It still feels unreal, but Alien: Isolation 2 exists and is coming out sooner rather than later. Creative Assembly is back to take another big swing – or at least that's what we got from the first preview. But of course, everyone's wondering about Alien: Isolation star Amanda Ripley. Where is she? What is her potential role in this new story?
Shockingly, it seems we'll be strictly following a new protagonist, Blake, on a colony planet haunted by the Xenomorph. We've yet to learn much about the story and where Blake's journey might go, but Alien: Isolation 2 is trying not to retread too much of the 2014 original. That said, longtime fans remember the first game ended on a cliffhanger that was quite divisive, so surely Ellen Ripley's daughter has to be involved somehow, right?
Well, not really. While it seems Alien: Isolation 2 happens shortly after the events that destroyed the Sevastopol Station, Amanda Ripley has already continued her adventures elsewhere. More specifically, she was at the center of a comic book run by Dark Horse. It remains to be seen whether the leads at Creative Assembly will ignore them or play along by focusing on a different character and storyline, but here's the rundown on what happened and how it all could be tied together.
Spoilers ahead. If you'd like to keep Amanda Ripley's fate a mystery and stick to the games' narrative, turn around now.
The Corporation always wins
Alien: Isolation's final cutscene shows Amanda floating adrift in space until she's seemingly found by a ship. Three days had passed, but she survives and is taken to the Mendel Station... where another Xenomorph outbreak awaits. The immediate sequel to the original game was Alien: Blackout, a mobile-only game that has more in common with off-beat horror titles like Five Nights at Freddy's. It wasn't very good or inspired, and the plot was mostly a retread of Isolation's ideas through different mechanics and systems. You only need to know Amanda managed to escape alongside other survivors and set course to Earth.
Past this point, you should read Brian Wood's Aliens: Resistance and Rescue, two limited four-issue comic book series that directly follow Amanda Ripley as she tries to expose the Weyland-Yutani Corporation after returning to Earth and being silenced by the powers that be. Tonally, they're more in line with James Cameron's Aliens, so we get to see Amanda gunning down plenty of Xenomorphs as opposed to playing things smart with almost no resources.
Without getting into specifics, these stories also introduce the ex-Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks, who was introduced in Aliens: Defiance, also written by Brian Wood. They make for a fun duo of protagonists even if Resistance and Rescue mostly boil down to uncovering and putting an end to more of Weyland-Yutani's experiments. As Alien: Romulus (which also happens between Alien and Aliens) revealed, the Company was busy while Ellen Ripley slept for decades. We know Amanda could've kept fighting the good fight after Rescue's ending, but ultimately, she settles down years later and lives a normal life as revealed by Aliens. The sad thing is she never saw her mother again.
The fight against Weyland-Yutani might be far from over though. Another overlooked fact is Alien: Rogue Incursion – a VR game later adapted for regular screens – briefly mentions Amanda's post-Rescue exploits as Zula Hendricks continues her war against corporate evil in deep space. With developer Survios gutted earlier this year, however, the game's planned second part might never happen.
Ripley's legacy
Alien: Isolation 2 might orbit the Romulus timeline – though we don't know specifics yet – and both Ripley and Hendricks are still active, so there's a solid chance the game won't be as standalone as it looked at first. 20th Century Studios, Creative Assembly, and Sega are keeping their cards close to their chests (as they should), so it's smart to expect the unexpected.
LV-921 provides a new playground for the developers that should keep veteran players on their toes – especially if the Xenomorph's AI has evolved as much as the graphics – but I have no doubt that it's only the first step of a bigger and more terrifying journey. Who could've expected the original game to shake things up past a certain point with several Xenomorphs after just one had already made survival almost impossible? It's why I'm prepared for a wilder, more brutal ride. Sorry, Blake, it's looking bad for you.
In any case, both Ellen and Amanda Ripley's legacy is this huge shadow that seems to cover the entire Alien franchise after the Nostromo incident. One way or another, they changed Weyland-Yutani's course and gave it something it desperately wanted. So it makes sense it's up to them to make sure toying with the universe's deadliest species doesn't end humanity. As we know, they manage to at least hold the horrors at bay if you're okay with keeping Alien 3 and Resurrection in the canon. What about unsung heroes like Hendricks, Blake, or Rain Carradine though? Well, it's their turn to shine.
Alien: Isolation is still one of the best horror games ever made - but if its sequel's setup is still confusing you, here's how to watch all of the Alien films in order.
