REVIEW // Alien: Rogue Incursion: Evolved Edition
“I JUST WANT TO TAKE A MINUTE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR’S EXTENDED WARRANTY”
STORY
Patrick
Alien: Rogue Incursion’s story—in VR as well as traditional gaming formats, as we’re discussing today with this new Evolved Edition—is its best asset. Starring two beloved Expanded Universe figures (Zula Hendricks, played with real grit, humor, and humanity by Andia Winslow, along with Robbie Daymond’s lovable deadpan Davis 01), Rogue Incursion begins in familiar Alien-universe fashion: touching down on a hostile world to investigate a transmission.
This transmission, however, isn’t alien in origin. It’s a message from an old friend. And this “touching down” quickly becomes a rough one, as Zula and Davis are shot right out of the sky. This opening sequence is thrilling, and was a real highlight of my time playing the VR version of Rogue Incursion. It’s also a window into how different the experience of playing the non-VR Evolved Edition is: in the VR, we have complete control of Zula’s field of vision, body orientation, etc. In the non-VR, we are very much pointed in a specific direction and forced to look there.
That’s not to knock Evolved Edition whatsoever. These sorts of considerations are important because without them it would just play like a broken VR game. Evolved Edition feels about 75% like a normal console game, and I’m happy to see Survios took the time to make the controls feel mostly good.
Back to the story, though: it gradually becomes clear that the company Carver works for (Gemini Exoplanet Solutions) is hiding some dark secrets. The rest of the game plays out more or less how you’d expect, save for one major twist that comes after a few hours of gameplay and adds some much-needed urgency to the story.
The best parts of the story, in my opinion, play out in various terminals you’ll find throughout the GES installation. Alex White—an author who needs no introduction to fans of the Expanded Universe—was one of the chief writers for Rogue Incursion, and it shows. They bring a depth and a darkness to the gradually-revealed world of GES, Castor’s Cradle, and the planet of Purdan that keeps me coming back.
Xander
Alien Rogue Incursion (and Evolved Edition) has some big shoes to fill being the first FPS to come out since Creative Assembly's Alien: Isolation. Does it do for Aliens what Isolation did for Alien? I think Survios took a step in the right direction with hiring Alex White to help write it. Alex is to goto person if you want a great Alien story! Zula (Andia Winslow) and Davis (Robbie Daymond) are perfectly casted! With that being said, I do think the actual gameplay and mechanics hinders what's great about Rogue Incursion.
Ross
Alien: Rogue Incursion has a tough act to follow after Alien: Isolation. The story centers on Zula Hendricks (voiced by Andia Winslow) and the synthetic Davis (voiced by Robbie Daymond), delivering a thrilling narrative crafted by Alex White. Zula’s journey is captivating, with terminal messages adding depth by hinting at the lives of other characters. Fans will love the nod to Amanda Ripley, linked to Zula from the Aliens: Defiance comics. Overall, the story is a highlight, pulling you deep into the Alien universe.
Holden
Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition kicks off with bringing two fan favorite characters to screen for the very first time. Zula Hendricks and Davis work excellently as narrative "launch pads" for one-off (or in this case a two part) stories in the Alien universe. Both characters are portrayed lovingly in A:RI, both by the writers and voice actors behind them. I also found them both quite faithful to my own imaginings of how they speak and carry themselves, and I came out of this game feeling like I knew the characters a bit better.
The primary conflict of Rogue Incursion is revealed about half way through, and unfortunately disengaged me a bit. I find that particular direction a little tired and predictable in the Alien Expanded Universe at this point. That being said, my interest in what happens to the characters was still piqued throughout the game.
I always enjoy when new corporations are introduced to the universe, and Gemini Exoplanet Solutions (GES) is no exception. I love the idea that these smaller corporations are operating throughout the galaxy under the gigantic shadow of Weyland-Yutani. My only complaint about these new companies, again including GES, is that they all seem to have the exact same or very similar approaches on handling the creatures, and it always ends the same way. It would be nice to see a new corporation deal with these killing machines a little more intelligently.
In my opinion, Alien content of all mediums are most successful when there is a major focus on character, and overall Rogue Incursion makes an honest attempt at that with varying degrees of success. The development of Davis and Zula's relationship does the narrative heavy lifting here.
GAMEPLAY
Patrick
Unfortunately, the actual gameplay is where Rogue Incursion: Evolved Edition falls flat for me. In the VR version, I was able to overlook some of these shortcomings due to the novelty of the format. In this non-VR take on the game, Survios has fixed some of the issues, but in the process they’ve taken away any real suspense or fear. The dodge mechanic is way too effective, for one thing. Most of the aliens can be dispatched within seconds by dodging away and then pulse-rifling them for seven or eight seconds. The pistol—an IMMENSELY gratifying part of the VR experience, due to its placement (on your thigh, necessitating a lot of quick “oh crap I only have one second and my rifle just ran out, I need to throw it down and snag my pistol from my holster before the xeno grabs me” moments), is just too overpowered in the Evolved Edition. Without that pressure of needing to physically reach around and manage weapons and ammo, the difficulty level needs to be ramped up to make the game more exciting.
My Evolved Edition playthrough was on Normal difficulty, as I feel that should always be the “review version.” Most fans who load the game for the first time will use Normal, as it’s supposed to be the difficulty level most calibrated to suit the game the first time you play it. On Normal difficulty, Evolved Edition is just laughably easy. Even as the xeno encounters ramp up—and they do!—it’s just the same boring dodge/shoot mechanic over and over again.
And there’s nothing wrong with some runnin’ and gunnin’. I think Aliens: Fireteam Elite does a really nice job of making that experience gratifying. But RI: Evolved Edition’s controls are too overcorrected (the default auto aim level is just ridiculous), too flubby/imprecise, too unspecific. The fundamental mechanics are pretty boring, and that becomes a problem when they don’t really … evolve … throughout the game, as it were.
You’ll have other implements at your disposal, though. Grenades, an ion torch (still fun, but a lot less gratifying without the VR), that sort of thing.
There are puzzles throughout Rogue Incursion as well, but they are mostly pretty rote/repetitive. And again, losing the VR component makes so many of these elements feel worse. The fuse box puzzle you need to do dozens of times throughout the game to open safe rooms is always easy to figure out, but at least in VR you have the fun tactility of grabbing the wires with your actual hand, needling the tool between things to avoid getting shocked, etc. Here you’re just doing the same boring puzzle using the controller’s sticks.
I also still find the enemy AI to be genuinely bad. I have gotten some pushback on this from others, so maybe it’s just me! But I find the aliens to be truly un-scary, and they often seem unconcerned with me or what I’m up to. There were many moments in my Evolved Edition playthrough where an alien would walk up to Zula, stand there for a few seconds, wait for me to solve a fusebox puzzle, then start walking away. I’d then shoot the alien, and seconds later a clone alien would waltz up and stand in the same spot.
Perhaps these are bugs? I’m not sure if I intended a pun there or not, but it happened. And it set up the next section of this review pretty nicely.
Xander
As I mentioned earlier, the gameplay and mechanics really holds it back to me.
For starters, there's no key remapping for controllers. You're stuck with Survios' "default." The default being an "unique" control setup. I can't tell you how many times I died just because my instinct was to hit "Y" instead of the right bumber to switch weapons.
I was playing on Normal difficulty on PC. It was never scary or tense. Never really used the motion tracker because you'll encounter three warriors every two minutes on the dot. They will flank you and they're bullet sponges - not a gripe. More of an annoyance during and between objectives. If it was more random with how they attack and how often they spawn, it'd be more intense. A fast spawn rate doesn't equal an intense experience. Maybe this will get patched in the future.
The Evolved Edition suffers from being in the shadows of its VR predecessor. Rogue Incursion was built for VR in mind, there's gameplay elements that were originally built for VR. In the Evolved Edition, these are now random button holds and spams. It feels clunky unlike the ones in Isolation with the maintenance jack. It just feels random instead of just hitting a button.
Cutscenes are all done in first person perspective. Which makes sense in the VR version but just feels like a missed opportunity in the Evolved Edition.
I played with a GeForce RTX 3070 TI graphics card. The game looked great. The atmospheric effects really add to the look of the game. It didn't overclocked my setup. No texture pop-ins or broken textures, besides one room - which will be in the Bugs section.
Ross
The game starts strong, immersing you in the Alien world with stunning visuals and sound design, from pulse rifles to terrifying facehuggers. However, the gameplay feels clunky at times, especially on PlayStation. Switching weapons is awkward and can lead to frustrating deaths. Puzzles like the box wire connectors for unlocking rooms feel tedious, turning tension into annoyance. The lack of cinematic cutscenes is a missed chance to elevate the experience, likely due to its VR roots. It’s engaging but held back by these issues.
Graphics
On PS5, the visuals are incredible. The environments capture the Alien vibe perfectly—dim lighting, eerie bloodstains, and details that keep you on edge, wondering if a xenomorph is nearby. The sound design pairs perfectly with the visuals, nailing the franchise’s iconic atmosphere. Graphically, it’s nearly perfect.
Holden
The main pitfall of A:RI Evolved Edition is unfortunately its format. My playthrough (on the normal difficulty) was littered with instances where I would say to myself: "Man, I bet that would have been fun in VR..." This happened during mini-games, quick-time events, and even simple mechanics like inserting keycards into slots (which is a simple mouse click when playing on PC). A vast majority of the gameplay loop just feels like four or five repetitive animations without the flexibility of virtual reality. This could possibly be improved by adding some simple variations to animations like reloading, weapon swapping, button pushing, etc.
The setting of A:RI, a settlement called Castor's Cradle on the planet Purdan, is quite erie during the first segment of exploration, featuring clear signs of some sort of conflict, but with no human bodies to be found. Castor's Cradle is full of familiar architecture, much like Hadley's Hope from Aliens, but with a slightly more modern feel and cleaner edges. The longer I played however, the more mundane these modern edges started to make the game feel. It started to seem like I was just exploring the same area over and over. This also makes Xenomorph spawn points and hiding spots very predictable, as well as the fact that they spawn in waves seemingly set on a consistent timer. The other unfortunate thing about the Xenomorphs is that they are very much bullet sponges. It takes almost an entire magazine to kill one on normal difficulty, and as soon as you start shooting one it just freezes in place until you spend enough ammo to kill it. Thankfully ammo is given quite frequently, especially if you are a video game loot addict like me and explore every available space.
I found A:RI to be quite scary in moments when there were no creatures around at all, simply letting me explore the levels and soak up the tension and environmental storytelling. There are some fun and familiar areas to explore, as well as accessible terminals that divulge some intriguing side stories by way of reading GES employee emails. At times I found these side stories to be more compelling than the main storyline, which isn't a slight to the main writing but a compliment to the detail put into what would normally be afterthoughts. I think this is a page taken out of Alien: Isolation's playbook and that is always a great call!
BUGS
Patrick
My review version—which was played on a non-pro PS5—had way more bugs than I experienced with the VR version of this game (which I’ve played on a PSVR 2). A particular bug that seemed to plague my game’s build affected the non-Davis, non-speaking synthetics you’ll find occasionally throughout the game. For whatever reason, they frequently spawned on top of objects (tables, railings) in a standing position. Not quite a T-pose; more like an anatomical model.
I also just continue to be deeply frustrated by the enemy AI, and I can’t quite suss out if this is due to bugs or to poor design/implementation. So many of the xenomorphs just sort of scuttle around me with disinterest. Not lurking in the darkness, waiting to pounce; just sort of … moving around? Heading out to do an errand? And if I can’t gun one down at first (this only seems to happen when I need to reload), they’ll often just sort of stand up and walk back to get in position to try to attack again.
The cumulative effect of these sorts of bugs—compounded with frustratingly repetitive enemy encounters, puzzles, and environments—is that the Evolved Edition commits the cardinal rule an Alien game can’t commit: it isn’t scary. It’s not remotely frightening, it’s not exciting, it’s not haunting. It’s just a rote shooter with a really nice story. The VR version of the game isn’t particularly scary either, but it benefits from being so immersive.
Still, the story makes the game an on-the-whole enjoyable experience. The acting is great, Sarah Barone’s score is evocative (although too frequently telegraphs that an alien is about to attack), and graphically the game looks quite good. Purdan is a cool planet, and I still enjoy exploring it (and the GES facilities) quite a bit. The lighting, particle effects, etc. are quite well done. The aliens themselves look awful, to me. Like little bugs, with no heft, no visual density.
But when the game starts to take me out, the story draws me back in. And I’m grateful for that. Is it worth picking up? That’s up to you. If you’re a fan of the Expanded Universe and looking to engage more with some of its characters, you’ll find enough here to have a good time. And hopefully future patches will only make things better.
Xander
I fortunately didn't have too many bugs. One room, the room where you get the keycard in, the monitor screens were low quality for some reason, fuzzy and blurry. Besides that the computers with blood on them, would occasionally not have blood on them. That's pretty much it in terms of graphical bugs.
There were a few technical bugs with the Aliens but nothing game breaking. Super occasionally a single warrior would just be chilling on the floor. Once, a warrior got stuck in a table. There was this room where I could hear one but there was nothing there. Besides that the game ran fine.
Ross
I ran into a few bugs, some amusing, others irritating. Synthetics occasionally glitched, twitching across the screen or floating, which added an unintentional creep factor. More frustrating was the box wire junctions sometimes locking my camera, forcing me to use a save terminal to fix it. Xenomorphs also got stuck in walls or tables at times, a common game issue. These bugs aren’t dealbreakers but need a patch to smooth things out.
Overall
Alien: Rogue Incursion shines with its gripping story and gorgeous visuals, capturing the essence of the Alien universe. However, clunky mechanics and annoying bugs hold it back, making it less replayable. It’s a solid game for fans but doesn’t fully live up to its potential.
Holden
I only encountered two major bugs during my playthrough, one of which was during my very first encounter with an enemy in the beginning section. A brief cutscene of the Xenomorph played, it jumped down in front of me, then immediately clipped into a scenery asset. I had to reload my save and that fixed it easily enough.
The other major bug was during the hive section, where all of the Xenos I encountered were repeatedly doing what looked like a "tea-bag" move, crouching and standing over and over. This stopped as soon as I made it out of the hive. Maybe this was caused by the hive scenery assets much like the first bug I encountered.
Overall I had a fairly smooth and uneventful gameplay experience on the highest graphics setting which looked quite nice!
RATING
Patrick: 6/10
Xander: 5/10
Ross: 6/10
Holden: 5/10
