Alien Isolation 2 – PAX AUS 2026 Preview

There was a demo for Alien Isolation 2 at PAX AUS 2026, and I believe I sped through it to the finish before the demo timer cut me off. But that’s okay, because I saw an Alien and realised these games are about speed, not worrying about what might be around the corner.

The demo begins in a forest where the Sevastopol, the station from the first game, has crash-landed. You’re part of a crew that has found it, and although another member says they’re taking off in ten minutes, you decide to go inside and check for survivors first. Of course, if you know what’s inside, you know it’s a bad idea, but we do it anyway, because video games!

Inside, the power is out, and you’ll need to repair an outlet to restore it, which I presume is a recurring mechanic of this engineer’s abilities throughout the rest of the game. You can also find scrap around the place that lets you open locked doors very quickly. This encourages you to explore, since getting access to a locked door would have let me escape the Alien much faster, but I didn’t have enough.

As you explore the ship a little more, you bump into a scary Working Joe crawling across the floor, giving you a little jump scare.

In the main room, the computer, of course, blares an emergency warning, and then a thud from above announces the Alien itself landing in the room before creeping off. You can then use the grates to sneak around, and the game encourages you to stay crouched most of the time, as it keeps you quieter. And if you’ve played the first game, it’ll feel rather familiar in line with Alien Isolation, with the Alien jumping on you very quickly when you make a bit too much noise. 

Moving backwards through the ship the way I came, using tables to hide under, peeking around corners, and sneaking under the Alien’s feet through the grates, I made my way back to the ladder that led into the ship. The colleague who came down with me and was waiting there when I entered the ship was missing. 

Climbing up the stairs, of course, the one jump scare I should have predicted was the one I got: the alien jumping on you right as you reach the top. For a moment, I thought there was going to be a bait-and-switch protagonist change, as it looked like the jaws of death were opening and my doom was coming, but then a massive explosion somewhere on the ship sends the Alien and me flying.

The demo had little narrative, but the most exciting thing for me is that you’re not confined to a ship. The opening segment in the woods, lighting a flare and moving forward, made me think about sneaking around those Slender Man-like woods with a different kind of predator on the move. And presuming the demo sets up a scenario where you’re now stuck on this forest planet, with an Alien hunting you. It’s almost like a twisted take on the original Predator film, and an exciting direction for this sequel.