Sigourney Weaver Reprises Ripley For 'Alien: Isolation' Video Game

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Sigourney Weaver is playing Ripley again — or, more precisely, she's remaking her first turn as Ripley. The cast members from Ridley Scott's Alien (minus Ian Holm and John Hurt) are reprising their roles for a downloadable content (DLC) expansion for the forthcoming game Alien: Isolation. So we'll hear Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Veronica Cartwright once again doing the roles that made them icons for a generation of sci-fi and horror fans.

The expansion will allow players to take control of Weaver's character Ellen Ripley, and also Captain Dallas, and Parker as they attempt to survive the incursion of the original xenomorph aboard the cargo ship Nostromo.

Sega's game casts players primarily as the daughter of Ellen Ripley as she attempts to survive her own encounter with a deadly alien. Alien: Isolation, as the title implies, is more a survival horror game than an action title, and has been praised for its intense atmosphere. (Friends who played it via the Oculus Rift have positively raved about the harrowing experience.)

Here's a trailer for the expansion, featuring some "new" dialogue — that is, mostly re-recorded lines from the original movie. 

John Hurt is not included in the reunited cast because the game picks up after the xenomorph is born, so Hurt's character is dead. As IGN reports on the first of two missions for the DLC: 

Everyone who pre-orders the game will get a free upgrade to the 'Nostromo Edition', which includes the first of the two DLC missions, entitled "Crew Expendable". Taking place moments after the death of Brett, it sees players assuming the role of Ripley, Dallas or Parker, as the crew of the Nostromo attempt to flush the alien from the air vents and into the ship's airlock. Depending on which character you choose, you'll have a slightly different perspective on events and will begin with different resources.

There's also a second mission, "available through select retailers depending on territory," which is set during the film's endgame, in which players take on the role of Ripley and "must activate the Nostromo's self-destruct sequence and reach the Narcissus shuttle in order to escape."

Given that Holm's character is not playable, the game producers can likely use his existing film dialogue. 

The game's creative director Alistair Hope explained,

There's no point in us trying to match beat-for-beat what occurs in the film. The film is much better at doing that than a game. We came with the approach these guys had a plan to try and take on the alien, to flush it out of an airlock. What else could have happened? ... We've used those moments to give us some kind of structure; as to what occurs is very much down to the player.

Alien: Isolation will be available on October 7 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.