Alien: Rogue Incursion Review - A Promising Yet Imperfect Entry

Alien: Rogue Incursion plunges players into a tense, atmospheric narrative to uncover dark secrets on the planet Purdan. Read on for our full review.

Contrast To Previous Titles 

While Rogue Incursion brings some fresh elements to the series, comparisons to earlier games like Alien: Isolation’s Mother VR MOD are inevitable. In Isolation, you navigate a similar environment characterized by stealth, atmosphere, and a persistent threat. Rogue Incursion includes some of that but leans toward a more action-oriented approach. The introduction of various weapons and combat encounters sacrifice that profound sense of dread I felt during Alien Isolation.

Where Isolation boasted a singular Xenomorph that unnervingly stalks players, Rogue Incursion focuses on frequent confrontations that tend to dilute the fear factor. Relentless combat has the tendency to transform genuine moments of horror into repetitive scenarios. Navigating the game's horrific landscapes becomes more about managing ammo and health than fearing the unknown.

Narrative Depth in a Dark Universe 

Alien: Rogue Incursion is a narrative-driven shooter with phenomenal voice acting and an engaging, somewhat familiar story. You play as Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks, and she's on a mission to uncover dark secrets on the planet Purdan that have been covered up by faceless corporations.

Driven by Zula’s mission to expose these sinister secrets, this storyline sees you embody her as she traverses through the foreboding GES facility, filled with dangers lurking around every corner. Immediately, I felt a sense of the emotional weight of her journey and motivations, reflecting larger themes of survival against corporate greed.

Please be aware that the next four paragraphs feature spoilers for major gameplay segments. These spoilers end when you reach our 'Atmospheric Immersion Meets Technical Flaws' header.

The typical storyline feels like a mixture of movies, such as 80s hit Aliens and the latest entry, Alien: Romulus. One pivotal scene that brought the game's air of tension to life for me occurred halfway through, when I witnessed Zula being restrained with only a pistol and six bullets left. She was facing eight Face Hugger pods laid out in front of her. As the ammo ran dry, and the detailed face hugger model crawled up to my virtual body, I felt my heart start to pound in my chest and could almost feel it moving across me. If there was ever a good time to be wearing my haptic vest, it surely would have been this one!

The Face Huggers' animation was hauntingly realistic, the creature's movements unsettlingly graceful and spider-like, so much so that I found myself inadvertently holding my breath as I mentally navigated this horrific scene, fully immersed in Zula’s dread. The visceral fear of potential implantation turned my fascination with this game's universe into a sense of true terror.

Another standout moment that occurs shortly afterward is the “Manual Synth Separation” procedure I had to perform on my ever-present companion, Davis 01. The mechanics here required dislodging and removing his head to sever the connection with the now-nonfunctional synth body. This moment was both horrific and oddly intimate, encapsulating the emotional weight the game aims to deliver. Seeing Davis’s features, his expression frozen in what felt like surprise, reminded me of the humanity intertwined into my synthetic companion.

That said, a huge cliffhanger leaves a frustrating absence of resolution. Upon completing the game, you're greeted by the words, “Zula Hendricks Will Return” followed by a splash screen announcing Alien: Rogue Incursion - Part 2. Whether that's a DLC or full sequel remains unclear, but Survios states that's currently in development.

Atmospheric Immersion Meets Technical Flaws 

Rogue Incursion's atmospheric design is immediately noticeable. Survios has meticulously crafted environments that draw heavily on the Alien franchise’s signature aesthetics. Flickering lights cast eerie shadows, and the oppressive silence throughout the research facility immerses players in a world that feels both authentic and frightening. As I ventured deeper through those dimly lit corridors, sounds echoed all around me, amplifying the sense of dread. The Xenomorphs are audio reactive, so each new step ignites a ripple of fear that they'll hear me and come swarming in.

The game shines in its overall visual presentation, but falters once the shooting starts. You can easily marvel at the rich environments and carefully recreated film elements, intermixed with original designs that evoke a sense of familiarity. I often encountered technical difficulties, particularly notable on the PC version. Performance proved inconsistent; video memory errors, crashes, and the occasional game-breaking bug plagued an otherwise gripping experience.

Survios addressed some of these issues shortly before launch with pre-release patches on both systems. Even after the update though, performance problems persisted on my PC. The introduction of a “Dynamic Resolution” setting helped to ensure a more stable framerate and allowed me to get past the, “out of video memory” bug. However, this also significantly degraded visual fidelity during gameplay.

Frustrating pixelation and blurriness were present and very noticeable at moments I desperately needed clarity, distracting me from these beautifully crafted environments and the finer details present before applying the setting. As someone with a high-end gaming PC, it was surprising to see the need to dial things back a bit. Hopefully, Survios will continue to tighten performance and graphical fidelity for players who have systems that can push those pixels to their limits.

Sound Design and Emotional Engagement 

Alien: Rogue Incursion's sound design is outstanding and really enhances the immersion. The game's musical score, combined with meticulously crafted sound effects, all come together to enhance the horror atmosphere nicely. Hearing creaks and growls echo across silence and distance as Xenomorphs make their presence known encapsulates the very essence of survival horror. I remained on edge throughout my entire playthrough.

Among these terrifying sounds also lies the emotional weight of some outstanding voice acting from Andia Winslow as Zula and Robbie Daymond as Davis 01. Both performances enrich the narrative experience and add life to the characters. Hearing Zula’s voice quivering with fear or driven by rage was palpable at critical moments, heightening emotional engagement. I found myself invested in the pairs' struggle against overwhelming odds even more with each masterful performance, evoking deep-seated emotions that amplified the overall experience.

Gameplay: Run And Gun With Nowhere To Hide

With gameplay mechanics, Alien: Rogue Incursion offers a uniquely engaging mixture of combat and exploration, however, As I traveled deeper into the game, I found the balance between stealth and aggressive action often leaned heavily in favor of the latter. Unlike Alien Isolation, there is no hiding in lockers or under tables here.

As Zula, you’re equipped with a pulse rifle, shotgun, and grenades, providing a small but diverse arsenal for tackling oncoming threats, and you will be using them constantly. The iconic flamethrower is disappointingly absent though, it's the one weapon I fully expected to see, and it would have had a nice visual effect. I can only imagine how cool it would have been to watch that igniter flame dance while torching another Xenomorph.

My initial Xenomorph encounters had me surging with adrenaline, igniting moments of sheer terror and a sense of fight or flight. Yet, as the game progressed, those terrifying moments dulled into predictability; the encounters I once feared began to fizzle into yet another cycle of shooting, reload, and repeat. While testing the lowest difficulty, Cinematic, it was disheartening to see the complexity of the Xenomorph's hunting skills so heavily diminished. They'd essentially line up and come at you in a single file, basically expecting to be gunned down. Normal difficulty provides a more balanced experience, but I leaned heavily towards combat with the Expert or Insane modes. Those provide an extremely challenging experience that I'd only recommended for experienced players. 

Tool-based puzzles are used to open doors and terminals that provide the game's backstory, delivered through messages from the station's inhabitants. This drew me in with their interactive possibilities; the tactile nature of wiping blood off certain terminals to reveal critical data, that feeling of trying to solve wire-based puzzles while Xenomorphs prowled nearby? This created genuinely tense moments that I will not forget anytime soon.

The Harsh Reality Of The Save System 

One of my biggest criticisms of Rogue Incursion has to be its save system. Players often find themselves navigating vast stretches of the game only to face punishing penalties for failure. Log stations are few and far between and are usually hidden behind the locked doors of panic rooms. If you miss one, the penalty is having to play through a plenty of storylines you've already experienced. Dialogue sequences became tedious reruns, and I'd love a system that lets me savor the narrative rather than dread lengthy restarts.

Losing valuable play time and having this frustration point could have been avoided if Survios added checkpoint-based saves. Better yet, using the tablet interface you always carry as a means of saving progress. I am a huge advocate of the mantra, “Save always and save often,” and I strongly believe developers should embrace letting you save at any point. Notably absent is the ability to go back and replay key moments in the game, too.

Alien: Rogue Incursion Review - Final Verdict 

Alien: Rogue Incursion stands as a commendable yet flawed entry into this beloved Alien franchise. The immersive atmosphere, engaging storytelling, and emotional character dynamics are captivating, but it falters after a few too many technical shortcomings and lack of meaningful closure. Further refinements could see this blossom into a solid VR terror filled experience, though anyone seeking a deep and gripping horror adventure may currently find it somewhat lacking.

If all you want to do is to hunt Xenomorphs with big guns, this game has you covered, but you might want to wait for more updates. Alien: Rogue Incursion is also launching on Quest in February and when it does, I'll be heading back into the GES Facility to give this another look. Until then, if you decide to suit up and take down the corporation, this game will leave you questioning what lingers in the dark and whether you’ll survive to see another day. Just as it is in space… on planet Purdan, nobody will hear you scream.

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