Alien: Isolation 2 | Sequel to 2014’s classic space anxiety simulator announced

Alien: Isolation
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To mark the original’s 10th anniversary, developer Creative Assembly has announced space horror sequel Alien: Isolation 2.


As the original Alien: Isolation celebrates its 10th anniversary, the survival horror videogame’s developer, Creative Assembly, has unexpectedly announced that it’s working on a sequel.

The 2014 game’s creative director Alistair Hope broke the news via its account on Twitter/X. “On the 10th anniversary,” Hope wrote, “it seems only fitting to let you know that we have heard your distress calls loud and clear… a sequel to Alien: Isolation is in early development.”

At this early stage, it’s unknown what platforms Alien: Isolation 2 will be developed for, or even whether it’ll be called Alien: Isolation 2.

That a sequel has even been greenlit is something of a surprise, though, given that, while the original Alien: Isolation was much loved by its fans and most critics, it wasn’t a huge seller for publisher Sega – at the time, the publisher described its initial six-month sales of around 2m copies as “weak”.

Creative Assembly has itself said that, while it was keen to make a follow-up, the original’s slow sales meant that it was unlikely to happen. “Alien: Isolation 2 is not out of the question, because we’re so proud of it and there’s possibly more to be said,” Creative Assembly boss Tim Heaton told GamesIndustry.biz in 2015. “But do we really want to be spending very significant amounts of money, and getting close to break-even or just about in the black? That’s not where Sega wants to be, when we have a brilliant portfolio of other games that do great business.”

Nor has Creative Assembly had the easiest of times in the years since Alien: Isolation. When that resolutely single-player game proved to be a slow seller, the studio embarked on what would become the multiplayer shooter Hyenas in 2017. Production on the game was said to be ‘challenging,’ however, and in September 2023, Sega made the surprising decision to cancel Hyenas before it was even released. The project was said to have cost somewhere in the region of $70-100m.

According to one former Creative Assembly developer, though, the studio had been quietly working away on concepts for an Alien: Isolation sequel for some time. “I don’t know specifically why it finally got the green light,” developer Del Walker writes, “but it does seem like Disney’s acquisition of Fox [owner of the Alien movie rights] created new possibilities.”

Certainly, the word of Alien: Isolation’s pulse-quickening brilliance has only grown in the intervening years. Journalist Andy Kelly has written an entire book, Perfect Organism, which details its development. Fede Alvarez, the director of this summer’s Alien: Romulus, has said in interviews that it was through playing the game that he realised how scary the xenomorph could still be. Homages to Creative Assembly’s game can be found in Alien: Romulus’ set design here and there.

While Alien: Isolation wasn’t a storming success in 2014, its roll-out to other systems – such as its Nintendo Switch port in 2019 -has likely also turned it into a money-maker over time. It’s still readily available on Steam, with both the central game and its DLC available at a discounted rate on the platform at the time of writing.

What still remains true about Alien: Isolation a decade later, however, is that its most individual design ideas are also its most divisive. As the player – cast as Amanda Rilpey, daughter of Ellen – creeps around a dingy space station, they’re stalked by a xenomorph capable of randomly popping out at almost any moment. For the bulk of the game, the creature is essentially invincible, meaning the player has little choice but to scuttle under tables or hide inside lockers when the xenomorph rears its glistening head.

Among the acclaim, Alien: Isolation was therefore criticised for being too repetitive and frustrating in some quarters. Whether Creative Assembly will try to address this, or perhaps try to make a less stressful game in order to hook in a broader audience, remains to be seen. Certainly, other atmospheric single-player horror games have struggled in recent years – just look at The Callisto Protocol, Glen Schofield’s spiritual successor to his own Dead Space franchise.

Then again, the Resident Evil franchise continues to be a reliable success for Capcom, while Konami’s enjoying some of the best reviews it’s had in years for its Silent Hill 2 remake, developed by Bloober Team.

For now, it’s enough to say that the mere promise of another Alien: Isolation sequel is exciting in itself, given how unlikely a sequel sounded even a year or two ago. If Alien: Isolation 2 is anything like its predecessor, we should be in for another highly effective space anxiety simulator soon.

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