The Creative Assembly’s attempt at reviving the Alien franchise has so far given much hope to beleaguered fans, who have suffered through 2010’s mediocre Alien vs. Predator and Gearbox’s awful Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now, publisher Sega have announced two DLC missions for those who preorder Isolation that will take players back to the original 1979 classic, Alien.
Players who preorder the game will get a free upgrade of the game to the Nostromo Edition, which includes the bonus “Crew Expendable” mission. This mission is separate from the main campaign in Isolation, taking place during the events of 1979’s Alien onboard the Nostromo.
Players have a choice of playing as Ellen Ripley, the ship’s captain Dallas, or the mechanic Parker. This mission is envisioned as a “What if?” scenario, in which the crew attempt to flush the xenomorph out of the ship’s airlock.
This bonus mission appears to be based on a scripted but unfilmed scene from the original movie that takes place after Dallas is captured, in which Ripley, Parker and Lambert attempt to flush the Alien out of the airlock, only to have their efforts surreptitiously sabotaged by the ship’s villainous android, Ash. The scene went unfilmed as the filmmakers realized that they had run out of money.
At any rate, the “Crew Expendable” mission will allow players to experience this lost scene, albeit in a more interactive manner. Depending on which character is chosen, players will experience the mission differently and will begin with different equipment.
A second pre-order mission, titled “Last Survivor,” will also be made available to those who preorder from GameStop. This scenario is drawn directly from the climax of Alien, in which Ripley has to evade the creature and make her way to the Nostromo’s escape shuttle before it blows up. Gameplay in both bonus missions will be identical to the main campaign of Isolation, in which the player must evade the creature rather than confront it.
Most interestingly, however, is that CA have managed to reunite most of the cast of Alien to provide voicework for these two bonus missions. Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Skerritt, and Yaphet Kotto will revisit the roles that made them famous almost 40 years ago, with the exception of Ian Holm, who played Ash. A soundalike will be used in his stead.
Given the significance of these two missions, it is curious to see publisher Sega demand that players buy Isolation before it’s even been released and reviewed in order to have them, considering the debacle that was Colonial Marines, which it also published.
At any rate, Alien: Isolation will be released on October 7 2014 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Check out our E3 experience with the game here.