Alien: Isolation (2014) is still an awesome horror experience, even if the Xenomorph-filled game of ‘cat and mouse’ is showing its age when played on modern SteamVR-compatible headsets. Still, you can’t argue with free.

As one of the first ‘AAA’ titles to gain VR support back in the olden days (we’re talking 2014 here), Alien: Isolation isn’t only a bit of VR history, but it’s still one of finest horror survival games out there. It’s absolutely brimming with atmosphere and deadly Xenomorphs hunting you down.

Check out the video below to see what you could be doing this weekend:

Developers Creative Assembly never officially added in VR support in the full release, but there’s a common workaround that will get you playing in SteamVR headsets in short order.

Simply download the game, then the latest version of MotherVR mod, which you drop directly into the game’s folder. And there you have it, Xenomorphs in your face.

You can download Alien: Isolation right now, or just add it to your account for later by heading over to the Epic Games Store. Don’t wait!

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • wow

    the issue is that i don’t want another game store lol

    • Lhorkan

      Why not, though? The Epic game store is actually very beneficial to getting more good games. Why? Because they’re the only ones offering developers a fair share of the sales. Steam and Facebook both take a 30% cut from every copy sold, far more than what is reasonable for maintaining the platform. Epic only takes 12%. That’s a lot of extra cash for making new and better games, rather than keeping Valve’s money printing press running.

      That being said, the Epic game store currently does not have a VR category, so it’s not a viable option yet for VR developers. Here’s hoping that will change in the near future.

      • johann jensson

        That’s a lot of extra cash for making new and better games

        You must be very new to the gaming industry, if you believe that.

        • Alexisms

          Explain it to us oh wise one to those of us who naively think more competition in the PC dload market is a good thing.

          Imagine if PC games could only be bought in physical shops and people had tantrums because it was only available in a shop down the street and not their usual one. People would laugh at then.

          • kuhpunkt

            What competition are you talking about? Epic isn’t and your example doesn’t make sense.

          • Alexisms

            If you don’t understand that’s absolutely fine.

          • kuhpunkt

            What is it that I don’t understand?

          • kuhpunkt

            So why don’t you educate me?

        • Andrew Jakobs

          Oh, that’s why Ubisoft is using the EGS first to release their new games, because it doesnt make them extra cash compared to Steam.. ok….

          • kuhpunkt

            They have their own damn store, which you have to use anyway…

        • Lhorkan

          I sure am. Here I was thinking you’re better off when you have to pay less tax! Tell me, with which of your released games did you come to understand that making 18% less profit was a good deal for your studio? I’d love to learn from your experience.

          • Ted

            i’ve developed for Steam years ago and it was not a good experience! not just losing 1/3 of the income but also NOT EVEN RECEIVING any income until it’s over an amount that suits them. Steam would like you to believe that despite the fact they are the world’s biggest global video game distribution network, and that transferring funds electronically is now cheap and easy, they need to hold your income until it is over an amount that suits them, meaning they are holding literally millions and millions of dollars in unpaid developer income. F*ckers!

          • johann jensson

            Maybe i was expecting too much of people when i wrote my reply.

            Let’s try another way: remember when publishers declared that they will pass the savings of digital distribution to the consumer? Good one.

      • kuhpunkt

        It’s not beneficial to anybody. People don’t even spend money there on games.

        • johann jensson

          Exactly. Personally, I just take the free games (although i never play them) and show them the middle finger.

      • kuhpunkt

        And why not? Because this constant fragmentation is annoying.

      • wow

        For stores/launchers: I have xbox/windows, steam, ubisoft, oculus, viveport, origin, battlenet, and probably more that I forgot.
        It’s too fragmented already.

        • I only kept opening the store(was only a launcher when downloaded) to collect free games :3

        • kuhpunkt

          I only use Steam because of that.

          • wow

            that’s impossible if you want AAA games non-VR games

          • kuhpunkt

            I just don’t play the ones that require all that shit. I have more than enough games to play on Steam.

          • wow

            yea i guess. I’m not very good at restricting myself which is my downfall. So technically i shouldn’t be complaining because i brought it on myself.

          • kuhpunkt

            EA at least already made the rights steps in some parts. The Remaster of Command & Conquer and the VR Medal of Honor were both released on Steam and don’t require a dumb Origin account. If they want my money, it’s on Steam.

        • User_Name_24601

          More competition is better for consumers and developers in the long run. I’m not a fan of fragmentation either (I miss the old days of Netflix where everything was on there.). But this isn’t subscription based, you buy it how you want it where you want it.

          • wow

            I definitely agree with having more stores for more competition always in every sector.
            Idea 1: Every game being on all stores and their home store can sell that game for a better discount.
            Idea 2: give me a central location to launch any game that i can jump between games without opening up like 6 different services. If it’s for security reasons, figure out a way to make it secure.
            —————————
            I agree with the video services tbh, it’s just going to push piracy more. Now netflix wants to stop account sharing, they will lose market share fast. Netflix original’s quality are the worst compared to all competition including the worst one being Apple TV.
            Someone just needs to come out with a cable-like model to include streaming services you like. The more subscriptions = more discount on the overall bundle. I feel like if Disney can make their Hulu + Espn + Disney+ bundle available for all countries they would dominate the online content market and then we will see services teaming up.
            CraveTV in Canada tries this model but the addon channels are at full price much like on cable.
            I would love to see Reelgood or JustWatch come out with a cable-like subscription model for services.
            I’m so glad that music doesn’t do this by studio’s and dumb stuff like that. Tidal tried to bring labels and failed as a service so I’m happy for that.
            I’m so happy with Spotify but I’m worried that Apple Music (which has enough leverage) will ruin the all-music-for-everyone approach done by spotify.

          • kuhpunkt

            The “problem” with the digital stores is that people don’t understand them. They aren’t like Walmart or whatever.

            Walmart buys the products from the producers and then basically resells them for the price they want. That’s where competition comes in. They can lower the price and thus sell stuff for a lower price to beat their competition.

            Steam for example doesn’t do that. Steam is a market place where the developers/publishers set the price. The competition is not between Steam and EGS and gog, but between developers/publishers and their games.

          • wow

            i’m one of those ignorant people! never thought of it like that even though i kind of knew it

        • Greyl

          The whole point of PC is that it’s an open platform, that allows for multiple platforms. If everything was only available via one platform/store, you’d have the PlayStation-problem, where games are being censored or controlled by Sony’s political ideologies, and the user has no say on it because Sony controls the pipeline. Same applies to Nintendo and Microsoft, but atm Sony are the ones being the most egregious with censorship.

          • Jistuce

            Stores are not platforms. There’s one platform that all those different stores serve: Windows. (Some serve Linux as well).

            It is like the old days, when you could buy actual disks. Best Buy and Circuit City and GameStop and Electronics Boutique were not different platforms. They were different places to get games for the same platform.

            The whole launcher thing is intended to create the illusion of exclusivity and encourage users to create a platform lock-in inside their mind. It isn’t even a particularly good illusion when VR games bought from Epic require SteamVR to be installed.

            No one is investing in a second platform if they get some games from Epic MegaGames and some from Microsoft and some from GOG and some weird shit from Itch. It is all just Windows games.

            (GOG’s launcher can be set up to scrape your Epic- and Valve- and MS-purchased games and put them all in one place, thereby fully reinventing the start menu.)

          • Greyl

            Uh, no. Online stores objectively are defined as platforms; they are e-commerce digital platforms, that have their own practises and content guidelines.

          • Adam Broadhurst

            Which games are being controlled or censored by Sony?
            The only game I can think of that is possibly being ‘controlled’ is Cyberpunk2077 due to it’s fully deserved removal from PSN Store.

          • Greyl
    • johann jensson

      Same here. I already have two stores that i like: Steam and GOG. Not interested in Epic’s market shenanigans.

      • User_Name_24601

        Then… don’t buy from them?

        • johann jensson

          I don’t. I just take the free games (although i never play them) and show them the middle finger.

          When i think back where Epic (Megagames) were at the end of the ’90s and compare them to today… – no wonder people hate them. If it weren’t for the UE (best engine on the market, IMO), i’d pray they go under.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Still think it’s a shame they never finished the VR version. It wouldn’t be that much extra work, it would take a dedicated developer a couple of days, test it for a bit and then release it as an extra paid DLC. I’ll bet it will cover at least the extra dev time and it’ll give a lot of extra profit as I’ll bet a lot of VR users will buy it.

    • wow

      tbh i wish this for most games but luckily we have modders

    • Warp

      One developer a couple of days? I never realised this stuff was so easy! :p

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Well, it’s how I see it as a developer myself. As the engine already supports VR it’s a matter of just setting everything correct and testing it yourself. It’ll become a different matter if the UI itself also has to have some extra changes so maybe in that case it also needs a graphicsdesigner (if the developer isn’t capable of doing graphicsdesign themselves)..

        • I think the UI and stuff would definitely need some updates to realize the full potential of a proper VR version of this game. Ideally they’d put in full motion controller support, being able to poke around and grab and pickup the various objects littering the environments, and build the various items and interactions to work with that a bit more seamlessly. Although, a lot of that stuff seemed very static in the original game, so that might be a bit too far a leap. But it needs more than just turning on the stereoscopic mode and little more imo.

  • Jesusaves

    One of the realistic surreal movie games. Not very safe but scary.

  • Kchaotic

    anyone having problems with starting the game? I re-installed it, verified still no luck from “Running” goes back to “Launch” after few seconds and basically doesn’t want to start?