ALIEN ISOLATION
• reducing the frequency of lockers early on would only improve reception. one of the biggest misgivings around the game’s that it’s about hiding and seeking, when really it’s about outmanoeuvring; the worst thing you could possibly do is sit around while the alien’s given more and more opportunities to zero in on your position. moreover, it’s fucking boring. I’d hate the game too if I spent hours on end watching a bleep bloop machine while stuffed in a locker like a geek. once I realized you should be making big moves to outpace the alien and make it play around you rather than the other way around, everything went a whole lot better and started to feel like the dynamic exchange its intended as. move your ass!! hurry!! use those gizmos!!
• locking the player into a series of lengthy wait times and fussy little minigames to build extraordinary tension out of ordinary moments works really well and repurposes some of the most tedious bullshit of the era into one of isolation’s most memorable strengths. save system’s good too; there were moments that probably would’ve been a lot more potent if I didn’t have to run them back five times in a row, especially those around major story beats and scripted events, but I respect that it necessitates doing sequences correctly rather than being able to chop them into save scum collages
• every weapon rips, every gadget rips, and the revolver’s reload animation’s phenomenal. really, we can save some time and just say it looks and sounds fantastic top to bottom. even as someone who likes.. three(?) alien or alien-adjacent films max and would be fine with the series being buried forever, it’s really cool stuff. I like that the alien feels unmistakably like the alien, but also sometimes like a really tall man in a fucked up rubber suit. also like when the ship’s creaking and alarms are blaring and everything’s scraping and banging and rustling and then some pounding staccato synth blows up the mix
• working joes’ design, characterization, and all the surrounding world building w/ seegson is pitch perfect. cannot believe Video Game E-mails of all things got me invested in tertiary alien lore in 2026
• put this off for a decade cos I’d bought into the psyop that it was too long, but it didn’t end up bothering me. all I’m willing to concede is that there’s a little too much turning on power and finding keycards and turning on power to find keycards to turn on more power to find more keycards, but otherwise, I’m all smiles