ALIEN: ISOLATION Is Great Because It's Unfair

#alienisolation #alienisolationgame #alienromulus
Alien: Isolation, developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega Entertainment is one of the most important games ever made and yet it's one of the least copied ever, with Amnesia the Bunker by Frictional Games being the closest thing we've seen. And yet Alien: Isolation is one of the most unique, original, and impressive games EVER made. As I bumbled through a recent Hard playthrough, I began to remember why. Alien: Isolation is no casual game and it can be brutal in its application of what it thinks is fair, even when you could've sworn you knew how the game worked. But is this the game breaking down, a chink in this much lauded game's armor, or merely a skill issue? And if it is a problem with Alien: Isolation, is it possible that it's the only way that it could've been done? And if not, can we withstand this unfairness by checking our biases in regards to what we expect games to do for us? I think the answer is complicated so let's get stuck in!

0:00 Introduction
5:46 Setting the Stage
8:14 The Director & the Actor
14:47 Eye in the Sky
23:25 The Medium Is the Message
26:27 What Then Shall We Do?
33:51 Any Survivors?

A very special thank you to my voice talent: voicing Jaroslav Svelch we have @ThePrimordialChronicles , for someting666 of Unpredictable Alien Mod fame we have @justabaldguy and last but not least @NthReview voicing a quotation from Keogh and Jayemanne's "Game Over, Man. Game Over. Looking at the Alien in Film and Videogames." Yall worked fast and turned out intuitive, interesting readings and I'm so glad to be able to feature you all!

Special thanks to @ZlimBratSki , Robert Yapp of @HyperVerseGaming and @QuadDamagePodcast , @Hyacsho and @RubyRangerr for their invaluable help fixing the title and thumbnail over many iterations.

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[ЯношБан]

Ok, there is a lot more to unpack and talk about in this brilliantly made video analysis on this game (and like, for real, kudos man. Such well made critical pieces on the game that are also positive on it, are quite rare I found, altho perhaps I am biased), and ultimately I enjoying listening to you deconstructing the game in such a thorough way.

However, I have caught myself in a bit of a "pulling my hair out what this dude yappin' about?" headspace and am really inclined to respond to it

Ok, the one about how the game tries to simulate or approximate the idea of Alien "learning" is...fair enough. I mean, I see where you're coming from and understand your frustrations with it. But I do highly disagree personally with your perspective, in big part because I always had a different understanding of how it actually unlocks those new behaviors, even tho I watched the same videos and read the same articles as you did lol. To my understanding, and from personal observations, while it does work kind of like you described, where the AI (be it the Director or it's part of the functionality of the behavior tree, probably both) keeps track of the things you did, like hiding spots you hid in, items you used etc, there also appears to be a sorta "decay time" element where the AI doesn't remember all the things you did forever, it sorta "forgets" the count on certain things over time. So it isn't merely all about how many times you did a thing, it's also, if not more crucially, the *frequency* of doing it. Hence it can feel "inconsistent" I guess, but in my view, it does make it seem a bit more believable and the Alien feel like a "living creature", and maintains that ambiguity and unpredictability as I found it to be harder, if not fruitless trying to predict when exactly smth like this will happen, and found that keeping yourself in anticipation of smth like this possibly occurring, being ready for it instead and doing the best you can to delay or outright prevent it being a better way to go about it.


The other one is that, at least as well as I understood it, there are scripted points through out the game where the game will force-unlock new behaviors for the Alien, with the main idea behind it being to make sure the Alien keeps up with the player if they are doing too good of a job at evading it. How it determines which behaviors to force-unlock (whether it is random or the choice is influenced by your actions) is beyond me tho, I never looked deep enough into it (nor desire to). Also - this one I also find somewhat justifiable as can be interpreted as Aliens unlocking new knowledge from their encounters with other survivors (I mean, Alien isn't hunting us 24/7 from the start of M5, it fucks off for a good while in between too), but I guess it's my inner experientialist is crawling out and trying to cope

Your point about the big picture side effects is interesting, and I do wonder if my answer will make it feel worse or better about how the game works. Thing is - you are not locked in place when you're hiding under/behind objects, only when using lockers/cupboards (hence why the latter is simply inferior). Going back to the point about always anticipating and being ready for the Alien potentially pulling some tricks - since your crawling is silent, when you even think the Alien is about to search under the table/bed etc you're hiding under, you can literally skiddadle out of few of the opening of that hiding spot that you fear Alien might start checking. Again, the game's stealth is build around sound and line of sight, the idea is to not make any unwanted, unnecessary noises that enemies can detect, and stay out of their sight, obstruct the view between them and you. Of course, that only works for those environmental props that actually open in 2 directions, but that's additionally why paying attention to your environment is important. Now, the reason I have concerns telling you this is because, from what I heard you talked about so far, I can absolutely envision your suspension of disbelief being deconstructed even more, as thinking about it, it is a bit silly that Alien (and other enemies) can't hear you moving even at point blank as long as you moving in prone/crouched position and don't bump into their bodies. But again, in my experiences, it barely registered to me as I frantically try to keep my composure and try to not overdo any movement to a point where I actually end up exposing myself.

But, sir, beg my pardon, hate to break it to you, I must say this - in examples at 19:19 & 20:01...one of the sounds the Alien can hear are those of your walking footsteps, if you're close enough. I'm afraid that's all there is to it, you were too close when you started walking (and you really weren't far, I would estimate it being like 0.3-0.4 Motion Tracker units away. Yes, I've played this game a little bit alot). There IS still bullshit around it, but one that now comes from the fact this game is actually quite janky. I will not tell you about it, and will just say that it is surrounding walking, smth that likely at least partially responsible for giving you a wrong impression that Alien CAN'T, in fact, hear your walking pace, because you highly likely had at least one instance where you made use of this jank accidentally and it saved your life.

Anyway - phew, that took way longer than it should have, and I went way too in depth into it...when I haven't even finished watching this video, and there will be likely even more to say after I am done watching. But just be aware - I am so far really impressed with your analysis, it's incredibly well produced and written, and particularly appreciate how you actually didn't resort to using AI voices and hired actually people to voice over certain things. No harsh feelings, I mean ultimately both of us are based enjoyers of this game anyway :)

Feel free to point how unnecessary this wall of text was since I prematurely felt impulsed to write it in the middle of watching your critique ;p

[clutchthecinnamonsergal]

These instances give me the indication of being trolled lol.

I saw a clip where the xenomorph chases a player into a room and immediately goes into a vent….the player Think’s he's gotten extremely lucky and attempts to exit the room, only for the xenomorph to be waiting for him on the other side of the door.

Leading to a hilarious perfectly cut scream.

Trolled

[Combatgoblin]

I’ll never get over the clip of the dude playing isolation; hiding in a locker and he farts and the Mike picks it up and the xeno comes back and kills him 😂😂😂😂

[Momo_Minomo]

Most important when dealing with the alien is to NEVER give in to your desire to hide for too long. The longer you hide or sneak around an area the closer the alien gets to finding you. This goes double on higher difficulties. If the alien isn't in your line of sight you should be walking upright because it's much faster than sneaking but just as quiet. Sure it will get you seen faster if the alien looks your way but if you hear the alien that close to you it's easy to duck down behind something to break line of sight again.

2nd most important tip is there's ALWAYS secondary ways to hide and distract but most people are too afraid to make use of them. In the hospital section you have so many rooms with emergency override locks where you can lock the alien out and use your wrench to hit the wall to make a crap ton of noise. Since the alien can't get to you through the door it will head for the vents to try and find you that way. The moment you hear it running away you've bought yourself time to unlock the door and walk towards your next objective. In other areas of the game you'll have rooms you can re-route power away from the door or the only way in is a vent and a door with a manual lock, effectively working the same way as the override, if a bit slower. The Xeno also doesn't like ladders so you can climb to another level and make noise there and then immediately use the ladder again while it runs for the vent access. Basically anything you can do to trick the Xeno to go into the vents for a while is going to help you not stick around one area for too long. Hesitation will kill you.

[ayjay]

The Alien picks the distraction closest to it. So if you throw a noisemaker further from the Alien than you are, it will notice you first. The AI is actually working perfectly. It’s not ignoring the noisemaker, it’s prioritizing its target.

[rabbit_aizakku]

Since you mentioned Alien Romulus near the end, it is interesting to see that many people found references to Isolation in the movie, for example, the save point telephones

[DiscountCassian]

It ignored the noisemaker because of the difficulty and because you were walking not sneaking. It heard you.

[AdrianArmbruster]

17:17 -- the way to fix this, I would say, would be to simulate the Xeno just opening other, random lockers or crawling under other tables first, to simulate a 'it's learning!' arc, and also to let the player know that the director is onto your tricks without just arbitrarily going after your hiding place, specifically.

[Noctazar]

19:20 In each of these examples, you exit crouch and start walking while still near the Alien. He simply hears it and starts running to the last location he heard a footstep. That's what kept killing you.

[Superninfreak]

I think one really important thing to remember here is that Alien Isolation is a horror game and the Xenomorph in it is a horror monster. And I think that means that some unfairness is actually good.

If you feel like you have a perfect strategy and a perfect hiding place, then the monster isn’t scary anymore. It’s just a challenge to overcome. AI in stealth games should be beatable and fair. But the point of horror is to make you scared/anxious/tense, not to give you a fair competition.

One thing that makes the Xenomorph scary is that when you hide somewhere, you don’t know if it is still going to find you. Some of the best moments are when you are hiding somewhere, the alien walks over and sniffs around your hiding spot, and then it walks away. Those moments would be much less tense if you didn’t know that there was a real chance that the alien was about to grab you. If you knew that you were safe because you got into the hiding place quietly, then you’d feel relaxed instead of tense during those moments.

Obviously there are limits to it. The AI can’t cheat too much or it just becomes too frustrating, and eventually you become desensitized to losing. But the AI occasionally cheating in a horror game seems like a good thing to help keep the tension up.

[moe_selim]

I can't really agree with your analysis. I finished this game on hard and nightmare, and the game doesn't really cheat. It wants you to play by it's rules. For example, if you use multiple cover types, you will feel that you are the one tricking the alien. Staying always on the move even if circling covers such as boxes or couches allows you to get very close to the alien and escape it. Nightmare made me choose lockers as a last resort as I wanted to keep the alien in sight. Always stay crouched, as simple steps on higher difficulties will register as sound like how you were spotted with its back to you. Minimize the motion tracker due to its noise and find routes using your own senses. Sure sometimes it can go haywire but not because of cheating but rather because how all these nodes may not work perfectly in a situation. You can then accept death with a smile or do a random action to balance the AI and get it back to its normal stance. But this game is really hard and the atmosphere will suck you in and add a sense of dread even if the alien wasn't there so you do need a mindset to play it and it is not for everyone.

[cabrondemente]

"more like an intentional, unpredictable and malicious glitch in the system to be avoided at all costs."

Well yeah, the Alien isn't supposed to be there, it is the root cause of Sevastopol's collapse.

Mission accomplished SEGA.

[ninthelement]

18:00 The alien didn't kill you here because you hid under beds too many times, but because it had direct line of sight to your hiding place. In my experience, the alien learning stuff based on your behaviour has minimal to nonexistent impact on the challenge, depending on how optimally you're playing. It doesn't factor in at all to speedrunning strategies, for instance. The only time I really notice it is if I use too much of one particular distraction in a single mission, then the alien will start ignoring them, but this only really becomes an issue in hardcore mods like Kitty Isolation or Smoke Isolation.

The tether does have a bit more of an impact, but I don't find it immersion-breaking as I just think of it as though the alien has your scent, enough to know your general location but not to find you directly. Overall, I don't think the alien is unfair, but I appreciate it can seem that way if you're only on your second or third playthrough. There is a great deal of depth to dealing with the alien which takes longer to learn.

[Scoopsdepoop]

Simulationists complain too much from what i understand. They want a game they understand fully, but that's not fun. That's grindy.

[ironboy]

19:39 no, its because you stood up and started walking, creating a louder noise compared to you crouchwalking

[leviatkinson]

20:20 “inconsistent reaction” brother you did two different things. You started walking in the first clip, causing the alien to hear you and change focus, and in the second clip you kept crouching. Not really sure what you’re expecting when you do two different things…

[jospehpenn]

One of the things that i love about this game is how many people get to experience the Xeno in different ways. For example in the very beginning when your waiting to leave after Axel dies most people just assume "oh I was safe it was just a bunch of ambiance noise waiting for the transport" after they get on, but fun fact some people make a bunch of noise or just dont get in the transport and then immediately get caught by the Alien

[commie_maybe]

My gosh. I totally misread that thumbnail. I was like, "Okay. That's odd. But I'm listening."

[_GeneralMechanics_]

The alien is tethered to the player like Lisa was in "PT." There was another video about this game from someone who explores the out-of-bounds regions in games; and they showed when the alien leaps back into the vents, it's still lurking around in what would be the layout of the room the player goes into.

[fnkyron]

My bias is going to show: I love all these weird little creature franchises, Alien, Predator, etc. big fan. So I’m kind of “already in the bag” for what Isolation was doing.

But my thought is, all of the complaints can be solved by playing on an easier difficulty. I played on an easier difficulty and I had a delightful time.

I believe it was Noah Gervais who talked about, like, the point of survival horror is not to kill you over and over, like some repeated weird murder simulator, but to keep you as close to death as possible. Once you die, the fear is kind of “broken”, you’re off-gassing the tension as soon as you die. RE4 is designed to adapt TO you, to keep you right along the knifes edge, that’s where the tension comes from. This also goes for Dead Space, which will throw you a “small health pack” that’ll only keep you alive a bit longer.

The horror is made in the struggle, in the fight, desperately scrambling to stay alive and only ever barely making it out.

When I played Alien Isolation, I had a blast, I felt like I was ALWAYS on the edge, always JUST ahead of the Xeno, that we were playing chess. Variable difficulties are the key and IMO, are usually the solution to these complaints.

Although, I will also admit, maybe I find it a bit easier to get “immersed”, bc I want to be here and exist in these worlds, some people just want to pull the slot machine handle and expect game to happen.

Also: Alien Romulus was GNARLY. 10/10 please see that crazy shit in theaters.