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Notes -
Having seen the film several times, and having read about the game, the idea of playing it seems just.. incomprehensible.
The film shows what you get for being insufficiently paranoid and unarmed out there in the unknown. It's meant to be unpleasant for a good reason.
Doing it over and over again ... well, we are all different.
The game alternates between sequences in which the player character must evade the Alien; and downtime sequences which advance the plot, or in which the player character must face off against other enemies.
The latter sequences are at worst a little tense to play, but manageably so. The former sequences with the Alien are exhausting. When I get to the end of such a sequence, I typically find myself needing to take a break for a little bit just to calm down. I think that's the mark of an effective horror story, really.
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I felt bad about never finishing the game, about giving up, stuck, at a save game where I can either sneak out and inevitably get slaughtered shortly afterward or stay in my hiding spot until the end of time ...
But you've given me a whole new perspective! It's not that I suck too badly to win and lack the fortitude to keep trying through death after terrifying death, it's that I'm trying to be faithful to film canon.
Wait, you can get soft-locked in the game like that, or do you merely have to wait five minutes for the alien to wander off ?
In theory: wait a few minutes for the alien to wander off, sneak out, use well-practiced stealth skills to evade the alien, make progress.
In my game (when I got enough levels in): wait a few minutes for the alien to wander off, sneak out, realize my stealth skills are not well-practiced enough when the alien inevitably finds me...
Not the game's fault, I'm sad to say. I was improving from level to level, but not quite as quickly as the difficulty was increasing.
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