Enhanced Gameplay with Simplified Graphics

Alien: Rogue Incursion made its initial splash on the scene with its debut on PSVR 2 and PC VR headsets back in December, marking a significant milestone as the first VR-native title in the legendary ‘Alien’ series. The excitement has been building, and now, fans can experience it on Quest 3, courtesy of the developers at Survios.

When we first reviewed the game, the Xenomorph encounters stood out, capturing that heart-pounding tension the franchise is known for. However, the thrill was somewhat dampened by the monotonous nature of the random encounters and a rather unforgiving save system. Despite these setbacks, we rated it a solid 7 out of 10.

Since then, several patches have been rolled out to polish the experience, culminating in this week’s Quest 3 release, available for purchase on the Horizon Store for $40. One particularly noteworthy patch dropped recently, massively improving the balance of Xenomorph spawning. The developers tweaked their sensory abilities, ensuring players aren’t constantly overwhelmed by perfect Xenomorph tracking. Additionally, they’ve made helpful adjustments to the save system, allowing players to load previous saves instead of being stuck with only one option.

We haven’t yet dived into the Quest 3 version, but early impressions are surfacing. Popular YouTuber ‘Gamertag VR’ provides a detailed look at this new Quest release, though he did notice some hiccups with graphics. He pointed out, “On the Quest, the dark atmosphere expected from an ‘Alien’ game doesn’t really set in until later in the playthrough. For the initial hours, the lighting is so bright that the flashlight you carry goes unused.”

Despite this, ‘Gamertag VR’ mentions the Xenomorph encounters do feel more authentic, likely due to the aforementioned patch.

For those curious about how this version stacks up against others, ‘The VR Grid’ YouTube channel has done a side-by-side comparison of Quest 3 and PSVR 2 (tested on the basic PS5). Their findings highlight some compromises made to accommodate the Quest 3’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor. While the fundamental gameplay remains unchanged, the Quest 3 version lacks some dynamic lighting, realistic ambient features, and has a shorter draw distance. One advantage, however, is the clearer and more readable in-game text.

It’s important to note that while we refer to the game as Alien: Rogue Incursion, it’s actually intended as the first chapter in a two-part saga. According to Survios, the initial release serves as a standalone adventure that wraps up with a cliffhanger, but there’s more on the horizon.

The developers are actively working on ‘Part Two,’ which promises to continue the narrative of Zula, pushing her into confrontations with even more formidable foes and greater challenges.