Overall Alien: Isolation is an enjoyable and original experience, but it is far too long. Like, several hours too long. Core gameplay concepts are established early on and do not change substantially. Half of the items are useless against the alien, so in levels with the alien as the primary threat it's like, who cares about the bolt gun? Who cares about an upgraded emp? I'm still crouching behind sofas waiting for the alien to leap into a vent and sprint across the map so I can move freely for another minute or two. That's fun, but doing it in the smoking ruins of the last level is a lot like doing it in the medical bay all those hours ago.
If Alien: Isolation came out when I was a kid it would have been completely amazing. Gaming dollars were rare but gaming time plentiful. The campaign goes on and on and on. It's impressively long, especially in a market that favors 6 hour campaigns. Unfortunately, I feel like 6 hours might have been the right length for Alien. Because of alt-tabbing I'm unsure what my final playthrough time was, but I bet it it's approaching 20 hours. Long fucking game! I was very ready for it to be over.
In fact, I'd been putting it off for a month. Had a save in the aforementioned smoking ruins. Figured it had to be the last level. Nope! A quiet moment, then an alien moment, then a space walk, then even an interactive epilogue. So long!
Funny: Watching the news and the story is Russia and Putin. News anchor keeps saying "Sevastopol" and I'm like, why is that name so familiar!?