10 Cruel Tricks Horror Video Games Played On Players
2. The Xenomorph Remembers Your Hiding Spots - Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation is no typical stealth-driven survival horror game, because beyond the player's own inability to directly battle the Xenomorph, the alien creature's AI is programmed to give the impression that it learns from the player's behaviours.
Given that players will die a lot throughout the game, developers Creative Assembly wanted to ensure that the Xenomorph behaved like an actual living thing rather than a scripted creation, and so programmed a complex AI routine which saw its behaviours become increasingly complex as the game wore on.
And as we all learned the hard way, this included the Xenomorph remembering your favourite hiding places. Go back to the well too often, and you'll find yourself eventually caught short by the alien.
Though lockers can be extremely useful for hiding, rely on them too much and, after a beat, you'll see the nearby Xeno rip the door off and have its nasty way with you.
Given that most stealth-based horror games are built on fairly straight-forward mechanics with easily identifiable enemy routines, it was both shocking and refreshing that the Xenomorph proved so fiendishly adaptable.