Alien: Isolation - 10 Ways To Create The Perfect Experience

7. Signs Of Life Long Gone

What truly made the environments of Dead Space and Bioshock so memorable were the small reminders of normality; fragments found here and there that proved that that the Ishimura and Rapture had once been home to countless people. While both were now habitats prowled by monsters, splattered with blood and ruined beyond almost all recognition, surprisingly human remnants could be found amongst the bloodshed. These were elements which were so out of place among the carnage that they only enhanced the horror of the situation, from an untouched children's playroom to a happy audio diary lying amid wreckage. After all, there's few things more scary than arriving in a place where, only a few days before, life had been going on same as it always had. We have already seen small signs of this in the promotional material for Alien: Isolation, with the above table and living area presenting a few familiar items; things which are recognisable even today and wouldn't be out of place on a family kitchen table. Others could be abandoned tools left by a technician working on an open access panel, a personal poster taped up above a bunk or even a half finished meal left somewhere to rot; all minor details left here and there to make the place seem as if it was once a true hub of activity. It would desperately help make the place far more alive and be a subtle way of drawing links back to the original film without replicating whole scenes or areas.