Alien: Isolation Mod Ditches the Alien

[Tribble]

Wanted to play Alien Isolation, but you were too worried about running into the Alien? Well here is the mod for you!

Alien: Isolation Mod Ditches the Alien
Roam freely without worrying about a Xenomorph popping in for a visit.

Mods allow you to do all sorts of things in PC games--make them prettier, play them with others when you're not meant to, add new areas, and so on. In the case of Alien: Isolation, they can also remove the central threat that stands in your way.

Thanks to the efforts of Steam user Thark (via Eurogamer), you can now play Isolation without encountering the titular alien. Technically speaking, the Xenomorph hasn't actually been removed outright; instead, its behavior patterns can be replaced so that it decides not to do anything. This effectively renders it immobile "in some vent" where it sits harmlessly.

You might think this is pointless--or worse--but while it certainly wouldn't be the way to play if you're trying to experience the game properly, it does afford you the opportunity to navigate the game world without worrying about the alien popping out. And, don't forget, there are other enemies in the game, so it's not as if you'd be able to roam completely safely.

The steps for removing the alien are outlined in this Steam forum post. You'll essentially be tweaking a small part of a BML file, a process that requires a hex editor. (As noted in the post, be sure to make a backup you can restore in case of issues.) Alternatively, you can download the modified file and replace yours with it, though, as always, be wary when downloading files from unknown sources.

I suppose it could be useful for players trying to do a practice run without being chomped to pieces all the time, and it would make a good "sissy" difficulty level or something.

Still, I wonder how the guy came up with the idea for this mod? "Do you know what Alien Isolation could use less of? Aliens!"

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/alien- ... YHRe6a6b70

[trekky0623]

Honestly, at least where I am now, the alien is less of a threat than the damn Spoiler

androids.

[Iroscato]

They really need to fix spoiler tags soon...

(Not that I have any plans of playing this, it's just annoying in general)

[TheFeniX]

Still, I wonder how the guy came up with the idea for this mod? "Do you know what Alien Isolation could use less of? Aliens!"

Modders come up with all sorts of weird ideas. Like modding Max Payne into a Kung-fu game or porting Unreal Tournament into Marble Madness. For myself, while Isolation looks cool, I don't like the idea of crouch-walking around tables to hide from the Alien when even a legally blind person could still see me and gameplay of this looks idiotic to say the least. I can see the reason some people would want to mod out the insta-gib jump scare.

One of the complaints I've heard about Alien is that if you're good, the Alien becomes almost superfluous. This obstacle that you just have to wait out. If you're bad, after a while the fear is gone because you've died to the damn thing so many times.

It's like SOMA. It's basically a walking simulator with points where some "monster" is searching around for things to pummel. If it sees you, it pummels you, and there's nothing you can do but stupidly hide behind consoles and wait for it to path by. There's only one "monster" that seems even remotely interesting to get past. But it's very short, so all of them seem more like annoying obstacles than good gameplay.

[MKSheppard]

I suppose it could be useful for players trying to do a practice run without being chomped to pieces all the time, and it would make a good "sissy" difficulty level or something.

This completely saved the game for me, since I'm deaf -- even playing on the easiest difficulty level is frustrating when all of a sudden your chest explodes from a tailspike and you die because you didn't hear heavy footsteps nearby; since there's no aural subtitling that goes <HEAVY FOOTSTEPS BEHIND>

Even with disabling the alien, it still took me about 11~ hours to finish the game.

[MKSheppard]

I'd also like to say that the one years' difference between Colonial Marines (2013) and Isolation (2014) is like night and day graphically.

Then again, it could be because Colonial Marines was restarted multiple times over six years of development.

[Adam Reynolds]

I'd also like to say that the one years' difference between Colonial Marines (2013) and Isolation (2014) is like night and day graphically.

Then again, it could be because Colonial Marines was restarted multiple times over six years of development.

Wasn't it also the transition point for new consoles? I'd guess this might have had something to do with it.