So here we are, after 50 episodes of AI and Games, and I'm revisiting the most popular one, so for fun I wanna tell a wee story about the original Alien video. Alien: Isolation was episode 15 of the show. And in-truth the one that helped the channel grow. IIRC I had just broke 3000 subscribers just before the channel turned three years old. The Alien: Isolation video had actually been out for almost six months by this point. Then it blew up and I personally distinguish the channel's two 'phases' of its life as being everything pre-January 2017 and everything since. I had wanted to do a video on Alien: Isolation almost immediately after the game came out. Heck I actually did several let's plays of the game where I tried to guess how it worked. It had received such hype around launch that I thought a making-of would make great 'content' for the channel. It was at this time I was also a track chair for the nucl.ai conference in Vienna. The first year I helped run that event I tried to get a speaker in to talk about the game but no luck. However, the following year Andy Bray submitted a talk to us to run at the conference. I sat in and listened to that talk and loved it: lots of great technical details and a fun insight into the workings of the system. I also had the pleasure of chatting with Andy afterwards as well as Derek Fagan, another developer working at Creative Assembly who was attached to another project. You might recall Derek's name from last years Halo Wars 2 episode as he was kind enough to help me out with that one. I learned a few things that are not in the talk that made it into the video. Which was pretty cool, making it the first time I had any sort of 'exclusive' insight. Also, I found out from some other CA devs who had watched my Let's Play series that they had followed along intrigued to see whether I would figure out how the alien works. This was actually a really nice moment - and for the life of me I wish I could recall who it was that told me this (it was late, there was beer, I'm terrible with names etc.) - given it was the first time I'd ever heard of someone working in a AAA studio who watches my work. So I get home from Vienna and the first thing on my to-do list was make a video about Alien: Isolation. I put the video together and despite some small technical issues - including a laptop failure and microphone problems - I released it in early August of 2016. It actually flopped. It had around 8K views after six months. Which was less than some other videos I had made by that point. I was a little disappointed, given I thought 'surely someone cares about this?' It wasn't until it was bounced around on Reddit about six months later, and it finally got some traction. In January 2017, the channel received more views than it had done in all of 2016 and by March subscribers had jumped by over 1,000 more. In fact according to my analytics 10K subscribers - who are still subscribed - joined this channel because of that one video alone. I have never really wanted to do a follow-up. I often feel chasing what's hot isn't what I'm about. Given I want to focus on interesting topics and bring them to you. But late last year I got thinking about what to do for episode 50 and two ideas came up. One was revisiting Alien: Isolation and the other... I'm not going to tell you! It's still a secret, because it will probably happen one day. But both were focussed on using mods to break a game open rather than relying on more reliable sources (dev talks, interviews, research papers etc.) which is how I usually do my work. Don't worry, that other video, if it goes as planned, it will be worth the wait. Hence I reached out to Matt Filer for some help and any additional input he could provide. I've known Matt - purely in an online capacity - for a few years now as he would ask me questions about my understanding of the AI as he was building OpenCAGE, though I imagine he knows way more about all of this now than I do. His tools are fantastic and at the time of writing he is only just graduating university. As someone who in a previous life taught game developers, I'm confident he has a long career ahead of him. I wish him all the best! But hey, this is probably the last time I discuss Alien: Isolation. It's been fun and I hope you all enjoy this video. Will this video prove as popular as the first one? Probably not. But it's been great to see so many people share their stories in the comments of the original video. Or just make the same god awful 'perfect orgasm' joke. I'll admit the first time it was funny, but given someone has made that joke in the comment section every 2-3 days for the past four years, let me tell you it gets really, really.... really... old! Enjoy! - Tommy
Itsabluedrake did a few videos on this as well. If you haven't seen them yet I bet you'd find it interesting. Great video though, I love all Alien content lol.
Yup, it's a truely terrifying monster to face, especially when your only real weapon for most of the game is stealth and gadgets. I've never been more afraid of something and it really lives up to the original movie (which is a personal favorite), my shear respect for that achievement makes me want to play it again even if I know I'll spend hours just hiding in lockers trying to calm down XD
What so watching this video won't ruin the game? You sure? I don't want to watch it as I fear it will strip away all the mystic and scariness should I ever want to replay the game in the future.
Some say that the alien "cheats" but in reality there needs to be a measure of cheating by having the director send the xeno into your general area or else you'd lose the tension and therefore the point of the game. What this does do however is give the player an incentive to not stay in the same area for too longer but that is really what someone would want to avoid doing if the AI didn't have that area help anyway. A true AI wouldn't leave a room with only one entrance if they had seen you run in. So those folks who complain about the AI director should be grateful that it also sends the xeno away from you to prevent a no-win situation and the only way it can do that is by knowing where you are.
well if it cheats or not, this is not a PVP game... cheating is valid as a design tool unless the AI/bot is replacing a human player (like playing a online game with bots) in that cases cheating is not valid at all and the user have all the rights to complain because it would be the same as a CHESS ai doing two moves per turn....... but this is one of the best stealth/hunt ai in games theres very little cheating it only get a hint of you general area, the hunting is still a true hunt.
This game has such a special place in my heart. I know it's a AAA game but it feels like a a passion project. You can tell Creative Assembly are super fans of the original alien film.
I think it's worth mentioning that Alien: Isolation was a wild deviation from their usual lineup of games. I don't think they've made any other game of this kind.
Good observation. I think that's because it really IS a passion project. No one (including the IP holders) will ever touch the Alien franchise with so much respect and devotion as the people at Creative Assembly did. Huge KUDOS for them!
The fact that when the alien goes “into” the vents it’s really just turning invisible makes that so much scarier. Cause now not only do I have to deal with a immortal and super smart alien. It now can turn invisible.
@Judge Dredd you do run into others.... there's a whole hive of them on the station face huggers too, what I wish they had added was a queen cuz that be intense as hell to deal with
@@RuneKatashima He said 3 times the health of a working joe. Although we don't know if it has resistance to any damage types, nor whether it takes headshot damage. Also it is unknown whether the alien ever gets healed/ gets despawned and respawns with full health.
i'd rationalize that by saying : the alien adapted his movement with the environment around him so that kinetic adaptation helped the alien to success more at hunting his prey. and why say all that , because i love alien lul
I would love to see a sequel with a permadeath system, where your part of a small crew with the objective to escape. Every time your player character dies/is killed, you take over another member of the crew and continue until either you escape or all your crew dies.
Still pissed IGN went all “You can’t shoot the enemy and it kills you instantly? Boo hoo this must be a shitty game!” IGN... This is a horror game, not call of duty. I frankly don’t know what you expected.
This reminds me of their MW remastered review too disturbed for them or giving atrocious review to great remake of SpongeBob SquarePants which released this year
i love how it will recognise when you raise the flamer at it after the first time, and when you do scare it off it will come back way faster than normal and a lot more pissed off.
Yeah that’s really neat. The unfortunate thing about that is that I didn’t think it would eventually learn how to deal with my flame thrower. I went absolutely mad with power when I first got it and I wouldn’t even try to hide when I made noise. I wanted an excuse to burn Allen, so I did every chance I got. That resulted in him learning to be less afraid of the flames and more ready to mess me up real bad.
@@UnderwaterSpaghetti783 that's why I consider the flamethrower both a blessing and a curse lol. Yeah, you can defend yourself reliably with it, but ammo is going away quickly, finding more of it is hard(er on higher difficulties), using it on the Alien and you make your greatest enemy only stronger and more pissed off and oh how easily you can get overconfident with it...smth that I found out myself this game likes to punish you for. As such, it's a process and act of balancing your usage of it, and it's harder than it sounds, especially on higher difficulties!
I love the flamethrower in alien isolation but yeah. I realised once I got to the hive it wasn't gonna work. I had to use it on facehuggers a lot to get rid of them easily so ammo and pissed off aliens were a problem (why the hell did multiple have to try to murder me at once?). I was also lucky I got dependent on flares so I still had tricks up my sleeve. But you really have to be careful otherwise the alien will decide to murder you.
Also one fact I came across when playing. When using the flamethrower the first time it flees quite fast, as you keep using the flamethrower it's gets susceptible and requires much more fire to actually get it to flee. It really is a perfect organism.
I think the reason people keep citing Alien Isolation when discussions come up again game AI is because its such a HUGE part of the game. You aren't playing the game to look around a space station, you're playing it to "simulate" being in that movie, narrowly avoiding death by hiding and using your wits to distract and retreat and gain an edge from this Murder Machine. You can cheese any games AI, but I've never WANTED to do it in this game because the atmosphere is so tense, the way it moves and sounds so wet, heavy and angry is simply terrifying if you can get yourself in the right head-space to play the game, which shouldn't be too hard when the game only asks that you be alone, probably in the dark and listening very very closely. And that's about the best praise I can give a game, its so good at what it sets out to do that I feel intimidated to fuck around with it.
Well said! It's incredible. I wish they made a sequel with an even better (smarter/ with more available actions to perform/ with more reactions to stuff) Alien though..
@@KevinS47 I'd like to see more reactive environments that are both a hindrance and a blessing for both the Player and the AI in the game. Turrets and Security Sensors that set off Alarms. Faulty electronics that can discharge sparking out or even taking out the lights in an area for a while. Maybe even like dumb-AI that can constantly make noise like a little Roomba-style floor cleaning robot that will run along a hall and bump into things, maybe even the player hiding under the one single Cart in the hallway lmao
@@ChibiWes101 I don't think the game really needs a sequel, but I would love to see Creative Assembly try their hand at another horror game. What you described sounds like a lot of the freedom offered by the System Shock games. Imagine if they got a chance to remake something like System Shock 2. Instead of dumb annelid hybrids, every enemy encounter could be truly menacing because you run the risk of being stalked by a very determined lovecraftian nightmare.
The original design of the source material and it's faithful recreation here captures a uniquely intrinsic fear response and then so much focus was put into adding dynamic variables that makes the NPC just unpredictable enough that it feels alive, so you instinctively treat it like it's alive. Like you are convincing yourself to let it pass the Turing test out of an abundance of primitive caution. I've never played another game where the enemy character actually felt like it was truly hunting me out side of a narrow predefined script. It feels like it's learning for real, even though it's technically not, and the designers did such a good job of aesthetic and level design, that convinces you to engage in behaviors that compliment the Alien's decision tree. Brilliant brilliant game from soup to nuts.
@@spartan456 Well the fact is almost every scifi game or story set on a lonely space station or ship and SOMETHING is onboard an wants you dead more or less has routes you can draw back to Alien. It's an incredibly influential film. System Shock certainly has inspirations taken from it but nothing really blatantly obvious or direct other than the setting of being stalked on a station like that. So I honestly wouldn't mind that if we saw a sequel it pulled from other games influence like that. I'm not saying it needs to be action packed and putting more control of situation in players hands. Basically the more I think on it, I'd really dig a Hadleys Hops game, so its a prequel to Aliens. Maybe you're a technician or even a WY Security Guard or something, heck you can just be some colonist for all I care. This gives us a setting that can be a *bit* more lively and a lot more chaotic and reactive. Newt in the film survived for weeks alone on her own, so we already have a wide window we could set our narrative in. A:I pulled a nasty surprise toward the latter half of the game with the small hive growing on board Sevastopol, with eggs, facehuggers and even fully grown extra Xenos to hunt us. It wouldn't exactly be new or jarring to have this set in the middle stages of the infestation, people cordoning themselves off in areas of the colony, plenty dead but some still making it. WY Security Measures are implemented initially but halted by an "Executive Order", so the area can defend itself but it needs to all start being activated manually and maybe with that lock-down by the company order in affect it can't run for extended periods, so it's only brief moments that you can trigger an alarm or even a turret to make an area "safe" while you quickly scrounge up supplies before time runs out and a few very annoyed Xenos start searching for you.
Alien: Isolation is the game that taught me fear is good, because it keeps you alive. You learn to respect the perfect organism unless you want him to relieve you of your lunch money quicker than you can even say "sandwich". It's been 6 years and this game does indeed hold up very well to the test of time.
Josiah Sepulveda Yeah video games haven't changed that much in the last few years. Still a lot of games from years ago (Battlefield 3, Final Fantasy XV, Witcher 3 etc.) that could easily have been released this year and nobody would've noticed their age. I'd say the only game in recent years that came close to what FFXV achieved in terms of world size + graphics + physics combined is RDR2, which is a phenomenal game from a technical view.
I only started this game 2 weeks ago, and tbh a game hasn't really gripped me as much as this did. I'm a huge alien fan so, it really captured the atmosphere of the original movie. I really felt like what I think the crew on the nostomo felt. Absolutely loved it. And yeah it did definitely look like it was a recent release, it def hold up well. Considering it was also released on previous gen, I played on ps4 so it'd be interesting to see how it was on the 360 or ps3.
The first year of the games release it apparently only sold about 2 million copies which in Segas eyes wasn't good enough for them to think about a possible sequel.
I don't think it needs a sequel, but I would love to see Creative Assembly try their hand at another game in the horror genre. I've played a lot of horror games but none of them stand up to Alien: Isolation. Imagine if they got a chance to do something crazy like re-make System Shock or System Shock 2.
@Jason Moore But Alien isolation literally teased a sequel in its ending. The overall intention may have been to self contain but the door was definitely left open. They still haven't revealed Amanda's fate after the events of the game, not counting those ridiculous comic book stories.
14:45 "...the alien's backstage routines" "Deep breath in... Deep breath out. You can do this, Scott, just imagine the audience naked if you start hyperventilating"
One of my favorite things to do in this game is to do "mercy or prudence" playthroughs. This is done by never personally attacking any human NPCs. It's incredibly enjoyable as you soon discover that the more complex AI of the alien is easier to deal with than the simpler AI of the Working Joe's and the humans. I've lost count of how many times I've died because I hid in a locker, the alien drops down and sends the human NPCs into an alert/combat mode, and instead of shooting at the alien, they turn and *shoot the locker I'm in* because their AI was so overly simple, when they went into combat mode, they instantly knew where I was despite having no indication of where I was and none of the processes to locate me had been performed. I've had the alien START to see me, only to lose me when I ducked out of view, yet a human NPC who saw me at a glance down the hall not only followed me into the room, but stood next to the table I was under to mutter how "I could have sworn I saw something". Still, my favorite moment was where the Alien was Menacing me and a group of 4 armored, shotgun holding human NPCs were "just happening" to be swarmed around the table I was under. Oh what joy it was when the Alien casually walked into the room and then butchered every single one of the NPCs before dropping it's menace level and going back into the vents, letting me travel freely.
@@anthonyortiz350 Yes. See, all AI starts simple with commands such as knowing how to attack the player. It takes limitations and additional information to control how far away it can see the player, how only certain actions by the player can alert it, how certain actions can distract it, etc. A good example would be in shooter games. The AI knows that a sniper headshot is an instant kill and the Ai can 100% aimbot at a player's head 100% of the time. It takes a more complex AI to have the flaw to do body shots or even miss.
@@snakyYT seriously its like a ceo of a fortune 5 company, vs the manager of burger king and the BK guy is trying to say to the fortune 5 guy, Hey your doing great kid! Like get real, give us some names of games u made or keep that to yourself and just give the compliment, until u have something to show your at their level and or even better then, without that your opinion is the same as ours
This is kinda messed up but one of my favorite things to do is throw a noise maker at a group of other survivors. Sit back and watch the Xenomorph do its thing.
I always wondered how the Alien worked when I played. They did such an amazing job with the Alien AI that I still have flashbacks to the time I felt safe hiding in a locker for the Nth time, only for the Alien to eventually walk right up to it and rip the door off. Legit had to stop playing for a bit after that one.
I did the exact same thing :D I was looking at my phone in the locker, my headphones were still on, and the alien made me literally throw my phone away out of fear :( I also didnt play it for a week after that
@@deusexbaby5555 oh yeah it's nail bitting, but I learned if you conserve flame flower ammo in the earlier game the end game get's much easier. (albeit still nail biting as hell)
@@AQDuck nah. Alien Isolation ("in space - you are completely on your own") I think "AI" this, and "AI" that was at the top of their thinking - and when it came to name the game, they subconciously chose ALIEN and another word beginning with "I".
One of my all time favorites. The Xenomorph and Mr. X are the only two entities which made being chased down feel terrifying and incredibly fun at the same time. An almost perfect balance so rarely achieved by the entertainment industry.
Well put. Another two videogame characters that made me trigger similar feelings were Anima (Ghost Lady) from The Evil Within 2, and Marta, from Outlast 2.
I do think Mr. X is a bit less scary, because he can’t one shot you and you can easily outrun him so long as you don’t trap yourself. He also mainly patrols the main hall, rarely entering rooms if he didn’t hear anything.
I literally had it on my PC for 4 years, loved it but played through only 1 3rd of the game and couldn't continue it because any time I tried I just stayed in the lockers for minutes and didn't dare move because I was so afraid then lately during corona lockdown I had so much time and needed disctraction and somehow managed to finish it Definitely one of the best games I ever played; though it gives me weird nightmares for some days any time I play it xD
@@godofblabla you really can get a feel for what Ripley and co went threw in the first and second movie, the increadibly well replicated set design of the movie is in the game, it's gorgeous and entrancing distraction that makes it even easier for the Xenomorph to surprise and scare the daylights out of me
Best thing to do is to go into the game and just die a whole bunch of times. Literally run up to the alien and kick it in the arse a few times if you have to. Once you’ve seen death scene after death scene, over and over again, you’ll be less paralysed by fear to do anything to avoid dying.
Seeing them deactivate the xenomorph's sight made me think that it'd be really neat if there was a horror game where you could modify what senses the main enemy has. It'd be an interesting way to alter difficulty, plus it'd make the game a lot more accessible to those who don't usually like horror
this game deserved infinite more credit and success. some of its sequences reach the level of the movie (and I am talking about a masterpiece). the reactor scene, the Derelict scene and the final walk in the spacesuit. I hope in the future, when great VR headsets will be released and widely adopted, this game will receive a rehaul and destroy our nights again, with fear and nightmares
The sad thing is that we will never get alien isolation the sequel from creative assembly that's what I'm upset about, because I believe it would have been epic
Red Striped Socks Well actually that impression is very solid considering the game had only sold 2.1 million copies after 5 whole months of the games release (this is an extremely low amount for a triple A game). The game also received low critic scores for its excessive use of backtracking and lack of xenomorph confrontation throughout most of the game. So basically, no, it is not a ridiculous claim to say that this game did not do well enough to warrant the company creating a sequel.
I mean I played in when it was released but didn't Finnish for some reason but I just purchased the collection edition for £9.50.. its on sale it was £47 lol
Just wanted to let you know, this might be a two-year-old video, but it's one of my favorites to come back and listen to. I haven't played this game too much due to being very busy IRL, but listening to how the Alien works is just such a marvel and enjoyable to listen to, thanks for having one of my favorite videos to come back and listen to over and over again.
It's interesting to consider the parallels between the role of the game developers and the role of the Alien's AI Director. The former wants to facilitate the player's ultimate victory, but wants them to work for it. The latter has the same motivation, except in relation to the Alien.
@@KevinS47 I didn't know that to get the 'Survivor' achievement you can complete the game on Hard mode instead of Nightmare. I got the game after Novice and Nightmare were released, and didn't know that they were added later so to platinum the game (or whatever the xbox equivalent is), I completed it on Nightmare. I think I shaved off a year of my life doing that, so I can't imagine how scary it would be to mod the alien like that!
Its not just the xeno AI that makes the game terrifying either. So much care, love and attention to detail was put into the world design, which includes the shading, lighting and texturing. The game would be much less terrifying if it was brightly lit, clean and streamlined like a star trek set. The sound design is also incredibly important in the terror. I recall a bug, where you entered the hive, there was one corner where the ambient sound would cut out entirely. Through the whole level, I was shit my pants scared and the sound played a large part. The distant sounds of people moaning and screaming. The closer sounds of dripping water and slime. The sounds of xenos hissing and moving. Echoey. The sound just felt *filthy*. Then I got to that corner and it all went away. Just the ambient sound. I instantly was less scared, less tense, and felt more at ease moving around. Thats how big an impact the sound design had on my experience. I've told people for years, that it could be argued Amanda wasn't the main character - Sevastopol was. It was so well designed, so in sync with the original Alien film aesthetic, everything about it was terrific and made the game go over the top in the excellence department. I even deleted the alien AI entirely for one play through, just to really enjoy the environments and appreciate the world Creative Assembly built.
@@stormtempterf8058 Strange, I'm viewing this video and the comments after finding exactly the place you're referencing. I'm here after breaking from my first dive into the hive today, where I need a rest after noticing the strange mix of predictable and unpredictable behavior. That place doesn't just kill the ambient sound, it's separated. Like, you can't make noise in that area and attract an alien, even one looking at you a few meters away. Somehow, rather than being disappointed at an apparent bug, it just makes me feel more unsafe by the unpredictability. (Doesn't help that ol' dude vent-dropped nearly right on top of me when I finally moved on, insta-killing me.)
I discovered the hard way, the first time I played it, that the motion tracker can attract the Alien. Hiding in a vent, Alien just outside, pull out tracker (thinking i'll just track it to see when it leaves). Boom AAAAH death. Thank Tommy, love your Vids. I particular love the concept of a Director. It really adds a Dungeon Master (D&D) feel to the game. I wish more games utilized a system like that, to really tailor the user experience.
My single greatest moment of satisfaction when playing this game was in a level where hostile humans were there too. During the first part to find the objective, i left the humans alone and explored in silence. In the second part, the Alien is there, and you have to flee. I had just slipped past the alien, and the humans were in my way. I made myself visible and pointed my gun (but didnt shoot) the humans fired of course, so i just hopped in the nearest locker and laughed as the alien tore them to pieces
@@anthonyortiz350 It seems like the station was in a lot of unrest between the company going under, unfair layoffs, and the security company enacting martial law. Everyone was already turning on each other when the alien started making things worse. So people took the chaos as a chance to attack their enemies, or feared someone else would
This game is up there lads. I just wished this game had a budget of a Rockstar's or Naughty Dog's title. What Creative Assembly achieved with what they were given is amazing. AI being aside. The graphics, the gameplay, the pacing, the inventiveness, the combat loop, and the level design is just "chef's kiss".
I rewatch your original at least every few months. I'm a software dev by trade, and I find it inspirational in that the AI itself isn't as innovative as the engineers that implemented core concepts in new, unique and intriguing ways. It's a good reminder that computing power is not a replacement for ingenuity, and that close collaboration of vision between an entire team can lead to something quite amazing. Also, I really love the original "Alien", so that helps!
I had already noticed from playing the game that being within the vision cone for a period of time before being seen was a thing. Not just because you could break line of sight quickly to avoid detection. But I had also noticed that the time before detection was cumulative. So if you were within the vision cone, then broke line of sight, if you then re-entered the same enemy's vision cone too soon, they would spot you much quicker. Because your 'signal' was still registered and still had some residual value.
It took me three years to realize the director AI is like the most unintentionally reference/reversal to the Dallas in the vents scene of alien, with the director taking the role of Lambert.
I actually did manage to "run away" from the alien, after it had spotted me through two windows from the other end of a scythe-shaped hallway (in medical?). I saw it dashing towards the room I was in and immediately hid behind a table - and the fucker actually lost me. Played hide-and-seek for about a minute, before it left the room and me with one of the most memorable moments in my gaming vita. :) The fact that A:I actually is a formidable stealth-action game plays a huge part in what makes it so darn great.
I remember watching Markiplier playing this game and the Xenomorph seemed to call out Mark's bluff with the flamethrower. Periodically puffing some fire at the alien. He was dangerously close to running out of fuel but he was in a very dangerous situation. I don't know if he got too close or if the Xenomorph actually called his bluff. Anyhow, it was fucking terrifying.
@@mimo__.- Wanna know something else interesting? I heard on quora from some users that if you turn up the gamma so you can see what the heck is going on, the Alien can see you better! And another thing I heard from those people is, well, at least with the PS4 Version of Alien Isolation if the player has the built-in controller microphone activated, the xenomorph can use that to it's advantage and listen to you! Not your character in the game, but rather to you the player.
@@Jayesbe I play on ps4 and my headphones are connected to the controller with a microphone. Making sound into the mic will alert enemies, I have so far tested it on the Androids only though. They will search for you if you make sound. I'm definitely gonna do this with Xeno too but that's gonna be a death sentence.
The vent thing is really interesting to me, I always assumed the alien would just teleport between the vents and there would just be random sounds triggered around the player to make it seem like it's moving around. In general, great job on the video, tons of useful stuff here, I hope this one gets as much recognition as the original, because it damn well deserves it. My only worry is that people won't watch it because they'll think it's the same one.
I was a bit disappointed when I figured out in game that vents were not actual tubes but just free roam. I tried to figure out where do vents lead with the motion tracker, so I could find good escape routes in case of attacks from each of them.
The only time that was successful for me was when I ran into a room with another human npc in it. I hid behind a bench while the alien took out it's aggression on the other person and then left. I apologized while I looted the corpse 😂 such an immersive game I legitimately felt guilty.
That was, unsurprisingly, an absolutely fantastic breakdown and analysis of the A:I's, well, AI :D Great job as always! Learned and discovered a ton of new things I didn't know, as well as happily got some of my own theories confirmed as well. It was utterly fantastic to see such a detail look in to all of the little nuances of how its AI is constracted and works (all the sub-trees in the Behaviour tree, entitiy's vision, how it moves around in the "vents" (absolutely clever design there) and etc). But on top of that, I do have at least one question I hope you'll read and have the time and interest to answer. But we'll get to it, first: - I, from my experiences with the game, also noticed that Alien sees in the dark as well as it does so in brighter areas, aka doesn't care how well lit the area is, while other enemies do suffer a "penalty" to their vision, which I'm happy to hear that it's true, because it's awesome, and that's how good the vision of the Alien should be at least (Somewhat masochistically I do wish that it would simply see through smoke as well, but on the other hand it kind of limits player's options too much)! - also I had strong suspicions that you can trigger its "stalker" mode and affect its behaviour by not only using offensive tools on it, but by simply drawing its attention, so glad to be right there as well! - you can use the loudness of the gun shot to your advantage, as you can start a gunfight and have the Alien clear a group of humans without wasting any of the items, and also you can lure it in the vent and the moment you hear it drop in it, get out and move out to the objective/escape! It's all about using your items smartly, then you'll find a good use for all of them! - I did manage to loose the Alien after getting spotted by it (visually exposed myself and have it running after me). You do need to have some distance between yourself and the Alien, and as it starts running at you, immidiately break the line of sight an hide somewhere, locker in this case actually works pretty well. I tested that out on Nightmare, which is my favorite difficulty to play A:I on, so I imagine it is more "forgiving" on lower difficulties. However, when I said "have some distance" and "immidiately break the line of sight", I did mean it. So when trying to replciate that, make sure that you're standing in a doorway and the hiding spot is like right next to you, obviously not in the visual vicinity of the Alien, so that you don't have to run for it. - always knew it can think of flanking you, it happened to me numerous times! And I am very glad for that! - I wish the locker opening/closing sound were either much more quiet, or even non-existant, exactly because the enemies can't hear those for whatever reason! Quite immersion breaking (and quite annoyingly)! :( As for the question: I've played through Isolation about 8 times, 1,5 times through all of its DLC's and did a bunch of "experimentation" runs to test out/play around with AI, and I am *convinced* that the pacing can be heavily affected by how the player interacts with the Alien, and what actions he/she takes against it. Specifically, I am talking about how the player himself can make the Alien to be more aggressive and persistent depending on their own actions and playstyle, *and have it "grow" resistance to fire of the flamethrower with each use of it on the Alien, meaning the more often the player uses the flamethrower on the Alien, and the more fuel is used on it in each use, the quicker its resistance to it will grow, as a result increasing the amount of fuel needed to be spent to scare it away and more often it will appear, or go from backstage to frontstage, simply become more aggressive and persistant too* (tho I did notice that its resistance will top at a certain value, I got as high as ~100 for each scare consistently on higher difficulties)...well at least that's what I am convinced in, based on my many playthroughs and experiences. But I didn't catch you talking about that, specifically about how Alien can supposedly become more resistant to the flamethrower, as well as hunt more aggressively, unless I missed that, so now I'm not completely sure and so I'd appreciate if you would elaborate on this - is that a myth, and in reality the "resistance to fire" and aggressiveness/relentlessness levels of the Alien, their "growth" and change is "controlled" by the developers/it's all scripted, or can it actually dynamically change depending basically on how the player plays and interacts with the Alien? Also, if it's talked about in your first vid on the Al of Alien, I'll then re-watch it, because I did see it, of course I would! Thanks in advance, all the best wishes and additional thanks for returning back to the AI of Alien: Isolation and going even more in-depth into it this time. Cheers!
I too, would like to know about that. I have played so many times but also watched so many other people play it across a broad spectrum of different skill levels, and the alien's increased resilience to fire based on player tactics or play style became very prominent to me.
@@galaxytraveler5779 he gave an answer to me on Reddit and, while he personally didn't test that (didn't had the time due to time constraints of this video), he's pretty sure that Alien grows resistance to the flamethrower the more it is used on it, and his aggressivness adjusts accordingly.
Actually... "Deathground" seems to be exactly that. I read that many devs that worked in A:I are now at this new studio and working on this game. Couldn't be happier when I watched the trailers, many familiar stuff there.
@@silentkhaos1176 it would also be cool because different dinosaurs could be programmed differently, with some being smarter and harder to hide from, but maybe killable, such as raptors, but others like the T-Rex, while maybe not as smart, are unstoppable.
I'm doing just a casual novice playthrough of this game after completing it multiple times on every difficulty except for Nightmare. (Got stuck late game, just couldn't manage it). The thing I love most about this game is how I've been able to work out a lot of the details described in this and the first video, all through trial-and-error as well as purposeful experimentation. (I'm on the PS4, so no PC modding to help me out). It's a testament to this game that it can have so much going on in the background of the AI that you can somewhat gleam just by playing it and paying attention, yet _still_ have such a comprehensive and sophisticated program working it. Thank you for making these videos, they just add to the appreciation I have for this game and what went so lovingly into it. And thank you for making all these videos.
now that we're able to see the alien move without fear of it seeing us. it really is quite elegant and oddly beautiful in its movement and animation. horrifically beautiful if that makes sense. The Xenomorph truly is a design that will stand the test of time.
The alien actually came after me before the introduction cut scene. It happened when I was waiting for the first monorail. I was making lots of noise and sprinting around. I did not think it mattered cause the alien was not introduced yet via cutscene. But then it came out of the vents and got me completely off guard. Simply amazing more games should have AI like this.
Simply a modern achievement in gaming. Good work to the AI devs and overall game devs for Alien Isolation. This has to be one of video games' latest and greatest advancements in AI programming. Also, great video! Makes me confident enough to revisit the station one last time and complete the damn game! Haha, cheers! (edit: I have returned and my god how amazing it is to outsmart an AI that can 1-hit kill me).
Utterly love this game. My proudest PS4 platinum. So fond of this masterpiece, that I am now going through its terror all over again on the PS3. These guys never got the credit they deserved for this amazing game.
I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality..... happy new year to everyone on the channel, and many thanks to AI and Games for this outstanding video.
If this is what the devs came up with for the first game, imagine how the AI in a sequel would be. This game never getting a sequel is simply criminal.
I had a moment when the doctor was getting ready to leave the room and normally he walks over to the door and the Alien grabs him, instead as he walked over to the door I was stabbed in the back by it’s tail then a hand came down to grab my face leading to a game over.
I've owned this game since it came out. I just got around to playing it a week ago. The xenomorph has genuinely scared the shit out of me about 10 times so far, with its ability to find/get to me
I loved this game when it came out, it's clear from how everything in the game is designed from the level design, sound, lighting that a LOT of care and craft was put into it. One of the first games that I actually enjoyed getting all the PS4 trophies for as well
Anyone remember back when RE3 ‘99’s Nemesis felt this complex and intimidating? And that version is still scarier than REmake’s Nemmy 21 years later with this game’s pursuer as the freaking benchmark? The perfect organism blows the ultimate weapon out of the water with energy to spare.
I remember one death I suffered at the hands of the xeno particularly well. I made it to a staircase, at the top a save point, I throw a noisemaker clear in the opposite direction I’m heading. I head up the stairs quickly but quietly, insert the punch card to the save point and breathe… only to see the game isn’t saving, nor did it stop. The next sequence I see is a tail slowly jutting its’ way through my torso, only to die. This game was a true survival horror.
This game was so awesome, and I feel like everyone has a unique story to tell about their interactions with the Alien. Here's mine: There was a point where I got a little too familiar with hiding in lockers to avoid it, and I knew that my number was coming up the next time it spotted me. My solution was: build a molotov trap, put directly in front of door. The thing burst into my locker and *then* the trap went off. It bolted and I had to recover from the stun of near-death and what I can only imagine were third degree burns. I made it to the save point though.
I thought you die immediately if you are found hiding in a locker. Maybe the animation "broke" when the Molotov went off, which caused the alien to despawn? That would not be the first case of a bug in A:I that actually makes the game better.
I have been playing this game recently on my twitch. It is so good at sending waves of anxiety. The feeling of walking the hall and hearing the motion sensor go off followed by the sound of heavy footsteps is so intense!
Love this game soo much. I wish they made a sequel to it, and improved on the Alien AI even more to make it more creepy/scary and realistic... It was an absolute blast. Thanks for the video!
The way the Xenomorph's vision works seems to imply that it doesn't actually see by visible light at all, but perhaps some kind of infra-red vision like a snake.
Yeah for real. If you're on PC can you not mod the game so that you're invisible, the alien doesn't retreat, and unlimited ammo? Then just blast the thing with repeated pipe bombs or bolt gun shots? I really wanna see what happens if you kill it. I always just assumed it had no health bar at all, just maybe threshholds for retreat like with the pipe bomb and fire equipment.
I found this video of someone managing to kill the Alien: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e25YWJoHUTU.html It's funny cuz since there's no death animation, it just straight up disappears lol
The other interesting thing is how there are actual acid blood effects. I guess it was once planned that you can fight it off with guns but not actually kill it?
Something that always annoyed me is that the alien always knows where to search. Its always somewhere in your proximity and if you move to a different section of the map it THEN goes there too. I think it would be better if the alien walked around the entire area that you are in instead of just being close by and searching. I think it might add more suspence not knowing where it is all the time.
I didn't even know April 26th was Alien day, but here I am, watching this video on April 26th. Loved the AI info on this video! I was gonna go for another playthrough of the game in the next couple of days and hopefully this'll help me avoid it better and not get stuck.
I bought the game during the last Alien Day sale, just finished it, and found the AI very Interesting. I appreciate your overview of the game mechanics. I will be interested to see how I can apply known mechanics to playing the game.
It's ridiculous how often I can replay because it's just never the same experience, and always frightens me. The AI is incredible, the game is super atmospheric, and it's definitely one of my favorite games of all time.
This game is my favorite game, for a few reasons. 1. I love the Alien look and lore. 2. I'm not into Stealth Horror games at all, and this captivated me entirely. Scare the shit out of me for days. 3. The AI. I've looked at and read the XML files and "Trees". Let me tell you, it's unkind, evil, and unrelenting. Then I learned the Devs turned it down so Players could actually survive. (My Jaw dropped when I learned this.) As it turns out, the "Child" behavior XML trees are far more brutal than you realize until you spend time looking at them all, and seeing how they relate and cause the "child" (Alien/Xeno) how to act or what to do. They did a good job at tethering the xeno to the player without the player realizing it right away. It comes down to a mechanic function to create intensity and make sure the player is pushed forward in the game and responds according to the Player's actions, like Running, Firing Weapons, and using the vents. There are some places the player can run for a while without seeing a Xeno attack them, however, generally, if you're new to the game. Don't Run. "Running causes accidents."
It took Amnesia's fear concepts and near perfectly applied them to the alien universe. And it didn't overstay its welcome. Fantastic game, glad I played it all those years ago.
