Alien Isolation is one of those games where it simply doesn’t get better as you keep playing. The first real gameplay sections with the alien is the best moments in the game. After this, it steadily degrade in some of the most painful gameplay experiences. Not all is bad with the game. The graphics are great and I can acknowledge that the monotonous style maybe a bit tedious for some but I was rather pleased with the graphical presentation and most of the level design. Outside of the graphics the game excel in creating the atmosphere of desolation and being in space. This feeling is exceptional strong in the first sections of the game. On the sounds side, everything was top notch. Unfortunately I could not appreciate the music because I generally don’t play games like these with music, it creates fake drama that I am not fond of. For the most part the controls are great with the controller and I have not tried playing with the keyboard and mouse.
Beyond the positives mentioned previously is a slew of things I personally distaste. One of the most annoying aspects of the game is the back tracking. At first everything feels right and you don’t understand what some people are complaining about with regards to the tedium. But, don’t be fooled. Only the first sections of the game is truly enjoyable because the experience is new. Once you moved pass the gloriously beginning you will be bombarded with nonstop failures, power outages, find alternate route, activate sequences of switches over and over and over and over again. It does not stop. I am not understating this. This is the bulk of the later 2/3 of the game. All of the greatness dies. Not rapidly but slowly. You are no longer fearful of anything. Everything because a chore because of the frequency. The pacing is downright terrible mainly due to the over reliance of the hide, wait,move,hide wait gameplay. This would not be a problem if it wasn’t as frequent.
Couple the tedium of the same mechanics is the back tracking and moving from point A to B to A to C to B to A to B to D to A. This another aspect that does not die. You will begin to anticipate the predictable gameplay after a while. The moment you get an object you know there isn’t going to be any power, you know that the initial path is going to be obstructed, you know the alien is going to slow you down, you know you have to find a keycard, code or activate switches. Why? Because it happens all the time.
With enough emphasis on the repetition, there are other aspects of the game that maybe a problem for some as it was for me. There are moments where you attacks simply don’t register and this can lead to death. The alien AI is not too consistent. There are moments when you should die but you don’t and other times when you shouldn’t but you do and it leaves you bewildered. There is several intrusive quick timed events which doesn’t belong in the game not even slightly. They have achieved such a great atmosphere and immersion that downgrading to almost passive interactivity in certain sections of the game takes away from all of the work in what they have already accomplished. One odd interaction that bothered me was the level. In one instance you simply use a trigger and analog combination and in another for the same switch requires mindless button mashing. You would not die from these moments but it simply adds nothing to the game.
Overall, the experience was mostly disappointing. You are left with no real sense of accomplishment in the game. There was so much potential but the developers wanted to make a long game so they padded it to the extreme and to the overall detriment of the game.