Recent reviews by pekena.larva

After playing this and Devotion, Red Candle games have effectively become one of my favorite studios out there. This game is excellent for anybody who likes games as a narrative medium. The mechanics are simple, but they work well in service of the story, which is the main element.

There is something that I would like to address though. I've seen comments online accusing the game of romanticizing certain improper relationship. When you play this game, please keep in mind that you are playing from a certain character's perspective, which does not mean that the game advocates for such perspective. In the context of the story, I think it is pretty clear that this specific relationship ended up bringing a lot of misery to every single person involved. The game is simply trying to make us understand that character worldview, but that doesn't mean that the devs agree with it.

Just keep that in mind and enjoy the game.

One of the best survival horror games ever made. You already know this.

But I have a tip for newcomers: don’t start on Hard difficulty, at least not for the first half of the game. The devs are serious when they say Hard is the intended experience. It really is. But it’s also relentlessly hard.

The first time I played, back around 2015, I chose Hard (as recommended) and couldn’t finish the game. I was literally taking two hours just to get from one room to the next. I think this is why many players back then thought the game felt too long. When you’re dying over and over, losing progress because of the manual save system, it can start to feel like a drag. NORMAL mode “fixes” this by giving you a bit more breathing room between Xenomorph encounters. It lets you learn the game’s systems and develop strategies to counter the Xenomorph in slightly less stressful scenarios.

Once you get the flamethrower around the game’s midpoint and complete a mission using it, that’s the perfect time to switch from NORMAL to HARD. You definitely do want to experience the game on HARD. That’s when it really becomes something unique, capable of building a level of tension that’s remained almost unmatched all these years. By then, you’re armed not only with the best anti-Xenomorph tool in the game but also with a deep understanding of the game loop, which lets you enjoy the intensity HARD mode brings without the frustration of learning everything from scratch.

In the end, Alien: Isolation isn’t just about surviving the Xenomorph. It’s about immersing yourself in a hostile, terrifying world that constantly tests your patience, resourcefulness, and courage. It’s a rare game that stays true to its horror roots while rewarding players who stick with it. If you want an experience that’s unforgettable and genuinely tense, this game delivers like few others can. Just remember, there’s no shame in starting on NORMAL. It’ll only make that transition to HARD all the more satisfying.

In the end, maybe the real infinite wealth was the friends we made along the way.

Like seriously, that's the game.

The game is good, so I recommend it. I am glad that I played it. But I also have mixed feelings about it that I will detail below (not focusing on the positives too much because there are plenty of other reviews that make praise their entire focus)

By the end of the second act, I was already quite burned out from the Far Cry-like loop of clearing camps. No matter how glossy the graphics are and how good the art direction is (which is phenomenal), all of that paint starts to wear off after 20 or so hours.

Also, the game is way too easy. Mind you, I am not a super skilled Sekiro lover type of gamer (I actually don't like Soulbournes), and I usually play games on Normal difficulty. I chose "Hard" to see if I could challenge myself a bit, and it was a total disappointment. By the time I started act 3, I had unlocked every single ability except one that you can only unlock later during act 3. At the beginning of the game, the combat felt good and tense, but then it all became a repetitive loop of parry-strike, parry-strike until it's done. I don't think I lost a single duel in the whole game after the 10-hour mark. And then, when you die, you have this ability that lets you resuscitate, which makes dying kinda hard unless you really suck at the game. Also, when you die, there's basically no penalty whatsoever: you start again right there, or perhaps just outside of the camp you were raiding. You lose no items, no time, no nothing. It makes death totally insignificant, which has the effect of making survival totally unrewarding.

I did enjoy the stealth aspect way more than the swordplay, but again, it starts to wear off after a dozen or more hours. You end up recurring to the same strategies because the enemies don't change that much, besides becoming more tanky and full of armor the more you play (which doesn't matter, because you become more tanky too by upgrading, so difficulty never really spikes at all).

Anyway, I am glad that I played it, but also glad that it is over. I am skipping the DLC because I'm burned out. Might give it a chance in the future.

7.5/10.

Look at my Playtime at the time of writing. This is pretty much average Playtime for a campaign from start to finish, give or take one or 2 hours. If you have "finished" the game but have way LESS hours, you might wanna boot the game again and see what has changed.

Ah yes... 9/10. Modern classic.

Roam around telling Twitter blue checks to go touch grass, all while you liberate boomers from TikTok and escape Duolingo who is angry not only because you ignored your daily remainder to learn French, but also because you spent too much time on Babbel... The game.

Yakuza: Like an Amon.

I wished we could practice the tricks on an arcade style mode since it was very hard remembering all of them. This can be frustrating at times. A single mistake can make you repeat a whole rather slow paced level that follows the same exact steps each time. This is especially true in some instances when an unexpected thing happens and you are clearly expected to rely on knowledge from previous tricks that perhaps you haven't executed in hours. The couple of times I got it right it felt awesome, but most of the times I couldn't remember the steps and felt dumb and frustrated.

That being said, I do believe the mechanic is truly unique and deserves to be experienced. I saw people finishing this in less than 4 hours. It took me about 11. I guess I'm dumber and need way more rounds of practice before each round. I read some reviews complaining about the practice sessions. As I said previously, I wish I could practice more. Practicing makes it more immersive since you just know that in order to pull off this tricks, a real card shark needs to practice a lot. But that's just me.

Ah, the art style and music are pretty good too, but that's kinda obvious, isn't it? It honestly left me wanting more 18th century themed games. It's a setting that is pretty exploited in other types of media, but certainly not gaming.

Recently replayed this with my girlfriend. It retains the same magic as it did when I played it for the first time back in 2018. The least you know the better. Just be aware of this: this game has probably the best NG+ content ever, but to see why that is you need to keep playing after the credits roll, and more than once. Don't worry, you will be not replaying tons of stuff. In fact, the NG+ content is the MAIN content, so once you finish the game once, please do yourself a favor and load continue playing on the same save. I recommend finishing all the substories you start during the first playthrough. If you start a substory during the first playthrough but don't finish it, you'll have to do it again during the second playthrough. Just be aware of that. I think the second playthrough is more enjoyable if you don't have any substories to repeat and you just enjoy all the new content.

DROOL... GUYS... YOU NEED TO MAKE ANOTHER GAME.

YOU LITERALLY DROPPED THE BEST RHYTHM GAME OF ALL TIME AND THEN JUST DISAPPEARED AS IF IT WAS NOTHING.

I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE SOME OTHER ARTISTIC PROJECTS OUTSIDE OF GAMING THAT ARE AWESOME.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF THAT'S HOLY, DON'T LET US HANGING HERE.

THUMPER IS A MASTERPIECE,

WE WANT MORE,
WE NEED MORE.
MORE.