Alien: Rogue Incursion gets a non-VR "Evolved" edition this year, with prettier, deadlier xenomorphs
How many drops is this for you, lieutenant?
Alien: Rogue Incursion will get a non-VR release on PC later this year, allowing would-be Colonial Marines access to its Weyland-Yutani black site without first requiring you to force your head inside a pair of microscopic televisions. Subtitled "Evolved Edition" - which feels like a real elbow in the kidneys for VR evangelists - it will sport "even deadlier Xenomorphs and enhanced visuals". Hopefully, that'll be enough to juice the VR version's current Mixed user review consensus on Steam.
As you may guess from the above, I'm not a VR evangelist, partly because I can't afford a modern VR headset and don't have the living space to play VR games without injuring myself, my loved ones or my precious (scavenged) bedroom furniture. I only own an original PSVR, which is curled up in the corner of my cupboard like a dead servo-skull. It was last used to play Star Wars: Squadrons and Paper Beast, which are the two VR games I consider worth the discomfort, if not the expense, of VR.
I hear that the latest Zucker Buckets and Gaben Goggles are more comfortable to wear, but I still don't trust myself to put them on without becoming a public health hazard. I have terrible, humiliating memories of previewing some Marvel VR game at an event. Surrounded by the minions of Thanos, I swung Thor's hammer with all of my strength and clanged the PR person over the head. This happened in a converted warehouse about 300 metres wide. Now, imagine if I'd been surrounded by digital xenomorphs. That PR person would be dead.
So yes, I'm delighted that Rogue Incursion has decided to trade in its fancy eyestrain helmet for reassuringly non-engulfing 2D displays. Here's some story blurb about Rogue Incursion. It's the first of a two-act story, with the second act promising "new challenges and deadlier enemies".
An all-new action-horror entry into the classic franchise, Alien: Rogue Incursion transforms you into Zula Hendricks-the ex-Colonial Marine hellbent on exposing Weyland-Yutani's black-site experiments-on an extremely dangerous mission to the uncharted planet Purdan. With her synth companion Davis 01 for guidance, Zula must infiltrate the infested Gemini Exoplanet Solutions research facility and survive the ever-present threat of the most cunning Xenomorphs ever encountered, with both skilled stealth and serious firepower at her disposal. And when the threat she discovers has extinction-level consequences, Zula suddenly finds herself with humanity's fate on her shoulders.
The Evolved Edition launches on 30th September. Read more on Steam. Did you play the VR one? Let us know how you got on with it. While we're talking Alien, I'll conclude by shoving you towards the next game from the people behind Duskers, one of the finest unofficial Alien games yet made.