Alien: Isolation's 20-hour runtime grew that long by accident, according to a dev who says that the Xenomorph's increasing intelligence drove the horror game's playtime up.

In an interview on the FRVR podcast, writer Dion Lay explained that "in a perfect world," they'd "shrink [Alien: Isolation] down a bit, get down its core." At an average playtime of 18-20 hours, the acclaimed horror title is notably longer than many of its genre brethren, but that wasn't the intention at the beginning of development.

When development started, Lay explained that the Xenomorph was a much less intelligent threat. By the end of the creation process, however, it had become far smarter, able to react to the players' preferred strategies. That made for a harder game, which took players longer to beat.

"The Alien really evolved as we were making it. By the time it was perfect, it was like 'oh, wow, everything takes a lot longer!" Lay claims that "at the time, it didn't seem that long," and that "it would have been hard to [cut down the runtime]" during development, "but there was some stuff where we were like: 'Yeah, we can't take that out now, that would kind of upend everything."

In spite of the fact that getting to the end of the journey takes a relatively long time, Lay says they "really like the actual ending" and its explosive set piece, but that any criticisms that stem from the amount of time it takes to get there remain "fair." Whether the team behind the Alien: Isolation sequel announced last year will be able to better adapt to the Xenomorph's intelligence remains to be seen, but with the likes of Silent Hill f and Cronos: The New Dawn coming in significantly shorter, it'll be interesting to see how long the follow-up ends up being.

With its predecessor high on our list of the best horror games of all time, Alien: Isolation's sequel has some big shoes to fill.

Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set around a century before the events of the mainline series, is about to break from franchise tradition in a big way.

As revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showrunner Ira Parker has opted against the usual grand, lavish title sequence that was present in both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

For Parker, the choice was made to mirror the to-the-point attitude of main character Dunk, a heavy-set squire-turned-knight who soon finds himself in the orbit of bald-headed child, Egg.

“All decisions came down to Dunk, trying to channel the type of person he is into every aspect of this show, even the title sequence," Parker revealed. "He’s plain and he’s simple and he’s to-the-point. He doesn't have a lot of flash to him.”

The step away from the beautifully animated depictions of Westeros, though, caused some consternation with Parker, who described the omission as "probably the most stressful decision" they made on the HBO series, which is due out in 2026.

"It was not entered into lightly, but it serves our show," Parker said.

George R.R. Martin, who wrote the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas on which the series is based, had nothing but praise for the fantasy series.

Writing on his blog earlier this year, Martin remarked, "I've seen all six episodes now (the last two in rough cuts, admittedly), and I loved them. Dunk and Egg have always been favorites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible. The rest of the cast are terrific as well. Wait until you guys meet the Laughing Storm. and Tanselle Too-Tall."

Martin added, "It’s as faithful an adaptation as a reasonable man could hope for (and you all know how incredibly reasonable I am on that particular subject)."

For more, check out our guide to new TV shows, as well as all the latest on House of the Dragon season 3.