Alien Isolation Novelization – Just like the Game but Worse
Published on November 13, 2024 at 8:05 am by Savvy
Alien Isolation is a great game (in my opinion). The Alien Isolation novelization by Keith R.A. DeCandido is an awful adaptation (in my opinion). It took out the spooky atmosphere, the tension and all the sections of the game I personally thought were cool. The Alien was barely in it and the main threat to our protagonist was her step-dad Paul.
To flesh out the character of Amanda Ripley, Keith added Paul, an alcoholic loser who had to take care of Amanda while her mom was MIA. The book will constantly flash back to scenes with her and Paul and scenes with her getting scammed in the past. Amanda is a sarcastic downer in this book, you know there is going to be a long backstory segment next chapter because Amanda will complain about something or someone then cut to them treating her poorly in the past.
Co-host of the podcast and my sister Elise had a much more positive take on the novel
“This book came out almost 5 years after the video game and while the descriptions of some of the main events of the video game were well done the back story of Amanda Ripley on Earth and Luna were distracting and pulled the reader out of what is supposed to be a thriller. Also, if you have not played the game, the end of chapter chapter memos would make little sense. They are in fact memos you find while playing the game.
Having read several video game adapted novels, DeCandido did a good job at descriptions and placing you into the world of Alien. If you liked this book you would liked the video game but if you liked the video game you may not like this book. There were a lot of things missing and for a horror game that has the player have to hide for half of it there was not a lot of suspense created.
My biggest pet peeve is the constantly going back into the past to try to build the character of Amanda Ripley. It was not needed and just a bummer how difficult her life was before coming to a space station to be attacked by almost everyone and thing she meets. She develops as a character as the story continues in the present time. It felt personal the amount of times the author mentioned how Amanda wasn’t a certified engineer but worked for idiots who were. Another thing that I questioned in the game and the book was that there was no mention of a queen alien but so many eggs with face huggers.
This would be a good read if you don’t plan on playing the game but if you want to or if you have I would skip this one.”
She may recommend the read if you don’t plan on playing the game but I do not, I don’t think anyone should read this novel. If you are interested in the game but don’t want to play it then just watch someone else online play it or a walkthrough.
For full discussion check out the VGBCs Youtube or Spotify. For what we are currently reading check out GoodReads. If you wanna join in the conversion we can talk chapter to chapter on Fable .
Excited for the second game, but maybe not the second book
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