GameInformer - Alien Isolation Is Getting A Mobile Sequel

Games Video Games
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Today Fox announced that a sequel to Alien Isolation was on the way. It’s called Alien: Blackout and while some fans of the terrifying stealth-driven game might be enthused by this news, they might also want to take a seat for the next bit. The game is for mobile devices exclusively.

Alien: Blackout has you guiding Amanda Ripley and her crew through “seven fear-inducing levels” in a setup that sounds familiar to Five Nights at Freddy. You’ll be managing a space station, jumping from cameras and dealing with damaged controls to try and defeat the beast. The game promises multiple conclusions based on your choices.

Yikes.

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A game like Alien: Isolation only gets made when the stars align. So whilst I’m disappointed it’s not a proper sequel, I’m kind of interested in how it turns out. I guess Isolation was Amnesia but Alien. This is going to be Five Nights at Freddy’s but Alien. Those two games were big influential ones for horror.

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As someone who really enjoyed Alien: Isolation but found it to be interminably long, I think it’s possible to make a good shortened experience out of it. I doubt this is it, but hey who knows?

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I don’t want to be hyperbolic, like people were about the Diablo mobile game, but I felt like the audience for Isolation was already very niche, and it seems kind of… I dunno, insulting to to answer that small fanbase with a mobile Five Nights rip off?

I doubt this is what they want, but hey… It might be good. I’ll keep my hopes leveled I guess.

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I’m fine with a station-based monitoring horror game - but those touch controls are gonna have to be mighty fine for me not to long for a PC release I can actually immerse in, graphics already set aside.

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Also, Alien Isolation told its story and by most accounts overstayed its welcome - I’m more interested in what its studio are doing next than the continuation of the story.

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I assume that this is being made because of the perceived audience for the ALIEN franchise in general, not the specific reception that Isolation got.

The FNAF setup transplanted to a space station makes sense, and ALIEN seems decent soil for such a transplant. Whether or not this is any good will come down to execution (and budget).

It looks like it’s being built by D3 Go, which AFAICT has only produced a couple of Puzzle Quest games and similar fare. So it sounds like this is a “sequel” only in that it has the Amanda Ripley character – it’s not a continuation by the original dev team.

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The idea of “Alien, but Five Nights at Freddy’s” makes me think of the PS2 game Lifeline and if Alien: Blackout ends up being like Lifeline then I’m on board. I doubt it will be but dammit I just wish someone would make a Lifeline sequel or something.

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The premise might seem a bit strange, but there’s potential there. Especially if they get the aesthetic and UI right with a solid future-retro style, like they did for Isolation.

It’s a little baffling from the perspective of the market for this style of game, and the subject matter. This isn’t to knock on FNAF or its fanbase, but I understand that said fanbase skews younger and the Alien, in its violence and sexual imagery, doesn’t seem really tone-appropriate.

That said, Fox clearly doesn’t care and just wants to leverage their existing IPs for big cash money, if the obnoxious April 26 (426) “Alien Day” thing they’ve been forcing is any indication.

Here’s hoping some enterprising and talented developers can take advantage of that renewed corporate interest to make something good, and that Blackout is a fun game.

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I could see this being alright, there’s definitely potential in a FNAF-like Alien game. Making this a sequel to Isolation feels like a mistake though, especially going by the general reaction. Seems like all they’re doing by making it a follow up is making people wish that a proper sequel in the style of the original game would be made. And unlike with Diablo, a proper sequel like that happening isn’t a given.

They probably would’ve been better off not making this related to Isolation, then again I don’t know Fox’s future plans for Alien games.

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Alien Isolation is a wonderful game, but it doesn’t need a sequel, or an Aliens equivalent follow up. So if they wanna release Alien mobile games go ahead, and then we can look forward to whatever Creative Assembly will surprise us with next.

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What I would love more than anything else is an Alien: Isolation style survival roguelike where the goal is just to survive in the station for long enough to escape/be rescued. I felt like A:I had tons of systems ripe to be exploited, but almost never put you in the place to do that. I want rival factions of humans and meaningful interaction. It’s incredibly frustrating when EVERYTHING in A:I wants to kill you for seemingly no reason.

Also for the love of god make the alien attack the damn androids. Having them all walk around ignoring each other while I cower in a closet is just frustrating. I mean they kill and attack androids in the movies, it’s not like it’s fiction breaking.

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Absolutely entering nerd mode, but are there any androids of this crude variety in the movies? I’m thinking the alien is clever enough to recognize them as no threat. Ironically they are almost more dangerous than the alien is at many points in the game.

But your idea could be really cool. I don’t know game development, but it’d be cool if they could take the skeleton of what is there and somehow transform it into that for a lower cost and MASSIVE commercial success obviously.

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Sound design and presentation go a long way in horror games, and there have been a few really good ones for mobile devices over the years like Theresia, the remake of White Day, etc. But them using a setup where you’re one person managing multiple folks already signals that this will be some F2P gacha bullshit thing. Which is fine, but I’m not expecting much.

I’m surprised Game Informer/etc. sites reporting the announcement haven’t at all acknowledged any of the other stuff related to it. Fox has been posting “The Alien Universe EXPANDS IN 2019!!!” type stuff for a bit now and keep using the “ReadPlayWATCH” hashtag with this.

This game will be the “play” part and the “read” part I’m sure is the new comic starring Amanda Ripley that’s starting at the end of this month (there’s been other comics+novels also but I think the last one came out like three years ago). So the watch part is probably an announcement of an Alien series (Fox announced one like right before Disney announced they were purchasing them) that features Amanda Ripley. They have an instagram that for the past month has been dropping key art stuff that’s clearly not of any of the recent comics/or games and talking up how there’s going to be more Alien stuff in 2019 so that seems like where they’re going.

While I’m skeptical this game will actually be good (obviously I hope it is since I love Alien stuff) if you want a real blast from the past this type of game has been done long before, in the form of the very first Alien game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum and stuff. You play by viewing schematics of the Nostromo’s decks directing people around to try to track down the Alien and flush it out of an airlock/etc. other solutions. It was pretty fun and could be intense! :smiley:

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Its only “flaw” is that when the Alien kills someone it shows this little animation of the Alien and I can’t find a gif of it but the way it’s animated oh my god even as a kid I could ONLY ever parse it as the alien being an old friend you just reconnected with and are catching up on old times with.

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There’s always been some good licensed games but the Alien series has produced a surprising amount of good and influential ones.

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I’m not saying it doesn’t make any sense at all that the alien ignores the androids. You can torture or tease an explanation out of the cannon if you want to. My point is that as the player of the game, it’s incredibly unsatisfying when you realize that’s the case, and it really feels at that point like the game is just intentionally giving you the finger. I need to get to the other side of the room, so I’m going to toss this noisemaker next to the androids, have the alien kill them, and while that’s going on make a run for it… great, now the alien is ignoring the robots, and both of them are just walking straight towards my defenseless ass.

It’s just not satisfying in any way. The game gives you so few options to deal with enemies that when you see an opening for more potential and the game just slams the door in your face it can’t help but feel like a let down.

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I don’t mind Alien Blackout being a mobile game. I see mobile as its own universe in gaming where they have their own distinct style of gameplay and focus. Also, I just see this as a marketing tool for the next possible Alien game(whenever that comes out) similar to how most other AAA game companies are using mobile.

Unfortunately, a lot of gamers on the internet aren’t going to be happy and are just going to rant at the fact that the game is on mobile and not give it a chance

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again

JURASSIC PARK TIE IN IN THE VEIN OF ALIEN ISOLATION PLS

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I remember thinking I was being super clever leading the alien towards androids, and being disappointed that it didn’t pay off. HOWEVER, I did absolutely love the androids’ distinctly robotic bafflement at the xenomorph – where a human would react to this unknown being with fear, I think it was an eerie stroke of genius to show the androids reacting to it as simply an unknown being without any corresponding data or information attached to it (and a bigger stroke of genius to make this fact very easy to miss)

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From a game design perspective the problem with the humans, androids and Alien in Alien: Isolation was that, generally speaking, they were basically the same. Now, hear me out: all three have different strengths and weaknesses; the problem arises in the way the player interacts with them.

When interacting with the Alien, confrontation isn’t really an option. Sure, you can drive it off if it finds you and you’re quick enough with the flamethrower or molotov, but this expends very limited resources and the Alien will always return. Much better to hide somewhere and wait for it to pass.

Similarly, the Working Joes are rarely worth the time and resources to put down. They hit like a truck, they’re rarely alone, and confronting them directly consumes a lot of resources and makes a lot of noise. Uniquely, if you have the space you can literally run past them, but this runs the risk of making enough noise to call the creature. Again, it’s best to sneak around and avoid them entirely.

Finally, there’s the humans. They’re not always hostile, but when they are (and they very frequently are), they tend to be very noisy and very lethal. Humans aren’t hard to put down, but the fastest and most effective ways to stop them are messy and loud. Moreover, outside of a handful of passwords to rooms or lockers that a few, specific scripted encounters provide, there’s never any benefit to engaging them. Yet again, the best course of action is stealth and avoidance.

As a result, we’re stuck with a situation where there are three distinct enemy types around the station but the best method of interacting with all of them is the same. All three enemy types in the game test the exact same skills of the player, namely patience and stealth. There is almost never any benefit to the player in intentionally engaging any of the above. It is a risk that almost never pays off.

Getting back on topic, given the above, I don’t feel like Working Joes or hostile human survivors would make for a meaningful contribution to a game of the style of A:B. Working Joes in particular are cool and I’d love to see them expanded on more in any future full A:I sequels we get, but I think the premise of A:B would benefit more from focusing on the Big Chap exclusively as the antagonistic force.

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Guess it’s time to finally try and play Alien Isolation. I’ve downloaded it like 6 times and never touched it.