Alien: Rogue Incursion – Review

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And though there has been a constant wave of Alien- related games over the years, none have managed to capture that feeling of intensity present in the films, barring 2014's excellent Alien: Isolation , of course. Now, a new contender is aiming to make its mark by offering an Alien game experience like no other, bringing the series to Virtual Reality (VR) with Alien: Rogue Incursion for the PS VR2, Steam PCVR and Meta Quest 3 (February 2025).

With a premise very much in the same vein as the films, players step into the shoes of ex-Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks (literally, this time), a soldier who goes AWOL to expose Weyland-Yutani's nefarious black-site experiments. After receiving a transmission from Gemini Exoplanet Solutions whistleblower and friend Ben Carver, she steals a ship and travels to Castor's Cradle, a research facility on the uncharted planet Purdan alongside her synth companion Davis 01. In typical Alien fashion, her ship crash lands on entry, and after finding out that the facility has become infested with Xenomorphs, her mission becomes two-fold, to expose the company's secrets, and survive long enough to do so.

Plot-wise, the game offers little more than an excuse to drop players right into the thick of things, presenting a sprawling space complex to explore and of course, gun down lots of Xenomorphs along the way. Although the title makes an effort to provide light doses of character development, mainly surrounding the camaraderie between Hendricks and Davis 01, along with brief callbacks to Amanda Ripley from Alien: Isolation , the story does feel like it's taking a backseat to gameplay, which to its credit, certainly makes sense as a VR title.

Following the general gameplay structure of Alien: Isolation , which was no doubt a major source of inspiration for the title, players will explore the abandoned Castor's Cradle facility, obtaining keycards with various levels of security clearance to unlock new sections of the map to progress further. In this vein, the game incorporates Metroidvania elements, allowing opportunities for backtracking at every turn, with the allure of obtaining additional resources and snippets of lore.