In 1979, Alien changed the way we thought about horror. The film features little gore, except for a certain chest-opening scene, and the titular monster appears on screen for about four minutes. Thirty-something years later, Alien: Isolation followed in its mother’s footsteps and changed the way we think about survival horror. By focusing almost entirely on hiding as protection from a singular, stalking beast, it offered players something fresh.
Alien: Isolation uses the film as its north star, but it deviates in many ways. While movie tie-in games often try to copy their inspirations beat-for-beat, Alien: Isolation dissected what made the film one of the greats and built those elements into the atmosphere and gameplay. You can see this in the old-school sci-fi environments, in the interesting use of light and shadow, and the build-up and release of fear.
Creative director of the original game and its upcoming sequel, Al Hope, spoke about the decision not to copy the film and recreate classic moments like the chestburster scene in the game. “Maybe there’s something about not wanting to kind of tick all the boxes,” he said at an Alien: Isolation 2 developer panel in London when asked about this creative choice. “Maybe there’s something there.”
He goes on to discuss how these scenes worked in the original film because they were unexpected, and that it was more important for the game to capture that feeling of uncertainty. “One of the big things is [that] it’s unpredictable,” he said. “The whole experience is unpredictable. And so maybe there’s something about not having to tick every box and we deeply care about this universe and this experience. It wouldn’t have made it better. It wasn’t necessary. I think that’s probably the answer. It wasn’t necessary.”
Alien: Isolation 2 will feature a new protagonist, Blake, who starts her story exploring a ship wrecked near the site of Sevastopol from the original game. Creative Assembly has said that the original film will remain its guiding light for the sequel, but we won’t hold our breath for any chest-bursting in this entry either.