Alien Isolation Developer Diary: The Stuff of Nightmares

While Sega's Aliens: Colonial Marines game was an utter failure, Alien: Isolation certainly looks like a step in the right direction. Developed by Creative Assembly, the team best known for the Total War games is developing Alien: Isolation to be much more of a survivor-horror adventure experience where players are fighting to survive a single unpredictable Alien.

Players take control of Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda approximately 15 years after the events of Alien. Amanda is searching for information regarding the disappearance of her mother when one of her leads take her to a space station. Unbeknownst to her however, the station has been overrun by a Xenomorph. According to Creative assembly, the Alien cannot be killed and players must use stealth tactics to survive. Weapons in the game are sparse and are only used to fight non-alien enemies.

Alien: Isolation can be compared to games like Amnesia or Outlast where players need to monitor how much noise they make and hide using their surroundings to escape enemies. One significant change which makes the idea of playing Alien: Isolation terrifying is that the Alien A.I. has been programmed to learn from the player and use the senses of sight, smell and sound to hunt down the player. The Alien is also programmed to not follow a predetermined path making it's movements and behaviors unpredictable which will certainly add to the scare factor and give the game some originality on subsequent plays.

I have much higher hopes for Alien: Isolation than I did for Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game is being designed to fit the horror genre more and emulate the look and feel of the original Alien movie with the retro sci-fi technology. I'm a survival-horror junkie and Alien: Isolation looks like it has the potential to be a truly definitive title for the Alien franchise. What do you think? Will Alien: Isolation be a success or is it destined to flop like its predecessors?

Aliens: Colonial Marines update

SEGA has some good news and some bad news concerning Aliens: Colonial Marines. The good news is that the game finally has a release date, the bad news, it's been delayed until 2013. Aliens: Colonial Marines will be available on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on February 12, 2013. The Wii U version of the game will get a later release date.

While Colonial Marines is joining a laundry list of games being delayed until 2013, it isn't all that bad; SEGA was kind enough to share an awesome trailer, entirely of gameplay. The visuals look spectacular with the classic blood-splashed walls, dimly-lit corridors and the xenomorphs themselves pouring out from every crack and crevice of the ship. The gameplay looks suspenseful as the characters explore the ship with the ever present, ominous beeping, emitted from the motion detector. The action is frantic as shots seem to fly in every direction as the xenomoprhs approach from the ceilings and walls and disappear just as quickly through holes and vents. The game almost made me think of something similar to a first person Dead Space experience.

I was already interested in Colonial Marines (I'm a big alien fan) but after watching the trailer, I have to say I'm even more excited than before. Hopefully we'll get even more news and a nice demonstration during E3. What do you think of Aliens: Colonial Marines so far? You can watch the trailer down below.