've seen them all, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy this sequel even more.
kevboard
Member
the AI, in theory is supposed to do that. but like with most ambitions by developers, this isn't always met, and the reality is different.
the lie that it is a constantly presenting entity for example is just that, a lie. it absolutely teleports around. and the learning your behaviour part is such a slow process that it doesn't really matter either.
the first instance where I wanted to just uninstall was when I sat in a locker and the AI just walked back and forth for at least a minute with me just sitting there... doing fuck all.
and in moments like this there's also no tension, because I know I am save, the enemy AI can not be allowed to find me at this point, because that would be unfair design. and holding your breath or leaning back are just the equivalent of QTEs that aren't especially hard or require much thought either.
simulating the things that happen in a movie aren't always a good idea. they don't always make for good mechanics or design.
like when horror games do the "oh no I have to squeeze through a tight spot with a zombie/enemy right there! what if he wakes up as you squeeze past!?
" which has the opposite effect in a game than it does in a movie.in a movie you are a passive participant that can't know what happens next, the director can throw anything in there he wants and surprise you, shock you, kill the character off etc.
in a game, as the player playing the main character, you know that this squeeze through sequence is in fsct far more save than any normal gameplay moment that leaves you with actual agency. because the very moment the game limits your agency, it also limits what can happen to you. the Devs can't make such a moment actually dangerous or make you die, because that would be unfair design, so this "tense moment" actually removes any tension because you know you're 100% save now.
what is left is a cutscene that forces you to hold your stick forward for 20sec... and not much more.
and the stealth in Alien Isolation had a similar issue. you know a game has to be fair, and a fair game has to have rules that you can follow to win. and this means sitting in a hiding spot with an AI walking back and forth, limiting your agency to just waiting and occasionally doing a quasi-QTE, is entirely sauceless. the fewer tools you have, the less can happen to you, because you lack agency and the devs have to design around that.
the lack of variety is the games biggest issue tho. due to how simple it ultimately is, stretching such a game to such a length is just insane.
and on top of that you have those Wario Ware ass micro games, in an attempt to feign variety. quick match the number! quick follow the button prompts to move the door levers! quick follow the stick inputs to cut a hole... and then do the button prompts!
if the game had actual variety, was about half as long, had less hide and seek nonsense, and had more strategy to it (you could do a lot with an ACTUAL persistent AI and the ability to directly try to manipulate it for example... like that would open up interesting puzzle possibilities and more engaging stealth mechanics) then you'd have an actually interesting game.
as it is, I just don't see the appeal beyond the novelty that it looks authentic to the first movie (even down to basically copying the ship design)
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Big-G
Member
I beat this game on Nightmare with a buddy. Definitely one of the most grueling gaming challenges I've ever experienced. I call this "no fun mode" lol. It was intense, but never again haha.
Released very soon after release.
Instantly made it one of the greatest survival horror games of all time.
Nocty
Currently Steaming
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
The thing that ruins my exceitment and optimism for this game is.....you guessed it...
Unreal Engine 5
Hawking Radiation
Wants to watch an Event Horizon porno
Timberwolf25
Member
Maybe it's time I try to give it a go once again.
It hasn't clicked with me over the years due to it giving me motion sickness (console version) along with the game's very slow pace, but maybe this time it will click.
Hadoukens
Member
Ok the bolded part is just a pretty crap interpretation of what's actually going on. There are parts of the game where the Alien is not around. He won't show up in those instances. Following so far? Ok good.
Teleporting
The Alien does not "teleport" the way you describe. For the parts of the game where the Alien is SUPPOSED TO BE present in your current location, it'll climb through ducts, drop down, walk around, climb back up, and so on.
Read that again^. The Alien is either NOT SUPPOSED TO BE, or SUPPOSED TO BE, a threat to you during different parts of the game. If you consider that teleporting, rather than a set enemy, which every game on planet earth has, mind you, including every stalker enemy in every horror game ever made, than this opinion is just mad and crazy.
Let's pretend that's not what you meant, and you meant when the Alien seems to find you quickly WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE present in your location. Running attracts it, shooting attracts it, certain tools attract it, etc.
Hunting
Now let's talk about its base level hunting ability, the part of your post that I italicized. It WILL find you eventually if you just stay in a locker. It depends on the difficulty level you have set, and for how long or not you've been hiding in lockers. Did you play on Novice or something? Because that's sure what it sounds like. Stay long enough in one place, it'll find you, and you'll die.
It gets a lot harder as the game goes on, and you have to use variety in your distraction methods and stealth, especially as you increase the difficulty. That you didn't come across this to me means you haven't played it through even though you are implying it, or you played on Novice difficulty. To be quite honest, I'm flat out accusing you of playing on Novice. Nothing you've said otherwise makes sense. It's fine to play on Novice, but that's not how the game works on Normal or above. I've played through the game at least a dozen times from beginning to end.
Exceptions
There are three parts in the game where the Alien dilly dallies around and makes a nuisance of himself by not going away. One is in the Medical area a few hours in, and the other two are a bit later. You're supposed to be playing those parts a bit faster, and if you don't, you're going to either need to use distraction crafting tools, which INSTANTLY allow you to make some progress, nullifying your complaints about boring slow stealth, which it seems you haven't used much of any of because I don't even see you talking about them, or you're going to be mucking about waiting for the right moment to move on.
You get so many tools to make progress it's kind of wild. An easy way to make progress if you don't have a noisemaker or gun, is to literally just hit the wall with your wrench which will eventually attract the Alien, so make sure you have an escape route, then just toss a flare at where you made noise. Situational as to its safety since you need an escape route, but instant progress nonetheless.
Another thing is walking makes zero noise to the Alien, too many people play the game without knowing that. If you walk instead of run you are safe. If he sees you, he'll kill you, but he can't HEAR you if you walk.
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Alex11
Member
And? In all games this teleporting is present, regardless of how it's presented and by what, it's all a smoke show. Especially in story-driven games.
Look you clearly have some good points, but you know, you just pointed out the flaws of just about every game possible that it's story heavy an/or relies on atmosphere as it's major focus.the first instance where I wanted to just uninstall was when I sat in a locker and the AI just walked back and forth for at least a minute with me just sitting there... doing fuck all.
and in moments like this there's also no tension, because I know I am save, the enemy AI can not be allowed to find me at this point, because that would be unfair design. and holding your breath or leaning back are just the equivalent of QTEs that aren't especially hard or require much thought either.
simulating the things that happen in a movie aren't always a good idea. they don't always make for good mechanics or design.
like when horror games do the "oh no I have to squeeze through a tight spot with a zombie/enemy right there! what if he wakes up as you squeeze past!?
in a movie you are a passive participant that can't know what happens next, the director can throw anything in there he wants and surprise you, shock you, kill the character off etc.
in a game, as the player playing the main character, you know that this squeeze through sequence is in fsct far more save than any normal gameplay moment that leaves you with actual agency. because the very moment the game limits your agency, it also limits what can happen to you. the Devs can't make such a moment actually dangerous or make you die, because that would be unfair design, so this "tense moment" actually removes any tension because you know you're 100% save now.
what is left is a cutscene that forces you to hold your stick forward for 20sec... and not much more.
and the stealth in Alien Isolation had a similar issue. you know a game has to be fair, and a fair game has to have rules that you can follow to win. and this means sitting in a hiding spot with an AI walking back and forth, limiting your agency to just waiting and occasionally doing a quasi-QTE, is entirely sauceless. the fewer tools you have, the less can happen to you, because you lack agency and the devs have to design around that.
the lack of variety is the games biggest issue tho. due to how simple it ultimately is, stretching such a game to such a length is just insane.
and on top of that you have those Wario Ware ass micro games, in an attempt to feign variety. quick match the number! quick follow the button prompts to move the door levers! quick follow the stick inputs to cut a hole... and then do the button prompts!
if the game had actual variety, was about half as long, had less hide and seek nonsense, and had more strategy to it (you could do a lot with an ACTUAL persistent AI and the ability to directly try to manipulate it for example... like that would open up interesting puzzle possibilities and more engaging stealth mechanics) then you'd have an actually interesting game.
I mean we could discuss every heavy story focused and set pieces game out there that are viewed as masterpieces for days and just dismantle those games.
But that wouldn't be fair as in these types of games atmosphere, story, spectacle and whatnot are as important as the game mechanics.
This here, you are starting to view it as its meant, authenticity first, gameplay second or equal to support said authenticity, simple as that.
And of course this is gonna create some discrepancies, like I said, just like all games that put a major focus on story, atmosphere etc.
poodaddy
Member
well, I know Rich Evans is on my side, and what more does one need?
I see another fat middle aged nerd with a wall of cringe behind him, among a sea of fat middle aged nerds with walls of cringe behind them. Can you summarize what makes this fat middle aged nerd with the aforementioned wall of cringe special and/or unique in three sentences or less please?
semiconscious
Member
I disagree with you regarding the game's length. i think for many non-die hard alien fans, like myself, it definitely over-stayed it's welcome. as with other titles, from metaphor fantasia to ghost of yotei, it's a strictly subjective call. i mean, it has this 'reputation' for a reason, obviously...
but, afa that bolded comment? yes! gaming is all about having a stake. period. nothing personally on the line? you're simply watching a movie version...
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Alex11
Member
Yeah, I agree with the length in general, but not personally, even if if I'm not a big fan of a franchise, I like my games long.
But as you, it's definitely subjective and probably depends on the genre. I mean, IDK how many times I've read "oh, I have 200, 400 hrs in this and I can't get enough" and for other games that are in the range of 15-25 "oh, it's too long".
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Sir Vilhelm
Member
Super excited about this announcement. Been a long time coming and definitely day one.
Duchess
Member
This was actually my major gripe with the game. There was a logical end point to the game*, so I was rather disappointed when it kept going. I stopped playing a little after that, because, sadly, I thought it had outstayed its welcome.
* - When you space the alien, and escape back to the main station in the suit
Alex11
Member
Yeah, feel the same, as I said, I like my games long regardless of whether I'm a fan of a franchise or not.
And even if I understand it depends on the genre, open world or not, find it weird, unfair and hypocritical that some games "overstay their welcome" after 20 hrs and others after 200 are not. Purely subjective.
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