Alien: Rogue Incursion [Meta Quest 3] | REVIEW

Playing Alien: Rogue Incursion on the Meta Quest 3 has been a bit of a weird experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing the game and I’m excited to see how the story continues when the second part inevitably releases, so it certainly delivers an experience worthy of the Alien franchise. It was just so clear throughout that I was playing a version of the game that had made a LOT of sacrifices to work on the Meta Quest 3.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Alien: Rogue Incursion puts players in the role of AWOL Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks, who finds herself crash-landing down on the planet Purdan after receiving a call for help from one of her old colleagues, Benjamin Carver. Of course, things go from bad to worse for Zula when she investigates the nearby settlement to find it overrun by Xenomorphs, leading her on a deadly endeavour where danger could be lurking behind every corner (or on the ceiling… or in a vent… you get the picture). It makes for a tense and enjoyable narrative, with plenty of lore to dive into that involves the deeper Aliens universe that’s explored in the comic book series. Admittedly, it’s not something I was too familiar with – I’ve only watched the movies – though the game doesn’t expect prior knowledge to appreciate the tale that it has to tell.

When it comes to the gameplay, Alien: Rogue Incursion offers a nice balance of exploration and combat. You’ll be using the motion tracker seen across the movies to help you get around safely, whilst there are elements of puzzling that’ll see you interacting with the environment in a variety of neat ways. Admittedly, there’s nothing too taxing, but it does make your progress a bit more interesting. Interacting with the environment always feels immersive too, with players having to perform an array of manual actions to complete the simplest of tasks. It’s something you would typically do with a simple button press in most games, but of course, this is virtual reality, and it just makes the experience all the more involving and believable, especially with the added tension of being pursued by the Xenomorphs at the same time.

And believe me, the game does a very, VERY good job of making the Xenomorphs feel dangerous. You’ll hear them scuttling around, making all sorts of noises in the environment, and ensuring their presence is felt, whilst the very first encounter with one will ensure you’ll be left terrified by them from start to end. Again, the immersion of virtual reality makes this all the more atmospheric and authentic, though Alien: Rogue Incursion also utilises some wonderful set pieces that ramp up the tension and emphasise just how goddamn deadly the Xenomorphs can be.

“Alien: Rogue Incursion is a gripping experience that’ll leave players on edge throughout their deadly battle against the Xenomorphs, but sacrifices have been made to make it playable on the Meta Quest 3.”

At least you’re well-equipped for the job, with players equipped with a pulse rifle, shotgun, and revolver to deal with the Xenomorph threat. They’ll take a good amount of ammunition to take down, so you’ll have to pick your shots carefully, though at the same time, there’s enough ammunition to be found to ensure that you aren’t put under too much pressure. It makes sense – especially since Alien: Rogue Incursion focuses more on action as opposed to trying to hide from the Xenomorphs – but you’ve still got to be careful, because one bad encounter can see you die pretty quickly.

One thing worth noting is that there were complaints when the game originally launched on other platforms regarding the spawn frequency of the Xenomorphs and their poor AI, but these have been rectified here. When playing, I found everything was perfectly balanced, with the right number of enemies faced to ensure that the tension was high without it ever feeling frustratingly overwhelming. The AI was competent for the most part too, and whilst there were occasions where the Xenomorphs made themselves easy targets, they always felt like a genuine threat.

It’s clear that Alien: Rogue Incursion delivers a gripping gameplay experience then, and believe me, some of its set pieces can be spectacular. I found it incredibly unnerving to play, with it getting that perfect balance of non-stop action and moments of quiet yet uneasy tension to keep players on edge throughout. Most importantly? It’s really fun, and I’m excited to see how it continues in part two.

Check out some screenshots down below:

However, as noted earlier in this review, sacrifices have been made to ensure that the game will run on the Meta Quest 3. If you’ve seen gameplay footage or screenshots of the game running on PC VR or even the PlayStation VR 2, you’ll see a significantly noticeable difference here, with Alien: Rogue Incursion on the Meta Quest 3 looking like a game that released in the previous generation (or, arguably, even two generations ago).

Now this isn’t something that’s new on the Meta Quest 3, and I’ve played plenty of titles that weren’t as visually impressive on the platform when compared to the likes of PC VR or PlayStation VR 2. However, the gap in quality just felt so much more noticeable here, with the textures missing intricate details, the lack of lighting severely hurting the atmosphere, minimal shadows leaving a lack of presence in your surroundings, and the lower resolution leaving some sequences feeling blurry. I’ve seen a lot of high-end titles look and perform a lot better than this on the Meta Quest 3, so it really feels like there are some optimization issues and that the game isn’t utilising the full potential of the headset.

Is it a deal-breaker? Honestly… no, and I’m probably being a bit fussier because I’ve actually tried the game on the PlayStation VR 2 and was blown away by it, so the differences stood out a little more for me. I still enjoyed the game, and whilst it was visually inferior to other platforms, it isn’t ugly and it still manages to offer an unnerving atmosphere. I was just hoping for more, though there is some hope: the team at Survios are working on updates that will improve the visuals and technical performance of the game, so fingers-crossed we’ll see some real improvements soon.

Developer: Survios
Publisher: Survios
Platform(s): Meta Quest 3 (Reviewed), PlayStation VR 2, PC VR
Website: https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/alien-rogue-incursion/24882487241367228/