Is Alien: Rogue Incursion good? Here's what the first reviews say
Alien: Rogue Incursion is the last major VR game of the year. Is it also the best? We rounded up some of the early reviews.
After Batman: Arkham Shadow, Metro Awakening and Skydance's Behemoth, Alien: Rogue Incursion is the last big VR game of the year and releasing for PC VR and Playstation VR 2 today.
Our reviewer Josef is currently in bed with a fever and will give us his impressions later. In the meantime, I'll summarize what other testers had to say about the VR game.
Alien: Rogue Incursion comes in two parts
Before I get to the round-up, I have to mention something that surprised me and that I think our readers should know. Alien: Rogue Incursion is apparently not a complete game, but only the first of two parts. This is all the more surprising because this fact has just come out and Survios has not said how exactly Alien: Rogue Incursion will be continued. Did the studio split the game into two parts because they couldn't deliver the whole game in time? We can only speculate.
Despite these circumstances, Alien: Rogue Incursion offers a decent play time of 8 to 10 hours, with a rather abrupt ending that leaves many questions unanswered, a classic cliffhanger that may leave some fans unsatisfied.
A true Alien experience with a strong focus on action
There are already 16 reviews on Metacritic and the average rating is 75 out of 100 points, with reviews ranging from high (two 100 point reviews) to low (one 40 point review).
Reviewers agree that Alien: Rogue Incursion perfectly captures the visual style and atmosphere of the Alien films, especially the action-packed second installment from 1986.
In terms of gameplay, the VR title is very different from Alien: Isolation, considered by many fans to be the best game adaptation of the franchise to date. That game focused on horror and hiding from an intelligent monster. Alien: Rogue Incursion, on the other hand, is a sci-fi shooter in which you are constantly mowing down hordes of Xenomorphs. Critics agree that the monsters lose their horror and the combat becomes repetitive over time.
The game world to explore is basically limited to a research facility, which is quite large and can be freely explored, which makes the game more open. One problem is that you can only save in certain rooms. If you fall prey to aliens on your way, you might have to repeat a lot of walking and fighting.
Great visuals, repetitive gameplay
According to reviewers, the graphical presentation is one of the game's strengths: The environments shine and provide a perfect backdrop for the aliens, who realistically move through the atmospherically lit facility.
However, there is still room for technical improvement in both versions available. Josef had trouble getting the game to run properly on his high-end PC, though the cause is still unclear (Survios released a day-one patch that we weren't able to test yet). On the Playstation VR 2, the game relies on Sony's controversial reprojection and an anti-aliasing technique that makes edges look strangely blurry.
The high level of interactivity in the environment has been the subject of both praise and criticism from testers. Although it is possible to interact with many objects, this can lead to janky interactions.
The biggest criticism of the game, however, is the lack of variety: both the combat and the puzzles wear out after a while. Towards the end of the game, there is also some backtracking to areas you have already visited. A problem that already plagued Metro Awakening.
You can purchase Alien: Rogue Incursion from the Playstation Store and Steam. The Quest version is expected to be released on February 13, 2025.
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