Alien Isolation – unforgettable horror

A reader praises the authentic horror of Alien Isolation, and explains why he had to stop playing it when his daughter was born.

There’s a moment in Alien Isolation that made my jaw hit the floor.

That hasn’t happened to me since I first played GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 in 1997 – so what made me such aghast for only the second time in a couple of decades?

I’ll come to it in a moment, but suffice to say, Alien Isolation is a special game. I’m not saying it’s up there with the best games of all time – or even this generation. There have been many more games I’ve enjoyed and been impressed by throughout my gaming life, but Alien Isolation’s relentless mental assault will ensure it’s lauded upon by myself, and I’m sure many others, for years to come.




It’s the little things that make the difference. I’ll not go over all its strong points because they are well covered in GameCentral’s own review, but Alien Isolation is the most convincing recreation of the Alien universe in gaming. So much so, it feels like an interactive tour of the decaying Nostromo (although it’s a different ship in Isolation it’s so similar you’ll hardly care).

About just over halfway through the game I had reached a safe zone – the xenomorph had apparently gone off on one of his coffee breaks – and I was strolling along, absorbing the game’s irresistible atmosphere. Then I saw a chain dangle from a vent, but I was wary it might be the alien’s tail.

On closer inspection it was looking more and more like a chain, but, as you so often do in the game, couldn’t resist looking up. And sure enough, there it was, foaming at the mouth and looking me in the eye. I was paralysed, rooted to the spot.

I’m sure there was enough time for me to get away but I was too mesmerised by the xenomorph’s intelligence. This was not artificial intelligence, but natural intelligence living inside my console, stalking and preying on me. Why couldn’t it come down and take care of me sooner, or before I looked up? How did it know how to toy with and torture me?

That’s when I knew I was playing more than just a game – even if I had never played Isolation again after that point, it didn’t matter because I had lived the Alien experience.

This is just one jaw-dropping moment. It’s going to take something monumental to top this in the Alien universe as far as games are concerned.

Then came the birth of my daughter. I couldn’t play it after that. To even consider playing it with such a fragile beauty in my house was unnerving. And that’s probably the best compliment I could give to Alien Isolation.

About eight months later, with my wife and daughter visiting family, I finally gained the courage to resume and eventually complete the game.

Yes, it’s too long. And yes, there is too much faffing about with tools and terminals – but the game’s flaws are not out of cynical laziness of committees, but out of deep love from dedicated developers trying too hard. Like when your mother asks if you have enough clean underwear while you’re in your second year at university.



Play it, and you’ll be convinced you’ll have encounters with the xenomorph that only you have experienced. Just don’t play it front of your heavily pregnant wife. That was probably deeply insensitive of me, considering the game’s subject matter. Then again, if the game is so horrific and terrifying it unsettles an expectant mother, it’s clearly doing is job right – even if the selfish husband who’s playing it isn’t.

By reader David Hamill

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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