The Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation has proven itself to be one of the finest games of 2014 and undoubtedly one of the most terrifying survival horror game ever made, and today players will be treated to a new batch of DLC that ramps up the challenge even more.
This third batch of DLC, titled Safe Haven, breaks from the pattern laid down by the first two DLC, Corporate Lockdown and Trauma. Each of those two packs contained three short missions in which you had to make your way to the exit of the level while accomplishing optional objectives.
Safe Haven, on the other hand, contains just one mission, called Salvage, that takes place in a single large map. You assume the role of Hughes, one of the Sevastopol Station’s personnel who is briefly encountered by Amanda Ripley in Isolation‘s main campaign. You begin in a safe room that enemies can’t get into, and must set out accomplishing a variety of missions.
Once a mission is complete, whether its activating machinery or collecting specific items, you return to the safe room to collect your breath and select the next task. You can also choose to bank the rewards you earned from your missions and exit the challenge to start over again, but each successive mission brings greater rewards, and by that extension, greater dangers.
Death during this mission will result in the loss of all accumulated rewards, so choosing between saving your rewards and trying the mission all over again versus continuing on for greater risk and reward is no trifling matter. You can, however sacrifice some of the points you earn to save your game.
Safe Haven also includes a second mode, called Endurance. Clearly designed for masochists, this mode has you play every survivor mode mission in one sitting. Gear you find in one mission will carry over to the next, but keep in mind that getting yourself killed means starting the entire sequence over from the very first map.
Safe Haven is included in the Season Pass, but can be purchased individually for $8. With two more DLC packs left for CA to release, there’s still more to look forward to with Alien Isolation, which has thus far put its foot down as the survival horror game of choice for the truly hardcore.