From the start, I didn't really have Alien: Isolation pegged as a prime target for downloadable content; after all, the story it tells is very self-contained; the focus remains solely on Amanda Ripley as she struggles to survive aboard Sevastopol Station. But as I dug into this latest expansion, Corporate Lockdown, I think The Creative Assembly have the right idea on how to proceed. After all, whenever a story features such a singular focus, we naturally want to know what happened to the rest of them. If there was no extended edition of the original Alien, wouldn't you have wanted to know the ultimate fate of Captain Dallas? In many cases, it's better not to show these things (as grisly and awful as Kane's death was, it's Navigator Lambert's off-screen killing that I find the most unsettling). But sidestories are clearly the way to go with Alien: Isolation: the three new challenge maps in Corporate Lockdown provide an engaging slant on an established gameplay type. More importantly, its pacing serves as a direct counterpoint to the core game's overly long running time.

If you scoured every explorable inch of the Sevastopol as Amanda Ripley, the name Ransome should mean something to you. He's a Seegson executive who has been part of some very bad business, and the repercussions of the Sevastopol infection threaten some extreme fallout for him. Too bad for him, the company is willing to make Ransome its scapegoat in order to save its already foundering part of the business world. And the narrative would be so much cleaner around the edges if Ransome became just one more casualty. Animals are more dangerous when wounded, and a corporate shark is no exception. So our antihero goes off to ensure that the evidence that could ruin his reputation is scrubbed -- oh, and also to escape the menace of that darn Xenomorph.

If you spent some time with Alien: Isolation's Survival Mode, you'll have a good idea of what to expect in Corporate Lockdown. After all, this downloadable content is comprised solely of three Survival Mode missions. Each requires that you make it from point A to point B without meeting a horrible end, but optional objectives spice up the proceedings quite a bit.

Naturally, these objectives have to do with getting revenge on the company that abandoned Ransome, and most of them involve destroying proprietary information that incriminates him. He's got a very scorched earth attitude about the whole ordeal, and why not? It would have been nice to see this character actually given a personality, and it would have been nice to have an actual story, but the context is more than enough motivation to enjoy the ride.

Ransome starts out each mission with only a few survival tools, but he has the opportunity to do some crafting of his own. He starts off with a revolver, a boltgun, a level 2 SAT, a flare, and blueprints for the EMP and the Noisemaker. But the odds, as always, are against you. The threat of getting one-shotted by the Xeno is one thing, but even the Working Joes are no slouch. There were few moments in Alien: Isolation in which I felt truly comfortable with my level of resources, and fewer still in Corporate Lockdown. One particularly punishing android encounter took me several tries until I finally got through by the skin of my teeth. But again, hard-earned successes are often gratifying, even in a game as emotionally draining as this one.

At this point, the Season Pass for Alien: Isolation is a bit of a question mark. Corporate Lockdown is a fun excuse to turn the lights off and scare the living sh*t out of yourself, but this particular scheme could get old fast, especially if it is used for the remaining four expansions. It all boils down to your personal enjoyment of the Survival Mode. Do you like it? Your answer to that should tell you all you need to know.