Alien: Isolation originally released back in 2014, offering up a delectable slice of claustrophobic first-person horror that follows Amanda Ripley’s attempts to track down her considerably more famous mum, Ellen - portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in the movies. Soon enough, that journey takes Amanda aboard the starship Sevastopol where, would you believe it, a deadly Xenomorph is on the prowl. The resulting action - a ceaseless game of cat-and-mouse, driven by an unscripted and terrifyingly unpredictable AI alien - is as breathlessly tense as it is wonderfully atmospheric, with Creative Assembly perfectly capturing the delightfully lo-fi 70s look of the original Alien movie. It is, in other words, well worth picking up. As for Hand of Fate 2, it’s a deliciously old-school dungeon-crawler, in which everything - the map you’ll explore, the stories you’ll uncover, the enemies you’ll encounter, even weapons and items - is determined (and visually represented) by a deck of cards. And as you push forward, you’ll unlock new cards, opening up further possible permutations for future adventures. It’s stuffed with wonderfully evocative writing, but its real star is the Dealer, your brilliantly voiced constant companion, who offers droll observations and veiled threats from the other side of the table as he shuffles his deck and plays each new hand. Alien: Isolation and Hand of Fate 2 will be free to add to your Epic Games Store library from next Thursday, 22nd April, for one week.
