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To this day, I’ve always thought that the way Alien games have been handled should be a case study. You have one of the scariest and deadliest space hunters ready to be put in any scenario ready to wreak havoc; in short, there’s a lot of potential to make something good. However, certain companies take the Xenomorph and put it in situations or games we never even asked for. But among all the Alien video games we’ve seen, only one has captured the fear, stress, and immersion of someone surviving against this deadly creature: Alien Isolation. And now, with Alien Isolation 2 in the works, we couldn’t help but make a list of everything we want to see in this sequel.
10. More Facehuggers
Let me be a bit of a masochist here and say I’d love to see more Facehuggers. After watching Alien: Romulus, one of the scariest scenes was the one with the roomful of these little space critters. Imagine having that in the Alien Isolation sequel. I know we’ve already seen these sneaky spider-like creatures, but having many more would certainly bring a more stressful time to players.
9. A More In-Depth Crafting System
While I loved watching Amanda using all sorts of items and gadgets aboard the Sevastopol station, I’d love to see Amanda go full MacGyver. Plus, one staple of modern gaming is including a larger crafting system even when it shouldn’t be around. But if it worked for Resident Evil 4 Remake, I’m sure Alien Isolation 2 could make it work. After all, Amanda is an actual engineer, so it’d make sense to go deeper in terms of crafting.
8. A Larger Map
I know many might not like the idea of a larger map, especially since the gimmick of Alien Isolation is the Xenomorph roaming the tight corridors in closed spaces. However, it’d be great if we could get something bigger that still features narrow spaces. Think of the prison in Alien 3; that would be so fun to explore in a survival-horror setting.
7. New Ways to Defeat the Xenomorph
I’m aware killing a Xenomorph is a Herculean task unless you’re the Predator, but let’s not delve into crossovers yet. However, it’d be nice to have new ways to deal with this hunter. I’m not saying whoever is the protagonist this time has to go all Space Marine on the Xenomorph, but being able to place new and better booby traps like Home Alone to slow down the Xenomorph would be amazing.
6. Xenomorph’s Blood Affecting the Environment
As a humble writer, I’m uncertain about how difficult it’d be to do this, but hear me out. We all know that making a Xenomorph bleed is a terrible idea. Often, it is better to accept our fate and just submit to this specimen. But imagine if the Xeno’s blood would affect the map. For instance, shooting the Xenomorph and making the creature bleed would leave a puddle of acid, thus damaging the environment, doors, items, and even the player. This would encourage the player to look for a more indirect approach to dealing with the Xeno.
5. More Amanda
While the tale of Schrödinger’s Amanda is known to those who’ve read about her in the series’ wiki and are aware of how she meets her demise in the future, that doesn’t mean her tale after Isolation is over. I won’t spoil the game in case you haven’t finished the decade-old adventure, but there could be a way to bring Amanda back into the fray and to a new horrifying adventure.
4. A Continuation of Safe Haven
Out of all the DLCs in Alien Isolation, Safe Haven was one of the best and one I’d love to see in Alien Isolation 2, assuming there will be post-launch content for the sequel. In this roguelike mode with hints of extraction gameplay, you had to finish specific missions while facing random enemies. It was such a great and replayable DLC that seeing a continuation of it for the sequel would be terrific.
3. Open Areas With Less Cover
One thing I loved about Aliens: Dark Descent, and the one thing that scared me even more than being inside a narrow corridor was running from one building to another without cover. Even if Alien Isolation sticks to a claustrophobic setting, the many environments around the station give you a sense of safety when taking cover behind them. Imagine how scary it’d be to run from one place to another in an open area where the Xenomorph can see you and relentlessly hunt you — pretty cool, right?
2. A Co-Op Mode
While the singleplayer aspect is something that should take priority in Alien Isolation 2, a co-op mode would make the sequel the perfect organism. There are so many new survival-horror games that have shown us how great and even scary it is to play with friends while trying to escape an enemy. Having at least another player with you while escaping the Xenomorph would be interesting. Add to that some sort of voice proximity features, and we’d all be in for a wild and terrifying experience.
1. More Xenomorph Variants
I must admit that I know more Xenomorph variants than cooking recipes, and while some are a bit strange, having variants in Alien Isolation 2 would be amazing. I won’t list all of them, but with some of the canon species we’ve seen, having them as enemies in the sequel would be extremely scary. While I imagine it’d take a lot of time to program the AI for each one, having two or three new forms would be great.
While these are some of the things I’d love to see in Alien Isolation 2, I’m confident the team behind the sequel will exceed our expectations, just like it did with the first installment. Still, it’s exciting to imagine what new things could await us in this new adventure. Ultimately, I just want another game that lets me escape as my favorite sci-fi horror character, and as long as Creative Assembly delivers that, I’m fine with anything that comes.