Alien Isolation: Jumpscares and I Don't Mix

Alien Isolation Jumpscares

Yep, that's the alien.

If you know me well, you know that I am an incredibly jumpy person. Even a host on my Twitch channel often makes me jump and rear my arm back in defense against...a sound. But that unfortunate disposition hasn't been abundantly public until I played Alien Isolation. JFC, I nearly punched my equipment several times avoiding the alien in that game. As much as the game makes me jump like a 5-year old, I enjoy every minute of it and regret that I hadn't purchased it sooner. I actually downloaded it from the Xbox Game Pass. I think it's a fantastic deal for 15 dollars a month since a lot of titles are swapped in and out.

Regardless, my absolute horrid sensitivity to in-game sounds (even non-jumpscare moments make me jump) often serves as a point of entertainment for people on the Twitch channel. In the very beginning moments of AI, I rarely could relax. Puckered butthole? Indeed. Streaming Alien Isolation has been a treat, and for multiple reasons.

Alien Isolation: AI 

A really good developer friend of mine absolutely loves Alien Isolation because of the artificial intelligent systems in the game. One of the AI systems knows where you're at in the game at all times. The other, which controls the alien, is fed information over time about your location.

So, if you're wondering why the hell the alien can track you so well in the game, it's because the game basically is playing cat and mouse with you all along. Since you can set the difficulty for AI, some of the more sophisticated systems turn on or off, depending on your difficulty set.

And what was my difficulty setting? Yep, as easy as possible because I'm that much of a scrub.

I still have yet to finish it—I don't play games or stream every day, unfortunately—but the levels I've gone through have been pretty entertaining. Streaming Alien Isolation brings a lot of tension to my otherwise relaxed gaming sessions since I'm on edge all of the time. What's interesting about the game is that the Alien isn't the only danger in the game. People are, too.

Dangers in Alien Isolation

Fortunately, I'm a much larger danger to humans than humans are to me. It's nice to be able to interact with people in that way though, instead of having bullets either bounce off of them or my weapon remain holstered around people. But this turd of a human deserved his sentence. At least until the next time I rebooted the game since it ended just as quick as I ended him.

Humans in the game aren't that large of a threat. Most just warn you to walk away. If you stick around a few moments more, they'll start assaulting you. At times, they can be fantastic for alien fodder once you get their attention because firing rounds in an alien-infested space station will certainly attract unwanted attention.

The in-between of humans and the alien are the "synthetics," the milky-white, creepy androids that start beating you senseless if you're not in an area you belong in. Thankfully, their AI senses aren't as prominent as the alien, but you'll know when you're not welcome when the android starts to storm towards you, eyes ablaze with fury. A stun baton and a few well-placed rounds from the revolver puts them down. Just be careful not to fire too much, or the alien will be on your radar.

The best part of streaming Alien Isolation is the pure ambience of the ghostly-like ship. Shuttered stores line the station marketplace, reminiscent of abandoned, hopeless cities. Half-drank coffee mugs sit on desks with year-cold cigarette butts sitting in ash-trays on desks, remnants of their former occupants. Smoky vents, malfunctioning systems, and a myriad of broken-down electronics are all that's left of the technological graveyard in the deep reaches of space. One thing's for certain—the last thing alive on the station won't be human.

Not unless I can do something about it.


At least I hope.

Catch my Twitch stream live (typically) weekdays at 6 PM PST and weekends 11 AM PST.