20 Biggest Games Of 2014: What Do We Already Know?

9. Alien: Isolation (October 7)

The Alien franchise seems to be oddly difficult to adapt to the video game medium, despite seemingly being tailor made for such a treatment. We've had the occasionally decent Alien vs. Predator game, but last year's Aliens: Colonial Marines was one of the most disappointing releases of the last few years, a shoddy, bare bones, generic shooter with a cheap lick of Alien paint on it. Alien: Isolation, however, just might win the franchise its good name back, taking place as it does between the events of Alien and Aliens, and placing players in the shoes of Ripley's daughter Amanda, who is searching for her mother. Unlike Colonial Marines, Isolation has been envisioned as a survival horror game, making it already seem closer in tone to Alien than Aliens. One of the major issues with Colonial Marines was the ease with which xenomorphs could be dispatched, diluting their threat and making the game a shockingly simple shooting gallery. Isolation on the other hand only features one single xenomorph for the entire game, requiring you to frequently hide from it rather than fight, much like in the Amnesia games. Most impressive are the claims that the xenomorph's AI will learn from its encounters with you, becoming a progressively more challenging beast as the story continues. Also, everything you can use to help you, such as a motion tracker or objects to hide in, have trade-offs: the motion tracker emits light, making you more visible, and if you forget to close lockers, the xenomorph will begin sniffing around for you. Will It Deliver? Survival horror seems like a far more natural fit for an Alien game, and though it probably won't be able to sustain for much longer than a 4-5 hour game, it may well be the best 4-5 hours of any Alien game to date.