When Sega and Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation launched in 2014, I was deputy editor at Official Xbox Magazine. I remember getting the review copy from our contributor Alex “Game Over, Man” Dale, and asking him how long the game was. 35-40 hours, he said. WTF, I said. I can’t remember how Alex responded – possibly his transmission ended with a jangling scream and a burp of static, or possibly he agreed with me that 35-40 hours is indecently hefty for a horror game, even with the qualification that you can get through the main campaign in around 20. 35-40 hours? That’s a farking Final Fantasy, mate!
Over 10 years later, we finally know who to blame. Surprise surprise, it was the xenomorph all along. According to Alien Isolation writer Dion Lay, the Gigerbeast’s increasing capability during development made certain areas more time-intensive than they were originally supposed to be. There’s probably a relevant Alien quote to invoke, here, but I’m going to settle for that Jeff Goldblum line from Jurassic Park.
