I'm not sure counterintuitive is the word you wanted to use there. That implies the game rewards solutions that are violations of common sense and generally run counter to logical thought.
The conventional logic in most games is to find the fastest way to expedite the termination of the mooks on your screen. That, of course, is simply not the case in Alien, where CA goes far out of the way of what is expected of a video game as far as gameplay and AI behavior is concerned. Hence the term 'counterintuitive'.
^ A very simplistic and reductionist statement. It's getting really annoying now how A:I fans seem to act as if no other game ever had forced stealth in it, and are constantly on the defensive towards combat-heavy mainstream games. The stealth genre has existed since the mid-90's at the very least, and avoiding enemies is far from counter-intuitive for the experienced fans of games such as the original Thief trilogy. Yet, I practically never see Thief or Amnesia players claim how they're so much better than Halo or Skyrim or whatever.
And of course, there are games where stealth is included as a pacifist option, and even gamers such as myself, who try to avoid violence even in conventional combat games (I still feel proud for managing to disarm everyone with unintentional use of Force Choke in one of the Jedi Academy levels.) So, speak for yourself in regards to "counter-intuitive."
Yeah, my first thought when I read that was the metal gear series. It is still very interestingly implemented, but it's by no means new.
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Everyone Will Hear You Scream
Honestly guys, I was pretty impressed. As a long time fan of genuinely scary survival-horror games (Silent Hills, Dead Space, etc.) as well as the classic Alien franchise, I followed the game's marketing campaign and was ecstatic that Alien: Isolation delivered on its hype.
It was, in one line, everything that I have always wanted in an Alien game. Congratulations are in order, Creative Assembly.
Taken further, it was everything that ought to have been in an Alien game years ago. That it took this long is frankly rather embarrassing. I can just see all of the Alien developers of yester-year scratching their head going, "Damn, why didn't we come up with that? What the hell were we smoking?"
In brief, Isolation eschews the all-pervasive influence of James Cameron in favor of the spirit of franchise creator Ridley Scott. Anyone (ie, everyone reading this) who has ever seen Alien and Aliens can compare and contrast the two and draw the appropriate conclusions without my help.
What does this mean for the player? If you like first-person shooters like COD and Halo and find the best solution to any problem as a player is to smash the trigger button; then put this game down and find something else. If you like epic sci-fi/fantasy adventure games like Skyrim and Mass Effect where you get to be the ultimate badass; this game will crush your ego, again and again and again.
You are not a hero, you are not a badass.
You are an ordinary, blue-collar Rosey the Riveter working 9-5, five days a week just trying to get by in life.
And then shit happens and you are suddenly against the mother-of-all-nightmares with nothing to confront it with. Good Luck!
I won't say this is a thinking man's game because its not a puzzle solver. Isolation does, however, reward any strategy that involves non-linear, counterintuitive thinking. Instead of thinking, 'the bad guys are right in front of me, how am I going to go through them', try 'how am I going to get passed them without being detected?'
Smart players will realize that the passive-aggressive approach is the best way to beating the game. The more disturbances you cause in the immediate environment, the greater the likelihood you will draw unwanted attention. On the other hand, linger too long in one area and something will eventually find you.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream.