Aliens: Dark Descent

[Kimarhi]

Sounds like you never gave it a shot in the first place. If it is not for you, you do not have to make up stuff to justify that fact, I know someone else on this forum did the exact same thing (muh bugs) funnily enough.

No sequel, but it got ported to everything,  just because it is that good and optimised.

I think if you look back, my stance on Isolation has been pretty much the same all the way back almost a DECADE ago when it was released.  It isn't Isolation itself that is the issue.  Its just that Isolation falls into that Outlast/Soma etc style game.  Which I never have, and never will like.  Your opinion that these are great mechanics and good games isn't going to work out any better to convince me than me telling you my opinion that they aren't and its a garbage way of playing.

My opinion on the subject is for a multitude of personal reasons.  Mainly being scary games aren't scary to me.  Especially after the first couple of encounters.  After I see how horror games work through the first couple of encounters it stops being scary.  Because Isolation has "randomized" encounters, it speed runs into non scariness.  So I'm stuck trying to hide, pause, or outmaneuver something that absolutely does nothing for me.  It doesn't raise the heart rate.  I don't get sweaty palms.  I don't get cold chills or nervousness.  I'm just sitting there.  Walking backwards.  Crouching behind something.  Or hiding under a table or a locker with something that I don't find scary at all.  So for a horror game for me to work it has to do other things well.  Isolation DOES capture the first movie vibe and feel incredibly well.  I've always said this.  But that's it for me.  I get more enjoyment just walking around in the universe than I do anytime the alien shows up. 

I also don't think it would actually work IN universe.  I don't think you could hide under a table in the Alien universe and the Alien not know you were there.  But that's just me. 

The difference between you and I is that I don't care that you like it.  I'm glad you did. 







   

 

 

[BlueMarsalis79]

I like stealth videogames, I like survival horror videogames and Isolation unlike the other ones you mentioned there, it is indeed both.

Because you can spend resources to drive away the Alien and it then adapts based on what ones you use (flare, noisemaker, pipe bomb, smoke bomb, flashbang, molotov), never mind the survivors and the Working Joes you can take out, use any of the six weapons which none of the other survival horror franchises you mention even include weapons in. 

In this way Alien Isolation has more in common with Resident Evil Biohazard and Village (but good), one persistent invincible antagonist and the other threats, puzzles and arsenal upgrades.

I only ever used stealth to work around enemies rarely to wait them out, because yes the idea of that I find pretty dull, I have never played it that way across multiple platforms- I never made that choice to. 

I am sorry if I have annoyed you, but I disagree not with you not liking it but with your premise itself, your categorization of Isolation.

[Kimarhi]

Isolation doesn't remind me of RE7 at all.  Mainly because your dude isn't instakilled by an invincible killing machine everytime he stands up straight.  It doesn't have the same annoyance of being caught that Isolation does because you can legitimately stop the bosses when they are roaming from following you by unloading on them until they stop moving.  The Alien you can flamethrower to run away, just for him to pop out again sometimes seconds later.  There IS some overlap, but I feel it is more like the previous two games I mentioned vs either of the RE games.  You are definitely punished worse in Outlast or Soma for being caught than either of the FPS REs. 

RE8 isn't anything like RE7 and certainly nothing like Isolation.  It's a FPS action game.  It's literally RE4 as a FPS with an unkillable mold man as the main character.  He could just keep coming back if he was inserted into Isolation because the Alien couldn't perma kill him.  The guy glues himself back together.  Nowhere near the same "feel" of game.  Ripley isn't forearm blocking a 9' woman with scythe fingers in Isolation.  It isn't meant to be the same kind of game. 


Again, I don't have a problem with the game EXCEPT for the Alien encounters.  I've said this multiple times for years now.  The combat is somewhat awkward against other adversaries............but it fits because Ripley is not a soldier. 

This is all I'm saying about this, as I've said it over and over again here and other threads.  I'm glad you like the game's.  The bad cinematic animations (a minor gripe.....we could have games with NO cinematic animations like we've gotten recently) and the potential insta kill alien encounters just aren't my cup of tea and keep it from being a favorite title in the EU game library. 

[[cancerblack]]

If it's even possible.

if possible that is?.

Found a short on YouTube. It is possible to get all 4 prosthetics!

Sorry, that was a deep cut, not an actual question.

[BlueMarsalis79]

The animations are fine, them being rendered at 30 FPS makes them look choppy and awful, because of the contrast with the gameplay itself being 60 FPS or above on anything but sixth generation level hardware.

Dark Descent meanwhile might have texture pop in on everything, but everything runs at high framerate, future proofed.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Just finished this and just wow...

This feels every bit as authentic to Aliens as Alien Isolation did to Alien.

It even makes stuff I used to be half and half on feel one hundred percent part of the fabric by proxy, like the subtle psychic stuff, and the Crusher and Praetorian- like it had me coming away forgetting they never actually featured in the films themselves because they just feel so natural.

Had me in a constant state of panic, but really enjoyed it, hope they get to do a sequel and expand upon the arsenal and perhaps make the ARC or APC not outright invulnerable this time- perhaps give the Runner (perhaps a Shotgun like acid puke) and Prowler (a more Sniper like acid spit) some ranged abilities to shake things up next time around.

[Corporal Hicks]

This feels every bit as authentic to Aliens as Alien Isolation did to Alien.

Yep. Exactly how I feel and I've said this before too!

[Kimarhi]

I liked it.  I think that it captured the tension feeling that Aliens had.  There is no film quite like Aliens in that it feels like your under a screw slowly being tightened down, and this game captures that more often than not.

That said, I do think it suffered from the Aliens EU curse of not being serious enough.  I love the cheesiness of the EU, but I don't necessarily want psychic father and daughter communicating with Aliens in the main timeline or another variant of the jockeys, quasi alien unalive alive men etc

It's fine for the extended universe though. 

[BlueMarsalis79]

Aside from the Titans, I agree the rest you highlighted felt very extended universe to me, but in a fun way ultimately. I love in particular the way they tied in the cult coming about because of the destruction of the working class by the powers that be, that felt very believable.

Spoiler

The Marlow character also cliche as it is did a better version of Karl Bishop Weyland, from AVP 2010 that had a much more logical conclusion to it, as the necessary android.

"I'm not a droid!" -Bishop, Alien³
"I'm not a Synth!" -Pryce, Aliens Dark Descent, obvious parallel. They are unbelievably inhuman, but they are human.

[close]

[Corporal Hicks]

https://www.artstation.com/xarden

Looks like the game was once known as Strike Force. I much prefer Dark Descent.

[Wweyland]

How many days did you have remaining at the end? I had just too many, something like 12.
Strike Force is cheesy.

[Kimarhi]

I think I was down to the last day or something.  It was cutting it pretty close. 

My issue the first playthrough was not knowing everytime you RTB that you increased the game difficulty.  I had it maxed out like halfway through so each mission was getting super spicy. 

[Corporal Hicks]

I cut it real close on my first playthrough. Like one or two days left. I had a week or two left on my second playthrough, my Hard run. I loved the clock mechanic. Just another level of tension.

[Retropocalypse]

Has there been any word on extra/additional content coming to DD?

[Scott Conover]

Just finished this and just wow...

This feels every bit as authentic to Aliens as Alien Isolation did to Alien.

It even makes stuff I used to be half and half on feel one hundred percent part of the fabric by proxy, like the subtle psychic stuff, and the Crusher and Praetorian- like it had me coming away forgetting they never actually featured in the films themselves because they just feel so natural.

Had me in a constant state of panic, but really enjoyed it, hope they get to do a sequel and expand upon the arsenal and perhaps make the ARC or APC not outright invulnerable this time- perhaps give the Runner (perhaps a Shotgun like acid puke) and Prowler (a more Sniper like acid spit) some ranged abilities to shake things up next time around.

I got it at launch and only finished a couple of weeks ago because it was stressing me out so much and I had to play in 20 minute chunks lmao. Hopefully the sequel get more nuts with the story and expands on all the engineer stuff, cause that was ace.