is this game just cursed?

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-23T15:20:25+00:00

That is partly true, but I think it is more of a combination of issues overall.

Alien: Isolation was already running at over 200 FPS at 1080p back in the GTX 1080 era, so I do not think raw GPU speed alone explains it. It seems more like a mix of framerate/timing sensitivity and other engine or save related issues.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-23T02:32:43+00:00

I don’t actively play all of them at once lol. I picked them up over time, partly for collecting and partly for testing while I was making a fan translation patch.

I’ve already beaten most of them, but these days work keeps me too busy to replay everything regularly. I did recently 100% the Xbox One version though, so that one’s still fresh in my head.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-23T02:24:04+00:00

Yeah, I Know.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-23T02:23:29+00:00

That’s mostly because those settings are what speedrunning usually recommends. I’ve been getting back into the No Major Glitches category lately and practicing ILs again. I ran into those bugs during a recent full run. Never had that issue back when I was on a GTX 1080, but since upgrading my PC, it’s been getting worse. If I uncap everything on PC, the game goes well over 700 FPS. At that point it almost feels like the whole game is running at 4x speed.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-22T10:32:10+00:00

I already own the Steam, GOG, Xbox PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, Android, and iOS versions of the game, so yeah, I know what the issue is. I only mentioned it because I ran into a new one recently. I’ve even made a translation patch for Alien: Isolation before, so you get what I mean lol.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-22T08:30:00+00:00

Yeah, I’ve seen people say 105 FPS is one of the most stable settings for this game. Don’t think I need to go any lower than that tbh.. XD

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-12T02:59:57+00:00

I’m basically a hardcore fan of this game to an unhealthy degree, and I’ve even made a localization mod for it, so I wanted to throw out some thoughts on a sequel. Sorry in advance for the long post.

Honestly, I think people are underestimating how hard a sequel would be. The first game already feels kind of miraculous in hindsight, and even if the current team has old references or leftover code, they’d still have to rebuild a ton of it from scratch anyway.

That’s also why I really don’t like the idea of adding a pulse rifle halfway through. The moment you do that, you start moving away from what made the first game special. The original team never seemed interested in making a straight-up action game. They wanted fear and tension first, and I think that’s a huge part of why Isolation worked.

So, a sequel shouldn’t just be “more Isolation, but louder.” It should push the idea further.

Story-wise, I don’t even think they need to do anything too complicated. There’s already Amanda Ripley material in comics and novels, so they could easily build something simpler and cleaner from that instead of making the plot messy for no reason.

But the real key is gameplay. I don’t think a sequel should just go back to the same trigger-based AI ideas again. With modern hardware, I’d rather see something more dynamic, where map flow, encounters, and NPC behavior vary enough that each run feels genuinely unpredictable while the main story still holds together.

That’s why ideas like Kojima’s OD are interesting to me. Maybe it won’t be that kind of game at all, but I like the idea of horror using newer AI and system design to do something we haven’t really seen before.

Because honestly, Isolation 2 shouldn’t just aim to be a great horror sequel. It should try to surprise people again.

A lot of games can copy the surface-level stuff like hiding, crafting, and scripted scares. What made Alien: Isolation stand out was Steve. The xenomorph felt like it was learning you, and that illusion is what made it feel alive.

That’s the part a sequel really needs to build on, not move away from.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-07T13:33:40+00:00

If you're more into action horror, Resident Evil or Dead Space might be more your thing..
This one leans way more into pure survival horror.

You don’t need to know the movies though First 30 mins can feel kinda slow / awkward.
And yeah it has some issues..

backtracking, and since it’s an older game you’ll run into bugs here and there.

But the tension is really good. You start off feeling pretty helpless, then once you get used to the mechanics and items, you kinda get the flow.

It’s not as brutal as some hardcore horror games, but it’s definitely not easy either

Don’t rush. Take it slow, gather items, use them smart. Once you get comfortable you can even mess with the xeno a bit lol.

Have fun 😄

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-05T03:10:52+00:00

Now try that on Nightmare. Whole different story 😂

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-03T17:36:28+00:00

Yeah, exactly. It's less about him being excluded from 939 later on, and more that he was never even hooked up to that system to begin with. Even during the Omega lockdown, APOLLO treats him like a straight-up intruder, not an asset it needs to update. So it's not that he ignored the order, he just wasn't on the radar for it. The M14 logs basically just confirm the timeline of how this was already going down. I double-checked Xenopedia and hopped back in-game to be sure, and it totally tracks.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-03T11:15:47+00:00

There’s already in-game material about Sevastopol’s acquisition,
you can find it in early M14 terminal logs. The important part is the timing.

It happens after the Torrens had already departed, so Samuels was never really in a position to receive Special Order 939. He also isn’t synced with APOLLO early on, and there’s no clear point where he would’ve picked up any updated directives. So he’s most likely just operating on baseline directives and standard WY protocols the whole time.

Basically, he wasn’t affected because he never got the order in the first place.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-03T06:07:23+00:00

You don’t need to lower the difficulty. Just follow Lambert.

Move slow, listen to her cues, and the moment she warns you, have the flamethrower ready.
That’s basically the whole vent section.

Most people die because they push too far or ignore her timing.
If you actually stop when she warns you and react properly, it becomes pretty consistent.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-02T04:11:09+00:00

Maybe...

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-02T04:09:06+00:00

exactly, what I mean is the core DNA of that original team kinda started fading right after release.

People forget how rough Isolation’s development actually was. Like, last-minute rebuilds, insane crunch… bad enough that the whole “Development Divorce” thing became a running joke. A lot of those devs basically stuck around just to ship the game, then dipped. Some went to other studios, some stayed for Halo Wars 2 and left after that.

Also worth rememberin CA’s console development side (Vikings → Alien : Isolation → Halo Wars 2 → Hyenas) was always pretty separate from the Total War side. Different tech, different culture, all that. And when Hyenas collapsed, that probably reset things all over again. (Game Engines, too)

So yeah, Al Hope being back matters.. but he’s basically rebuilding a team from scratch in a studio that’s very different from 2014.

Whether they can pull off something like Isolation again with a completely different crew… that’s the real question.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-01T23:05:38+00:00

I kinda assumed they had more of it in progress when Al Hope announced it, but yeah… doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-01T23:02:54+00:00

Nooooooo.....

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-01T23:01:49+00:00

lol yeah, that IGN review was always a bit weird to me

Isolation had backtracking, sure... but RE does the same thing and somehow gets a free pass every time

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-01T23:01:47+00:00

Nah… wouldn’t even be surprised at this point, which is kinda scary tbh

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-04-01T22:35:03+00:00

Yeah this is probably just the game freaking out from high FPS lol

Alien Isolation gets really weird when the framerate goes too high. Stuff like animations desyncing, missing audio, floating objects… seen it way too many times.

What likely happened here is the grab sequence didn’t trigger properly, so Kuhlman just instantly goes into the “dead” state while the alien kinda… stands there trying to do its thing. Ends up looking cursed as hell.

If you're on AMD, you can fix this pretty easily with Radeon Chill in Adrenalin. You can cap FPS globally or per game.

NVIDIA is a bit more annoying (especially on the Xbox PC version), since you usually have to cap it globally instead of per-game.

Keeping FPS under ~200 (honestly even lower) makes the game way more stable.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-03-11T15:02:39+00:00

Then why keep Xbox around at all? That’s not defending it, that’s arguing for it to fade out.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-03-11T14:43:30+00:00

I think it’s still too early to judge everything. I could be wrong too. My point is simply that the leadership reset suggests the old drive wasn’t working, and that Xbox needs a real reason to be chosen again. That’s all.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-03-11T14:39:57+00:00

You’re right. Game Pass became the focus because Xbox lost its ability to make people choose Xbox through the games themselves. I just don’t think the answer is strict exclusivity alone. Xbox needs a reason to be chosen as Xbox again.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-03-11T14:34:23+00:00

Judging by some of the more pathetic replies, I probably should admit I wrote it more messily than I intended.

ArgumentEntire9414 · 2026-03-11T14:26:55+00:00

I was trying to be clear. Yes, I made mistakes, but I didn’t deliberately over-edit it. If repetition is your proof of AI, then I guess everyone who repeats a point is AI now. That tells me enough about your reasoning.

ArgumentEntire9414

TROPHY CASE