Developing Alien Isolation was not an easy task for Creative Assembly. To faithfully capture the iconic Alien atmosphere, the team had to rewatch Ridley Scott’s 1979 original movie countless times.
Alien Isolation devs revealed new details about their work in a conversation with PC Gamer. The game’s creative director Alistair Hope says the studio was trying to stay as true as possible to the background – that’s why 20th Century Fox was so supportive of the project. As a result, the developers got an enormous archive of production materials, some of which have never been publicly released, including design blueprints and continuity Polaroids.
“We learned early on that you really need to study the source material. You think you know it inside out, but it’s not until you actually investigate closely that you get a full understanding,” Hope explains.
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The game’s UI lead Jon McKellan revealed many of the developers watched Alien hundreds of times during the course of development. Some went even further and didn’t even watch the other films during that time to fully immerse themselves into this universe. The movie “genuinely was running on screens […] 24/7,” McKellan says. “For a long time I was sitting next to one of the big screens that had it on. It was on loop, and over a 8-10 day shift I would have it in my peripheral vision running 4 times a day for over 4 years.”
Another reason for such dedication was the look of Alien and Aliens films, which is remarkably different. The devs didn’t want to “muddle them” both while creating the assets. “We’ve always been massive fans of the first film, and this all came about because it felt like no one had ever created that experience in a game,” Hope said. “It’s really beautifully realised and considered, it’s very believable.”
With such an approach to their work, it’s no surprise that Creative Assembly’s game almost instantly became a classic, standing tall as one of the best survival horrors to date. It’s safe to say the project still remains one of the most faithful film adaptations ever made.
Fans of the franchise will soon get another chance to dive into the beloved universe with the upcoming Aliens: Fireteam Elite, arriving on August 24. This time around you should look at James Cameron’s action-packed Aliens as a reference. In our recent preview, we wrote the title “definitely seems to be a worthy addition to the franchise.”
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