When it was announced that there would be humanoid enemies in Alien: Isolation people who were first attracted by the game’s refreshingly restrained approach to the source material began to worry. Would this ultimately end up like the reprehensible Colonial Marines, with players gunning down hordes of boring Weyland-Yutani footsloggers?
Not to worry. Speaking to GamesTM lead designer Gary Napper has revealed that players can ”get through the entire game” without killing anyone.
Typically I’m something of a hypocrite about this - I’ll extoll the virtues of a non-violent playthrough in something like Metal Gear Solid 3, then get bored about halfway through and start charging around with a shotgun. That said, I want Alien: Isolation to scare the pants off me, and allowing players to go ‘full Rambo’ whenever they feel like it would simply undermine the premise.
“You can get through the entire game without killing someone,” said Napper. ”It’s something that was, not so much a challenge, but something I felt was what the character would do. We’re talking about a member of the Ripley family – they’re not like characters in games that gun down civilians because they’re in the way to get to the switch.”
Instead, you’ll have to keep an eye on your surroundings and your bits of retro-futuristic tech. Like the iconic hand-scanner. “It’s those kinds of things that give you a lot of gameplay,” Napper explained. “You’re tracking the alien or a human or whatever, they could be on the floor below you, they could be in the ducts above you, they could be behind the wall – you’re never totally sure where these things are.”
Please be good, please be good, please be good. Creative Assembly are making all the right noises and what I’ve seen so far looks great, but we’ve all been here before. I’m suffering major post-Star Wars prequel style disillusionment here, and I need Isolation to rekindle my love of Alien games.
My fingers are crossed and my body is ready for that October 7 release date.
