“We have heard your distress calls loud and clear,” say Creative Assembly
Why yes, thatwasa micro change in air density you just noticed on your motion tracker. Ten years since the release of horror adaptationAlien Isolation, Creative Assembly have announced that they’re making a sequel.
“On the 10th anniversary, it seems only fitting to let you know that we have heard your distress calls loud and clear,” reads a post from Al Hope, the original game’s creative director, onXitter. “Today, I’m delighted to confirm, on behalf of the team, that a sequel to Alien: Isolation is in early development. We look forward to sharing more details with you when we’re ready.”
I was absolutely beside myself when the developers in the roundtable all simultaneously adopted the same expression of glassy-eyed smugness. “We think you will like our game,” one of them ventured. I hurried on home and proceeded to eat my hands for three years, until the formal reveal. Today, I begin to eat my hands anew.
Here is our originalAlien Isolation Wot I Think, written by Adam Smith (RPS in peace), who of course is now Duke of Words atBaldur’s Gate 3developer Larian. An extract:
Isolation is the best Alien game I’ve ever played, I’m in no doubt about that. Even in its awkward moments it is doing something interesting with the license, exploring the edges of what is possible in its world, quietly and discreetly. I expect the debate about certain design choices to be loud and long. At the centre of the debate will be one of the finest entries in the Alien canon in any medium, and one of the finest horror experiences in ours.
The prospect of an Isolation sequel aside, it’s nice to see Creative Assembly getting work that isn’t Total War. The developers have had a rough year or two, with Segacancelling their first-person shooter Hyenasamid layoffs, andshoving their noses ever deeper into the strategy game genre. At the risk of being a negative Nancy here, I’d say the new Alien game has a lot to prove within Sega, and 10 years is a long time - how many of the old Isolation team are still there?
