This 2014 Game Was A Better Alien Sequel Than Anything Since 1986

The Alien franchise has been in pretty rough shape for many years now, as since the release of James Cameron 's Aliens in 1986, there hasn't been a single unanimously beloved sequel in almost four decades.

Alien 3 was too depressing and failed to recapture the atmosphere of its predecessors, Alien Resurrection wasn't scary at all because it turned Ripley into a super-powered human-alien hybrid, Prometheus was promising but still underwhelming, and Alien: Covenant was a complete clown show.

However, a perfect direct sequel to Ridley Scott 's original 1979 film already happened almost a decade ago, but the catch is that it was a video game.

Alien: Isolation, developed by Creative Assembly, was released in 2014 and revolved around Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda, who was briefly mentioned in Aliens.

15 years after her mother's disappearance, Amanda is still clinging to hope, and when Christopher Samuels, a Weyland-Yutani android, reveals that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found, she immediately joins the mission to retrieve it.

They venture to Sevastopol, an old space station owned by the Seegson Corporation, but upon arrival they find the station in a terrible state, as the flight recorder wasn't the only thing brought on board.

The salvage crew who discovered it also saw the Nostromo's flight pattern, which led them to LV-426, where one of them was attacked by a facehugger, so they brought the injured crew member with them, and you can guess what happened next.

Unlike many other Alien games, Isolation does a phenomenal job of conveying how dangerous the Xenomorph actually is, as the player can't kill the creature and is forced to hide, distract, and in some cases scare it away with a flamethrower (which isn't as effective as it sounds).

The Xenomorph's A.I. is incredible, making dodging it absolutely nightmarish (in a good way), as when you see a fast-moving dot on your motion tracker, it instantly makes you break into a cold sweat.

The developers have also done a tremendous job with the Sevastopol station, getting access to the concept art and props from the 1979 movie, which allowed them to recreate the atmosphere flawlessly.

They even used some discarded ideas from the original film, such as the alternative way the Xenomorphs reproduce by turning some of their victims into eggs, which was featured in a deleted scene from Alien.

The story is excellent as well, with some unforgettable twists that make this journey even better.

So if you're a fan of the Alien series and you're looking for something great set in your favorite franchise, you might want to give Alien: Isolation a chance if you haven't already.