Editorials
The Stalking Xenomorph A.I. in ‘Alien: Isolation’ Needs to Be in More Horror Games
No matter how much I love horror games, so many of them can suffer from the same issue: repetition diminishes tension. The first time I go through a sequence, it’s fraught with tension as I run for horrific monsters that surprise me from the shadows. But if I die at the final monster in a long sequence, I’m forced to repeat it. Suddenly, the tension of not knowing what’s around the corner is gone, and I’m just going through the motions until I make it to that final monster and try to overcome them. It’s easy to see the scripted nature of most horror games once you start repeating, taking away from the immersion required to truly ratchet up the tension.
Alien Isolation‘s most famous mechanic attempted to solve that issue. While the game does have enemies that perform prescribed patrols and scripted sequences, the Xenomorph is a different beast entirely. This creature has a systemic AI that is built to simulate one thing: being hunted by the Alien. As I wrote previously, this is one of the main elements that make Isolation feel like such an authentic representation of the original Alien movie. Not only does it capture the mood of its source material, but it helps alleviate the issues of repetition reducing the horror.
The YouTube channel AI and Games did a fantastic breakdown of how exactly the developers achieved this unique and ‘realistic’ AI. The AI controlling the Alien is divided into two main components: the “director” and the Alien itself. The director keeps track of the player, fully aware of their position and status at all times. The Alien itself is a reactive, sense-driven NPC that will react to the player’s actions when they are in its range. While the director commands the Alien, pushing it into directions to put it on a collision course with the player, it is never allowed to cheat and must always legitimately find the player through its senses. Its behavior is dictated by a 100 node behavior tree that is unlocked as the game progresses, giving the illusion that the creature is learning from each encounter.
The director also manages the “menace” of the game by measuring several factors about the relationship between the player and the Alien. These factors include proximity to the player, how long the Alien has been near the player, and how quickly it can reach the player. Once the menace reaches a certain level, the director sends the Alien elsewhere in the station, allowing the player some breathing room. This pacing that is done by the director is perfect for horror games, as sustained “menace” can become frustrating for the player, deflating the tension of the situation and replacing it with aggravation.
All of these pieces make for such a great experience in Alien Isolation, but they aren’t the only team to attempt to craft an experience like this. Left 4 Dead used a similar director to create unique enemy layouts each time. The AI in this game would place both enemies and items in varying positions based on each player’s current situation, status and location. Much like the Alien AI system, the director allows each playthrough of the game to be unique. Even upon starting the level over, you don’t know what enemies you’ll be facing or where to expect them.
A more recent example of a video game villain that relentlessly stalks the player is Mr. X from this year’s Resident Evil 2 Remake. While he stalks you for a smaller portion of the game than Isolation’s Alien, Mr. X definitely became one of the breakout elements that made the RE2 Remake so successful. Much like the Xenomorph, Mr. X has an AI that must search and find players in order to confront them. Running and shooting will attract him quicker, forcing players to alter their playstyle in order to avoid the unkillable creature. It’s a great mechanic that forces the player think about every encounter, weighing not only their resources, but whether or not killing certain enemies is worth risking the attention of Mr. X.
Even multiplayer games have structured themselves around this idea, replacing enemy AI with an actual player. Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th have utilized this structure, casting one player as a killer hunting down the others. Evolve did a similar thing, with the players acting as hunters trying to track down and kill an ever-evolving monster. These games highlight just how important it is to create a horror experience where the player feels like they are being stalked by something with a true intelligence behind it.
Alien Isolation not only used its well thought out AI to replicate the feeling of the film, but also created a horror experience that maintains variety when replaying sections and creates a level of unpredictability not previously possible in games. Unpredictability is a key to keeping the horror fresh, always keeping you on your toes. Developers would be smart to try to craft systems like this, even for shorter games, as AI like this can really make you feel like there’s an actual monster terrorizing you rather than something that’s responding to a series of triggers.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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