Is Alien: Isolation "Realistic"? - A Space Station Engineer's Review

[@journeymanic9605]

The android doing the running animation is actually an easter egg. Ash in the first movie does the same thing. Its been canonized as diagnostic subroutine checking the synthetic muscles and such.

[@louseveryann2181]

I was wondering if anyone had picked up on that. It's because his frame of reference is AlienSSS. Not AlieNNN... Besides, humans do it, too.

[@collegiatebuilds4505]

Now do Prey (2017) next. I think you’ll enjoy nitpicking the technicalities of the Talos I space station and its multiple sections.

[@RocketScienceGallery]

I really want to review Prey, but that'll be a massive project since there's so much to discuss. I'm trying to get the review process refined a bit more so I can do that one in a reasonable amount of time. It's definitely at the top of my list though!

[@williamoldaker5348]

​@@RocketScienceGallery would love to see!

[@RandomEncounterFilms]

Great call, I loved that game. I was also very surprised it wasn't related to the previous Prey :P

[@ReVVAdAUL]

The armour displayed around 1hr 4mins was the initial design for Seegson Security to wear. There's concept art of it on the Seegson Security Xenopedia page. It seems it was intended to be used on the station as heavy riot armour, capable of operating even in accidental or deliberate depressurisation. From the variety shown in the concept art, the similarity to other spacesuits and the fact they were intended to be worn by mercenaries my assumption is that they're semi-improvised/after market modifications to civilian spacesuits. Hence the armour plates not covering everything; the mercs either couldn't get leg armour or thought it wasn't necessary to protect them from the low powered weapons used on the station.

[@waywardwriterryu7185]

I knew Xenomorphs were hard to kill but watching one jump into a reactor that was powering up put a new context to it

[@cillianennis9921]

They are only really strong in games where you aren't fighting them. Like in this game but in Colonial marines & the Alien vs Predator games they are pretty tough but still killable. But that's likely due to how powerful the guns the military carries are. Pulse rifles being caseless armour penetrating mini explosives.

[@alalalus7692]

​@@cillianennis9921iirc both of these games happen many decades after the first movies, where Wayland scientists have long researched mostly everything there is to learn about them so it makes sense that they are easier to kill

[@Vicarious_Heart]

You take your time with your uploads. But boy, are they worth the fucking wait. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

[@journeymanic9605]

The other term for the style of computers and general tech bulkiness is called "retrofuturism." Which is the narrative tool of imagining a possible future from the position of someone from a different time period. The alien universe is very much an 80's retro future. Another example would be the Fallout universe which is a 50's retrofuture. Well written ones don't imply technological progress halting but progressing as a person from that time would see it. Basically if popular mechanics were to release a "vision of the future in a century" article for 1980 or 1959.

[@l.a.wright6912]

Gravity mooring was referring to the station falling from orbit The station is tied or moored by gravity and was maintaining the position in orbit but after you shut the reactor down that stopped

[@journeymanic9605]

So, the observation about planetary rotation is actually very interesting. The predominant rotation and orbit of celestial bodies is generally a system-to-system quality. Basically, when a solar system forms the prevailing motion around a star, it is determined by the average of objects in motion. In our solar system "counter-clockwise" won out. For the system in Isolation "clockwise" may have won out. You can actually test this by dropping a bunch of coins in opposite directions in one of those whirlpool basins. One rotation eventually wins.

[@cashexe7934]

The quality is so great I can’t believe this isn’t more popular

[@RocketScienceGallery]

For the radio tower image, I may have been thinking of the animated logo of RKO Pictures, which was a major Hollywood studio from 1929 to 1959. I'm not sure where I would've seen it originally, or what specifically it may be a reference to here, but I saw it again recently when I finally watched Citizen Kane.

[@alaric_]

This is what came to me immediately. The image can be found by googling "RKO Pictures" and i haven't found ANY other similar classic image with 'exaggerated antenna on top of a planetary body'. It may be that it's that simple, familiar logo to many classic movie viewers that is quite distinctive.

[@Poputrash]

Excelent! I love the Alienverse aesthetics. Goes along with having bulkier and sturdier equipment in space. It also explains why despite the chaos, most systems still work. I've heard somewhere about "giantification": by increasing the size of some electronic components, you drastically increase it's lifespan. Perhaps this way of thinking supports the rather dated-looking stuff. Personally, I prefer good ol' buttons and levers, over touchscreens, even in RL. Speaking of levers: I always thought those generator levers started some semi-perpetual motion generator. We already have machines that can run for a long while with some startup input (recommended movie is "Pandorum") Same idea with the giant spark plugs on the Main Reactor: maybe using what you described for a startup, or maybe sustaining periodic, input to the fusion reactor. I think the room is too big for only those systems. As always, thanks for your work

[@ReddwarfIV]

I have a radio that uses the same charging system as Pandorum. It was designed for use in places with no access to mains power or disposable batteries.

[@A.J.I.C.-hi3mk]

The nuclear fusion generator explanation was interesting, nice to know why that giant lightning room was like that. Also the working Joe slamming you onto the alien’s tail was amazing.

[@matthewhopkins7370]

So in the alien universe, there's a huge emphasis on dreams during hyper sleep in all the novels. The first alien novel opens with the crew dreaming in their pods.

[@specterboy98]

The fact that this series isn't reaching millions of views is simply beyond me. It's comprehensive, informative, consistent in quality and length, and most importantly very fun to watch or listen to. I pray that you reach whatever landmark you aspire to attain, and to not be discouraged in creating more content like this.

[@alaric_]

Youtubing is hard and a long term project. Eventually, with enough work, there will be a tipping point where the channel gets enough views and clicks that the growth will become guaranteed, probably somewhere around 50k subscribers. Then, without scandals and controversies and with regular uploads (doesn't even need weekly, as long as it is regular), this can become a profitable job. That's worth keeping in mind, it will be a job and not a hobby.

[@tigormal]

This video has unapologetically small amount of likes for 1 day. Reverse engineering a rocket engine just from the looks of it? That's some cool sheit! Will be waiting for the next review 😃

[@TheMineralRecord]

@30:40 I think the lice ad is a subtle reference to Alien3 where Ripley has her head shaved due to the colony she ends up on having 'problems with lice'. Notably said colony is much lower tech than even a decommissioned Sevastopol. Might be nothing but if I had to come up with an explanation for why there's a PSA advertisement about preventing lice, it's the out-of-universe Alien3 reference. Given nobody on the Nostromo had a shaved head though, doesn't seem that the problem is ubiquitous.

[@alaric_]

I'm pretty sure it's Alien3 reference. And as the Sevastopol station is apparently a huge hub (or used to be) for many different routes, they surely had problems with easily spreading head lice. The lice problem in Fiorina 161 was so bad the prisoners had literally just stopped even trying to eradicate them, giving up and accepting them as part of the life there.

[@radom_person2935]

So dude, Id consider checking out the cut content on the game's wiki. From what I remember those dome like things at the bottom of each tower were the gravity anchors and you may be able to get a better idea of what they are based of the concept art. Also, unrelated note, check out prey 2017, you might find its space statation pretty intresting plus itd be cool to see you dissect it. Either way, awsome video, really intresting watch.

[@andrevfox]

Yes, finally a new video!

[@3dburger]

While watching this, I loved the transitions between missions. I know it’s the game loading screens but still. The camera is perfect to the station. Very early 80’s. I wish i could have seen more of it.

[@aaroncarrette1968]

50:48 using a fire extinguisher as a flame thrower is wild

[@alaric_]

Beyond the Press turned water cannon from firetruck into a literall "flamethrower firetruck". So, i would say it's plausible :D

[@siegebug]

This is a personal note, please ignore. 12:30, 29:32 Star shouldn't be visible 15:17 Wind speed too fast 18:26 Torren should be silent 32:53 Relocate schematic 38:55 Stop condensation 43:48 Code it as so the npc reacts as if an alien is present 55:23 Turn off 1:17:08 Flip heat sinks 1:40:16 Turn side to side off

[@alaric_]

46:06 Lore friendly alternative: that screen is the default, unpowered screen background that is visible if the power to it cuts out. With power, the screen lights up showing whatever it is supposed to show but as the power goes, it clearly shows (and without the need of power) that it is offline.

[@psychoblake]

Just stumbling upon this today after seeing your dead space video earlier… Man, I LOVE IT!! I look forward to watching this entire video later at work, the quality of your content is amazing and I hope your channel continues to grow!!!!!❤

[@serhiyzhylin8000]

Great video, man. Educational without being overly technical (mostly) and it lends credibility to an already impressive level design. Keep up the work. Maybe you can review individual engineering-related levels/mechanics from games. Don't have any examples, sadly, but it will cut down on workload

[@juanjmal]

Dude! This was awesome! The amount of work put into this is incredible. I hope your channel grows a lot cause the content deserves it and I don't think anyone else is doing this sort of analysis in videogames. Keep up the good work!

[@aarkwrite7240]

I had no idea everclear could moonlight as rocket fuel 🚀

[@gabrielbertolini636]

Very interesting, thanks for doing this review!

[@ЯношБан]

Imo an interesting point to be made is how some of the points in regards to lacking safety measures that you pointed out through out the video do tie in a way to the larger narrative surrounding the station and its parent company (or rather companies). As Waits himself points out at one stage, the station's always been kind of a shit hole. With the invention of FTL floodgates towards deep space exploration and colonization have been opened, and what we can learn from various archive logs, in particular independent reports conducted by Julia Jones, is that: 1. Many companies, big or small, naturally jumped in on the opportunity and rushed into the deep space colonization race in the hopes to cash in, utilizing the same strategy that was used and proved successful in the Solar System - space stations. 2. Unsurprisingly, in the context of this franchise, the deep space colonization race ended up being unchecked & unhinged, and proving to be detrimental in the long run, with many of these corporations cutting corners in order to reach out as far as possible, over expanding in the process, only for it all to come back to bite them in the back. As Julia Jones remarks "...economic patterns that once worked within the Sol system have not flourished in deep space" 3. Sevastopol Station was the very bastard child of this colonial gold rush, a straggler from the beginning. It was originally built by Lorenz SysTech Development and funded by GeoFund Investor, only to be bought out by Seegson a decade later because, surprise surprise - the original owners couldn't afford to sustain it as it proved to be a failing investment. 4. Despite what they wanted you to believe through their own propaganda magazine "Eye on Seegson", Seegson themselves were a 2nd tier corp making cheaper, but also worse copies or alternatives to the products of their more advanced competitors, like W-Y. In particular, at the start of this colonial space race, they were THE company to supply those cheaper FTL drives that were invented by W-Y to other fellow 2nd tier corps. With that context, their investment in Sevastopol looked more like a desperation move that would only prolong the inevitable decommissioning than anything. The underlying message and parallels being made in here it seems is that in the Alien franchise, the deep space colonization kinda played out in a way that the colonization of American continent did, or even better - the "gold fever" of 19th century, apart from the wars I guess. Many parties have jumped in on the opportunity and wanted to be first to cash in, underestimating, or rather neglecting the dangers and challenges it posed in the process, particularly on the regular staff with which these companies would be achieving these things. Anyway, the sorta content you are making deserves more views tbh. Not only it is of high production quality, but I don't think there are many channels that do smth like this - using their own qualified background in the specific field of science, look at certain technology depicted in the sci-fi (or other fantasy) setting and ponder at how "realistic" it is, without being overly nit picky and pretentious, understanding that, in the end, it still a fiction, unless it specifically touts itself being as close to being realistically feasible as possible. Specifically in regards to this game, I don't think I've even seen content like this made on it! I will make sure to share it in the game's subreddit, I know a couple folks that would be interested in this, particularly about the reactor! Lastly - coming off of Isolation another game I could recommend for one of the future episodes would be Prey (2017). I heard the game is very grounded in its aesthetic and depicted technology, so would surely be an interesting episode! However - it is also very long and has a lot going for it in terms of various technology being depicted, so, considering you'd like to take a look at a short game next time, I'm making this suggestion for the future down the road. Cheers! Edit: sorry for the grammatical errors - was writing on the phone at the time.

[@nacholashow]

came here from the Alien Isolation reddit thread; great analysis!

[@dj-dj2kf]

another amazing video!

[@thehelldoicallthis9241]

29:00 from what I understand FTL travel in Alien works by phase shifting baryonic matter of the ship into tachyon equivelants. For unknown reasons it causes psychological issues with human brains which is why crews go into hypersleep during FTL flight.

[@OscarHazeGaming]

4:23 you'd be amused to know that your way is much closer to the actual pronounciation of Sevastopol

[@Derbearltd]

The antenna with the radio wave book cover reminds me of the old Comedy Central logo. Lol

[@yoishiu]

oh i'm so glad i had the dead space remastered video recommended to me. i love these videos since i am going to be an engineer soon! this helps me learn how to think like an engineer too.

[@omegaprime223]

For the FTL drive you have 2 flavors that are questionably canon to the Alien timeline: The most canon option is, sadly, from Colonial Marines; the Tachyon Shunt, basically it turns the matter in the ship into a kind of 'tachyonic matter' temporarily and gains the 'cannot move slower than light speed' property, the reason they have to be in hypersleep is because of 'reverse time dilation', whatever that is. Alien: Apocalypse has a wormhole drive that is explicitly a secret with tachyon tech being used extensively for communications. Alcubierre Drives are explicitly in the AvP timeline, but that's not canon to the timeline Isolation takes place in. 33:30 There's a mod that allows you to tune the Alien's AI, one preset floating out there is to have the thing ignore you completely, perhaps you might poke at the game again? 37:30 Hydrogen fuel cells maybe?

[@aaroncarrette1968]

1:40:02 that’s not entirely true, orbital mechanics are very difficult to understand. In an orbit you have an apogee (the highest and slowest point) and a perigee (the fastest and lowest point in an orbit). If you want to orbit a planet faster you actually need to lower your orbit and you do that by burning retrograde slowing your orbit and putting your perigee down, but that’ll make your orbit eccentric, and you’ll solve that by burning retrograde again at perigee. It’s weird to think that in order to go faster you need to slow down. To do the opposite, you burn prograde.

[@HannahFortalezza]

Also Re: cutting torch - the screen isn't adjusted very well / should be larger - it should be protecting the eyes from the whole flame when using it

[@serhiyzhylin8000]

Great stuff, man! Keep it up

[@cashexe7934]

this is incredible I had to comment twice

[@brennercarlson2863]

Oooo, do Doom 2016 next!!

[@AlanGChenery]

Loving these reviews. If you ever feel like a quick one to do (in terms of it not havig a long difficult campaign to explore) have you considered Space Engineers? The title alone makes the reason evident. As a primarily sandbox game you can just stick on creative mode to quickly experiment and explore the options and basic functions of the setting. And it has published scenarios (some free, some dlc) and npc ships/stations if you want to focus more on exploring how they present the universe lore.

[@RocketScienceGallery]

Thank you! Space Engineers sounds amazing and I would love to play it, but I have the feeling that if I ever did I'd never want to do anything else. I'm grateful that I get to do space engineering for a job, so I think for now I'll stick with that. Maybe someday though if I somehow get much more time on my hands!

[@nullpoint3346]

Are you sure the loading/title screen is displaying real time wind speed for the gas giant?

[@RocketScienceGallery]

At some points in the game you can see the planet from windows and observation decks, and the high speed winds can be seen in these instances as well. Good point though, I should've specified this in the video more clearly.

[@erazerhead99]

I love your analysis Videos from a technical realism standpoint. So much of both the visual Sci Fi media and also it's fans miss this aspect, which is much more prominent in literary Sci Fi. Technically/Scientifically Sci Fi with none or few exceptions is good Sci Fi, and we need more of it. I would like to see similar videos on these games, which i'd also consider to be on the more hard Sci Fi side with some depiction of realistic space engineering in gameplay and/or story backdrop: Citizen Sleeper Hardspace: Shipbreaker System Shock Remake System Shock 2 The Invincible Prey (2017)

[@YoshiTheyosh123]

55:45 You can actually find some ripped apart Joe's. So the alien presumably attacked them at first, but realized they're not a threat, can't be eaten nor used for reproduction and lost interest in them.

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

The company I worked for used tape to backup their data, every day or so they would copy the database backup on a large continous tape in case the drive fails. It's kinda funny how tapes are still widely used in these settings but the cd has been almost outlived.

[@OTVALSKY]

4:20 Well, actually, you pronounced "Sevastópol" right the first time. It may be counterintuitive, but accents in Slavic languages aren't where you expect them to be from westerner point of view. Video is fire by the way, keep up the good work.

[@raxsavvage]

overall we describe aliens tech setting as "IBM punk"

[@Heron654]

Perhaps the weapon scanner is using machine learning to identify specific shapes?

[@claudeJUNIOR]

Thanks for the video, I really like this game. (I was expecting for this videos to divide in topics such as Security, Quality of life, design e etc).

[@embersaffron5522]

If i could suggest Preys Talos 1 station. Its a beautiful game

[@brennercarlson2863]

Let’s gooooo

[@Zombie8tHeart]

A+ for the ukalayla reference

[@voidcamel5981]

Alien Romulous was just Alien Isolation the movie and I loved it.

[@yourdonefor4454]

Dear Rocket Science Gallary, I would love to see you do an engineers perspective of doom eternal. Lots of structural engineering to talk About. Lightning, computers, platforms, portals etc.

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

The tech being bulky and looking outdated and all makes sense, one this is industrial equipment, it's there to last, why would the company invest in new stuff if it's not broken. You are meant to use the stuff in bulky gear, physical media can be made more resistant to radiation and some of these ships have been flying around for decades, to refurbish them one would need to send more ships with upgrades to some space station out in the galaxy to then refurbish the entire thing, presumably without causing work delays. It's like having to refurbish an aircraft carrier while it's underway.

[@Derbearltd]

South eastern Wisconsin millwright here. Turbine is pronounced “tur-bin” 😅

[@darkfalzx]

Sevastópol is the actual proper pronunciation of the word in its native Russian.

[@JahonCross]

Will you try the Mass Effect universe anytime soon?😅

[@HardmodeEnabled]

Your initial pronunciation of Sevastopol is a lot closer to Russian / make it more accurate than the way we pronounce it in English.

[@raxsavvage]

also if you take the overall fan lore that alien actually follows on from terminator humanity on earth is still recovering from being nuked by skynet/itself with the atmospheric prosessors on worlds actually reverse engineered tech from the maintanence sytem of skynets mainframe. making stuff that actually works is probably a greater concern than making "modern" which is why CRT monitors exist , that complex computing seems to need physically huge computers. but thats if you accept a loose interpretation of a timeline covering like 40+ movies starting i think with predator as thats where humanity and thus skynet get plasma weapon technology in the first place. its a fun watch list, been a long time since i've looked it up, but if i understand it loosely, predator-predator 2-AVP1, maybe 2? then judgement day occurs in 97, terminator 1 and 2, commando being post war with skynet , with humanity trying to carve itself back but 10s of thousands in food riots that movies opening, due to the simple fact we really dont have food, farms were devestated by the nukes, animals largely entirely wiped out etc, -then blade runner with reverse engineered terminators as the replicants doing hazardous mining jobs on mars, -total recall occurs at somepoint around here, im a bit lost on what occurs between those and alien. the newer movies to the various IP would need to be slotted

[@RocketScienceGallery]

This is a really interesting idea, I might have to look into this more. Movie reviews on KZbin can be tricky due to copyright, but it sounds like a cool research project. Thanks!

[@s.p.1434]

The scariest part of AI is not the AI tech itself, but the investors are far too stupid and prone to buying marketing bs of tech grifters to be trusted with as much wealth and power as they have.

[@iago110]

Comment for the algorythim

[@andyblizzard]

It's SevastOpol, not SevAstopol. You're right, game's wrong. :)