Alien: Rogue Incursion

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Alien: Rogue Incursion
Alien Rogue Incursion cover art.png
Developer(s) Survios
Publisher(s) Survios
Writer(s) Alex White
Composer(s) Sara Barone
Series Alien
Engine Unreal Engine 5
Platform(s)
ReleasePS5, Windows
December 19, 2024
Quest
February 13, 2025
Genre(s) Action, survival horror
Mode(s) Single-player

Alien: Rogue Incursion is a virtual reality game developed and published by Survios. It is based on the Alien franchise, taking place between the films Alien and Aliens . An action and survival horror game, it follows Zula Hendricks, a character from several Alien comics and novels, as she navigates a facility overrun by xenomorphs.

Contents

Announced in 2022, the game was written by Alien novel writer Alex White. It was published for the PlayStation 5 (via the PS VR2) and Windows on December 19, 2024. It is also scheduled for release on Meta Quest 3 in February 2025.

Alien: Rogue Incursion received "generally positive" reviews according to Metacritic. It was praised for capturing the atmosphere of the films, although critics found the xenomorph encounters to be repetitious.

Gameplay

Alien: Rogue Incursion is an action and survival horror game, [1] set between the films Alien and Aliens . [2] Zula Hendricks, a former Marine, has set out to stop the weaponization of xenomorphs. [3] She receives a distress call from a friend who is on the planet Purdan, [4] also known as LV-354. [5] She travels there with her android companion, Davis 01. Arriving at the Gemini Exoplanet Solutions facility, they find it overrun by xenomorphs and devoid of human life. [6] The player assumes the role of Zula and must proceed through the facility, [3] while killing or avoiding the xenomorphs, which can crawl on walls and leap great distances. [7] Facehuggers, an early stage of the xenomorph, are also encountered. [7] [8]

The game is played from a first-person perspective. [9] A motion tracker alerts the player of nearby xenomorphs, and stealth can be used to evade them. Environmental elements, such as creaky doors and trash cans, create noise if touched, potentially attracting the xenomorphs. [10] The player can also run and dodge attacks. [6] Three weapons are available: a plasma rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. [7] [11] Proximity grenades can also be used. [7] Resources, including ammunition, are scarce. [12] Panic rooms are found throughout the facility, serving as save points. [13] Occasionally, the player must complete puzzles to unlock doors or terminals, the latter providing access to worker emails and video logs. [8] [9] [11]

Development and release

Alien: Rogue Incursion was developed by Survios with Unreal Engine 5. [14] [15] The game was announced in July 2022, [16] and the title was unveiled in April 2024. [17]

Survios had ventured into film-based VR games in recent years and tasked TQ Jefferson, the company's chief product officer, with finding its next project. Previously an executive for 20th Century Games, Jefferson had worked with developers on Aliens: Fireteam Elite (2021) and Aliens: Dark Descent (2023). He recalled later: "I dreamt about the kind of Alien game I would make if I could. As a fan, it had to be authentic to the film franchise, and I wanted people to feel immersed in the Alien world. Fast-forward, I'm at Survios and tasked with finding our next big project. I knew this franchise was perfect for this opportunity." [18] The game was written by Alex White, [19] who previously wrote two Alien novels: [20] Alien: The Cold Forge (2018) and Alien: Into Charybdis (2021). [21]

The 2014 game Alien: Isolation provided some inspiration for Survios, despite its focus on a single xenomorph. [19] According to White, "What I took away from Alien: Isolation is that a strong personal connection to the character makes the franchise run." [20] Whereas Alien: Isolation is compared with the original Alien film, Alien: Rogue Incursion is equated with Aliens because of its many xenomorphs. [19] The action-heavy third act of Aliens was a major source of inspiration for the game developers. [22] The behavior of the game's xenomorphs was largely inspired by the Velociraptors in the 1993 film Jurassic Park . [23] Jefferson described the game's articial intelligence (A.I.) as, "Dynamically spawning and pathing with countless unique possibilities, even we couldn't tell you exactly where and when each Xenomorph will strike, let alone what strategies it might use or if it'll bring some friends". [15]

The virtual reality format was considered ideal for recreating the atmosphere of the films, [19] and Survios worked closely with Disney and 20th Century Studios to achieve this goal. [1] Survios created its own original story for the game, and also worked with the film studios to avoid contradictions in future media, including the film Alien: Romulus (2024) and the television series Alien: Earth (2025). [2] Purdan is a game-specific location created by Survios. [18] The character Zula Hendricks had previously appeared in several Alien comics and novels. [18] According to Jefferson, she was chosen for the game because "we wanted a character that had some history in the timeline", as well as someone who "is a trained colonial marine and has encountered Xenomorphs before. [...] a badass woman of color". [2] Davis 01 had also made appearances in the comics and novels. [4] [11] Zula and Davis 01 are voiced by Andia Winslow and Robbie Daymond respectively. [24]

A first playable demo was eventually finished, but it was determined to be inadequate, leading to a complete restart on the project. According to Jefferson, "The game looked like Alien but didn't play or feel like Alien. We realized we weren't making what we had envisioned. We were trying to do too much". [18]

The game's music was composed by Sara Barone, a longtime Alien fan. Inspired by the film scores, she made use of various woodwind instruments. She also worked with audio lead Chris Dang to create a music and sound design "that would cause the player to question what they are hearing: is it a Xenomorph lurking nearby or is it just a mechanical sound from the environment?" [25]

Alien: Rogue Incursion was published by Survios for the PlayStation 5 (via the PS VR2), Windows, and Meta Quest 3. [26] The PS5 and Windows versions were released on December 19, 2024, the latter via Steam. [5] [27] The Quest version was originally intended to release at the same time, but was delayed to February 13, 2025, to allow for more fine-tuning. [26] [28]

Reception

Alien: Rogue Incursion received "generally positive" reviews according to Metacritic. [29] Shaun Cichacki of Vice called it "a stellar addition" to the Alien franchise and "one of the best VR games I've played in a while." [33] Ossi Mykkänen of Gamereactor wrote that it "isn't just a great VR game; it's one of the best Alien gaming experiences. The world is clearly built with love for Alien mythology". [9] Elijah Gonzalez, writing for Paste , stated that the game begins strong but "is eventually let down by repetition, technical issues, and motion sickness-inducing movement that left me much more nauseous than its body horror did." [3] Don Hopper of UploadVR called it a "commendable yet flawed entry" in the franchise. [8]

Alien: Rogue Incursion was generally praised for capturing the atmosphere of the films. [a] Aaron Bayne of Push Square wrote that the game sometimes has a generic science fiction look rather than "something ripped straight out of the movies, but when the game gets the aesthetic right it really gets it right." [4] The audio, including the music and voices, also received praise. [b] Rogue Incursion was nominated in the 15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards for best score in a console and PC game, losing to Delta Force . [34] Bayne commended the game's level of immersion, [4] while Travis Northup of IGN found the arsenal to be "limited and mostly unremarkable". He called the relationship between Zula and Davis 01 "genuinely touching, oftentimes offsetting an otherwise relentlessly bleak situation". [7]

Critics found the xenomorph encounters to be repetitious. [7] [10] [11] Gonzalez wrote "these creatures spawn in at a consistent clip, eventually making shootouts more of an irritating distraction than anything else." [3] Hopper wrote that the frequent confrontations "tend to dilute the fear factor", while noting that the game's heavier focus on action eliminated the "profound sense of dread" he felt while playing the stealth-based Alien: Isolation. [8] According to Scott Hayden, writing for Road to VR , the game "feels overly encumbered by the sheer repetition of random alien encounters and its equally punishing save system." [13] Others found the level designs [31] and puzzles repetitious. [11]

The A.I. received some criticism as well; [7] [12] Bayne wrote, "The longer you spend with the game the more apparent it becomes that the Alien AI is barebones." [4] Glitches were also noted, [3] [4] [7] including poor collision detection. [12] Hopper wrote that "video memory errors, crashes, and the occasional game-breaking bug plagued an otherwise gripping experience." [8]

Sequel

Alien: Rogue Incursion is the first of a two-part story, with a second game in development as of December 2024. [28] [35]

Notes

  1. ↑ According to multiple sources: [4] [6] [7] [9] [11] [12] [30] [31]
  2. ↑ According to multiple sources: [4] [6] [8] [9] [11] [33]

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References

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