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Alien: Isolation’s challenge mode shown off at E3

alien isolation creative assembly

Sure, you’re trapped aboard a space station with an alien that can gut you with every one of its extremities (+ tongue) but that’s no reason to avoid taking part in a good old fashioned foot race. Creative Assembly have revealed Alien: Isolation’s challenge mode.

Just how quickly can you make it to the exit without being cut in two.

“This is a game about trying to survive, not about killing,” said creative lead Al Hope GameTrailers. It made sense, then, that the challenge mode was about survival.

“We stick you in a very small environment,” lead designer Garry Napper explained in a separate interview, “we give you a flamethrower and a few [toys] to play with and say ‘Hey, see if you can survive.’ We put a timer on the screen, see if you can get to the end, and we give you bonuses for things like not using your motion tracker, which is terrifying.”

“It’s a compressed, intense experience,” continued Hope. “It’s about moment to moment, trying to figure out what the best strategy is using what you have to hand. What’s your most immediate threat?”

The challenge mode is what players at this year’s E3 have been getting their hands on and, by the sounds of it, it’s a great introduction. They’re getting to use the flamethrower (and getting immediately killed by the alien for revealing their position), hiding in cupboards (and getting immediately killed for not running from the alien), and running down corridors that look like they’re right out of Ridley Scott’s original film (they are, of course, immediately killed for trying to run from the alien).

You can read more about Alien: Isolation in Steve’s recent preview.