After an entire decade, a sequel toAlien: Isolationhas finally been announced. This announcement also comes months afterAlien: Romulusbrought Xenomorphs, facehuggers, and corporate androids back to the big screen to significant financial and critical success. TheseAlienprojects are very similar in both their strengths and weaknesses, asthey both bring the franchise back to its absolute basicsand must now figure out what to do next.
Alien: Isolationdistills theAlienfranchise down to its most essential parts by mostly utilizing the first movie. Starring the daughter of Ellen Ripley,Alien: Isolationtakes place on a derelict space station that is overrun by rogue androids and stalked by a menacing Xenomorph.Alien: Isolationis very similar toAlienin the basic plotof a single woman creatively avoiding a Xenomorph until she finishes it off by destroying the spacecraft they’re both on.
Alien: Isolation Sequel Could Have The Same Problem As The Movies
Too Many Xenomorphs Could Kill The Atmosphere
The question forthe sequel toAlien: Isolationis where it goes from there, as Ripley has already faced off with one Xenomorph and destroyed an entire nest alongside the Sevastopol space station. The sequel is left with only a few choices.It can either follow the path ofAliensand throw dozens of Xenomorphs at the player at once, or it can once again feature one main Xenomorphantagonist until the final act likeAlien: Romulus.Unfortunately, there are major issues with both of these choices.
Adding more than one Xenomorph would take away from that oppressive presence.
If the sequel follows theAliensroute and adds hordes of Xenomorphs,it will dilute the terrifying nature of the Xenomorph. The stand-out feature ofAlien: Isolationis its singular Xenomorph AI that tracks the players throughout the entire game and improves its hunting skills by learning from the player’s habits. Adding more than one Xenomorph would take away from that oppressive presence. Alternatively, the sequel will have to do the same thing as the original game and focus on just one Xenomorph, which leads into another problem.
Alien: Isolation Was Already The Perfect Alien Game
Any Sequel Must Improve Upon Perfection
Any sequel that decides to utilize just one Xenomorph will havean extremely hard time being better than the original game.Alien: Isolationis as perfect anAliengame as could ever be made; the Platonic ideal ofAlienvideo games. The stellar game design, the award-winning sound design, the attention to detail in every aspect of the 1980s sci-fi aesthetic on the space station, not to mention the incredible Xenomorph AI, all add up to one of the best video games ever made. Even after a full decade,Alien: Isolationis graphically beautiful.
The Alien Isolation Sequel Needs To Change This Major Story Detail
An Alien: Isolation sequel has lots it needs to improve upon to be as memorable, and switching one major story detail would go a long way to help.
That’s not to say that a sequel toAlien: Isolationcan’t be fantastic. 10 years is a very long time in the gaming industry, so any sequel has the potential to be superior in graphics and gameplay and could potentially be one of thebest video game sequels of all time. It’ll be a tough act to follow upAlien: Isolation, but with the entireAlienfranchise receiving new life, it’s easy to be optimistic.
Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation is a sci-fi survival horror game from the developers at Creative Assembly. Fifteen years after the events ofAlien,engineer Amanda Ripley heads to the space station Sevastopol after a lead on her missing mother directs her to the Seegson space station, Sevastopol. However, Amanda and her crew soon discover the station has fallen into anarchy, with its residents being stalked by terrifying Xenomorphs.
