As someone who adores Alien and Aliens and "retro-futurism" in general; I adored this game. Sure it has problems, but being able to play a triple A game with such wonderful art direction was a delight.
It has a lot of issues That's why it needs a sequel Imagine the devs cutting and fixing the bad parts and letting and improving the best ? The Perfect game would be made
The art direction is so good that you can play it on potato mode and it still oozes atmosphere. Your screen might look 8-bit, but the dreary, low-fi future aesthetic shines through.
Oh, and one more thing. I might be in the minority here, but i really loved the almost-quick time events. I absolutely HATE the ACTUAL QTEs in games, especially during action sequences, but in Isolation, it made perfect sense to be there during the opening doors, welding, unwelding, hacking, it just felt... right. Sure, on my third playthrough it got a bit annoying, but i still get why it's there and i like it being there. For me, it actually added to the immersion.
I keep following your channel, because I find it hard to believe how different our tastes are. I like your videos because they have a lot of thought put into them. But know that over all these years you and I have maybe agreed on one thing haha but it’s cool
It's the kind of genres name wich doesn't mean anything. It's like when point & clics were named "Adventure games", as if an action game or a plateformer was not an adventure... "Immersive sims", most of the time, could just be described as a blend of FPS-RPG-Survival game.
it should be regarded in a similar light to Giallo is to Horror movies, where its less so a genre and more a Style or Movement, similar hallmarks that arent well defined, But You Know It When You See It.
This has gotten especially annoying on this channel when seemingly the entire incentive for some of these videos is just him bitching and moaning about him "having to make a video" because people asked him if he considered certain games to line up with his wobbly ass genre definition. For someone who has an ongoing joke about shitting on people for taking sponsors because they lack passion or interest in making good content for their audience he sure comes off as someone who doesn't have much passion in his content these days.
@@SleepLIVEYT I mean he has called Bioshock an immersive sim when I don't think it fits the definition at all. The only freedom of choice in that game is how you want to handle a combat encounter (and sneaking isn't an option) and a binary good and bad choice. Hell, STALKER felt more like an immersive sim to me than Bioshock.
Huh, I loved the game. Did not have the bugs you had and thought it was very immersive with its visuals and atmosphere. I also liked the DLC. The DLC got me better at stealthing the xenomorph, made it actually fun to avoid him with the use of flares, gadgets and etc.
Funny, I cannot remember any review outlets whatsoever lambasting this game, other than IGN, and nor have I ever heard anyone piss and moan about it being "treated unfairly". It got a very positive reception pretty much across the board, even from journos who absolutely acknowledged its drawn-out length and other issues.
And Charl being like “everyone is making excuses for it”. No dude, they just genuinely liked the game, and you’re kind of a dick for telling them they’re wrong for that.
@@BombayBerkeI did notice that this was a weird video for him. He’s had plenty of videos where he dislikes the game, but normally they’re consistent to his views. This time he’s got stuff like how he dislikes the alien because it’s too stupid to him, but he likes monsters in games like amnesia, that are literally scripted to spawn behind you more often than they are likely to actually find you by intelligence. Amnesias a great game too, it’s just weird that he cares more to dislike a better monster than to dislike a worse one, and that he only does so for specifically alien.
That's probably because the games industry was still considered a bit "niche" when compared to movies and game journalists weren't forced to complete games as fast as possible to make their article before anyone else.
I don't like the "stalker" genre of horror games, but Isolation is a masterpiece in art direction sound design, and atmosphere. unbelievably beautiful game crafted by people who adore and respect the source material in a way I haven't seen in any modern game. Highly recommend it just for the visuals alone.
I'll never understand the negativity this game receives. Have played thousands of games over nearly 40 years and this is in my top 10 or 15. A survival horror masterpiece. 10/10.
I'd simply put it that there is no other game that comes as close to being Alien (1979): The Video Game, which is to say recreating that specific scene when Ripley is escaping the Nostromo through what are largely non-scripted gameplay sequences multiple times over, and Isolation is vastly better at engineering that feeling than similar games released before that were clearly inspired by Alien like System Shock or Dead Space. I was thinking about this yesterday, but I don't even mind how long the game is anymore or how fucked the pacing is at the climax. There has been absolute fuck all for anyone wanting a game like Isolation since it released, so I'm just more likely to try to see what it's going for than reacting like a petulant child that the game isn't exactly what I always expected, and I'm clearly not the only one. In that context, deliberately uncharitable reviews like this or Under the Mayo's are trash that I have no respect for. The reviewer wants to know why Alien: Isolation gets so many "excuses"? That's why, and it isn't a complicated reason.
Some people just don't like the game due to personal tastes. Like I adore Sims 3 but I know a lot of people consider it boring, aimless, bland, stupid etc. *shrugs* Im just here for his opinion and his experience with different games. Its interesting to hear the reasons why someone likes and dislikes a game
@@MAJ0R_TOM Exactly. I really didn't mind the pacing or length at all. It's a great game so I was quite happy that it lasted so long. It's a gruelling experience, as surviving on a space station against a xenomorph should be. As a big fan of the first three films, I found it to be as perfect a simulation of that situation as we could ever hope for. And the artistic side of the game regularly gets overlooked. The sound, art design, and subliminal imagery are benchmarks for the medium.
I just hope we get another Alien horror game again at some point, almost all of them have been constant action games which I don't personally find all that interesting for the series. It doesn't even have to be first person stealthy survival horror like A:I, imagine an Alien game in the vein of Silent Hill or Resident Evil style gameplay for example. There's a lot of potential there.
Isolation is best game with a Xenomorph, bar none. It has it's flaws, and having Sevastopol more open for non-linear exploration would definitely make it a lot better, but still. Creative Assembly did something amazing here. Too bad they didn't have a littlebit more funding or time or both... Oh and screw the demented AvP shit. These two franchises should have never been connected. Also, i'm having quite a bit of fun with Dark Descent now. I wish ACM was more like that (it was even supposed to be).
You can kill the trapping Joes. Just not with melee weapons. You can shoot them or set them on fire. Sure, that's not possible when xeno is slithering in the vent next to you, but the moment in the video where you're complaining about that - those can be shot without attracting trouble. After a while, you develop kinda feeling of where the xenomorph ISN'T, and there are places in the game where you can make as much noise as you want and it won't show up.
@@ATippingBarn It's not perfect. AI doesn't have native VR support, so your point of view occasionally clips into Amanda model, also the hand controllers don't track your hands, you're using them just like a typical twinstick controller. So your real hands aren't "touching" ingame stuff unlike in Alyx, where you do... But even with those minor issues, it's really good. I got few pals in their fourties who absolutely refuse to play AI in VR :-D. And thanks to the amazing graphics that AI has, how great Sevastopol looks, after a while, your brain starts to trick you that you're actually there and starts adding senses that aren't there. You start to SMELL the Sevastopol. The dust, the rusting wiring, the plastic padding on the walls, the ozone. And when the xeno shows up, and starts stomping towards you, those are some of the most intense VR moments I've seen. Highly recommended. It's called MotherVR, it's free and the install is super easy. You just copy a dll file to the game folder. I think it's available on Steam workshop, but i'm not really sure... I started my third playthrough last winter, and once again i was amazed how little the graphics aged. Creative Assembly really created something amazing here. Unlike all the assholes who babble about their utmost respect for something and then shit out subpar turd, AI devs actually showed their love and understanding of the Alien Universe. Too bad the game wasn't less linear. Just imagine if Sevastopol was opened for nonlinear exploration with friendly and hostile NPCs going about their business, hive hidden somewhere on the station that would send out xenos to kidnapp & kill ppl. Holy sheed i want that game...
I get that the game feels way longer than it needed to be, but I loved it. The atmosphere is oppressive. The Alien scared the hell out of me every time. The dang thing even started lingering around lockers or cabinets I was hiding in as if it knew where I was and was waiting for me to come out. True, the human enemies are BS, and the Working Joes can be more nuisance than threat. But this is one of the scariest games I've ever played. And it's one of my favorite horror games as well.
the episode where he films the guy and spots a 0,0001mm space between his feet and the ground therefore calling the guy a cheater because it's no longer called speedwalking/powerwalking?
Love this game! I do wish that there was better bacing and a shorter story + a lotta small improvements but the alien and the assets are legit top 5 games I've ever played!
You shoot 'em in the head. The androids on the ground? Put one between the eyes and they're cleared. Otherwise, you can just keep an eye on them. They only activate when the camera doesn't have them in its field of view. That simple. I don't even think I knew they could do that until my second run of the game, so there's definitely no spot where you _have_ to take damage from them to proceed. They are perfectly avoidable.
1 important thing charl, iirc from some dev talks, the alien never despawns, and never teleports. Once the alien is in the game, it's in the game, and yes, it won't do anything if you don't give it any reason to believe you're there.
This game got so much hate simply because unlike most horror games you can't just sprint away from the monster and also hide. It punishes you REALLY hard if you don't play it basically how they want you to. Stealth and making as little noise as possible goes completely against the mind set so many gamers have these days. But man was that a breath of fresh air, specially in the horror game department. This game was a near masterpiece from start to finish, and I'm still mad there's no sequel at all. Plus the attention to detail and love for the franchise was so rare to see in the Alien games so again, huge shame it got so much undeserved hate.
Hermano gracias for making that lomo saltdo. U make me made a huge smile and ur ranting about the best soda inka kola was epic. I sugest u learn how to make ceviche or causa those are the best sea food we have here in Peru.
lmao ceviche was a family go-to when we ere camping because it was a good way to make use of all the poorly filleted fish that the other kids and I would end up having.
I loved Alien Isolation. Very fun, extremely engaging, and well worth the time. Overstays it's stay for sure, but a minor issue on a great game. Honestly, no idea why you were finding certain issues so challenging,. Maybe related to the "I have too many consumables" issue? I rarely had any problems with the stealth. More honestly, I don't think you engaged with the games systems. It's not thief and it's not trying to be. Evade, use the electronics to change the environment to your advantage, use the tables and lockers, use those consumables! I mean you engaged with so few of the stealth mechanics that the alien had nothing to react too. If you don't engage with the game it isn't going to engage with you.
I'm with you on this one. I got sick of the mechanics of the game and the saving system having me redo a lot of stuff if I suddenly get insta-killed by the alien. It got really annoying only after a few hours with enemies around and I just ditched the thing. It all got really tedious. I can see why some people like it, but I just personally despise the "Tag! You're dead!" kind of horror.
I had gotten my ex to play this game a couple years back. She hadnt ever played anything like it before and watching her go through the game for the first time was a real treat. When she acquired the flamethrower she went giddy. Fast forward to her first encounter newly armed. Blasts the xeno and feels as if shes finally on top. Gets through the section with about 40 or so fuel, cant remember exactly. In our canon ol ripley jr only ever made it to the airlock section trapped with the xeno who has built up their courage to face fire headon with but a poot of flames left. Difficulty hard because im an asshole :p
I think a very large thing to note here is that all of the CW's 'problems' of design with Alien Isolation are the exact same design features that were praised in the Outlast breakdown. I think what happened here is a case of "the game wasn't what I wanted" and not "the game is bad/poorly designed." It's a very linear, story based, run-and-hide horror game just like Outlast or Amnesia, or any other. Just because the art direction is incredibly strong and brings the world of Alien to life doesn't mean it should be criticized for not being a free-roam environment sim with a dedicated RPG upgrade tree and infinite ways to play. The game isn't trying to make you feel like you really work on the Sevastopol, it's trying to create a retro-fururist space station themed haunted house.
The first 3 Thief games are considered immersive sims, they're not 'free-roam environment sims' (well Thief 3 is a little bit like that, but still...), they don't have RPG elements, they're basically straightforward stealth games. The point of his criticism is Alien: Isolation is very limited in what it's trying to simulate, therefore it doesn't have enough systems to support multiple play styles, approaches, tactics, whatever you called it. If you find a locked door to a room, you won't be able to get inside until you find a tool to open it. If you find a collectible in a room with a poisoned gas, you won't be able to take it until you find a gas mask later. You can't ignite the gas by your flamethrower. You can't break a window by your wrench and climb inside, you can't even jump in the game. You would be able to do something like that if it was an immersive sim game. See Arkane's Prey.
I could see being turned off by the crafting or QTE's, although I personally felt this game was a masterpiece. To be fair though: I've never been scared of a monster like in Isolation, I loved the QTE's and hacking games, and I ran into three prone joes the whole game.
LOL, watched this as I was playing Dark Descent. Funny part about that ending you had to this. Personally really liking it, but I liked Battlefleet Gothic too.
15:55 Thats really apparent honestly, because evrey single scene i've ever seen of this game, or someone talk about this, involved the xeno morph. Very rarely did they talk about the human scenes, and they talked about the androids so little, i didnt even know they were in the game!
This is a pet peeve of mine. 42:55 I get you're probably being hyperbolic on purpose, but I really dislike when in RU-vid game reviews (or reviews of any kind) made by creators immediately assume anyone who holds an opposing opinion to them cannot understand valid criticism. No, you're not a game journalist or wrong for disliking the game. Anyone that does call you that is stupid, but for you to say "I know I've been a 'big fat meanie pants' and you're probably going to call me a game journalist" is frankly unnecessary. Assuming your audience is going to react unreasonably to a well thought out and honest review is unfair. I know there will still be some commenters who will take offense to your valid criticism of a game they like, but I'm sure you know how to deal with that. As someone who loves Alien Isolation and is a long-time viewer of yours, I want to wholeheartedly say that this video was really well made. No one should be trying to change your opinion or think they can force you to like it, just like you shouldn't be telling people they're wrong for liking it (not that you have, just sayin'). I will defend this game because I like it, but I won't make excuses for it or claim you're wrong for disliking it. Anyway, if you happen to read my comment, I appreciate it. I still really liked this video, but this was my only real issue with it. It's become a cliché that I've noticed far too many times in RU-vid reviews. I hope you have a good one and wish you luck on any future projects.
I'll be honest with you, part of it is to brace ourselves for the inevitable shit-flinging in our general direction whenever we say anything that deviate from the most vanilla, popular, quote unquote "based" takes. It's a hazard of the job I work that I will be talking about things that people can get really weird about, especially if it's their "comfort" thing. As an example, I still to this day get people barging into the comments of unrelated videos or into the discord for videos I did years ago because some people just can't accept people having different opinions than them and the worst consequence they'll face is that they'll get banned from an internet forum. It's kinda like retails service except instead of maybe one or two problems customers in a week you'll get half a dozen a day. However, unlike retail, I'm allowed and able to be rude right back at those kinds of people and then kick them out.
@@CharlatanWonder One year later and returning to this, I still think the comparison between retail workers and working as a RU-vidr is fucking retarded.
These are issues I didn't quite notice on my own playthrough, but that's probably just because I'm such a fan of the franchise that the visuals, score, and sound design kept me in the experience.
I will say, I feel like the crafting system fits the setting of Alien. The original Alien was about working class people using everything in their power to survive, and making make shift tools and weapons to survive was a big part of that. I will say, the story definitely need work. I think the Alien gameplay is amazing, but the other aspects of the game needed work. I'd love to see Creative Assembly come back to this concept to make the horror game that my sci fi horror loving ass has been looking for.
Alien: Isolation is more a Shock-like than immersive sim. Also, for those booby-trap androids, they will always be intact, their eyes will always glow, and you can shoot them. There’s only one place throughout the entire game that I had to walk into one and not shoot it.
This. I figured that one out when my buddy pointed it out to me and it saved my playthrough cause like Char, I was getting suuuuuper pissed off about it.
@@Ickarichi Yup. They'll always be in the same places across playthroughs too. The only one you really need to worry about is the one by the exit in the pod jettisoned to get rid of the initial alien because the alien is definitely there, you can't walk around it activating the airlock, and it's a long crawl to the next save station.
Do think they are a huge missed opportunity. The way they are the lying droids are just a clunky, cumbersome and annoying jumpscare enemy - there is no depth to their encounters what so ever, and they work only on the first playthroughs, since once you know how they work, they are literally a walk-over. Imagine if they were instead actually another enemy type, one that is alerted to noise, and when wakes up, starts to crawl around (and because they can only crawl, are able to get inside vents too)? That'd be just shit your pants awesome. This game really, REALLY needs a remake, and I say that as a huge fan of its. It has too much jank, that stem from both simply glitches and bugs to the too many undercooked mechanics and systems
@@ЯношБанIt does not need a fucking remake are you actually serious? It isn't even a decade old why would it ever need a remake just because it has flaws (which all games do), it's not like it is real old and needs to updated for modern hardware and expectations, it just has design choices you don't like. If I hear someone else say a games "NEEDS" a remake that absolutely fucking does not need a remake (when we can get just get a new game, why that isn't standard anymore I don't know).
This game is perfection. Everything from sounds, artstyle and AI is top notch. It's a shame what became of Creative Assembly. They truly deserve an oscar for Alien Isolation. It set a abar for horror games which still hasn't been touched since then.
I’ll have to agree with the comments here as I didn’t love my time with the game and all the issues you mentioned throughout I either didn’t mind, weren’t bad enough for me to notice, or bad enough to not make this my favorite horror game of all time, even the DLCs were great! I think you got yourself a spicy hot take!
The only thing i dislike about this game is i tried to get past a soft lock around 40 times and have never had the motivation to just do a hard restart since i was ten hours into the game 😭. If i remember correctly for some reason a door would just never open ni matter what i would do. So even when i would pull a switch/push a button to open it, the door would remain closed lol I'll play it again after i finish the system shock remake
It is an immersive sim. If this isn't an immersive sim, then system shock isn't an immersive sim. Throwing a noise device isn't the only thing. Hitting your wrench against a wall to distract enemies. Using power boxes to change the environment to fit your play style. Electrifying water when adroids step in it. All these are immersive sim elements. There is multiple pathways to get to objectives. The main path is somewhat linear. But there are multiple ways of getting past enemies. I'd say it is a light immersive sim. Not faux but a light. Same with bioshock 1/2. It's an immersive sim just bare bones immersive sim
System Shock 1 is an immersive sim, because even it had more interconnected game mechanics and systems than Alien: Isolation, so it allowed you to solve problems in multiple ways. For example, you could solve a puzzle to unlock something (you know, the one that requires you to rewire electricity in a small panel), but you could also use genius drugs to make those puzzles easier, or even use special logic probes to immediately solve a puzzle. There is nothing even remotely close to that in Alien: Isolation. If you have a problem in A:I, you can solve it using only one way. If there is a room with a poison gas, the only way to get through is to find a gas mask. You can't even ignite the gas despite having a flamethrower. Because it's not an immersive sim, it's not even a light immersive sim. It's just a metroidvania with some systemic features and a very cool AI. Otherwise almost every Ubisoft open world game would be considered an immersive sim too (especially Far Cry and Watch Dogs games), because even them have more systems and systemic features than Alien: Isolation, not to mention multiple pathways to objectives and multiple ways of getting past enemies.
I'm still not sure why people tried calling this game an imsim, when the whole "locked areas you can open later with better tools when you return" makes it clear it leans more towards metroidvania. But then again, the correct genre for this game is survival horror, it has all the elements, limited heals, limited ammo to only defend yourself if you have no other choice, documents and environmental storytelling to tell you how things fell apart, like seriously people! How have they forgotten the very obvious one then violently swerve into calling it an imsim!?
That part about inca kola lmfao "not even the bougiest places have it" yeah thats because youre looking in the wrong places. Try C Town or any tiny corner store.
Absolutely loved my first playthrough of this game in a dark room with two friends. We played through it over a week or two rather than plowing through it, so maybe that is why some of the mechanics and pacing didn't bother me. As an Alien fan, this was a 10/10 experience. I do wonder if your thoughts on the game were colored by your knowledge of the meta-situation of the production of Alien: Isolation? But either way, you are 100% entitled to your opinion on it, and I enjoyed hearing it -- I think all of your criticisms are insightful and apt. I do have some general suggestions for your video essays that I wanted to share after watching this, however: I feel like these videos are more "streams of consciousness" and basically cover all of your thoughts about a game, which is perfectly fine -- but I think you might benefit from having a more clear purpose and organization. Suggestion: You might try taking a few days after finishing your first script draft to get your mind off of it, and then take another look at it with these questions in mind: 1) What are you trying to communicate about the game? 2) Is the organization optimal to achieve that objective? Thinking about the above two questions always helps me reorganize my thoughts and figure out the best order to share them in. I hope this helps! Thanks for producing these videos for us!
How come when I watch someone's video about a game I completed, I'm always like "yes, yes, I felt the same", but when I just finished the game I was like "great game" and that's it?
i mean, you can like something without knowing WHY you like something, it can be something unconscious. best way to train yourself to appreciate games more is to ask yourself 'why' after you're done. "great game" but why? why wasn't this game that has the same X, Y or Z just as good?
@@-Zakhiel- That... That was a thing? That's not even comparing apples and oranges, as they're at least both fruit. Its more like comparing apples and bread.
@@RainMakeR_Workshop Oh yes that was a thing. I think you can still find old player reviews of Stalker on the steam page of the game that clearly compare unfavorably Stalker to a RPG in a full open world... Baffling indeed.
LOTS of people in the ImSim subreddit will die on the hill that Alien Isolation is an ImSim. No wonder we see so many posts there asking "is generic shooter Z an ImSIm, because I can stack boxes in that game!"
@@-Zakhiel- As someone who's guilty of comparing STALKER to Fallout (specifically starting from the third one onwards), I mostly use it to explain to people unfamiliar with either series that they are first person shooters (or First Person Action RPG, in Fallout's case) which revolve around surviving in a hostile, borderline post-apocalyptic world (or straight up apocalyptic in Fallout's case) where finding a bullet could be the difference between life and death (if not for the player, then for the other inhabitants of said setting). Of course, gameplay-wise they are nowhere near the same and their overarching themes might be completely different, but overall I find it much easier to say that STALKER is like "Eastern European Fallout" rather than go on paragraphs-long explanation about how it plays to someone who's more casual about gaming and therefore doesn't really care much about the specifics.
Dark Descent is hard to sum up. I think it'll get lumped in as a more combat-focused Desperados/Commandos/Shadow Tactics but that's not quite accurate; Imagine those missions in Starcraft where you have a hero unit and no buildings, but it's a full game mode with stealth mechanics and XCOM unit/campaign progression. Your squad moves as a single unit so there's no splitting the party, and stealth is less about hiding behind boxes and more about making sure you have enough radar coverage, controlling and creating pathways, and luring enemies into traps. They get more aggressive as you spend time in active combat, but they're juuuust dumb enough that they don't go into full alert unless they're getting killed by *living* entities. It borrows from so many things that I'm confident calling it a new subgenre and I hope it catches on as I'm loving it in a way that I've never loved RTS or stealth-tactics before.
Aliens Colonial Marines can be fixed if you change the .Ini file in Word pad. Sundenly that fixes the AI for all the NPCs and Xenomorphs! It's either the worst oversight in history or some BS sabotage crap, take your pick neither is good.
I was literally traveling in Peru when this video came out. Was not a fan of Inka Cola, and I'm afraid that it didn't kick Coca Cola out of Peru because it's actually made by Coca Cola
when he said it kicked it out of its home turf, I'm pretty sure he was referring to his own preferences. Also, Peru is definitely *not* Coke's "home turf" lol
I like videos criticizing products I enjoy but not when its done like this. With every single thing you list as wrong with the game in the video you portray it as if you are 100% objectively correct for having that opinion. Heck, your final thoughts are practically designed to make people feel bad for liking this game in the first place. Cant give a like on this.
NGL, Alien: Isolation is one of my favorite games of all time and I have played a lot of horror games and immersive sims. I know this isn't an immersive sim, though I do think that survival horror, which is probably the correct genre, is in the same neighborhood as imsims. Anyway, I loved this game from start to finish. It's true that it was generally variations on a similar theme, but it was done masterfully so that the variations were enough to keep it interesting. That and it managed the rather difficult trick of being incredibly tense, knife's edge survival while never feeling unfair. I had plenty of moments on the edge of my seat or cringing at my sudden demise, but I can't recall any "Oh, come on" situations.
I hate to say it but frankly most of what you have against the alien really sounds like “this alien wasn’t spooky and was easy to work around because I’ve played so much and its AI is dumb, but I also am frustrated by constantly dying to it in ways I explain that you viewers avoided by playing well.” Like the alien in the vents issue… it drools, and you can easily avoid almost all of the vents, and can less easily avoid the others. I never got frustrated by deaths to the alien because even on harder difficulties I just learned the game well and played around the alien. A lot of what you complain about regarding the alien is significantly worse for basically all other horror monsters, but you’re ok with so many of those. You also say the smart ai of the alien is just a neat trick, but that’s simply because we don’t have generally intelligent ai at all, let alone for our video games. I’d much rather an ai that adapts slightly and learns slightly from me, or that doesn’t just spawn right behind me and say boo as though that’s a challenge and not just a gimmick to scare you. Amnesia, for instance, is a great game and its monster is one of your favorites. It has no intelligence at all that I know of, and is regularly spawned about 5 feet behind you upon a trigger from picking something up, in a room with only one entrance and no wardrobes or anything… that’s not scary because you screwed up, that’s not a stealth challenge, that’s just a “fuck you” from the devs. The alien doesn’t give you such swears, it plays far more fairly, and beating it as a competitor means far more.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who did not like that first human sneaky section at the beginning. Given the length of the game I decided to drop it after that because as cool as the alien, the overall atmosphere and the brilliant underlying technical optimisation are I don't fancy spending my time playing a tedious game that goes on for way longer than it should. Glad the game exists and that it has it's fans but it's not for me.
Iirc based on carcinogens no hit run you're supposed to assert dominance by staring at working Joes doing the fake out the whole time. Still a stupid jumpscare though.
I feel like the rant about the first big sneaking encounter against humans gives up what this vid is really about. The game has a lot of flaws and can be incredibly jank. But one thing it definitely isn’t is pretentious. It is not a hard segment nor particularly complicated. The “test” it’s described as is nothing more than a bog standard skill test to make sure you’re acclimating to the games logic as to how it is supposed to play. I have a hard time believing anyone sucks that much, so the only alternative is a personal problem. Like a refusal to accept the way the game works,… which is promptly displayed as the solution chosen. Yes, there are problems and I think many of the more egregious ones were missed but it feels like there was a preconception that the game would be different or work another way (it sure as shit ain’t no metroidvania!) and thus when it is followed by deliberately going out of one’s way to spite the games design the only assumption I have left is of a conscious intent to find any little thing to whine about for the sake of “throwing shade.”
This video just got shouted out by Mutahar, which i find incredibly funny. RU-vid is a small place, huh? Also i wanna say, this review unfortunately is a bit on the low end out of all your content. Aside from cooking segment, which is amazing as always. Have a great day!
Funny how that works. I actually had a pretty hard time with this video and even had to stop working on it for a couple months because I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to address certain things like the Human enemies. Oh well, I'm I'm appreciative that he enjoys my videos.
I disagree with so much of this video I can’t type it all. I do agree that there was too much padding, I think the qtes that you were hating are actually good, it adds manual work to make it a lot more stressful opening doors etc
I haven't played the game and stuff like using that cutting torch looked cool and I totally get why they did that, to increase tension which is a big thing in a survival horror title.
I LOVE this game but I hate that I couldn't play it because that stupid save station beeping triggers my sound sensitivity and any time they were around when I had to dodge enemies, so like all the time, it just felt like it got louder and louder and that my brain was going to explode. I do think the game is both under and over rated in many ways but it's great none the less.
I can't say the alien is a bad monster to deal with, given that I liked amnesia despite the simple fact that their monster is scripted to spawn up your ass when you're cornered in rooms they put no hiding spots in and that happens multiple times in the game. This kind of thing happens in most horror games, while the alien is actually built around you and your actions/mistakes. This may be partly because I prefer stealth games to horror games, and Alien Isolation has characters that work really well for stealth, while most horror games are about ambience, and simply forget that their monsters should be fun to play against, not just scary to play against. It's honestly odd to me how your tone swapped so drastically for this game versus others like amnesia, where you were ok with the ways monsters worked that were worse, and you loved those games.
"This is just Hogwarts Legacy for people who could talk about their theories about Prometheus" lolwut Son, if I needed a reason to dismiss your opinion as ridiculous nonsense, 40:35 kinda sealed the deal.
27:28 this right here is my biggest complaint with a lot of the horror hide and seek type games. Combine that with some pretty generous autosaves (some of which will despawn the enemy for awhile after they get you) it ends up being the easiest way to get through the game completely making me not really wanna interact with the stealth segments.
Just imagine if Sevastopol was open in the same way Citadel was. That Aliens wouldn't be tethered to the player. There would just be hive SOMEWHERE on the station, slowly getting bigger as the zenos would drag more and more NPCs there. Aaaand you'd have to not only prevent the reactor from blowing up, but also keep the engines working so the station wouldn't fall from orbit. All of which COULD happen if the player fcked up. That would prolly be my favourite immsim. Or, the most hated. Who knows...
dark descent is actually pretty fun - most of the time it’s like a very simplified real time with pause crpg but the way the levels are designed to be revisited piecemeal every time the swarm escalates and drives you out is really nicely thought out.
I absolutely loved it, I've not had the urge the replay a game immediately after completion in a long time, dark descent made me start it again, in nightmare afterwards.
BUT CHAAAAAAAARRRRLLL, rice cookers are so convenient! You can fire and forget white rice and have half a meal done in a half hour! You can also use it to steam veggies!
I had to play this game a couple of times to capture enough footage and make some videos of it, and I must say that the more you play Alien Isolation, you notice it could indeed have 5 or 6 hours less than it actually have, to make for a better experience. Mostly towards the end, it has a section where you're already out of the station, but you get captured and sucked inside again, to escape again, get to the point where you were captured to begin with, and continue with your last objective. It sums up as, maybe, a whole hour of nothing just to unecessarily pad out the last bit. And yes, the alien inevitably becomes a nuisance instead of a spooky monster at some point in the game, when you just wanna finish it already.
Oh I'm considerably early, heck yeah!!! Thanks to your pro-creator stance I am pretty close to get back into video production myself, so thank you for priming me to express myself through your own works
I don't play video games (found him explain a few old games i used to have an interest in or played back in the 90's), but i like charlatan's style explaining them and his recipes
Piece of Midwesterner advice: Don't go to the grocery store to get hot stuff. Go to your regional/local hardware or home and farm stores. That's where we keep the good stuff. Shetlers, CHC, that kind of place. Not Home Depot or Lowes. Also check your mom and pop places and any farmer's markets, and don't forget to check for hidden Asian Markets.
Pro tip: Working Joes won't wake up and grab your ankles, unless you focus them. They only jump you when you turn your back on them. Besides, I NEVER heard or seen any bugs you encountered. Not agreeing with your review at all though. 😕 Alien: Isloation is a classic.
8:23 I *REALLY* hate it when games take interactive control away from me to simulate the interaction for me. I dont care if its vaulting over jumping replacing the jump button, or the interaction key like here, but i *HATE* that i have to wait for the game to allow me to do something, *when* it decides to, it takes me out of the experience god damnit!
