I’ll never grow tired of the Alien franchise. Whether it be films or games, there’s something about the Xenomorph and its near-timeless design. Whether you’re watching it chase a single person through a space station for a few hours, watching them get mowed down by a group of hardy marines, or even killing them yourselves in a video game, the Xenomorph is versatile. It’s surprising that we haven’t had an official Alien game built from the ground up for VR before. Alien: Rogue Incursion is just that. And while it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Alien: Isolation before it, it’s an incredibly solid Alien game that’s only elevated by its presentation in VR.
Alien: Rogue Incursion takes place after the events of the first film. You play as Zula Hendricks, a Colonial Marine who’s already seen it all, as she investigates the disappearance of a missing soldier on the abandoned planet of Purdan. Accompanied by her trusted android companion, Davis 01, Zula finds herself stranded on the planet after a landing gone wrong. Of course, the Xenomorphs have infested the station, too, expediating her need to escape. It’s a simple, almost done-to-death premise, and anyone with a cursory knowledge of this franchise will know where things are going.
While Rogue Incursion directly references characters from Isolation, keen fans will also recognise both Zula and Davis 01 from elsewhere. The pair have appeared in multiple comics since 2017, so to see them both here in yet another adventure is incredibly rewarding for superfans of Alien. That being said, while their past exploits are referenced in dialogue and banter between the two, Rogue Incursion is its own thing. You can enjoy it easily with or without experience with the franchise so far.
That being said, it’s worth mentioning that Rogue Incursion is the first of what will be a presumably two-part story following Zula and her exploits on Purdan. While everything I’ve experienced here in Part 1 is more than satisfactory in terms of gameplay and length, it does feel like Rogue Incursion is building up to something that hasn’t been seen in other Alien films before. While Part 1 is a standard retread of all the now-common Alien tropes, the game’s gnarly cliffhanger leaves more questions than answers.
But putting the plot aside, Rogue Incursion borrows liberally from Isolation and Fireteam Elite to offer an experience that confidently occupies a space between the two. It has moments of downtime, which effortlessly builds tension and atmosphere, but it also isn’t afraid to throw waves of enemies at Zula to take advantage of her combat prowess. It’s a sensible mix of stealth, horror, and action, even if, towards the end, the developers need more cards to play from a deck we’re more than familiar with.
The main goal in Rogue Incursion eventually becomes escaping Purdan, and the game really makes you fight for it. Make no mistakes, though; Rogue Incursion is a single-player horror game in a similar vein to Dead Space, with subtle aspects of games like BioShock sprinkled in. It’s not a rogue-like. You’ll have free-roam of the facilities on Purdan, where the story permits, and have to move from area to area, repairing equipment and finding gear to help you progress.
Zula herself controls like any other VR protagonist. By default, she can turn with quick-snap turning, similar to other VR games, though there are options to make the game control like a traditional flatscreen FPS. Zula can do everything a typical protagonist can – run, dodge, attack and even auto-jump when running off certain edges. Each piece of equipment has a spot on Zula’s (and, by extension, your) body. Reach over your left shoulder to grab a shotgun, for example. Once you learn where everything is, it’s easy to quickly switch between them, especially in the middle of a firefight. There’s a wealth of options to change body height and width, so players of all sizes can enjoy it comfortably.
I’ll touch on combat soon, but the exploration of Rogue Incursion feels reminiscent of the recent remake of Dead Space or even games like Metroid. Throughout your time on Purdan, you’ll slowly uncover new equipment that might let you open up doors or locales that will progress the story. Going back, however, will yield you more resources. But while that’s the only thing you’ll come across, as Rogue Incursion has no stats to improve, there are also some tidbits of lore to find, too. How satisfying this is to find will no doubt depend on how interested you are in Rogue Incursion’s plot, though, and backtracking does feel inefficient because of how the game handles combat and how you encounter the Xenomorph.
The main enemy you’ll be fighting in Rogue Incursion is the Xenomorph. They’re a threat always looming throughout the game, dynamically spawning into the facility at a rate that feels fair but sometimes exhausting. Often, you’ll be notified they’re around with a beep from your motion detector, though sometimes you’ll hear their footsteps often behind you or even above you. They don’t teleport magically like the Alien from Isolation, though they aren’t anywhere near as strong either. On the one hand, having almost no areas of Rogue Incursion be safe helps to keep the tension high; on the other, I can see less experienced players burning through all their ammo if they get lost, too.
Zula’s experience with the Xenomorphs presumably mimics the players, so while I appreciate that, for story reasons, the Xenomorph’s don’t get a flashy introduction here, it does feel like a missed opportunity. That being said, also despite my long and heavy experience with the franchise, the Xenomorphs in Rogue Incursion are scary. While they go down fast, they are incredibly sneaky. I can’t tell you how many times I’d turn around and see one just walking towards me and absolutely shit myself. The game is riddled with moments like this, a testament to the strength of the Xenomorph AI here. I prefer this tension to the more scripted jump scares you often find in VR games, though it does mean I’d say Rogue Incursion is less scary than, say, a game like Resident Evil 7 or even Village’s infamous house section.
That being said, one of the moments I experienced in Rogue Incursion, at about the halfway point, gave me such a great degree of ick that I closed my eyes in my headset, though I guess whether the same applies to you would be dependent on what scares you about this franchise. I’ve never felt that way in a VR game before, so that’s something that must be mentioned in credit to Rogue Incursion.
Once everything comes together, Rogue Incursion plays fairly well. From the moment I booted the game, I was drawn into the world of Purdan and really invested in getting Zula off the planet. The objective variety is fairly good, though towards the end, some objectives do feel like a bit of padding to help get the game over that ten-hour mark. However, even as you spend more time on Purdan and almost memorise the facilities, the game makes the areas you revisit feel different.
From a presentation standpoint, Alien: Rogue Incursion is great looking. While its art direction is not as strong as Alien: Isolation, the game still does a great job of capturing that retrofuturistic style that the original films had. Every area feels like it’s had a lot of thought and detail poured into it – cold air billows from vents, steam from malfunctioning equipment. Computers flicker with a soft glow amidst already strong and moody lighting. It all comes together to help build a world that really feels like it’s gone to hell, and quickly, too. The Xenomorphs look excellent, too, though other humans you encounter look rougher than the rest of the game.
The game’s strong presentation is complemented by some incredible sound design. When the motion scanner isn’t beeping, the Xenomorphs can often be heard scratching the surfaces they run on, hissing when they’re near, and even squelching if they’re feasting on somebody. The station itself is constantly making noise, too, making you second-guess whether that noise in the distance is an enemy or just a malfunctioning piece of equipment. Such a stellar dedication to sound design is only augmented by an original score by Sara Barone, which employs unexpected instruments to perfectly emulate the ominous score that Jerry Goldsmith created for the original film. It’s a great-sounding game, even if the combat track gets repetitive as time goes by.
So, as the credits roll on Alien: Rogue Incursion, I am intrigued. The game is easily greater than the sum of its parts, taking common Alien tropes and elevating them with a thoughtful and fulfilling VR presentation. But I also feel like I’ve seen everything it offers – from a gameplay perspective, it feels like the Goldilocks principle. Not too much Alien, not too much Aliens, but a perfect balance of each. I can’t imagine more of the same would be interesting, given how much it retreads familiar territory, but for now, Rogue Incursion feels perfectly paced, and I am intrigued as to how Rogue Incursion: Part 2 will play out. Regardless, I’m there day one, as this is one of the greatest (official) Alien VR experiences you can get.
