So i finally summoned enough courage to play Alien: Isolation. This one's been sitting on the shelf for a while..
Let me tell you, i am shocked that this game didn't come out like, last year or something. It is gorgeous

A big part of that gorgeousness is the environment design. Along with lovely lighting and effects, the Sevastopol space station (and docked vessels) are crafted with an amazing attention to detail. Also impressive is that they very much keep to the style of "future tech, as presented by the 70s" - monitors are chunky and monochrome; hacking tools look like Gameboys; everything has knobs and dials, and beeps and scans like something made back then

The sound of the game is as impressively well-designed as the environment. Along with the clicks and whirs of machinery, there's beeps from various devices, hisses and clanks from the ventilation (is there something in there?), the vaguely threatening mutterings of a Working Joe android, and then suddenly the thump of something large dropping from above, followed by stomping as it searches for you; it seems to be getting closer..

As an audio-visual piece Alien: Isolation is lovely - as a game, it is terrifying. The Alien is constantly hunting you, and gets better at it as the game progresses; you're fairly fragile, even on lower difficulties, and you're almost always under-equipped. It's part of the challenge (and fun, i guess), to find creative uses for what you do have, to get out of whatever bad situation you're in this time. Even scrounging for ammo and parts presents a risk

Lastly, something i didn't exactly expect was the Metroid influence. I'm not sure how much was intentional, and how much was "just neat game design", but instead of being a fully linear narrative game (it still mostly is), different parts of the station become available as you acquire the tools to unlock them. Also, the whole vibe and basic setup gave me flashbacks of Metroid: Fusion. Of course with Metroid being influenced by Alien (the movie), i could very easily be reading into things

I usually play games in the evening, after work, and with the Deck it's more common that i play in bed. I'll just say; very bad idea to play this game before bed. The last few chapters were particularly sleep-stopping, where the intensity cranks up to eleven. Although to be honest, i'm a bit of a baby when it comes to horror, so your personal terror may vary.
Fully recommend this game*

*if you can handle it