14 DAY TRIAL // The new Alien: Isolation video game is ready to try to recreate the low fidelity science fiction setting that was created by the team that worked on the first movie in the series, even if it might feel obsolete by today’s standards.
Alistair Hope, the creative leader of the team working on the title, tells Xbox Achievements that, “I think it feels quite fresh amongst all the high-fi sci-fi we’ve had over the years. Out approach has always been to… you know Alien is a two hour film set on one ship, and we have to give the player more to explore than that, with new locations on a new station that’s bigger and more varied.”
The biggest investment that The Creative Assembly needs to make is linked to the creation of the space station where the action takes place.
The fact that just 15 years pass between the Alien movie and the game means that technology has changed very little, especially in the far corners of the universe, and the team aims to stay as close to its sources of inspiration as possible.
Hope adds, “we set rules for ourselves, like not referencing any technology that was created after 1979, because the guys making the sets wouldn’t have done that. This helped us steer in the same direction they were headed. It means that the tech in the game and the things you can do, are all kind of grounded and relatable in some way.”
The developer hopes that even modern gamers will be fascinated by the retro look and by the fact that some tech that’s featured will have to be tweaked by the player in order to work.
Alien: Isolation will feature Ripley’s daughter as she tries to find a way to leave the space station, while also dealing with the attention of a single alien.
The company wants to use classic survival horror mechanics for the experience that launches later this year.