Alien Isolation, like most of the films in the legendary series, is claustrophobic. That’s the point; you’re trapped somewhere with something otherworldly and terrifying – there is nowhere to go, nowhere to run. Hiding is often the best bet. With Alien Isolation 2 adding outdoor, open areas into the mix, we wondered how that affects the tension. After sitting down with Anastasia Sopikova, Project Art Director, and Laura Maurerer, Principal UI Artist, at Gamescom, we’re now more scared than ever.
Sopikova talks a bit about transitioning to more open, outdoor areas, and how they’re “building spaces that can support multiple different playstyles, and there’ll be multiple ways to survive”. The first game was all cramped corridors and hiding under tables, and we’re told Alien Isolation 2 will have those as well, but with a new over-exposed angle to survival.
There’s perhaps some comfort in knowing that a bloodthirsty alien only has a couple of directions of approach – a vent here, a corridor there. At least when you’re caged in, you can see the corners. The new outdoor areas of Alien Isolation 2 offer a completely different form of danger, though, with the open sky feeling a bit like a threat.
“The most important thing is building a space that will support that iconic cat and mouse game.” Sopikova talks about how players have a bit more freedom to decide how they will survive “because people play differently. Some people are really cautious … others are more reliant on tools, and they kind of just go straight forward.”
The elements, we’re told, will also play a large part in avoiding the Xenomorph: “You have the fog, you have the rain, and maybe at some point the fog comes in, and you can only see a few meters in front of you. All the rain picks up, and it’s really loud, and you can’t hear aliens’ footsteps.”
Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation, really, isn’t it? That’s what makes the Alien Isolation games so tense, though. It’s the feeling of being stalked; it’s the desperate lunge for a safe space – and it looks like those safe spaces might be getting a little bit further away than we’re used to.
Additional reporting by Tom Hopkins for PCGamesN at Gamescom.
