Manual
Welcome to the Alien: Isolation™ web manual.
You can use the Contents menu on the left to skip directly to the section you're looking for. Alternatively, click the Enter button to access the manual, and use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate page by page.
Can't find what you're looking for? There's even more information in the FAQs and ReadMe: you can view them using the buttons at the top of the screen.
A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that may appear in video games. Even people who have no history of seizures or epilepsy may have an undiagnosed condition that can cause these “photosensitive epileptic seizures” while watching video games.
These seizures may have a variety of symptoms, including lightheadedness, altered vision, eye or face twitching, jerking or shaking of arms or legs, disorientation, confusion, or momentary loss of awareness. Seizures may also cause loss of consciousness or convulsions that can lead to injury from falling down or striking nearby objects.
Immediately stop playing and consult a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. Parents should watch for or ask their children about the above symptoms—children and teenagers are more likely than adults to experience these seizures. The risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures may be reduced by taking the following precautions: Sit farther from the screen; use a smaller screen; play in a well-lit room; and do not play when you are drowsy or fatigued. If you or any of your relatives have a history of seizures or epilepsy, consult a doctor before playing.
Alien: Isolation is a survival horror experience set fifteen years after the events of Alien™. Driven to solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance, Amanda Ripley travels to the Space Station Sevastopol looking for answers, only to find herself reliving the same nightmare that befell her mother all those years before.
Trapped on board the station and terrorized by human and alien alike, she must protect herself using any means necessary. On board the Sevastopol, where every step could be her last, Amanda's quest for closure will soon become a struggle for survival…
As part of the Steam download process, the game has already been installed on your computer. To start playing the game, read the Getting Started section.
Double-click on the Steam application icon. By default this is located in the Applications folder on your computer’s hard drive.
If you are not already signed in, the Steam Login dialog will appear. Enter your account name and password, then select Login.
The Steam application will launch. Select the Library tab.
In the library, highlight Alien: Isolation in the list of games on the left-hand side of the window, then select Play.
The Alien: Isolation pre-game Options window will appear. Click on the Play button. The game will launch.
After the loading screens, the Title screen will appear. Press any key to continue.
The Main Menu will appear. Select Play Game.
Select Alien: Isolation.
Select Start Game.
Select a difficulty setting for the game. The recommended setting is Hard, which provides a tense and challenging experience, but if you're new to survival horror games, you may prefer to play on an easier setting.
After the opening video, you'll find Amanda Ripley on board the courier ship Torrens. She's just woken from hypersleep after her journey to Sevastopol Station, where the Nostromo's recovered flight recorder may finally reveal the fate of her mother…
You can play Alien: Isolation using either a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad.
The instructions in this manual refer to the default keyboard controls; if you have customized your controls or are using a gamepad, the controls listed here will not apply.
The default keyboard controls are detailed below. You can customize your keyboard configuration by selecting Options → Game → Input Mapping from the Main Menu.
| Move | W/A/S/D |
| Sprint | Shift (⇧) (hold) |
| Crouch | C |
| Aim/change focus | Right Mouse button or Control (ctrl) (hold) |
| Fire/throw/melee | Left Mouse button |
| Use | E |
| Open radial menu | Q (hold) |
| Reload/activate | R |
| Peek | V (hold) + W/A/S/D |
| Select revolver | 1 |
| Select shotgun | 2 |
| Select flamethrower | 3 |
| Select bolt gun | 4 |
| Select stun baton | 5 |
| Previous/next weapon | Mouse Wheel up/down |
| Select motion tracker | Space (hold) |
| Select flashlight | F |
| Map menu | Tab (⇥) |
| Pause menu | Escape (esc) |
You can play Alien: Isolation using a gamepad.
The diagram on this page is based on a standard controller layout; all gamepads have similar buttons but some may differ in layout from the gamepad shown here. For more information, see Can I play Alien: Isolation with a gamepad? in the FAQs.
You can customize your controls in the Control Scheme menu (Main Menu → Options → Game → Control Scheme) by choosing between a number of pre-set controller layouts. However, you cannot reassign individual controls.
| Move |  |
| Sprint | (click) |
| Look around |  |
| Crouch | (click) |
| Peek |  (hold) + |
| Select motion tracker |  (hold) |
| Aim/change focus |  |
| Fire/melee |  |
| Reload |  (hold) |
| Use |  |
| Open radial menu |  |
| Toggle flashlight |  |
| Reload flashlight | (hold) |
| Previous/next weapon | ← and → |
| Map menu |  |
| Pause menu |  |
Useful information is displayed on the screen as you play:
| 1 | Objective updates |
| 2 | Currently held item |
| 3 | Health indicator |
| 4 | Flashlight battery status |
| 5 | Direction of current objective |
| 6 | Motion detection indicator |
| 7 | Ammo count |
Fifteen years after the disappearance of the commercial towing vessel, the Nostromo, the ship’s flight recorder is discovered floating in deep space. Its owner, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, immediately dispatches a team to the Space Station Sevastopol to retrieve it. Among them is Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, the Nostromo's former warrant officer.
The team arrives to find the Sevastopol badly damaged, its skeleton crew run amok and being hunted by an unstoppable monster. Unarmed and alone, Amanda quickly finds herself trapped between desperate survivors, an implacable AI and the ultimate predator. The truth about her mother is here somewhere, but for now her priority is survival.
To play story mode, select Play Game → Alien: Isolation from the Main Menu.
Survivor mode challenges you to a one-on-one confrontation with the Alien deep within the bowels of the Sevastopol. You must use the tools available to you to complete a number of objectives and ultimately to escape.
When you complete a survivor mode map, your final score and time will be posted to the leaderboards. There are separate leaderboards for scores and times.
Your main aim is to make your way across the map and escape, but to earn points you'll need to complete optional objectives along the way. The faster you complete each objective, the more points you'll earn. You'll also gain score bonuses and multipliers for achieving additional, secret objectives.
To play survivor mode, select Play Game → Survivor Mode from the Main Menu.
The map shows you a plan of the station and points out areas of interest. To view the map, press the Tab key.
When you enter a new area, the map is mostly blank. As you explore, it will fill in. Dotted around the station are map terminals that can provide you with information about areas you have yet to explore.
Your current objective is displayed at the bottom of the map screen, and its location is shown by a circle on the map.
| The following icons are displayed on the map screen: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Save point |  |
Locked |
 |
Item / tool / weapon |  |
Personal terminal |
 |
Point of interest |  |
Passcode lock |
 |
Rewire system |  |
Keycard lock |
 |
Ladder access |  |
Security access point |
 |
Cutting point |  |
Area exit |
You can only save your game at designated save points, which are located throughout the station. To save your game, approach a save point and, when prompted, press the E key.
Saving takes several seconds, during which time you're exposed. Before saving, make sure the immediate area is secure.
You can return to save points as often as you like. However, after you use a point, it will be disabled for a short time. You'll need to wait before you can save at that point again.
When you load a game, you’ll be given a choice of which saved game to load:
| Load Current Save | Restart from the last point at which you saved. |
| Load Previous Save | Restart from the second-to-last point at which you saved. |
| Load Mission Save | Restart from the beginning of any of the missions you've reached so far. |
If loading your last save doesn't get you out of danger, load a previous save.
The Sevastopol is a maze of corridors and ducts, useful for getting around unnoticed.
To crouch, press the C key. While crouched, you’re harder to spot, you can hide behind or under objects and you'll make less noise while moving.
To run, hold down the Shift key while moving. Remember, running is noisy, and noise attracts unwanted attention. Walking is quieter, and crouching is quieter still.
You can peek around and over objects while standing or crouching. To do so, hold down the V key and press the W/A/S/D keys to lean in different directions.
You can hide in lockers and other containers. To do so, approach a hiding spot and hold down the E key when prompted. To leave the spot, press the E key again.
While hiding, hold down the W/A/S/D keys to lean and look out from your hiding place.
If the Alien gets too close to your hiding spot, you'll need to hold your breath and lean backwards to avoid being found. When prompted, hold down the Right Mouse button or the Control key to hold your breath, and the S key to lean backwards.
You can create a distraction by hitting walls and other surfaces using the maintenance jack. Anyone nearby is likely to hear the sound and investigate.
Using noisy or noticeable weapons and equipment is also likely to attract attention, so avoid doing so unless you're trying to bait your enemies.
| 1 | Currently held item |
| 2 | Ammo/supply |
| 3 | Access tuner level |
| 4 | Cutting torch level |
| 5 | Flashlight batteries |
The radial menu is used to select your weapons and items.
To open the radial menu, hold down the Q key. Your weapons and items are shown as icons arranged in a circle. To equip an item and close the radial menu, place the mouse cursor over its icon and release the Q key.
You can assign number hotkeys to the items in the radial menu. The 1-5 keys are assigned to your weapons and cannot be changed. To assign hotkeys to other items, place the mouse cursor over an icon in the radial menu, and press a number key (6-0). Pressing that number during the game will equip that item.
Amanda is a skilled engineer and can craft useful items from components found around the station.
Before you’re able to craft an item, you must find its blueprint. Once you’ve found the blueprint for an item, it will be added to the radial menu. You can also find blueprints for upgraded versions of some items, which will make them more effective.
To craft, hold down the Q key to enter the radial menu, then click on an item to enter the crafting menu. The icons on the left-hand side of the screen show which components you have, and the empty slots in the center of the screen show which are required to craft the item. Click on each slot to commit a component to it, then click the button labelled Click here to craft this item.
You can commit components to an item without crafting it right away. Doing so frees up space in your inventory, allowing you to pick up more components.
Be warned: the game is not paused while crafting, so make sure to find a spot where you won't be disturbed.
You’ll find many tools and weapons during your time on the Sevastopol, but among the most useful are your flashlight and motion tracker, which will be available to you early in the game.
Once you’ve found the flashlight, you can switch it on or off by pressing the F key.
The flashlight requires batteries, which you'll find around the station. Its current charge is shown by the battery icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen. As you use the flashlight, the charge will drain. To recharge it, hold down the Q key to enter the radial menu, then press the F key. Recharging the flashlight uses up one battery.
Be careful: using the flashlight can give away your position. If enemies are nearby, it's often safer to hide in the dark…
Once you’ve found the motion tracker, you can use it by holding down the Space bar.
While using the tracker, your vision will be focused on it. To focus on your surroundings while keeping hold of the tracker, hold down the Right Mouse button or the Control key.
The cone shows the area directly in front of you. Anything moving within that area will be shown by a flashing dot.
The three quarter-rings beneath the cone show the areas to your sides and behind you. If there is movement within one of those areas, the relevant quarter will flash.
The number in the bottom-left corner of the tracker shows how close the nearest movement is to you. The smaller the number, the closer the (potential) threat.
Finally, the rectangular marker on the edge of the tracker indicates the direction to your current objective.
The motion tracker is one of your most useful tools, but it has a couple of drawbacks. Firstly, it only detects movement: if there are hostiles standing still, they won't show up on the tracker. Secondly, it beeps loudly when there's movement nearby, so if someone (or something…) happens to hear it, it will give away your position.
Every effort has been made to make Alien: Isolation as compatible with current hardware as possible. However, if you are experiencing problems when running Alien: Isolation, please read on.
The latest version of the FAQs can be found by selecting the FAQs button in the Support tab of the Alien: Isolation pre-game Options window (this is the window that opens when you launch the game), or by going straight to the Feral website: http://support.feralinteractive.com
Contacting Feral
If the FAQs and/or updates do not solve your problem, then please feel free to contact us. The following information must be obtained before contacting Feral Technical Support:
All the information required can be obtained by opening Alien: Isolation and clicking on the Support tab in the Alien: Isolation pre-game Options window. In the Support tab, click on the Generate Report button. Once the report is generated it will appear as a file in your ~/Downloads folder (the “~” symbol refers to your home directory). Now click on the Create Email button. Remember to attach the Alien Isolation Report.txt file to your email.
In your email, please include a brief description of the problem you have experienced with Alien: Isolation.
email: support@feralinteractive.com
Please check the warranty information provided by Steam.
