Creative Assembly’s long-awaited Alien Isolation 2 is confirmed to be using Epic Games’ controversial Unreal Engine 5 instead of the studio’s in-house Cathode Engine.
Following the recent teaser trailer for the upcoming horror game, which teased that the new game will take place on a colony instead of another space station, Creative Assembly confirmed that the game is being built on Unreal Engine 5.
In a recent job listing, the studio confirmed that it’s currently looking “for a talented Senior Development Manager to join the sequel to ALIEN:ISOLATION being built in Unreal Engine 5”. This has immediately led to complaints and fear-mongering surrounding the sequel due to performance issues of other UE5 titles.
Gamers online have already started to lambast the long-awaited sequel with claims that Alien Isolation will suffer from stuttering issues or poor performance. Additionally, many have claimed that the use of Unreal Engine 5 means that the game willsuffer from the stutters and hitches of other UE5 titles that Epic has been working to fix.
While the concerns regarding Alien Isolation 2 and Unreal Engine 5 are not unfounded, Creative Assembly has re-hired a number of the original game’s developers to craft the sequel. Excitingly, the game’s original lead engine programmer Michael Bailey—one of the minds behind the aforementioned Cathode Engine—is leading the tech side of the upcoming sequel.
After departing Creative Assembly in 2019 to work at Supermassive Games, a studio which also used Unreal Engine without major stuttering issues, Bailey rejoined Creative Assembly in 2022 in the role of Project Technical Director. According to their LinkedIn, Bailey has been working on “a sequel to Alien: Isolation” at the studio since 2022.
At the time of writing, it’s not known which version of Unreal Engine 5 the studio is using for the project or whether or not the team will be using performance intensive tools such as Lumen and Nanite. Simply put, for now, the performance profile of the upcoming horror game is a complete unknown.
A significant number of original developers from Alien Isolation have returned for the second game. Additionally, developers from the original that stayed with Creative Assembly to work on Total War and the studio’s scrapped HYENAS (which was also developed in UE5) are working on the game, including creative director Alistair Hope.
Alien Isolation currently has no known release date at the time of publication, although the game’s recent teaser has ignited hope for a launch sometime next year.
For more on Alien Isolation, read about how the original game found its protagonist of Amanda Ripley. Additionally, read about how the game’s developers felt the title would’ve sold better if it was less scary.
