If the prospect of evading the Xenomorph sounded terrifying, especially after playing the first Alien: Isolation, Creative Assembly has found a way to amp up the terror. When asked in a new dev Q&A video if it could hear players through their microphones, senior sound designer Marie Devies-Barrett answered in no uncertain terms, “Yes. They’ll be able to pick up your noise.”
Thankfully, audio lead James Magee confirmed that this is an optional setting. But do that, and it’s a “constant feed from that microphone.” “If you make noise, if the dog barks in the background, that may give you away.
“It creates what we call a logical sound in the world, which is a representation of audio volume and…the senses of NPCs can respond to this. That also works over distance, so it kind of has an attenuation to it. If you make a loud enough sound and an enemy is close enough, then they will respond to it like you’ve made a sound using another gadget in the world.”
In short, it’s only an option for the bravest and perhaps quietest players, and even then, it may still prove a challenge. Either way, it’s nice to have the option for the added immersion, if nothing else.
Alien: Isolation 2 launches on Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, and PS5 at an unknown date. We’ve seen the Prologue, and it perfectly captures the original’s sense of terror and claustrophobia. Things change drastically when you’re outside in a series’ first, with some spaces being almost ten times larger than the original game.
The new weather conditions can create opportunities to run past without getting detected. However, it goes both ways, and you may not know where the Xenomorph is coming from before it’s too late. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the coming months (including, hopefully, a release date).
