Games based on the Alien movies have been few and far between. And some like Aliens: Colonial Marines have been downright bad too.
Thankfully, though, some studios have had the wits to make a good Alien game. Such was the case of Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, which hit PCs and consoles back in 2014.
British outfit Creative Assembly is better known for its Total War games, which combine strategy and real-time tactics in historical settings (such as the upcoming Total War Troy game) but they proved they could also make a scary first-person game with Alien: Isolation.
Set on the space station Sevastopol, the game stars Amanda, who’s out to discover the truth regarding Ripley’s disappearance (her mother). Sevastopol, though, has been taken over by the Alien…
The menacing creature was Ripley’s nemesis in Ridley Scott’s movie, and it’s truly a force of nature in the game too. Much like the Nemesis creature in Resident Evil 3, players will be stalked by the Alien throughout the game, and in true survival horror tradition it’s often better to hide than to fight when the Alien appears.
You see, while Amanda has an assortment of weapons at her disposal such as a flamethrower, the Alien cannot be killed, so this plays like a game of cat and mouse while you attempt to solve the mysteries of Sevastopol and uncover the truth behind Ripley’s disappearance.
As a plus, the Nintendo Switch version also comes packed with all the DLC which came out for the PC and console versions. HD rumble support could help players immerse in the game, and hopefully not much graphical fidelity will be lost in this Switch port of the game, which did not boast cutting edge graphics in its original incarnation either.
This being a Switch game, you can play it in either docked or handheld mode, although a moody survival horror game like this one is better played on a big screen (preferably with the lights off…). Here’s hoping this Nintendo Switch translation is good enough, then, when it’s released early next month.
Note: Alien: Isolation will be released on December 5, 2019. Available on Nintendo Switch. Also on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.