The Creative Assembly's "lo-fi sci-fi" approaching to upcoming survival horror title Alien: Isolation was drive by the desire to immerse players in "Ridley Scott's haunted house in space," creative lead Alistair Hope's name for the original Alien film, according to a post on the PlayStation Blog.
Players will control Amanda Ripley, the "underpowered and underprepared" daughter of Ellen Ripley desperately searching for clues to her mother's disappearance.
"Our key influence was the original film, but I think it would be fair to say that we're all big survival horror fans, so our reference points are various and many," Hope said. "From Sega's own Condemned with its shockingly brutal combat, to older games like the Clock Tower series with its totally underpowered main character forced to hide from the stalking horror."
Hope added that in order to keep players immersed in the Alien world, the game will include no technology developed after 1979 — the year the original Alien film debuted. The Creative Assembly filmed game content on VHS tapes, then played it back on old CRT televisions and captured the result. This footage was then put back in to the game, giving it the feel of the original film.
"That means the in-world technology in the game is this great lo-fi / sci-fi, push-button tech that's clunky, glitchy and imperfect," Hope explained.
"Alien: Isolation provides a number of different approaches to surviving, but I think it's fair to say that the Alien is quite uncompromising," he added of the game's difficulty. "It is death, and if you don't give it the respect it demands, you will not survive. It's been fascinating watching people play the game and their response afterwards. Because the Alien is dynamic and reactive, every playthrough is different. Everyone's experience is slightly different as they've taken different approaches to trying to survive. The player has a very personal and direct relationship with their opponent as it hunts them."
Alien: Isolation is slated to launch this year for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Check out the video above for a walkthrough what we currently know about the game with Hope and other members of the development team, and Polygon's own hands-on with the title from GDC 2014.
