A few missed opportunities

[Corporal Hicks]

For example, they could've gone with the original "Laser" Pistol (Kane carries it in the Derelict) instead of the Revolver we see in the game.

You're completely right. That was a missed opportunity. Whilst it's never really seen (that one shot in the DC) or actually used in the film, it would have been a nice callback. However, I do feel it would have seemed out of place seeing pew-pew lasers when everything else is more modern with bullets and etc.

I also wish that they would've been more frank with the Egg-Morphing concept rather than just hinting at it. It's so gruesome and nightmarish and would've really given the game another dimension of horror to it.

I would have liked to have seen it be egg-morphing but that wasn't the intent of the game. The developers envisioned there was a Queen in the depths of Sevastapol. No egg-morphing I'm afraid.

...but the biggest missed opportunity was failing to release any mod tools for the game.

That's criminally missed off of most games these days. 

Frankly Sevastopol not having any weapons of any kind would be a massive oddity.

As BATMAN says, the presence of guns was addressed in the logs and such. They talk about a debate regarding the issue if I remember rightly. It all made perfect sense.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Howdy...

https://beezkneezblogblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/elgyn.jpg

Howdy!

You ol' scoundrel! 

But yeah, I imagine they might have weapons on board in case of piracy. A lot of real-life merchant marine vessels that pass near Somalia or west Africa are packing these days. Some even hire mercenaries.

I also imagine that might be the reason for the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

You're completely right. That was a missed opportunity. Whilst it's never really seen (that one shot in the DC) or actually used in the film, it would have been a nice callback. However, I do feel it would have seemed out of place seeing pew-pew lasers when everything else is more modern with bullets and etc.

Like I said in an earlier post it doesn't have to be red beamed pew-pew laser. The laser doesn't have to be visible and the sound it makes could be a hissing, buzzing or humming sound, or it could have a more electronic explosion-like sound like the pistols in Blade Runner, or the sound of a muffled or silenced handgun. The ricochet/"bullet hole" effect could be a smokey flare, a red hot melted hole, or a bunch of sparks around a white bright dot. If the laser is more of a stunner weapon from afar, that can be quite lethal up close, it would make up for a lot of interesting strategies and gameplay.

I would have liked to have seen it be egg-morphing but that wasn't the intent of the game. The developers envisioned there was a Queen in the depths of Sevastapol. No egg-morphing I'm afraid.

I've heard both. Read somewhere that they wanted to keep it open for interpretation as ALIEN fans will get the egg-morphing nod whereas the rest can safely assume that there has to be a Queen somewhere on board the Sevastopol. In a way it's cool that they went that route, but as an ALIEN fan it would've been really sweet if they went all in and with the program. Egg-morphing is horrifying and is one of those things that still scares me on film. Body horror at its best.

[windebieste]

Even if there is a Queen present, all the doors are barred and some of the eggs found in that hive are placed in isolated locations that are only accessible through low and narrow vents that are too small for Aliens to carry eggs through.   

I still say eggmorphing is a viable possibility in this regard.   After all, I never saw any evidence of a Queen. 

-Windebieste.

[Corporal Hicks]

Just for clarities sake -

AvPGalaxy – The inclusion of the Alien hive was a surprise to quite a lot of us! However, in the narrative it wasn't explained how the hive or multiple Aliens came to be. Was it ever discussed within the team how the hive came about? Queen? Eggmorphing?

Gary Napper – We wanted to imply that a Queen was on board but it didn't feel like facing off against a boss Alien Queen was very... "Alien". We were caught in a riddle of, "If we show an Alien Queen, the player will expect to fight her" and "If we don't show her, people will ask where the eggs come from". In the end we figured it was best to preserve the suspense and mystery by not explicitly showing her.

http://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/interview-creative-assembly-post-launch/

AvPGalaxy – Was there any point in which the Alien Queen actually made a presence in the story of the game and how would that have played out?

Will Porter – No, she was always as previously described – there but unseen, for fear that the player would expect a battle. I think that, ultimately, we made the right choice. There were many meetings in which we discussed having vague hints at her presence but, to borrow a Dan Abnett phrase, it was too 'on the nose'. She's down there somewhere, in amongst the cacophony, but Ripley was lucky enough not to bump into her.

http://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/interview-alien-isolation-writers-will-porter-dion-lay/?page2

I still say eggmorphing is a viable possibility in this regard.   After all, I never saw any evidence of a Queen. 

Certainly. It's something they can put in if they want to as we never actually see the Queen, even if it is the behind closed doors intent.

[Flexserve]

sarcastic rant

Ah, you're right, how stupid of me. Game companies nowadays are releasing their modding tools and SDKs all over the place. That must be why we've gotten so many extensive mods for the recent major releases of Alien-related games.

YUP
http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=&released=&genre=&theme=&players=&game=11261
http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=&released=&genre=&theme=&players=&game=29604
http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=&released=&genre=&theme=&players=&game=11
http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=&released=&genre=&theme=&players=&game=12
http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=&released=&genre=&theme=&players=&game=12549

[esz]

For me a missed opportunity was the crafting system. It's fine in itself, but all you can craft is a medpack and "things that make the alien inspect them". It's not really important how they look or sound - all of them work in almost the same way. There could make them more diverse by adding some side effects to every one. A fire bomb that would make sprinklers go on - the sound of water and alarm siren would make Alien almost impossible to hear. EMP bomb that makes all lights in the section go out, so you can't see - and so on.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

For me a missed opportunity was the crafting system. It's fine in itself, but all you can craft is a medpack and "things that make the alien inspect them". It's not really important how they look or sound - all of them work in almost the same way. There could make them more diverse by adding some side effects to every one. A fire bomb that would make sprinklers go on - the sound of water and alarm siren would make Alien almost impossible to hear. EMP bomb that makes all lights in the section go out, so you can't see - and so on.

Good points. That would've added another dimension to the gameplay as well as the atmosphere and mood of the game.