Several times while I was playing Isolation I thought of different influences - the film obviously, Dead Space 3, Bioshock - but the influence that kept coming back repeatedly was Dead Rising. Like Isolation, Dead Rising arrived with a clear vision of what it wanted to be and how it wanted to be played. Like Isolation it had a very limited save structure but also had elements, such as you starting the game too weak to complete it in one run, that spoke of an extremely brave and ultimately divisive vision.
When I first read the reviews of Alien : Isolation I was intrigued but within a few hours of playing I understood exactly why this game could get scores ranging from "barely mediocre" to "great". Here is a game which is, at times, painfully slow paced, has save points which are spread far apart (occasionally far too far apart), has areas you have to go back to (sometimes more than once), has tired old tropes such as audio logs and has the player turning on switches to go back to the other side of the level to turn more switches. Yet, in spite of that and just like Dead Rising, I loved almost every moment of it and can happily declare it not only my game of the year but expect it will almost undoubtedly be one of my games of this console generation.
So why do I love it so much? The first is a love of the source material - Alien is one of my top three movies of all time. I am not a horror fan but the movie has brilliant direction, acting, plot and incredible art and sound direction.