Alien: Rogue Incursion Review

Alien: Rogue Incursion is developed by Survios, an American virtual game developer and software publisher based in Los Angeles, California. With household names under their name, like The Walking Dead: Onslaught, released in 2020; Creed: Rise to Glory, released in 2018; and Raw Data, this new game surely wasn't up for any disappointments. Survios also won many awards, such as Best VR Game, Character Design, and Awesome Hardware Mover.

After playing Aliens: Dark Descent recently, and Alien: Isolation is one of my favorite alien survival horror games, I went into Alien: Rogue Incursion with the expectation that it would be a somewhat predictable shooting gallery of Xenomorphs kept together by a narrative more similar to Colonial Marines than anything else.

However, it comes out charging with a fully loaded pulse rifle and never lets up. Despite the fact that you are significantly better equipped to eliminate the ultimate lifeforms with a collection of weapons and companions at your side, the fact that you are exploring the cold boundaries of Purdan does not make going there any less horrifying.

In Alien: Rogue Incursion, you take on the role of Zula Hendricks, a former member of the Colonial Marines who has abandoned her professional life. You investigate and expose the nefarious experiments that Weyland Yutani is conducting right in front of her. It seems like everything is going swimmingly until her spacecraft is shot down while it is entering orbit, and she and her fellow android companion find themselves stranded in an abandoned complex where a lot of terrible things have occurred. 

There is not much of a preamble to begin with because you are expected to understand the methods of eliminating extraterrestrials while they are in motion. A pulse rifle and a revolver are taken from your spacecraft, which is in a state of disrepair, and you venture out into the icy wilderness of this uncharted world. There is not a single living soul on this planet, with the exception of the monsters that have brought this place to its current state of ruin.

I wandered hesitantly along each abandoned corridor, wishing that an alien wouldn't jump out to attack me. I was aware that a few stray bites from its acid-tinged mandibles would be enough to terminate my life. The atmosphere was beautifully oppressive, to the point that I was walking through each corridor with trepidation.

At the same time, as the Xenomorphs are dangerous enough to require players to pause what they are doing and make destroying them a high priority, they are not dangerous enough to make the battles with them difficult. The interactions with Xenomorphs in Alien: Rogue Incursion all take place in a manner that is, for the most part, identical. In order for players to locate the creature, which is typically crawling on a wall, they need to pause the game and glance about before the annoying music cue takes effect.

The xenomorph will either jump off the wall, taunt the player with its arms outstretched, and then really try to attack the player. Players have the option of either successfully killing the xenomorph with a few shots before it even gets its bearings. As a result of the fact that Xenomorphs may kill Zula with just a few blows, ignoring them almost always results in death. 

The fact that there are so few checkpoints in Alien: Rogue Incursion can make the experience of dying during the game even more frustrating than it should be. Most of the time, when a player dies, they are forced to return to their last save.

 This is not necessarily a serious issue because there are a fairly large number of save rooms throughout the game; nonetheless, there are situations in which this might cause players to lose a significant amount of gameplay.

The lack of adequate checkpoints in Alien: Rogue Incursion does not make the game scarier or more dramatic; rather, it makes it more irritating, particularly after being murdered by a xenomorph or face-hugger when a technical fault prevents players from even fighting back. In one instance.

I was simply unable to pull out my rifle, and in another instance, my shotgun was "equipped," but my arm was frozen at an angle that prevented me from doing anything with it. Both of these situations would have been quite frustrating.

Alien: Rogue Incursion suffers from a number of significant technical issues; nevertheless, the more significant issue is that the game's second half is ruined by decisions that are unsatisfactory but ultimately disappointing. Alien: Rogue Incursion is a virtual reality (VR) Alien experience that is fairly enjoyable for the first half of the game; however, the momentum of the game comes to a screeching halt somewhere around the midway position.

At this point, the battle begins to become monotonous, and the retracing becomes unnecessary and overwhelming. This is made even more difficult by the map, which is mainly unhelpful because it does not provide room names, which in turn makes key goals excessively difficult to find. Alien: Rogue Incursion is a game that is extremely difficult to get lost in because of the never-ending Xenomorphs present.

When I was playing Alien: Rogue Incursion, I found myself trapped since I couldn't figure out exactly where to go next. However, there are times when events don't trigger as they should. At one point, I spent over thirty minutes going around the same room, killing the odd xenomorph that would spawn in, and trying hard to figure out what I should do.

Following the mind-numbing retracing and the many shooting gallery Xenomorphs, the reward I received was an incredibly unsatisfying ending. In order to avoid giving away any spoilers, I will say that Alien: Rogue Incursion is not a complete experience, and the tale does not come to a satisfactory conclusion by the time the final credits roll.

The plot of Alien: Rogue Incursion contains some wonderful moments that are excellently enhanced by virtual reality, but the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger makes it feel as though it was all for nothing. The situation is like going to the theater to watch Alien: Romulus and then leaving the theater in the middle of the film.

The developers have done an excellent job of creating the ambiance and visuals of the films. This is a genuine experience akin to living in the world of the Alien film franchise. Furthermore, despite the fact that there are unquestionably significant issues with the basic gameplay, Rogue Incursion does have an astounding amount of involvement, the likes of which practically compete with the virtual reality monster Half-Life: Air.

Alien: Rogue Incursion allows you to pick up and throw virtually anything you see, and it also features several layers of interactivity, which is something that the majority of virtual reality games don't bother with. A cardboard box, for instance, provides numerous points of contact in the game. 

You can remove the lid, pick up the box, and then spill its contents on the ground. This is just one example. It is because of things like these that the game is able to grow more immersive, and despite the fact that it has some flaws, Alien: Rogue Incursion does an absolutely tremendous job of luring players into its universe.

Interactivity in Alien: Rogue Incursion extends to the many pieces of equipment and weaponry that Zula acquires throughout the game. Unlike other virtual reality games, which feature stockpiles that are difficult to manage, the game makes things easier for players by allowing them to easily retrieve essential objects from the air whenever they are required.

Once they are in your possession, weapons are a delight to use despite the fact that they can be difficult to extract from their concealment. The reloading of weapons is also highly dynamic, with some of the best moments of the game occurring during the more hectic story event battles. During these battles, players may be required to swiftly slide shells into Zula's shotgun or quickly pop rounds into her revolver while Xenomorphs are surrounding her.

If you are experiencing issues with the visuals, it is most likely because of the settings you have for the performance mode on the PlayStation console and not in the settings for the game itself. As soon as I am able to resolve that issue, how does the game truly appear? It is reprojected, which may cause some individuals to reconsider.

I do, however, comprehend the reason. Due to the fact that Padan is packed with environmental effects, a great deal of detail, and interacting objects, the reprojection is absolutely justified. It also explains why the game does not come close to reaching its native frame rate of 90 frames per second, particularly on Unreal Engine 5.

When it came to performance, I only had problems twice while playing through the game. Because of the reprojection, these were not significant issues, and they were hardly distinguishable from one another. Because Alien: Rogue Incursion is an Unreal Engine 5 game, I was initially concerned about the game's performance before it was released; nonetheless, I was relieved to discover that it was consistent and solid overall. The sound of this game complements the gameplay and the story, which I found very engaging. I could definitely see myself getting more into the game.

Even though I have not yet encountered face-huggers or a large number of other characters, I believe that Alien: Rogue Incursion has been a great experience. It is able to capture the visual identity and the scary atmosphere of classic movies and survival horror games in a manner that is brought to life in virtual reality in a much more significant way. It is very stunning to look at, and the controls are even more impressive. It gave me the impression that I was entering this universe for the very first time all over again.