Games

Hidden inside a locker, you peer out through a slot in the door into the gloom of the room beyond. Something is out there, moving around. You shuffle backwards as far back as you can go and hold your breath. Welcome to the terrifying world of Alien: Isolation…

While there have been plenty of games based on the Alien franchise, almost all of them have taken their cues from James Cameron's Aliens and transformed the nightmarish title creature into little more than a target for your over-powered array of weaponry. The Creative Assembly's Alien: Isolation takes a completely different tack, offering up a survival-horror experience that drags the franchise back to the horror origins of Ridley Scott's 1979 film.

For the most part, this truly scary game pits you against one lone alien with no means of fighting it – your only hope of staying alive is to sneak, hide and maybe distract it with a noise-maker you've built out of electronic scraps. It's a style of play that encourages you to live the game moment-by-nerve-shredding moment, and this immersive quality is aided by impressive design. Not only does Alien: Isolation look just like an extension of Alien, the clever lighting effects and audio cues make it feel like a film, too. So turn off the lights, turn up the volume and get ready for one of the most terrifying games around.

Alien: Isolation, Sega, Xbox One/Xbox 360/PS4/PS3/PC, £50 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 4.5/5