Survival horror Stealth horror Sci-fi and space horror

Alien: Isolation

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Hide from one alien you cannot kill on a dying space station.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, iPhone, Android
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (93% of 67,246 reviews); Metacritic 81 on PC; 4.6 of 5 on the PlayStation Store (40,803 ratings); 4.5 of 5 on GOG (219 reviews)
Length: about 18 to 19 hours
Players: 1
Made by: Creative Assembly
Released: 2014

On GOG: one of the GOG horror games.

No. 7 of the alien horror games · No. 6 of the spaceship horror games · No. 8 of the robot horror games · No. 10 of the artificial intelligence horror games · No. 2 of the space station horror games

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What frightens Fifteen years after the first film, Amanda Ripley searches the failing space station Sevastopol and finds a single alien loose in its corridors. It hears you and learns your habits, and no weapon can kill it, so you watch a beeping motion tracker, hide in lockers and vents holding your breath, and run for the next manual save station.
Content: gore, blood, violence, strong language, jumpscares, loud sounds, death.

Amanda Ripley boards the space station Sevastopol looking for her mother's flight recorder and finds one alien hunting everyone aboard. You sneak, hide and improvise tools to survive a creature that cannot be killed, in a station built to look like the 1979 film.

About Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival horror game made by the British studio Creative Assembly and published by SEGA. It came out on PC on 6 October 2014 and on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One a day later. It is set fifteen years after the film Alien. Amanda Ripley, the daughter of the film's heroine, travels to the remote trading station Sevastopol because it has recovered the flight recorder of her mother's lost ship, the Nostromo. She arrives to find the station in chaos, its people hiding from each other and from something in the vents.

That something is a single alien, and it is the heart of the game. It is not scripted to appear at set moments: it roams, listens for noise, searches lockers and learns where you like to hide. You cannot kill it. A motion tracker shows movement nearby, though its beeping can give you away. You crouch behind crates, slip into vents and lockers, and hold your breath as it passes. Over the game you craft noisemakers, flares and medkits from scrap, and later gain tools that can only drive it off for a moment.

The station is a threat in itself. Panicked survivors may shoot first, and the company's androids, the Working Joes, walk calmly towards you and strangle you if they catch you. Saving is only possible at emergency terminals that take a few seconds to use, so every walk between them is a risk.

The look comes straight from the 1979 film: chunky computer terminals, flickering monitors and humming machinery. It is a long game for the genre, about 18 and a half hours for the main story by HowLongToBeat's count, with adjustable difficulty, and suits patient players who like stealth and tension more than shooting. Feral Interactive made the Mac and Linux versions and the versions for iPhone and Android, where the first two missions are free and one purchase unlocks the rest. The Switch version followed on 5 December 2019 with all seven add-ons included.

How to play Alien: Isolation

Explore the station in first person, picking up scrap and blueprints as you go.
Raise the motion tracker to see what is moving nearby, and lower it when the alien is close so its beep does not give you away.
Hide behind cover, in lockers or under desks when you hear the alien, and wait until it leaves.
Craft noisemakers, flares and medkits from scrap to distract enemies or heal.
Save at the emergency stations on the walls; nothing saves automatically between them.

Screenshots

Alien: Isolation screenshot: the alien's ridged head and jaws close up in the dark

Alien: Isolation screenshot: Amanda holds a green motion tracker before a lit station doorway

Alien: Isolation screenshot: a Working Joe android walks through flames towards Amanda's flamethrower in a storeroom

Alien: Isolation screenshot: a desk of chunky retro computer terminals with a glowing red screen on Sevastopol station

Alien: Isolation screenshot: a red-lit emergency airlock bay under a Life Boat Evacuation sign

Alien: Isolation screenshot: a man in station uniform stands in a white medical bay, seen through a dark window

Alien: Isolation screenshot: two figures in bulky retro spacesuits and helmets in blue darkness

Tips

Move crouched most of the time; running draws the alien to you.
Throw a noisemaker away from your path to pull the alien elsewhere.
Do not hide in the same place over and over: the alien learns your habits.
Save at every emergency station you reach, even if you saved a few minutes ago.

Questions

Can you kill the alien in Alien: Isolation?

No. The alien cannot be killed; at most you can drive it off for a short time later in the game.

How long is Alien: Isolation?

HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about 18 and a half hours.

Is Alien: Isolation on mobile?

Yes. Feral Interactive's versions for iPhone and Android are free to download with the first two missions; one purchase unlocks missions 3 to 19 and all the add-ons.

Do I need to have seen the film?

No, but it helps: the game is set fifteen years after Alien and follows Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda.

Which version of Alien: Isolation includes the add-ons?

The Nintendo Switch version, released in December 2019, includes all seven add-ons, among them Last Survivor, and adds gyro aiming. The mobile versions include them in the full game unlock.