Alien: Rogue Incursion launches 19 December 2024 - reviews and impressions

[RuneSR2]

Launch trailer:

Find the game here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1850050/Alien_Rogue_Incursion/

Note that the game is very demanding - this game requires a very fast PCVR gaming rig for the full experience:

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10/11
• Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• Memory: 24 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce RTX 3080 Ti / Radeon RX 6900-XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 45 GB available space
• VR Support: Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Index, Rift S

Several reviewers rated the game from 90 - 100 %. You can find some less positive reviews, but I'm happy to see that several reviewers gave top ratings to the game (PSVR2 and PCVR versions) - like:

9/10: https://www.gamereactor.eu/alien-rogue-incursion-1468863/
"Alien: Rogue Incursion isn't just a great VR game; it's one of the best Alien gaming experiences. The world is clearly built with love for Alien mythology, and the story is intriguing and believable with its surprises. The gameplay is diverse and technically well-executed, and the atmosphere is thrillingly exciting, thanks to the stunning visual style and detailed environment, as well as the multi-dimensional and authentic soundscape. While minor bugs with the virtual hands and somewhat one-dimensional combat were present, the overall experience, even against high expectations, is one of the year's best."

9.0/10: https://www.godisageek.com/reviews/alien-rogue-incursion-review/
"Alien: Rogue Incursion features a true “alien” experience, diving into the roots of the franchise and giving players one of the most authentic journeys into the world of Weyland-Yutani and their corrupt ways. The xenomorphs are smart, keeping you on your toes every step of the way, featuring an engaging story that makes you want to uncover the secrets within. The controls are easy to get used to, and with so many tools you never struggle to equip the correct one. Survios has made a great game, and I loved every second of it."

10/10: https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/alien-rogue-incursion-review-these-monsters-are-re...
"A pitch-perfect recreation of the Aliens universe that balances a claustrophobic atmosphere with tense combat and authentic, analogue design."

5/5: https://www.impulsegamer.com/alien-rogue-incursion-review-psvr2/
"Alien: Rogue Incursion is a mandatory game to play and a perfect representation of a quintessential VR experience. It has an intriguing narrative that fans and newcomers can easily enjoy, incredibly fun and smooth gameplay, jaw dropping graphics with audio to match, and it does all of this by actually putting you within its domain. The horror elements are enticing and even if you are scared, the game makes you determined to keep playing and have fun without effort. Being in this world is comfortable and you will have a hard time putting this face hugging adventure down. Big things come from small beginnings, and as the most recent access point into the franchise, Alien: Rogue Incursion is definitely a big deal and a must play."

90%: https://psxbrasil.com.br/analise/alien-rogue-incursion-review/?utm_content=cmp-true
"Alien: Rogue Incursion é um excelente título em VR. Muito imersivo, boas ideias em seu gameplay, comandos acessíveis e o medo constante de um xenomorfo a cada canto." (= "Alien: Rogue Incursion is an excellent VR title. Very immersive, good ideas in its gameplay, accessible controls and the constant fear of a xenomorph at every corner.")

New screenshots - and only the PCVR version, not the PS5/PSVR2 version, has dynamic shadows:

        

Even if I did consider Behemoth for VR game of the year 2024, I think the above screenshots do look even more amazing than Behemoth. I need to test Alien: Rogue Incursion before jumping to any conclusion though 🙂

[RuneSR2]

I have not had time to try the game yet - but strange how the waters are divided.

PCVR users fume and rage over the game being suddenly announced in 2 parts - and due the the sudden price increase from €29 to €39.  Now only 53% of ratings are positive on Steam. 

Instead, all the PS5/PSVR2 users love the game - right now the average rating is 94%:

https://store.playstation.com/concept/10004478

Something is totally wrong here - but I'll get back to that after testing the game. 

[TomCgcmfc]

Looking forward to hear what you think about the PCVR Steam version mate.  I imagine it'll look pretty nice with my QPro/rtx4090 and maybe even better with my Vive Pro1 (with AMOLED screens, Etsy GearVR lens mod, and Index controllers).  Since it says this will work with the Index it should work fine with my VP1 since that's the last true native SteamVR that Vive has ever made.  The price and part 1 thing doesn't really bother me.  Cheers.

[RuneSR2]

Yes, oled will probably be a winner - I'm back to the Rift CV1 (ss 2.5 with OTT, so have to reduce in-game res to 0.6 to get smooth 90 fps, still look fine). Here's the long version - my impressions for now:

The recommended specs are no joke. I'm using an RTX 3090, i9 10900K and 32GB system ram. The cpu is fine, but to use Epic settings, my RTX 3090 feels like the minimum gpu, lol. To get solid 80 fps with the Index using in-game res 1.0 and no motion smoothing with Epic settings, I'm down to res 130 % in SteamVR. Now 130% is fine, some may think, but I'm using res 300% in Behemoth with similar settings.

The game looks fine - but is very demanding, feels unoptimized

Also, like Metro Awakening, Aliens: Rogue Incursion offers same types of antialiasing: TAA (default, no jaggies but very blurry), FXAA (not blurry, tons of jaggies) and TSR (Temporal Super Resolution - great when I get my 6090 Ti, lol).

Now, who in their right minds use TAA in 2024? TAA is extremely blurry with lcd hmds. Usually you can - using a fast gpu - super-sample to get rid of the TAA blur - the TAA blur is nearly gone using Index res 250 %. Unfortunately I can only do about res 130% with the Index in this game, so I'm out of luck here.

To sum up, I can choose between stuttering high-res with the Index, or silky smooth blurry low-res. The game is fine though - if only the performance could be better. The game does feel close to the Aliens movie - but hard to enjoy with stuttering or blur. So do not trust the awesome screenshots on the Store page - that's not the game you will experience before the RTX 5090 arrives.

 

A boring shot maybe - but to show we do get round shapes in the game, but Quest 2 standalone is no longer supported

Then it dawned on me - the one hmd where TAA looks really sharp due to the SDE: the old Rift CV1 king. CV1 also has oled to let you see in the dark, no more need for the flashlight. Due to the TAA in Metro Awakening, I also dropped the Index and dusted off the good ol' Rift CV1, and I competed Awakening with the CV1.

Using Rift CV1 my troubles again - like in Metro Awakening - were greatly reduced. The textures looked much more high-res - suddenly I noticed small scratches on surfaces I never did with the blurry Index.

For now, I'll recommend the game only using the Rift CV1. Index also works, but it looks blurry (or full of jaggies with FXAA), and I find that hard to enjoy. Blurry TAA kills immersion.

Controls are fine btw, there's full left-handed support. You also got a full body, not just hands or arms. Weapons look great/good/fine. There is real-time lighting and dynamic shadows. Textures look bad with low-res TAA with Index res 130%, and much text is hard to read - but using CV1, text is much easier to read and textures look fine.

Here are examples of the dynamic shadows:

PCVR user got the premium version, but close to no one have the hardware to run it. Geometry (polygon levels) are ok, but the Quest original easily does shine through, although no big deal using Epic settings.

Weapons look fine/good/great-ish 

Using my Rift CV1 in solid 90 fps, the game looks and feels a lot better than Alien Isolation. My rating for now is 5/10 with the Index and 8/10 with Rift CV1.

You do get close to the atmosphere in the movie Aliens

[RuneSR2]

I guess many are here to see the dear Mr. Alien - so I sacrificed many lives to bring these shots 🤗 😇

Here are some full figure shots - or close:

Here's some images showing how happy the aliens are to see me 😍

Some dating shots 😘

Normally I do not kiss on the first date - but I do make exceptions 😅

My fantasy of being together with two at once finally came true! 😊

Getting a full penetration on the first date - where are my manners? 🤔

Finally some random shots 🤗

Enough of the freak show - there's great lighting to enjoy too:

 

The atmosphere with fog and gas/steam leakage also looks great:

The steam looks great - hard to show here, but looks like consisting of many particles. 

I'd still not rate the game more than 7-8/10, Behemoth is a lot better. For Alien Rogue Incursion I - for now - fully agree with RoadToVR:

https://www.roadtovr.com/alien-rogue-incursion-review-psvr-2-steam-vr-quest-3/

- and UploadVR reached the same rating as RoadToVR:

https://www.uploadvr.com/alien-rogue-incursion-review/

[RuneSR2]

Beardo Benjo rated the game 6.5/10 using an RTX 4090 and Quest 3:

I'm probably going back the Behemoth today, still need to beat the 3rd giant - and I'm hoping for some performance patches for Alien Rogue Incursion in the meantime. 

[RuneSR2]

After some more hours with the dear aliens, I do stand somewhat corrected. Or last night I had the most impressive VR experience for long - in the game. 

That said the 2 first hours were kinda a chore. I do not like the pressure of aliens constantly arriving - and in some locations there is an unlimited number of aliens arriving, and you will run out of ammo if you do not move. 

But later there are calm locations where you will never be attacked, also outside the safe/panic rooms. You will be able to explore in your own pace. RoadToVR complained about too few locations where you can save the game - for now I have an idea of what the devs wanted to achieve, and it does work - but you do need to have enough time to play to reach the next save location before starting to play - or you'll risk having to repeat doing large levels. Don't start playing if you don't have at least an hour to play 🙂

Alien: Rogue Incursion does feel like being inside a sequel to the movie Aliens. Also performance does improve later in the game compared to the start of the game. 

When Alien: Rogue Incursion is best, it really does not even bow to Alyx or Lone Echo 2 - here are some more impressions:

I'm stuck, and somehow you just know it's Monday, sigh...

Sure it's Monday - and I'm out of bullets 😬

Environments can look truly amazing with the fog, steam and realtime lighting - and film grain

Another example of environments - looks like the movie Aliens

Very impressive wall textures and geometry

Some dude never made it - but you don't see that much blood in the game usually. The game is 18+ restricted

The lighting is amazing - when I pass under the ceiling grid, dynamic shadows will display on my gun and hands 

Dynamic shadows can be of a similar quality as Lone Echo - but unlike Lone Echo, you won't get this level of shadow detail many places in the game

Another example of the impressive realtime lighting

 

Btw, this is me - I just had my photo taken

Like in the movies, you'll experience some android issue - but the issues are quite different from those in the  movies

I'm trying to preserve my buddy's head, also note how detailed the eyes are - and I know what that head looks like, and I swear no sexual activity happened  😅 

 

Me and my android head traveling and exploring the world. Suddenly I heard the name "Senua" in my mind, very strange indeed... 

Another grand moment to some, but not to others, a chestbuster breaks free

Last image - a boring vent corridor, but thanks to lighting, fog and reflections it just looks very realistic:

Can't wait to go back later today 🙂

[RuneSR2]

I finally got the head in the right place...

I'm sure the devs did this to provoke an emotion response - the one I had to press through the eyeball was kinda ... demanding ... but it needed to be done 😇 🤗 😷

Now I'm back in my cosy panic room - but need to open the door and go fetch my machine gun in the Mess Hall about 50 - 70 meters away. 

Only 50 to 70 meters, sigh - but you really have to be in the mood for that journey, my motion tracker is already beeping. Might need another glass of red wine before I consider going there... 🤔

As some clever dude once said:

[RuneSR2]

Just found a few quotes that really perfectly fit the experience 🤓 😅