Alien Isolation

i should play it, had started but never continued. I'm hoping for a PSVR release.

 

Such a shame this didn't see an official VR release. At least we got temporal aa on PC to eliminate the shimmer

 

I'm almost finished with yet another play of the game. Calling it an authentic experience is spot on indeed.

Let me plug SOMA here too. If you like AI, don't miss that one. I loaded it up the other day to have another go at.

 

I just started playing Survivor-Mode. Man, that stuff is brutal. I thought the game was intense, but the 'being able to save as you go along on a regular basis', takes a bit of the edge away. Survivor-mode with no save points... wow, now that is something.

Last night, I died around 10 times in different places due to the unpredictability of the game. Still haven't completed the first level yet ("The basement") but the more I play it, the better I know where things are and have been able to get a bit more efficient at it - or at dying at least.

To explain:
First play through, I died after 30 seconds. Yes, going into the vents, not so good idea. Needed an oxygen tent after that one. 15 minutes later, my blood pressure was back to normal and I was all set for another attempt. Hiding in the vent? No *(#$/(+!! way! Somehow, miraculously made it to the first closet. Total play time (TPuD? = Total Playtime until Death (R)) on my second attempt: 15 minutes (12 minute of those being obviously in the closet). Eventually got caught with my pants down as I just decided to leave the safety of the closet and Xeno came down in that moment 2 feet in front of me. Nice.
After that, the overall time started to tumble down as I found out where to go and what to do, but still ended up dying due to the unpredictability of the creature. It's like it's playing a game of chicken with me. Going to give it another shot tonight. Just need to get some calming pills first.

 

Soma has an amazing tale to tell. Unlike most sci-fi horror, it also sticks the landing perfectly. I just wished the parts where you actually play the thing weren't quite as perfunctory. The little pockets of stealth felt like they were put in out of a sense of obligation. The fact that you can basically opt out of them in the game's menu is rather telling.

 

I just started playing Survivor-Mode. Man, that stuff is brutal. I thought the game was intense, but the 'being able to save as you go along on a regular basis', takes a bit of the edge away. Survivor-mode with no save points... wow, now that is something.

Last night, I died around 10 times in different places due to the unpredictability of the game. Still haven't completed the first level yet ("The basement") but the more I play it, the better I know where things are and have been able to get a bit more efficient at it - or at dying at least.

To explain:
First play through, I died after 30 seconds. Yes, going into the vents, not so good idea. Needed an oxygen tent after that one. 15 minutes later, my blood pressure was back to normal and I was all set for another attempt. Hiding in the vent? No *(#$/(+!! way! Somehow, miraculously made it to the first closet. Total play time (TPuD? = Total Playtime until Death (R)) on my second attempt: 15 minutes (12 minute of those being obviously in the closet). Eventually got caught with my pants down as I just decided to leave the safety of the closet and Xeno came down in that moment 2 feet in front of me. Nice.
After that, the overall time started to tumble down as I found out where to go and what to do, but still ended up dying due to the unpredictability of the creature. It's like it's playing a game of chicken with me. Going to give it another shot tonight. Just need to get some calming pills first.

 

I thought the opt out was there because of the complaints about the game being too scary. Like with Alien Isolation's novice mode addition. There are even mods for both games to eliminate all threats to make them just about exploration.

 

Did you get the 100 deaths-by-Alien achievement yet?

 

Kinda hard to believe that out of all the horror games out there, Soma would be the one to get a patch to make it less scary. I'd barely even classify it as a horror game. To me, the couple of stealth sections really felt like leftovers from the developer's Amnesia days. They made an adventure game about a bunch of really big questions (and they did it very well), but they marketed the game like it was a spiritual successor to Amnesia. And Soma is really nothing like Amnesia.

Soma was the rare game with a story so good it made me look past its gameplay.

 

I really don't see Soma and Amnesia as that different. The setting and story are of course vastly different, but the mechanics of the play, storytelling and monsters are fairly similar. The gameplay formula is there.

If you don't think Soma is scary then you probably are as desensitized to these games as I am. Needless to say it's not like that for everyone.

 

You had my curiosity but now you have my attention

 

Then I'd suggest you just play it. Should be pretty cheap by now. Maybe watch a trailer to get a sense of the title's atmosphere, but otherwise I'd recommend to go in as blind as possible.

 

LOL. There is such an achievement? But no, I think I must have died not more than maybe 15 times in my entire playthrough and around 10 times in the 10 attempts I played Survivor-Mode so far.

To my defense, I did play the game on Novice most of the time, which I admit was quite cowardly on my part, but still seemed to offer a very scary and authentic experience. I think I died far more by the human combatants and androids than by the Alien though. What I also noticed; I barely ever used Noise-Makers, Flares and other equipment on my play through. Knowing that they are very limited, I tried not to use them at all to the point that towards the end of the game, I could barely pick up anything because I had everything maxed out. I also was rather hesitant to use these gadgets because I wanted to make sure I always had an oversupply of med-kits, so if I used one, I could build one immediately.

Anyway, I just started my 2nd play through and now that I have grown some balls, have opted to select NIGHTMARE mode. Has anyone ever played it on this mode? Am I going to kill myself by playing on this mode? I'm still pretty much a chicken (to the point, when the Alien sees me and starts to run towards me, I just freeze and close my eyes).

 

I beat it on nightmare. That was my second or third play through. That's when I got the alien deaths achievement. Resources are scarce, the tracker barely function, everything quickly kills you, and the alien is very perceptive. It is quite an intense experience. I plan on doing another play of it. I just finished novice for the first time.

Noise makers are more useful on nightmare because sometimes it's really hard to make it around the ever present alien. So you can fool it for a moment with a noisemaker. I think the alien can hear a flare burning so probably avoid those. I never tried using a thrown one as a noisemaker...

You need to be very aware of noises you make on nightmare. You need to be dead silent and fearless. I think even the sloshing flamethrower tank is danger. Ductwork noise is doom. Etc. Thrilling!

I hate how Ripley always slams those electrical terminal doors open. Heart skip.

 

Thanks for the reply. Seems like mission impossible for me. Is it possibly to set the game to Hard on a nightmare play through? Or does it automatically reset to Novice?

I've progressed fairly quickly so far, but still haven't encountered any enemy combatants (I think the first encounter in the game). I guess I'll just continue to the medical bay and see how difficult that is to survive.

PS: Is Nightmare mode like Survivor-Mode? I definitely read somewhere that Survivor-Mode is a lot more difficult because the Alien knows you are there and trying to escape. I was able to complete The Basement on my 8th or so attempt while achieving one single objective (locking that one door). I found this level to be very exhilarating since the Alien is mostly in an agitated state and only spends little time in the ducts. It has also learned me to avoid all vents since I've had it come up on me a couple of times which is the most scary thing I have experienced in the game. I also feel that beating the game in this mode is somewhat lucky, because there is (from what I gather) no way on how to predict the Aliens movement. You either have to be lucky not to cross its path or have a flamethrower to scare it away when it does...

 

I haven't even tried Survivor mode. I also have all of the DLC and haven't gotten into that much yet . I did beat Last Survivor on Nightmare last week. I'm not sure what the differences might be with Survivor and Nightmare, but I think the alien is quite perceptive on Nightmare.

No idea on changing difficulty. Stop your whining and get to it.

 

I don't know who bumped this thread or why but I'm starting to feel like I can play again and I don't think that's a good thing....

 

I might try it again after my RE4 backlog playthrough. It gave my some motion sickness last time I tried, but that was on a big screen TV. Maybe on a smaller monitor it will be better.

 

I never got past the incredibly clunky gameplay in some parts of this game. Shame really.

 

Yes that is a shame.

I think my only complaints are with the stuttering pre rendered video cutscenes (a PC version issue) and the weak facial animation during some parts.

 

Started the game in hard mode, got owned hard.
Ultimately, I thought the game was too long and some gameplay mechanics do get old
The design is glorious though

 

I think I've beaten the main story 4 times. Steam says I have 75 hours on the game and 46/50 achievements.

Though I suppose that's mostly because I have a friend who is an Alien movie fanatic and we periodically go back to the game and take turns playing it.

 

All this Alien Isolation talk made me pop in my game disc again yesterday. Took a while to get to grips with the mechanics again, but once I got past that point was completely engrossed all over. Sure, the go-there-and-fix-that-thing kinda mission design is pushed a bit too far (reminds me of Isaac Clarke's adventures on the Ishimura), and the near-constant pressure can get a little bit much, but other than that it's a brilliant little game.