Alien: Isolation

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Alien: Isolation (2013).

The following weapons appear in the video game Alien: Isolation:

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

.357 Revolver

The .357 Revolver, manufactured by the fictional Spearhead Armoury, is the only sidearm featured in the game and is frequently used by the many human survivors and security personnel aboard Sevastopol Station, most notably Axel. Right after Amanda Ripley (the player character) enters an office in the Lorenz Systech Spire, she can acquire the .357 Revolver, which can be found on a table in said office. However, while the player cannot pick up any revolvers dropped by dead humans, they can loot the corpses for ammunition (even before the revolver is acquired).

Gameplay-wise, the .357 Revolver is a 6-round, semi-automatic revolver chambered for the fictional .357 LR cartridge and appears to be based on the Chiappa Rhino 50DS. Like the Chiappa, it fires from the bottom chamber of the cylinder. Depending on the shot placement, the revolver has decent stopping power against human survivors, but may struggle considerably with taking down Seegson "Working Joes" synthetics, especially the heavily armored ones wearing Hazmat suits. As with all weapons in the game, its iron sights cannot be used and the revolver cannot fatally harm the Aliens encountered in the game. Unlike most video game portrayals of revolvers, the player actually uses the ejector rod to push out the bullets rather than simply shaking the revolver's cylinder downward. In addition, the revolver is reloaded one round at the time and the player must press the reload button for each round they wish to insert into the cylinder. However, there are several unrealistic aspects of the revolver's reload animation. First of all, the player simply ejects all the rounds from the cylinder (regardless of whether or not all of them were fired) and the unfired rounds somehow magically hop back into the player's ammo pool. Second, the rounds ejected are all spent casings, even if there were unfired rounds still left in the chamber. Finally, the player swings the cylinder shut with the flick of the wrist rather than pushing it closed with the other hand, which can cause the cylinder to be misaligned and/or the revolver to malfunction.

Chiappa Rhino 50DS (5" barrel version), current production model with hard chrome plating - .357 Magnum

During his first encounter with Amanda, Axel confronts her armed with a .357 Revolver.

Note that the grips on Axel's revolver appear to be black rather than their normal brown, presumably because of the poor lighting.

A side view of Axel's revolver, showing the somewhat vague inscriptions on the barrel - "Spearhead Armoury" and ".357 Revolver."

Reloading the revolver.

Amanda encounters a Working Joe while proceeding to Seegson Communications.

Amanda picks up the revolver found in the Lorenz Systech Spire.

Amanda continues to insert rounds into the revolver as the dreaded Alien slowly rises to its feet. Note that the Alien model more closely resembles the one featured in Alien rather than the Aliens featured in Aliens and its sequels, which is part of an attempt to recreate the eerie, nostalgic, tensional atmosphere and look of Alien.

Marshall Waits (William Hope) confronts Amanda with his .357 Revolver during his first encounter with her. Besides Sigourney Weaver, William Hope (who portrayed Lt. Gorman in Aliens) is the only other actor from Aliens that voiced a character in Alien: Isolation.

Model 37-12 Shotgun

The Model 37-12 shotgun, manufactured by the fictional Henjin-Garcia, is carried by Marshal Waits' (William Hope) deputy, Ricardo, and several of the human survivors on the Sevastopol Station. It is a 12 gauge, 4-round pump-action shotgun that can instantly kill a human with one shot (depending on the shot placement), severely damage Working Joes, and briefly stun the Xenomorph long enough for the player to retreat. Strangely, while it features dual underbarrel internal tube magazines, Amanda Ripley never preforms an action to switch between them (although it is possible she could be only using one tube). The shotgun is based on the SWATriplex-18, a prototype shotgun designed in the 1970s by John W. Winter that was never mass-produced.

Ricardo with his Model 37-12 during Waits' first encounter with Amanda Ripley.

Custom Flamethrower

A custom flamethrower like the one from Alien appears in the Crew Expendable and Sole Survivor DLC, which are set on the USCSS Nostromo during the events of Alien. The flamethrower also appears in the main game, although it is slightly modified aesthetically to differentiate it from the ones featured in the DLC. Ellen Ripley (voiced by Sigourney Weaver), Captain Dallas (voiced by Tom Skerritt), and Parker (voiced by Yaphet Kotto) all carry the custom flamethrowers in the DLC. Unlike many of the weapons in the game, the flamethrower actually has an effect on the Alien, as a small burst of flames can force it to temporarily retreat into Sevastopol's vents, giving the player enough time to escape and/or move about the area for a limited amount of time without interference from the Alien itself. However, as with all weapons, it cannot fatally harm the Alien. Interestingly, when using the flamethrower on synthetics, they may occasionally say, "Most animals retreat from fire. I am not an animal," referring a line spoken by Ash in Alien.

Screen-used flamethrower from Alien. Image from Prop Store of London.

Ellen Ripley picks up the flamethrower resting on the table at the bridge area of the Nostromo.