The GameOn Magazine - Free Special Editions Alien: Isolation Edition | Page 8

THE CREATIVE ALIEN
ASSEMBLY

I

From humble origins in England to a purchase by Sega and international
acclaim, Ryan tells us all about Creative Assembly.

t’s a well documented fact
that The Creative Assembly,
the developers of the new
Alien game, are an unusual
fit for a survival horror game
of this sort. The UK-based
studio has made a name of
itself creating straight-laced
(not to mention incredible)
strategy series Total War.
On first appearance, the
thousand-man battles of
the strategy series are a far
cry from the intense closequarters locale featured in
Alien: Isolation. The game
names alone highlight the
differences - whereas Alien
represents...well, isolation,
Total War is all about huge
landscapes filled to the brim
with troops. The Creative
Assembly are clearly an odd
choice of developer for a new

Alien title - but they may be
more suited than you realise.
It’s worth mentioning that
a large part of the Alien
Creative Assembly team were
recruited specifically for the
game - only a few members
of the team actually have
experience with the Total War
franchise, but that’s certainly
enough for the wider culture
of the development house to
influence the production of
the game. The impact was
clear to see even shortly after
the game was revealed: while
previous games based on the
renowned sci-fi series have
a history of being balls-out
action romps (often in a bad
way), The Creative Assembly
team took their strategic
mantra on board and decided

8 // Alien: Isolation SE Magazine

to build an Alien game that’s
about stealth, avoiding direct
conflict and, of course,
strategy itself.
The core team behind the
game may not &RF