Alien: Isolation 2 Devs Tease New Protagonist, Planet Setting, and 1979 Film Roots

It's been 12 years since Alien: Isolation first introduced us to the unique terror of being trapped with a Xenomorph, and now Creative Assembly is finally ready to drag us kicking and screaming back into its nightmare. With Alien: Isolation 2 set for release next year, the studio is returning to the survival horror roots that made the original such a cult classic, but this time with a new protagonist, a new location, and plenty of fresh opportunities to be horribly murdered by everyone's favorite acid-blooded nightmare.

At the Lucca Comics and Games Festival, IGN sat down with Creative Director Al Hope and Project Art Director Ana Sopikova to discuss why the sequel took so long, how Ridley Scott's original 1979 movie continues to shape the game's design, and what fans can expect from this long-awaited return. We also talked Alien canon, Amanda Ripley's role, and whether there's already an Alien: Isolation 3 lurking somewhere in Hope's imagination.

IGN: The first Alien movie was a horror movie, and then they moved on to action and other genres. Both of the Alien Isolation games are survival horror games. Was there ever any idea of making Alien Isolation 2 in a different genre?

Al Hope: No, it's a short answer to that. I guess we absolutely adore that first movie and, obviously, Isolation, but we feel like there's still so much to mine or tap into in the universe of that first movie. And it felt like we wanted to tell other stories in the same part of that space of the universe in the same kind of context. So yeah, no, I guess we feel like in Alien Isolation 2, I think the promise is about transporting you back to that time and place, that window of the timeline where just one alien can be absolutely terrifying and an incredible challenge, an incredible experience. And I suppose if you just wanted to explore that, go back and explore that and evolve it.

IGN: The Xenomorph is a very iconic monster character. Is it challenging designing a Xenomorph for this game that is part of this iconic kind of legacy?

Ana Sopikova: Well, of course. It's a great honor I think for all of us and especially for our team to just be able to contribute to such an iconic IP. I think to go back to what Al was saying, we are really staying true to Ridley Scott’s original 1979 film, and we have a really good close relationship with 20th Century [Studios]. We have an archive with just loads of behind-the-scenes photos from the set, just really close-up images that really allow the team to just go deep in there and study and look at the types of materials they used at the time and look at the types of methods that they were using for building this costume. And then we've just taken that and applied it to what we are doing for the game. And I think really in terms of designing, we are staying true to 1979.

So we're definitely not reinventing the wheel there. And fictionally, obviously in Isolation 2, as people might have seen from the trailer, they have recognized the Haz Lab. So it is the same creature that you encountered in the first game that landed on this new planet. So you can imagine it will be quite similar to what people have seen before, but we're still taking it a little bit further just again in terms of fidelity. Time has passed, there's new technology, and we can just afford a little bit more detail, a little bit of a shinier texture to put it safely. So yeah, there's still space for us to go deeper, but we're not deviating madly elsewhere because for us, really, 1979 is the focus.

IGN: Speaking of the movies, how did it feel to see the emergency phone save points from Alien: Isolation appear as a special Easter egg in Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus?

Al Hope: Just thinking about what you were saying there, I think the team feels really privileged to be in this space, and obviously we were absolutely blown away and thrilled when Fede Álvarez put the save station in Romulus.

I think that's the privilege. We get to work with this original source material and we have the potential to, we're helping grow it. And that is, I think, for all of us, such a privilege and so exciting, as well.

IGN: So just so I understand, because I know there was a lot spoken about that, what you just mentioned about what Fede Álvarez did. And so it's safe to assume that both of these games now kind of exist in the official canon of the Alien universe?

Al Hope: It's really ultimately for the fans [to decide]. I think they really embraced the first game, and I think that's what's important. Sure, there are timelines and all that stuff. That's cool. I think we're just really focused on trying to tell that next chapter.

IGN: Going in a different direction, obviously Amanda is in this game in some capacity. Can you speak to that at all?

Al Hope: Well, we're really proud of Amanda, but to be clear, you're playing as a new character in Isolation 2. And that felt like the natural choice for us. We wanted to tell a new story. It felt like the right way to do that would be in a new location, and being in a new location, then actually seeing it through the eyes of a new character, seemed to make a lot of sense for us. And a character that has a different perspective. She works for the company; she hasn't encountered the creature before. And so yeah, I guess we're super excited about Blake.

IGN: With the first game, one of the most popular mods was the VHS color filter. I don't want to spoil anything, but is there a chance that it makes some sort of official appearance in this game, or is that just a cool community thing that was the first game?

Ana Sopikova: Who knows? I mean, it was still quite early, so I'm not going to comment specifically. There will be a photo mode. I think we've just confirmed it in the Q&A recently. We spent actually a lot of time researching cameras and camera technology and looking at it through the lens of lo-fi sci-fi and just really being authentic to the tech and to the actual, I guess, the physical objects and physical technology. So we are viewing the photo mode through that lens. So who knows?

I think there's definitely going to be plenty of opportunities for fans to capture and express themselves.

IGN: Going back to the first game and the process, so it's been, what is it, 12 years since the first game. Why now? I guess just why now? Why is now the time to have a sequel to the original game?

Al Hope: Yeah, that's a good question. So I've been thinking about what we could do for a sequel before we'd actually released the first game. But I guess as a studio, we were busy, and I guess what we've benefited from is that decade of new players discovering the game and getting their feedback. And the short answer is it felt like the time was right to come back. And so yeah, just super thrilled to be having this opportunity with this really fantastic team, which is great because the team is this mix of people who worked on the first game, and then we've got really fantastic fresh new talent, new talent coming on board. So it's this really lovely combination.

Ana Sopikova: There are just so many fans on the team, and for so many people, it's the absolute dream project. They grew up as fans of the game, and now they finally have the opportunity to come and actually contribute to the sequel. So they just bring this next level of energy and passion, and it's great.

IGN: Is there one thing that comes to mind that is the most difficult part of the design process, especially when you are going back to look at an original that is a classic?

Ana Sopikova: I wouldn't use the word difficult. Obviously there are creative challenges. Obviously for us, because we are on the planet, and we are laser-focused on the first film that took place in space, apart from a very short sequence, but we don't have any kind of direct reference to anything that is set on the planet. So for us, one of the interesting challenges was really diving deep in the archives and the work of the set designers and the prop makers and deconstructing all of it just really down to the techniques, the shape language, the forms, and the materials, and then thinking, okay, how would all of that apply to the set that's based on the planet? How would they approach building these spaces if they had to build not a spaceship, but a space on the planet's surface?

So there are obviously some assumptions that we are making with our creative [team] because there is no direct source material. It's different from making the first game that was a spaceship. But I think we landed in a really good spot, and it was just a fun challenge to take on.

IGN: You were talking just now about how you had ideas for Alien Isolation 2 before you had 1. Do you have an idea for Alien Isolation 3 right now?

Al Hope: No comment.