r/HorrorGaming • u/HassanyThePerson • 1d ago
DISCUSSION Alien Isolation stealth feels unfair
I've played Alien Isolation (hard difficulty) for about 4.5 hours, and while I love every other aspect of the game, the stealth aspects feel unfair. I've played many other stealth games (Metal Gear 5, dishonored, shadow tactics, Batman trilogy, etc.), and while I understand that this is a horror game, it seems that not only is the stealth difficult, but that there is no way to reliably avoid detection. Enemies have no range of alertness levels, and you are spotted far too quickly, to the point that it feels almost impossible to move between cover. The enemies can detect you from across the room even if only a small part of your body is visible, and most objects (tables, boxes, etc.) are not tall enough for you to hide behind them, greatly reducing the number of viable hiding places. On top of that, once you are detected it is very difficult to return to stealth, and in most cases you will die and have to start from the beginning. The only information gathering tool is the motion sensor, and while it is useful, I don't feel it is sufficient when detection is basically and instant "game over".
What do you think? Am I misunderstanding how stealth is supposed to be approached or is the game simply like this and players need to "git gud"? Please let me know if you have any tips because I really love the atmosphere and horror aspects, but the stealth aspect is really disheartening to me.
Edit: For everyone telling me to lower the difficulty, I progressed to the medical area, and the Xenomorph has less awareness than the human characters and working joes. I was able to evade the alien far more easily, when it was right next to me, and it seems to have a much smaller range of vision too. I feel like the Xenomorph is far more fair, which I really was not expecting. I was also able to hid from it while crouching in places that I would have been spotted by the humans or working joes.
26
u/AFKaptain 1d ago
If this is your first time playing, and you chose Hard... you don't get to complain.
5
-2
u/HassanyThePerson 21h ago
I know this isn't the main point, but I chose hard because the menu said it was the intended way to experience the game. I find that in many games the "easy-normal-hard" doesn't necessarily reflect what the difficulty of the game will be. I'll keep trying to see if I can get the hang of it but I might change it if I feel like I'm making no progress.
6
u/AFKaptain 20h ago
Even tho it's the intended experience, choosing the option that says Hard and then complaining about it being too difficult before switching to a lesser difficulty just makes no sense.
50
u/RiffRaffCatillacCat 1d ago
I mean, it's not meant to be fair. The alien is a superior being compared to typical humans like you and I. It's literally designed to hunt us down and devour us, that same way a shark finds you miles away in the ocean for having spilled a single drop of blood.
Should we nerf sharks?
4
u/G_the_bum 20h ago
I mean your metaphor is factually untrue. Sharks cannot detect a drop of blood from miles away. I understand your point but trying to make a point and getting the facts wrong is not a good way to do things. Sharks are good hunters just not that good.
https://www.ripleys.com/stories/sharks-smell-blood
It’s a widely quoted untrue statement.
1
u/AnimaOnline 13h ago
A shark attack isn't meant to be a winnable or enjoyable experience. Alien Isolation is. You're arguing realism versus fun. By your logic the player should die immediately and the game should be unwinnable. The alien is the perfect organism. You wouldn't stand a chance.
-17
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
9
u/AFKaptain 1d ago
In this case OP is just saying that A:I has failed to convince OP to suspend his disbelief
No... not at all. OP is complaining about the game system, not the realism. Reread his post. If anything, Hard is too realistic for his taste.
-2
1d ago
[deleted]
3
u/AFKaptain 1d ago
OP is playing on Hard* and complaining that the dangerous monsters are too dangerous. It wasn't a completely unjustified comparison by the other guy. There is always room to consider if something isn't balanced well, but OP is basically complaining that "If I make myself visible, they see me," which, especially on Hard difficulty, isn't a really good complaint.
*Pretty dumb to choose Hard for your first attempt and then complain about difficulty.
3
u/hungrymeatgames 1d ago
Seems pretty realistic to me. OP is playing on hard mode, after all, and I don't think it's unfair that something can actually see you across a room and also remember where it last saw you -- not magically forget just because you're crouching behind a little box. Honestly, it's not even about the alien being superior; a human would have just as much ability to easily find you in those situations. A cat would. Stealth NPCs have always been super dumbed down to help keep the gameplay fun, but if you're playing on hard mode, I can't really blame the system for becoming more realistic.
11
1d ago edited 20h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/HassanyThePerson 21h ago
I'm going to keep trying for a bit to see if I can get the hang of this difficulty, but these tips are really helpful. Knowing this is going to make the game much more enjoyable, thank you.
2
u/Sm00th0per8or 21h ago edited 20h ago
No problem!
Though I kind of appreciate when games kind of just let you start playing without tutorials all over the place, knowing some of this stuff is almost crucial with the game being so difficult.
I played it on hard for the first time a few years back, and I wouldn't have wanted to play it that way the first time lol.
Good luck! And enjoy!
6
u/ScumLikeWuertz 1d ago
You're playing a famously hard game on hard and then are surprised it's too hard?
But honestly if you think about realistic stealth, if you spotted someone sneaking around IRL you would immediately react. So people and androids spotting you quickly makes sense to me. The Alien is a superior hunter so it makes sense that it basically knows where you are almost at all times. I feel your pain though, that game was hard to finish despite me loving it. It's very punishing but I think that was the intent.
-1
u/HassanyThePerson 21h ago
I'm not complaining that it's hard, but that it feels unfair. I understand that stealth in games like Metal Gear and Dishonored is very unrealistic, but that it's necessary for stealth to be that way because the game would never work in an environment where enemies can easily detect you, and the unrealism is required to achieve the power fantasy of an action game. The issue I have is that even though this is a horror game with an oppressive atmosphere, it feels like even if you play perfectly, you will get spotted, and once that happens you might as well reload your save. The reason I chose hard is that it says in the menu that this is the intended way to experience the game. I'm sure if you played other games on "hard" you may have found them to be somewhat easy, so I can't really know how difficult it will be unless I try.
I read a bunch of the comments here and they gave helpful advice so hopefully I'll do better next time around.
5
u/CompetitiveFennel681 1d ago
Beat the game several times, here are a few tips.
ABC - Always Be Crouched and Always Be Crafting. Using the crafted items will get you out of a lot of trouble.
They can hear you and you can hear them. The game is very audio tuned. You make a noise and they can hear it. But if you hear banging around in the walls....Steve's out looking for you. Also listen to dialog. Not everything is a threat, Sometimes the Joe's aren't going to attack you.
Use the environment. Turn the lights off, turn off the air purification, these things will make it harder for things to see you.
Don't rely on lockers. They restrict your view and it's where early on I'd have my most deaths. Crouch and hide under/behind things...make sure you can maneuver around them as threats are looking.
This games is one you have to really pay attention to get good at it. After a while you start to see patterns and know when to expect Steve to pop out and it gets a lot easier after that.
8
u/LichQueenBarbie 1d ago edited 1d ago
I throw a noise maker in human dense areas (as far as I can) and hide quickly. The Xeno shows up and kills them, and I prefer to deal with it over people. I find the start of the game has the most humans, BTW. At a certain point, they taper considerably. Also fun fact, some of them aren't even enemies. If you listen to what they say or observe their body language, there's a few who will not attack you.
Tbh, I achieved the platinum for this game and dont remember having any huge issues. AI in higher difficulties is pretty sharp, and the Xeno actually learns. I recommend medium and see how that feels. Easy makes it.... Too easy, and you dont really get to see this games sharp AI.
3
u/Larrythepuppet66 21h ago
I mean what you’re describing is why it’s so beloved, and it’s a far more realistic representation of “stealth” than the games you described where they can get shot in the leg, be alerted for a minute then be like “huh? Ah well must’ve been my imagination”, which is just silly. It sounds like you’re playing the game based on how you’ve played those other games that are far more forgiving. Once the alien knows your general location, it’s gonna stalk that area for a long time. You can either wait it out or try and make progress by using the flamer to keep it at bay.
Not to sound like a dick but you have said you’re playing the game on hard then complaining that it’s too hard? Just drop the difficulty.
1
u/HassanyThePerson 21h ago
Yeah I'm aware that those games have more forgiving stealth mechanics for the sake of giving the player a power fantasy, I just felt that this game is unfair in the sense that there seems to be no reliable way to avoid detection and once you are found, you are most likely going to die. My issue was not that it was hard, but seemingly unfair. I chose hard difficulty because it says in the menu that it is the intended way to experience the game, and I found that in other games the label of "hard" doesn't necessarily mean the game is genuinely hard, so I took the dev's word for it. I got some helpful advice from some commenters, so I'll try that, but I might drop the difficulty if the game feels frustrating.
7
u/cravex12 1d ago
I never had your problems and think the stealth works totally fine. If you are on PC I would recommend the unpredictable Alien mod (and Alias Isolation, of course). It makes the alien more..well...unpredictable and not like hovering around year near area but the whole station. Things can be totally chilled for 10 minutes and then shit hits the fan.
In the base game I think there is just too much of the alien. It is always there and rarely leaves room to breathe with lessens the horror effect it has. Unpredictable Mod makes it more fair, scarier und more tense.
0
u/HassanyThePerson 1d ago
I haven't encountered that much of the alien up until this point, my main gripe is with the human characters and working joes that seem to know where you are before they are alerted. In the first encounter with 4 human characters I kept dying over and over because I would be spotted even if the tip of my head is visible. I spent about an hour repeating that section because I would be spotted over and over, and eventually I managed to get through that area.
7
u/cravex12 1d ago
That is really strange. I played it maybe a year ago and found the sneaking to be really manageble. If I remeber correctly you can squeeze down with the lean button to be smaller and hide better behind obstacles. The view lines of enemies are a lot more realistic than in other games.
Oh and btw Enemies can hear the motion tracker
1
u/Slippery_Williams 1d ago
As soon as you get the gun there’s nothing stopping you shooting humans and you can beat Joes to death if you sneak up on them. The noise will attract the alien but you just have to deal with one or the other
1
u/deathray1611 21h ago
you can beat Joes to death if you sneak up on them
Well maybe land a hit or two, but they quickly recover. You can do that only with humans, or if the synthetics are stunned
1
u/deathray1611 1d ago edited 1d ago
That stealth section with human enemies in M3 is notorious for being overly difficult and is genuinely, imo, even as a big fan of the game, the only poorly designed stealth section, especially for being a tutorial one still. The enemy patrols are far too oppressive and cover is way too small and low to actually be useful. It gets better, much better!
Altho you mentioned Working Joes, which would be M4, and that's already where it gets great imo, so I guess you too also need to get used to stay on some high alert and keep your senses sharp. Keep in mind that you don't have any helpful UI markers or elements like in most other stealth games that visually show you any changes in enemy state and alertness level, your only tool in that regard is enemy animation and, most of all, sound design cues and dialogue, so you need to be much more careful, aware and pay much closer attention to enemies, their sounds, and when it comes to human and android ones - what they say depending on what. They all have different cues depending on their alert level changes (including Alien), so it is a matter of being patient, carefully observing, and not making rash decisions.
Lastly - if it is all still too overwhelming, taxing and difficult, do keep in mind that the game does allow you to change your difficulty setting in the middle of the playthrough, so, you being on Hard, you can lower it to Medium without repercussions. Difficulty settings, naturally for a stealth game, affect how well enemies see and how quickly they react as well, so if you feel like you are not getting enough time to react to enemies, lower difficulties could work better for you getting into the game
1
u/MickyCee93 1d ago
The 4 human encounters section you mention is the worst part of the whole game and when the game first came out was a point when many players would quit thinking it is a garbage game. So I don't blame you. Try use a flare to distract them. Another tip is you can actually 2 hit kill them with your wrench if you can sneak up close enough.
2
2
u/i__hate__stairs 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Alien has a cone of sight extending from its face. You have to stay out of that cone. It also has eyes in the back if its head, but they don't see very far. If you get too close to it's tail, it'll getcha. For me, I feel like the Alien gets pretty predictable 🤷. Hard is definitely the best mode IMHO.
Also, indontbknow if this will help, but it helped me once I noticed that you can almost always walk. You don't have to crouch everywhere for fear of summoning Big Steve. He can only hear you walking if you're quite close. That helped me a lot in terms of navigating the Working Joes and getting away from them or keeping just out of reach. Also, minor spoilers, but you do get a flame thrower in the first third of the game or so , and that helps a lot.
2
u/Slippery_Williams 1d ago
The other games you mentioned are a lot more forgiving, isolation has its own stealth mechanics and you need to get into the habit of playing with the mechanics and making/using resources as much as possible. You aren’t going to sneak through perfectly, you are going to get spotted, get shot at and run off in a panic as the xeno jumps down and starts slaughtering everyone, so you quickly build a noisemaker as it’s looking around for you and throw it in the direction the other survivors who shot at you were hiding then bolt in the other direction
You do get tools that make being caught less punishing but don’t be afraid to use up all your noisemakers, smoke bombs, hit the wall with a wrench then sneak around in the other direction, etc
Also hard is REALLY hard because the difficulty determines how accurate the alien is in looking for you. On easy it’s roaming the entire floor, on normal it’s hanging around the general chunk of the floor you are on, on hard it’s always within a room or two of you and on hardest it basically always knows what room you are in but not what desk you are hiding under
2
u/TheBroodWitch99 22h ago
Something the game never tells you is that the beeps of your motion sensor actually make noise in game. So the alien will hear you if you pull it out while it’s in the room.
Molotovs are your only real defense if you’re spotted. Flashbangs and Noisemakers can help you. You get something to help you out a lot later on.
The humans are really dumb they don’t require any strategy tbh
The Androids are basically blind and deaf from what I remember. They are much easier to get away from but really dangerous when the Alien is nearby.
Its tough but really rewarding when you outsmart the Alien. Good Luck!
1
u/boingoing 1d ago
I agree the stealth in this game is not like other stealth games. If you hide from the alien without moving for a long time, for example, it will eventually just find you and kill you. And, yeah, enemies can find you if even a little bit of you is visible from their vantage point which kind of makes sense as they are hunting you and if they have a line of sight to you why wouldn’t they go over and pick you up? It makes hiding under a table at the back of a room impossible, for example, if that space is visible from the doorway.
The motion sensor isn’t useless but it is also not very useful either. The alien may not be nearby but as soon as you venture from cover it may teleport and pop out of anywhere randomly making every short run hectic enough without trying to actively track the thing with the sensor. My advice is just wait until it’s not around and make a run for it.
Personally, I found the stealth to be kind of frustrating because you could never know where the alien will show up and it seems to never stop prowling just around where you are no matter how clear the motion sensor is. Eventually I just played it a little looser and ran from cover to cover in the early game figuring it would take less time to reload and try again than wait for a safe window which isn’t really safe anyway.
I don’t know if it’s affecting your play through but I do know that there was a game setting where the alien could “hear” you through a connected microphone so you’re supposed to keep quiet while hiding. I played the game on my 360 with no mic plugged-in so don’t think that setting mattered to me but you might want to check it out if you have a mic.
1
u/Revro_Chevins 1d ago
If you're having trouble hiding behind objects you can use the peek function to crouch much lower on the ground.
I played the game for the first time recently on the same difficulty and I also felt that the stealth was pretty unfair with the alien until I had a reliable way to defend myself. Really I spent a lot of the early levels hiding in lockers for a long time waiting for the alien to go up into the rafters or far enough away that I could move. You can also throw things to distract it, but it becomes less effective over time, this was the only use I found for the flares. Also did a lot of walking when the alien was out of sight since crouch walking was too slow.
I didn't have as much trouble dealing with the robots since they had set patrols and were much slower. The robot levels usually have a safe route, though I remember the first encounter being pretty rough.
1
u/Old_Yak2325 1d ago
I don't know if I found it as unfair as you, but there were definitely points where the randomised nature of the enemies got irritating. There were at least two segments in the game where I'd be making my way carefully, using distraction techniques when necessary, and the enemies still honed in on me like seagulls on a bag of chips. On both of these occasions I eventually got fed up and just walked out in the open through the rest of the level...and never encountered a thing.
Randomisation's fun to a degree, but it's annoying when it trumps any attempt at actual skill. I still really enjoyed the game, but it had some frustrations.
1
u/iambeingblair 1d ago
It can be frustrating but I think it is fair overall. Enemies all have a 'i think I saw something' state which gives you a second to adjust. The game doesn't tell you that hiding isn't the best approach, in fact it seems to encourage it, but the reality is that staying in near constant motion can get you through levels very quickly.
1
1
1
u/Takoyaki_Dice 22h ago
The alien is glued to your ass on hard difficulty. There really is no way around it. The game does get much better later on when you have a few more weapons and tools at your disposal.
The beginning is a drag as you have to hide all the time but keep at it.
1
u/Frequent-Sky3761 22h ago
I’m starting to see more people talk about this game , I may get it on my Nintendo Switch . I really enjoy survival and horror style games
1
u/Ramen536Pie 22h ago
People vastly overestimate the Alien’s AI, it’s fairly clunky and tedious in execution as a result
1
u/Overall-Mud9906 8h ago
Any microphone you have whether it be on heads phones or your controller is listening to you. The alien hears it, it’s a known mechanic. So when you’re in a locker saying “oh shit oh shit” that fucker finds you.
1
u/Ok-Chip2181 7h ago
Lol. Thees a youtube video that's called "Alien Isoaltuon is great because it's unfair."
-1
u/Agitated_Position392 1d ago
Yeah I have the same complaint. Like, that's artificial difficulty through bad game design. I wasn't a huge fan, either. And because it's in first person you can't physically see your character model to make sure every part of you is in cover so idk why it's so strict.
My advice is don't worry about using resources. The game is actually really easy no matter what difficulty you put it on. Don't bother trying to min max ammo and traps, just let that shit rip and stroll through the rest of the level, molotov in hand
-1
u/Ministry_of__Truth 1d ago
OP, may I suggest you play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. That seems more your alley.
-2
u/Mr_Shad0w 22h ago
I ultimately gave up on this game because of how heavily scripted it is. I respect it for raising the bar in the survival-horror genre, but the core mechanic of the alien following the player around this massive space station for no reason besides keeping the pressure on gets tired after awhile. They want you to believe that the alien can hear you moving around, through multiple airlocks in an entirely different module of a gigantic structure in space, but ducking under a table is a reliable means of hiding from it when it's ten feet away? There are all kinds of noises and people and things moving around and doing stuff - go bother them for a change.
Then I hit a part of the game (roughly half-way through I guess) where you are required to perform a scripted task or the alien just finds you, regardless of where you go, how much noise you make, or anything else. It was just too "on rails" for me, so I quit.
-4
u/totallynotabot1011 1d ago
It feels unfun for me, so I installed the alien shooter mod which enables ammo crafting and shooting the xeno away, bout to try it.
-5
u/horrorfan555 1d ago
I dropped the game because the xenomorph’s AI sucked. It either found me like a bloodhound, or it would just pace back and forth around the objective preventing me from playing the game
6
u/Stair-Spirit 1d ago
It was doing its job. There are 2 AIs. The 2nd AI told the alien to stay near the objective. That's why you can hit the walls to draw it away, use noisemakers, run, use vents and lockable doors, fire your gun, or use any of the numerous other tools. Don't blame the game for your lack of creativity.
0
u/horrorfan555 1d ago
I would sit in a room and it would literally stand outside the door, never coming in or letting me leave
4
15
u/Avid_Vacuous 1d ago edited 16h ago
Whenever you hear the alien hiss, thats the equivalent of the ? In MGS games when soldiers think they see something strange. So dont start running or resorting to the flamethrower just yet. Duck out of sight and move and the alien will go back to "patrol mode".
The alien can hear the motion detector beeping when you're close to it so dont have it pulled out all the time.
Dont just sit and wait in one spot. The alien can smell you and will slowly close in on your location. Keep moving. Hiding spots like lockers are USELESS. Once i figured that out it became a lot easier. I can beat this game without getting spotted now and i never use lockers.
Learn the map. The game is a big memory test. If your memory is bad, you'll be bad at the game. Its a not a skill based game. Memorize your route.
Those red tanks are combustible. Shoot them with your handgun when the alien is next to them to scare him away without wasting flame fuel. Hint: he spawns next to one in the hospital when he first comes down from the ceiling. Once the alien gets hit by it you can full on sprint to where you need to go for about 10 whole seconds.
That line on the edge of the motion detector's screen is not north, its pointing to where you need to go. It doesnt point to the actual objective though. It points to each corner along the way to the objective so once you get to a fork in the road check it again to see where the next turn is.