The Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation has received a new update that adds two difficulty modes to the first-person survival horror title, publisher Sega has announced.
The Nightmare Mode, which Sega has described as “the ultimate Alien experience,” means it’s harder to scavenge resources, removes the ability to update the map and makes confrontations with survivors or androids even more difficult.
Additionally, the motion tracker, a core piece of equipment for protagonist Amanda Ripley, is temperamental in Nightmare Mode and it can provide misleading information for the player — the last thing you need in a horror title like Alien.
The Alien, on the other hand, has had its AI significantly improved, meaning it’s more intelligent at adapting to people’s playstyles and “ramping up its aggression to punishing levels.”
Juxtaposing the Nightmare Mode is the second difficulty option introduced in the update: Novice Mode.
Novice Mode, as the name clearly suggests, caters towards the casual audience who struggle with the stealth aspect of Alien: Isolation, resulting in the intelligence of the Xenomorph being reduced, upping the resources that players have at their disposal and making all enemies considerably weaker.
Ubisoft has confirmed in the press release that the update for Alien: Isolation is now live on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Gamer Headlines’ review for The Creative Assembly’s survival horror title described it as “well polished,” while also suggesting another redeeming aspect of Alien: Isolation is that it “offers a gripping storyline.”