Fear is a powerful emotion. It's why humans love roller coasters and horror movies; being scared elevates heart rate, increases respiration and a host of other physiological responses that can leave you feeling euphoric once the 'threat' has passed. That's the only logical response that can be given for why playing the pants-soilingly terrifying Alien: Isolation on the virtual reality Oculus Rift just makes you want more. [ImageLibrary##335794/Any##Title¬Alien: Isolation##Description¬Being hunted by this guy is the future of gaming##Credit¬© 2014 Sega / Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]

That's when the creature attacks, and no matter how many grisly deaths you've seen in the movies, nothing can prepare you for one of those nigh-unstoppable monsters bearing down, fangs gleaming and its grotesque second mouth darting towards your skull

Alien: Isolation is shaping up impressively, channelling Ridley Scott's 1979 tense, claustrophobic space-based horror rather than James Cameron's more action-oriented


Aliens. Playing as Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda, you're manipulated by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation into searching for your missing mother, only to be (somewhat inevitably) trapped in the hunting ground of the same creature that tormented the crew of the Nostromo years earlier.

Like its inspiration, Isolation is almost painfully atmospheric, with developers Creative Assembly perfectly recreating the shadowy spaceship corridors and blocky, retro-futuristic aesthetic of the source material. Tech is archaic, all blocky monitors and green-black screens, leaving you feeling under-prepared. Worse, you're largely unarmed -- beyond being able to craft a few improvised weapons and tools, most of which are only of any use against rogue androids or other non-Xenomorph shaped threats -- and the alien is constantly on the hunt for you. [ImageLibrary##335792/Any##Title¬Alien: Isolation##Description¬In virtual space, everyone will hear you scream.##Credit¬© 2014 Sega / Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]

Read next Explore Chernobyl before and after disaster struck in this harrowing VR tour Explore Chernobyl before and after disaster struck in this harrowing VR tour

It's heart-stopping stuff just playing it on a TV. Stick your head into an Oculus Rift headset though, and the terror only multiples. Already a first-person game, Isolation is even more immersive when it's literally your own eyes you're seeing through. The motion tracker Amanda carries, the only early warning you have for the alien's whereabouts, weighs heavy in your hand, even though it's not really there. An immaterial life-preserver that you cling to regardless, you'll bring it up with a button on the controller (still needing one for the game's physical commands) and actually turn your head to look at it. It's a subtle change from the non-VR version, where the radar pops into view on the bottom left, letting you glance with peripheral vision. On Oculus, diverting attention to it could in itself distract you long enough to become alien chow.

Blip. Blip. Blip-lip. It's getting closer. You want to run, or hide, and suddenly you realise you're wanting to move your actual legs to get to anywhere that might be considered safe. With the headphones on, you're equally immersed in the game's soundscape, hearing the alien scurrying through vents behind you, or through the ceiling above. It's disorienting and panic-inducing, but in the best way imaginable. As survival instinct kicks in though, you make mistakes -- moving loudly and indiscriminately, or forgetting to check the tracker. That's when the creature attacks, and no matter how many grisly deaths you've seen in the movies, nothing can prepare you for one of those nigh-unstoppable monsters bearing down, fangs gleaming and its grotesque second mouth darting towards your skull. You WILL scream. [ImageLibrary##335793/Any##Title¬Alien:


Isolation##Description¬You'd scream too if this was baring down on you##Credit¬© 2014 Sega / Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]

You die. You remove the headset, catch your breath.... and immediately want to try again. The sense of vulnerability, of threat, of being prey is incredible, and unlike anything else, even other games on Oculus so far. Although only a proof of concept at present, the VR outing for

Isolation has incredible potential to elevate the very concept of survival horror video games.

Even at this very early stage, the worst that can be said of


Isolation on Oculus is that it's a bit too dark -- even accounting for the intended visual style -- and that some of the controls are a bit unpolished. Using the right thumbstick will move camera, but so will simply moving your head, resulting in a twin sensation of movement that generates a powerful but brief feeling of nausea, or perhaps vertigo. The VR version is truly in its infancy though, with Jonathan Court, Senior Producer at Creative Assembly telling Wired.co.uk: "Some of us got our own dev kits or had one at home. We mocked up a quick presentation and got really excited so we pressed Oculus for their latest kit. We got it a few days before E3 and the guys have been working weekends and in their free time to put it together." [ImageLibrary##335795/Any##Title¬Alien: Isolation##Description¬The alien hunting you isn't the only threat you'll have to deal with in Alien: Isolation##Credit¬© 2014 Sega / Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]

While development on the 'main', non-VR version of the game is entering the home stretch, don't expect an Oculus release in the short term. Not only would the full game need to be essentially ported to the format -- "You have to render the game stereoscopically, to send the two images to each eye," explains Court -- but there still needs to be a consumer model of the Oculus hardware released to justify it. While both scenarios may be some time off, Alien: Isolation could easily be the first killer app for the headset when the time is right.

Alien: Isolation launches on 7 October for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. A release for the Oculus Rift version has yet to be confirmed.