Improved Gameplay at the Cost of Graphics

Alien: Rogue Incursion debuted on the PSVR 2 and PC VR in December, marking the ‘Alien’ franchise’s first foray into a VR-specific game. Recently, Survios expanded the game’s reach by launching it on Quest 3.

At launch, our review highlighted the intense but somewhat repetitive Xenomorph encounters. These enemies, with their raptor-like hunting tactics, were thrilling yet marred by the repetitive nature of encounters. The game’s save system also proved a bit of a headache. We ended up giving it a solid 7/10 in our spoiler-free review.

Before making its Quest 3 debut, the game received several updates to refine player experience. These improvements are now part of the $40 package available on the Horizon Store. Notably, a crucial patch was released just days ago, tweaking how Xenomorphs spawn. Their sight and sound detection have been adjusted, preventing them from overwhelming players. Additionally, the save system got a little friendlier, allowing players to revisit previous saves rather than being limited to a single save point.

We’ve yet to dive into the Quest 3 version ourselves, but early impressions from the community are mixed. YouTuber ‘Gamertag VR’ provides a comprehensive review of the Quest launch, pointing out some odd discrepancies with the game’s visual atmosphere.

“The immersive darkness promised by the game doesn’t hold up on the Quest version—at least, not initially. There’s a flashlight on your character, but you don’t really need it for the first few hours due to sufficient in-game lighting,” they noted.

Despite this, Gamertag VR appreciates the natural feel of the Xenomorph encounters post-patch, which is promising for the Quest 3 iteration.

For those curious about the differences between versions, ‘The VR Grid’ offers a detailed side-by-side comparison of Quest 3 and PSVR 2 (on a base PS5). Their analysis reveals the Quest version sacrifices some visual fidelity—such as dynamic lighting and realistic ambient effects—in favor of better performance on the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip. However, they note that text legibility in-game is notably improved.

It’s worth highlighting that what we’re calling Alien: Rogue Incursion is actually just ‘Part One’ of a two-part narrative. Back in December, Survios explained that this installment stands alone but ends on a cliffhanger, with more expected in the future.

The developers are already hard at work on ‘Part Two,’ where our protagonist Zula is set to face even more formidable foes and tougher challenges ahead.