Alien Isolation 2 [Preview]: I hear the screams around the room

Hands-on with the terrifying new game in the Alien franchise

Alien is having a huge resurgence now, with great TV shows and new movies that are refocusing on what made that first film so great: Terror. Horror. Fear.

And jump scares!

Going into our Summer Game Fest hands-on, we were given the option to have our Alien Isolation 2 demo session recorded to be able to capture our reactions to the horror moments. I love to get freaked out in theaters and at home when watching horror films, so okay, cool, already on the right track! The room setup is simple: we’re in a darkened cubicle with the only light emitting from the screen in front of us. It’s silent, we have a headset on, and we’re handed a controller. We can’t see around or in front of us, we just know that we’re being recorded (the camera is in front of us) and that we’re left alone to FIGURE SHIT OUT.

Then we go.

The demo begins at night as we’re riding in a vehicle to get off world, with two other teammates alongside us, and our only controls being turning our head (we’re in first person) to see out the window at the dark forest outside. It’s raining, hard, and we shouldn’t have gone out in this storm. Suddenly a large flash overtakes the sky, our vehicle is rocked, and we’re awakened with ringing ears as we see a giant fire off in the distance. When our squad mates come to their senses we decide to do some exploring, alone, because we realize that it’s a ship that has crashed and they’re better served getting the truck loose. Sure! Let’s walk into the dark forest! ALONE!

The opening moments set the scene immediately, hinting to us that we’ll be going to more places with the sequel than just the inside of a ship. After trudging through the forest, following sparks of flame through the moody fog and seeing our crew drive up on the shoulder of the pathway, we come across said ship and are drawn to see if we can find some survivors. Before I go further I want to bring up just how terrific the lighting is in the game thus far. The warm flames reflect off of tree trunks lighting our way through the dark, and the headlamps of the recon vehicle beam through the fog above. It’s pretty stunning, all said.

The only way into the crashed ship is a door thats stuck closed. We need to get some power to it, and to do so we learn the basics of crafting. Grab one of these things over here, one of those over there, put them together, plug them into the power source and bring the exterior of the craft to life. One of our crew mates, terrified, opts to head back to the recon vehicle and back to basecamp, swearing that it’ll be faster to get back there and signal for help than from here.

The two of us get inside the ship and start looking around. There are creaks, dripping water, strange noises and electrical shorts. It’s not frightening, just falling apart. My crew mate stays near the door to do some maintenance work while I scout ahead further, coming upon a lab. Without a clear way in I need to look around, and as I do so my leg is suddenly grabbed by a synthetic, ripped apart by the force of the crash. This is the first moment when I COULD freak out, and I’m assuming others do, because even with headphones on I hear a few loud gasps and the occasional “WHOA” over the deafening silence. I’m not deterred — I was hoping to have the video to prove that I had nary a blink but the PR is still working on editing it as of the time of this article — but if this moment is happening this early then I’m fairly certain there will be more opportunities that might give me a jump later.

After a little fiddling I’m able to get inside, walk around and see that it’s surprisingly still intact. Unfortunately I don’t see anyone around, neither here, nor in the hallways, but there are some terminals that I might be able to log into. I find one, get to work checking things, and then somehow, accidentally, unlock a “containment unit.” Cool cool, I’m sure that’ll be fine. Within seconds we know what that containment unit held, as we hear our crew mate screaming in terror on the other side of the wall, before being dragged off somewhere.

As we walk towards the door of the lab we suddenly see what we’re up against. Or rather, hear it. Vents shake, footsteps and thuds vibrate in the room, and we whip around to see a giant shadow come down from the corner of the room. The lab door requires unlocking, so instead of leaving myself open I run back over to the desk and crouch underneath, waiting out the beast as it hunts around the room. It’s quite a terrifying moment, one of many that I’ll come across in this demo, where just being silent and watching something can send hairs standing straight up on my arms. Once the Xenomorph leaves the room for a short second, I escape out of the lab door and run into the hallway, quickly looking for somewhere to go. The path that I initially came in from is blocked, so I head towards the far of the hallway, picking up items along the way that might be useful later.

Unfortunately THAT end of the hallway is blocked and I have to head back towards the lab. I’ve kept my eyes open, however, and have noticed that there’s a vent system along the floor with a couple of gates that might be a quick hiding spot entry. As I near the lab again I hear the beast, find the nearest vent and drop in. WHEW! It doesn’t seem TOO bad right now, as I’m able to wait it out, but I’m noticing that the alien does seem to hunt rather than stalk. It’s not trying to just find me, it’s trying to kill me. Once the coast is clear I get out of the vent and head towards what might be an exit, except now there’s a fire in the way, blazing out of a pipe. years of pop culture and movies and games have informed me that if there’s a fire then there’s usually a way to turn it off, and it’s usually a valve. heading back into the previous hallway I notice that yes, right across from the doorway to the lab is a bright red valve just waiting to be turned. I hustle over, turn the valve once and… have to turn it again. Okay! I turn it a second time and… I have to turn it again. FINE. Except I waited too long, my hands release from the valve, my view tilts downward and I see a giant spike emerge from my chest. The camera pivots back up and I see the dripping teeth of the Xenomorph, like the smile of Pennywise, as the mouth opens and the screen goes black.

WHOOPS.

Ah well.

Thankfully the game has a generous respawn system, putting us back in the lab with the alien walking around. In a game like this, with so many ways to die, it’s absolutely welcomed that I don’t have to go all the way back to some point where I have to do several sequences again, as just sneaking and trying to survive can be exhausting for a frightened crew member. And boy do I use that autosave a lot, because I find myself getting killed by the creature in many, many ways. Run out of the lab too fast? Dead. Take too long to turn the valve? Dead. Jump into the vent with the creature watching me? Dead. This is especially fear-inducing because we can see the beast crawling through the vent after us, or at us, and the claustrophobia alone is petrifying.

After several tries we’re finally able to shut off the gas, run into the next area and duck behind a counter in a hallway as the beast follows us in. It’s worth noting that this thing seems to have our number, always chasing us. It knows where we are at all times, and is always nearby within probably 20 meters or less, so we never feel like we have a safe spot. It’s almost, ALMOST nerve-wracking.

Much of the experience of the game is this way; it’s tense, it’s claustrophobic, even in open spaces, and it feels heavy. I can’t tell if the Xenomorph is programmed to be this ruthless or if the AI is turned all the way up, but the moment we feel like we’re getting somewhere, like we’re making headway, WE MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT and the Xeno catches up to us.

And I appreciate that, every second of it. If the full game can keep this intensity then I have the suspicion that my Apple Watch will be giving me plenty of warnings.

Alien Isolation 2, from SEGA and Creative Assembly, doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’ll be coming to PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 2 and PC.