Hands-On: Alien: Isolation 2 Remembers What Made The First Game Great

One of my first memories as a games journalist is sitting down to play the original Alien: Isolation at E3 2014. I’d never been to an industry event before and my nerves were shot, so by the time I reached Creative Assembly’s demo my tolerance for jump scares had evaporated.

When the xenomorph began chasing me around Sevastopol Station, I fled before finishing the session. Playing Alien: Isolation 2 at Summer Game Fest felt like more than another assignment — it was a test. Twelve years after that first encounter I managed to get through the sequel’s demo without too many tears.

The game is no less frightening; I was simply older and, perhaps, a little braver. The sequel picks up directly from the original: Sevastopol was destroyed, but a remnant of the station survived and landed on a planet inhabited by well-meaning humans searching for survivors.

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