[Malgon]

Game Informer writer Jeff Cork's hands on with the game

I don't want to get too excited about this after what happened last year with the whole A:CM debacle, but I thought it was worth starting a topic about it, as the idea that the game is based upon Alien and not Aliens is a little intriguing to say the least. I don't know too much about The Creative Assembly, except that they are mainly known for the Total War series, so it could be interesting to see if they've got the skills to make a decent FP horror title. Doesn't look like there's any release date as of yet, but it's planned for PC, PS3, PS4, XBOX 360 and XBOX ONE. Please don't screw this up.

[Person of Color]

It's Sega. They WILL find a way to fuck this up.

[OpenMaw]

I'm very cautiously optimistic.


For one thing, they've nailed the look of the era very nicely. For two, outside of Aliens A Comic Book adventure, this is really the only instance where a pure alien, pure survival horror game has been tried.(The only major exception would be the really old Commodore 64 game where you had to save the crew of the Nostromo.) Everything else has been either an Action-Horror Shooter, or AVP.


Gameplay wise, if all they do is ape Amnesia and Outlast properly, they'll still be way ahead of Gearbox as far as success. It sounds like they're going a step further, particularly with the AI they've got going on there. Which is really really cool.


Still. I'm not gonna get excited until more gameplay is shown and we can really see some of the dynamics they're talking about.

Spoiler

This was my take on an ALIEN style survival horror game. I was unable to finish, lost the code and assets on accident. Someone else over at AVP Galaxy was working on doing a version inspired by mine though, which was looking very promising.

[xMobilemux]

I really really want this to be good, a top notch survival horror game running on the Alien license could sky rocket the survival horror genre back to fame, The Evil Within may be good, but a great survival horror game in the Alien franchise could do a lot better.

[The Commander]

So we know from the trailer of A:CM that the trailer shown here wont really represents what the game looks like in the end.

[X-Vector]

Looks fantastic, if a bit grey and blue for a game based on Alien rather than Aliens (should be mostly cream, brown and green).
Playing as Ellen Ripley's daughter is a commercial contrivance, but the gameplay concept looks very interesting as well, so I'm cautiously optimistic at the moment.

[Komenja]

The thing that has me worried is the "single Xenomorph and numerous human soldiers/clones as antagonists" that was mentioned last year. Aside from that, I like what I'm seeing. They really nailed the biomechanical look of the original Xeno.

Please don't suck.

[X-Vector]

More in-game footage:

[Lunick]

Does the FOV seem low or is it just me in that video?

[OpenMaw]

Lunick, on 08 January 2014 - 04:59 AM, said:

Does the FOV seem low or is it just me in that video?

If it is, I wouldn't be too surprised. It would be aping a lot of Ridley's cinematography to use a lower FOV, and it would also heighten the sense of danger since you're seeing less.

[Kathy]

Commando Nukem, on 08 January 2014 - 08:12 AM, said:

It would be aping a lot of Ridley's cinematography to use a lower FOV

What's that supposed to mean? It's not a movie and you're in control of a 'camera', so there is no much point in following movie's cinematography. Besides, it was shot for a 2,35:1 aspect ratio. FOV also depends on a lens of course, but I don't remember it being always that narrow, especially for a movie inside of a ship.

[OpenMaw]

Kathy, on 08 January 2014 - 08:45 AM, said:

What's that supposed to mean? It's not a movie and you're in control of a 'camera', so there is no much point in following movie's cinematography. Besides, it was shot for a 2,35:1 aspect ratio. FOV also depends on a lens of course, but I don't remember it being always that narrow, especially for a movie inside of a ship.

Sure there is. You want to match the look and feel of the film as much as you possibly can in this case. There were many shots where Ridley used a narrow FOV lens to achieve a claustrophobic atmosphere. You can see this in many of the tracking shots, particularly near the very beginning and in the final act of the film. Obviously, not the whole film was shot this way, and there are many shots that make use of tremendous depth of field, however, to achieve a really tense sense of atmosphere, using a narrow lens was the way to go. Just look at the scene where the alien is revealed behind Brett, or when Lambert and Parker are attacked. Very tight, very narrow. Limiting the players viewing perspective is very important. Makes it very easy to get snuck up on. Give the player a fish eye lens and suddenly the experience isn't nearly so terrifying.

[Malgon]

Cool, there's a few shots I haven't seen there X-Vector. There's some nice use of DoF in many of them too, and the overall feel is looking almost spot on.

[Bloodshot]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this as well. From what I've seen it looks pretty cool, and the idea that it's driven by actual AI when trying to find you sounds amazing.

Commando Nukem, on 08 January 2014 - 12:19 AM, said:

Spoiler

This was my take on an ALIEN style survival horror game. I was unable to finish, lost the code and assets on accident. Someone else over at AVP Galaxy was working on doing a version inspired by mine though, which was looking very promising.

Holy shit you made that? I remember seeing it a while back thinking how cool it was, and that exact video popped into my head when I started seeing stuff bout this game.

[Engel220]

I'm definitely interested, but I'm keeping this at arm's length until this proves itself to be better designed than A:CM. It certainly looks promising, though, and coming from a developer who primarily made third-person RTS games for the better part of its existence is very impressive.

[Bloodshot]

No commentary gameplay

[The Commander]

I hate commentary videos so this is pretty good but Is it just me or does the 720p just appear to be upscaled...
Would have been nice to see it in full HD.

[Bloodshot]

Interesting dev interview

http://www.pcgamesn....ifying-alien-ai

[Stabs]

Might work a bit better with more characters and perma death, like 5 v 10 aliens, and not even enough ammo to kill them all, if you can even find the ammo., not multi either, you can change characters in the safe room and choose to take a companion(s) for tasks that might require 2 people or even vacate and to a new better safe room that offers more control over the facility, or even children chars to access smaller vents, androids who are not easily rattled and suffer from vision/movement impairments from seeing to much shit, like 0% of tripping whilst being chased or as a companion scaring and running off leaving you alone.

your end goal or perfect run is all 5 surviving and 8 out of 10 aliens killed.

that's the main problem with these survival horror games, 1 person is boring and i don't get to see gory deaths, that's why you watch a horror movie and this is horror survival. The tension is always so high from the beginning in these games it never really gets a chance to build and you are used to the scares by end games. one by one as you get killed should be the scare factor.

[Mr.Deviance]

The retro space hardware, the color palette, the lighting and the depth of field mixed with that very slight chromatic aberration shader make this new Alien game look almost identical to that upcoming indie horror fps game called Routine.
Routine is a survival horror type of game that takes place on a high tech moon base populated by 80's hardware.
I was already hyped for Routine's ambient based on these graphics and sound effects and now this Alien game appears to promise an ambient and graphics on the same level with Routine or even better.




I also trust that The Creative Assembly unlike Gearbox are really keen on proving themselves with this game and show everybody that Total War games are not the only games they can do for a living.
The way I see it, this triple A fps game can give The Creative Assembly a future into a genre they never had to deal with before.
Considering how good this new Alien game appears to look, I am amazed at the level of talent and potential that existed in a studio that never made an fps game in their life, let alone any impressive looking game when it comes to graphics.

[X-Vector]

The similarity occurred to me as well, although I don't really see any chromatic aberration standing out in the A:I footage.
Of the two, Routine looks the most interesting so far, but the tiny team behind it makes me even more skeptical about its chances to deliver.

[OpenMaw]

DanM, on 09 January 2014 - 11:41 PM, said:

that's the main problem with these survival horror games, 1 person is boring and i don't get to see gory deaths, that's why you watch a horror movie and this is horror survival. The tension is always so high from the beginning in these games it never really gets a chance to build and you are used to the scares by end games. one by one as you get killed should be the scare factor.

I don't agree with that entirely. Personally, I watch a horror movie for a good story with an unsettling/disturbing/terrifying theme. Gore is the fart joke of a horror movie. It's right next to a jump scare. Low-tier terror. I understand what you're saying, but, no. The isolation factor is very important to the tension. And though there were a few violent deaths in Alien. The original film was never about buckets of gore. The chestburster is serviceably graphic. The way to keep that problem from occuring is to never let the A.I. routines become apparent to the player. You should not be able to literally rinse-and-repeat the same strategy over and over again. That's the important part.

Spoiler

However, I did consider an alternative game design idea based on the old theme park attraction called "Alien War" where four marines would have to escape through the facility with only half a magazine in their pulse rifles. (50 rounds, just like in Aliens) whilst being surrounded by a horde of instant death aliens. You wanna shit your pants, yet?

[Kathy]

You've just shit on a lot of horror movies here. What you're saying might be right for suspense horror/thriller movies, but not whole genre, where gore is an important aspect and not "the fart joke". Which is why Alien had this very graphic scene involving chestbuster. Because it was a horror movie and didn't shy from it.

[MusicallyInspired]

There's horror and then there's suspense/thriller. Alien is not a horror movie.

[Engel220]

Gore is an almost key aspect of horror, at least since the early to mid 70's onwards, but a horror film reliant on gore alone is just a splatter flick and not a horror movie (Depending on whether you take the word 'horror' as to be horrified or to be scared). Scary atmospheres, a strong air of suspense/unease and a good but restrained amount of gore all go hand-in-hand to make for a good movie or game even, but gore is one of those things that can be the make or break of a movie or game depending on how and when you use it.

I would go with MusicallyInspired's view of Alien personally, albeit that the Chestburster scene does add a horror tinge but not enough to brand it directly as a full-on horror movie.

As far as the game goes, I think CA have a pretty solid grasp on how to present this game so far. Hopefully that remains in the final product and it leads to them being seen as a developer with talents beyond RTS games, but the fact that Sega are still involved in this as the publisher and franchise rights holders after the A:CM debacle is the big unsettling factor rather than this just having the Alien name.

[Bloodshot]

DanM, on 09 January 2014 - 11:41 PM, said:

Might work a bit better with more characters and perma death, like 5 v 10 aliens, and not even enough ammo to kill them all, if you can even find the ammo., not multi either, you can change characters in the safe room and choose to take a companion(s) for tasks that might require 2 people or even vacate and to a new better safe room that offers more control over the facility, or even children chars to access smaller vents, androids who are not easily rattled and suffer from vision/movement impairments from seeing to much shit, like 0% of tripping whilst being chased or as a companion scaring and running off leaving you alone.

your end goal or perfect run is all 5 surviving and 8 out of 10 aliens killed.

that's the main problem with these survival horror games, 1 person is boring and i don't get to see gory deaths, that's why you watch a horror movie and this is horror survival. The tension is always so high from the beginning in these games it never really gets a chance to build and you are used to the scares by end games. one by one as you get killed should be the scare factor.

You might like this game then

[Stabs]

Engel220, on 10 January 2014 - 01:15 PM, said:

Gore is an almost key aspect of horror, at least since the early to mid 70's onwards, but a horror film reliant on gore alone is just a splatter flick and not a horror movie (Depending on whether you take the word 'horror' as to be horrified or to be scared). Scary atmospheres, a strong air of suspense/unease and a good but restrained amount of gore all go hand-in-hand to make for a good movie or game even, but gore is one of those things that can be the make or break of a movie or game depending on how and when you use it.

I would go with MusicallyInspired's view of Alien personally, albeit that the Chestburster scene does add a horror tinge but not enough to brand it directly as a full-on horror movie.

As far as the game goes, I think CA have a pretty solid grasp on how to present this game so far. Hopefully that remains in the final product and it leads to them being seen as a developer with talents beyond RTS games, but the fact that Sega are still involved in this as the publisher and franchise rights holders after the A:CM debacle is the big unsettling factor rather than this just having the Alien name.

exactly, its not that i want a dumb slaughterfest but its annoyinjg to invest time in a character and the events leading to their demise and then right at the end they snatch away the cherry on top. And i do recall the first alien movie being about more than 1 person.

never played the space hulk games but i think that will be the next thing in this survival / horror genre, multiple disposable characters in a very dynamic world. Band together to make a trap to kill the monster or make an escape? they are just sorta stay crouched hide behind things atm they are just so obsessed with making you so vulnerable 100% of the time, you don't need to kill the monster but you could take the chance to injure it so it limps and doesn't move as fast, or stab out an eye and reduce its vision cone

[MusicallyInspired]

I like that the concept of this game is based on intelligent AI and "AI" is also the acronym of the game title.

[Jimmy]

Kathy, on 10 January 2014 - 12:54 PM, said:

You've just shit on a lot of horror movies here. What you're saying might be right for suspense horror/thriller movies, but not whole genre, where gore is an important aspect and not "the fart joke". Which is why Alien had this very graphic scene involving chestbuster. Because it was a horror movie and didn't shy from it.

The chestburster scene wasn't scary because it was gory.

[MusicallyInspired]

It played a role, but no it wasn't the sole or even primary factor.