Remember Alien: Isolation, that terrifying horror video game that had with legions of gamers hiding in storage lockers from xenomorphs adept at playing hide and seek only to rip them from their safe space and unalive them? Well, not only is that hidden gem of a horror game a decade old, it’s in the process of getting a sequel.
Earlier today, the official Alien: Isolation X/Twitter account published a statement from creative director Al Hope celebrating the game’s 10th anniversary. In tandem with Hope thanking fans for their “boundless enthusiasm, excitement, screams, and steely courage in the face of cinema’s greatest killer,” Hope dropped the bombshell announcement that the team is hard at work making a sequel.
“On the 10th anniversary, it seems only fitting to let you know that we have heard your distress calls loud and clear. Today, I’m delighted to confirm, on behalf of the team, that a sequel to Alien: Isolation is in early development,” Hope wrote. “We look forward to sharing more details with you when we’re ready.”
Here’s the full message from X:
Suffice it to say, it’s pretty wild that Creative Assembly is getting back in the saddle 10 years later and giving its often under-appreciated horror game a sequel all these years later. However, if you were to ask Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez, this phenomenon would be a no-brainer considering how emblematic the atmospheric horror game was in inspiring him to give his take on the long-running sci-fi franchise.
“Alien: Isolation was kind of what made me see that Alien could truly be terrifying and done well [today],” Alvarez told GamesRadar+. “That’s why, at the time, I was like, ‘Fuck, if I could do anything, I would love to do Alien and scare the audience again with that creature and those environments.’ I was playing, and realizing how terrifying Alien could be if you take it back to that tone.”
More specifically, Alvarez was enamored with how the game’s monotonously long emergency phone call mechanic in its safe rooms became narrative shorthand for players’ vulnerability to xenomorph attacks.
“The movie is set up in a way [that] every time something bad is about to happen, you will see a phone,” Alvarez continued. “In the game, every time you knew there’s a phone you’d go, ‘Fuck, I’m about to go into some bad set-piece.’ It’s the same thing here. You’ll see they’re planted strategically throughout the film. When you see the phone, it’s like: brace for impact.”
Hopefully whatever Creative Assembly has cooking in Alien: Isolation‘s sequel will continue in its progenitor’s footsteps as inspiration should we receive a new Alien vs Predator film from Alvarez and Prey director Dan Trachtenberg. In the meantime, fans can look forward to the prequel TV show Alien: Earth when it arrives on Hulu next year.
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