ComingSoon spoke with the development team at Survios to learn more about their new Alien video game. Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition makes the previously virtual reality-exclusive video game playable for everyone and adds in some nifty upgrades to the gameplay as well. It’s out now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
“A new action-horror story set in the iconic Alien universe. Play as rogue Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks, sent to investigate a blacksite on Purdan. Fight and survive using your skill, reflexes, and determination against a deadly Xenomorph incursion in this gripping first chapter of a two-part saga,” says the official description.
ComingSoon: The original game was so immersive due to its being in virtual reality. How was it keeping that intensity of encounters and fear in the Evolved Edition?
Survios: Moving beyond VR gave us the freedom to push environmental storytelling and atmosphere even further. We focused on dynamic lighting and dense effects, such as drifting miasma that conceals Xenomorphs, so they can stalk players with greater unpredictability and deliver sharper scares. At the same time, we built a custom tech stack that preserves much of the tactile feel of VR through enhanced haptics and an optional gyroscope mode, which lets players still experience that physical sense of tension and interaction.
What were the biggest lessons the dev team learned from the VR version that you were then able to implement in this new version?
One of the biggest takeaways from the VR version was how crucial pacing, difficulty, and balance are to sustaining tension. We spent a lot of time digging into player feedback and gameplay analytics, and those insights directly shaped how encounters unfold in this edition. The result is a game that feels more refined, with challenge and intensity tuned to keep players on edge without ever breaking immersion.
What kind of upgrades can we expect from the Xenomorph’s artificial intelligence in the Evolved Edition?
The shift from VR to console and PC required us to rethink the challenge. Aiming with a controller or mouse is very different from physically handling a weapon in VR, so the Xenomorphs needed to become far more cunning. In the Evolved Edition, they stalk players with greater patience, coordinate by calling in reinforcements, and actively try to avoid taking damage. These improvements make every encounter feel less predictable and far more dangerous.
Those who pre-ordered the game got Alien: Romulus-inspired armor and weapon skins. This takes place between Alien and Aliens, so how was it getting to show some love to the most recent film as well?
I can’t think of a better time to be an ALIEN fan! We all attended a company screening of the film and just loved it. The challenge for us wasn’t adding an armor, motion tracker, and pulse rifle skins from Romulus; it was just adding those nods to the film.
This is releasing at the perfect time with Alien: Earth bringing the series a lot of attention to the universe. What aspects of Rogue Incursion do you think fans of the show will like the most?
An aspect of Alien: Earth that stood out to us was the speed and ferocity of the Xenomorph. In the show, the Xenomorph was terrifyingly efficient at racking up a body count. The Xenomorphs in our game share a similar, vicious, and relentless nature with their television counterpart. It’s their unpredictable yet total lethality that we feel will resonate with fans of the show; luckily, Zula Hendricks has the skills and the gear to face them.
Can Alien fans expect more Easter eggs and nods to the franchise in the Evolved Edition?
For those willing to explore and discover some of the backstory of what happened at the facility, there may be a reference to a comrade in arms and one of Zula’s closest friends, Alien: Isolation’s own Amanda Ripley. There are additional Easter Egg references to Zula’s past adventures and the characters in them. Another major Easter Egg that was available in all versions of the game was Zula’s Blue Camo skin. In the novel ALIEN: Prototype, we learn that Zula’s preferred suit and armor pattern is blue camouflage, so we thought that would be a great pre-order bonus for players.
Thanks to the team at Survios for taking the time to talk about Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition.
