The survival horror renaissance is alive and well in 2024, and the latest proof is the fact that Alien: Isolation 2 is currently in "early development". Creative Assembly's modern cult classic is still a terrifying force to be reckoned with, its heart-pounding concoction of claustrophobic cat-and-mouse in an abandoned spacecraft proving prime nightmare fodder even a decade on. If the original Dead Space (and System Shock, to an extent) set the scene for deep space horror to take off, Alien: Isolation took those blueprints and bolted with them.
With the current trends leaning toward remake upon remake of the best survival horror games of yore, though, it's a relief that Creative Assembly is doing something different. Instead of rebuilding the 2014 original, fans are to be treated to a full-blown Alien: Isolation sequel – and hot on the heels of this summer's box office hit Alien: Romulus, the announcement couldn't have been timed better. There's not much else to go on just yet, but the raucously positive response from the horror community indicates to me that the genre might not be as stuck in the past as I'd feared.
Ellen Ripley's believe it or not
Alien: Romulus director explains his new film’s big Alien: Isolation Easter egg
You and I might consider Alien: Isolation to be a legendary survival horror game, but it didn't start off that way. That's because while critical reception seemed strong enough, with GamesRadar+ giving it a solid score in our Alien: Isolation review, it seemed a vast majority of mainstream gamers just weren't hungering for horror the way they are now. Let's Play content on YouTube allowed many to experience the terror without having to take part themselves, and what's more, it was the year of Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Dark Souls 2 to name a handful of 2014's superstars. With no shortage of games on the table for players to devour, Alien: Isolation would slink into the shadows, finding success in a passionate niche of the community instead of the bottom line.
Today, the landscape looks a little different. True, horror is still not the biggest genre in the industry, but its fans have grown louder as the community swells with each passing year. One large, Tyrant-shaped reason for the sudden increased appetite? You can thank the litany of remakes over the past five years. Leon and Claire returned to our screens in Capcom's Resident Evil 2 Remake in 2019, and suddenly, it seemed that atmospheric, nostalgic, run-and-gun horror games were cool again. You only need to look at Silent Hill 2's immense critical and public success this month, despite years of wariness from its dedicated fanbase, or Motive's thrilling Dead Space remake back in early 2023, to see the trend for yourself. The horror remake renaissance has been upon us for years now. That much is clearer than the starry skies above Raccoon City.
But Creative Assembly isn't following that herd in particular. Rather, it's doing an Alan Wake 2 and promising to deliver a brand new terrifying adventure, building on its legacy rather than reconstructing it piece by piece. In a world where new horror IPs are hard to come by in the world of video games, I'll take it.
There's something special about a long overdue sequel that broadens appeal tenfold. Drawing in fans of the original is one way, sure, but more importantly, these sequels offer an entry point for new players to get on board too. With enough time having passed since the previous game, there's enough room for developers to rehash, revise, or reinvent a series in a sequel to ensure the new entry feels relevant to modern audiences. I might be alluding to Alan Wake 2 here – specifically, its musical means of recapping events for new players and those with fuzzy memories alike – but this isn't something we only see in horror. Take Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for example, and how Bioware's confirmation that only a few player choices will be carried across from Inquisition effectively positions the game as a great place to start for newbies. If Alien: Isolation 2 plays its cards just right, opening up the field to temper the familiar with the novel, it could end up being a horror game for the many instead of the few.
That said, working with a blockbuster Hollywood IP like Alien indicates a level of assumed knowledge on the player's part. Having even a basic grasp of the context, lore, and events of the Alien movies might be helpful, but it shouldn't be a barrier. The inclusivity of the horror community has always been its biggest strength, and when the time comes that we learn more about Alien: Isolation 2, I'm hoping to see more of that welcoming spirit as we take on the xenomorphs again – or perhaps something else? – more than a decade later.
There are plenty of upcoming horror games to jot down as well as Alien: Isolation 2, from Directive 8020 to Dying Light: The Beast.
