Tindalos Interactive and Focus Entertainment have announced that Aliens: Dark Descent is now available globally on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC at a starting MSRP of $34.99. This is a strategic, real-time, squad-based tactical action game set in the iconic Alien universe, and while James Cameron had no involvement in it, some early players are already calling it the best Aliens game ever made, a sentiment that has been echoed by a few reviewers, including one who claims it “absolutely nails the feel of the films.” That said, critics have already found at least a handful of shortcomings with it, including the lack of true ultrawide support, co-op play, and Pulse Rifles that don’t sound like Pulse Rifles.
Aliens: Dark Descent Features
- Face off in a gripping original Alien story against iconic Xenomorph creatures ranging from Facehuggers to Praetorians, Alien Queens and many more, including rogue human commandos and a brand-new threat unique to this Alien storyline
- Lead strategically and change squad tactics from mission to mission, carefully managing your soldiers’ health, resources, and sanity, to avoid permanent team losses and mental breakdowns
- Forge unique paths for survival in a persistent world, uncovering shortcuts, creating safe zones and setting up motion trackers to stay one step ahead of these creatures
- Assemble and level up squads composed of 5 starting Marines classes, with dozens of specializations, unique abilities and weapons
From a Focus Entertainment post:
In Aliens: Dark Descent, players command a squad of hardened Colonial Marines as they attempt to stop a terrifying new threat on Planet Lethe. Led as one unit with intuitive controls on keyboard and mouse as well as on controller, the squad takes on real-time combat against iconic Xenomorphs, rogue operatives from the insatiable Weyland-Yutani, and a host of horrifying creatures new to the Alien universe. Using a range of tactical abilities, players will unravel an authentic Alien tale full of sinister secrets, diving in and exploring the horrors and wonders of a cinematic narrative campaign.
As they infiltrate large open levels and annihilate enemies with their squad, players can use comms to dispatch orders that will be swiftly obeyed by the Marine best equipped for the situation. They will need to use their wits to navigate the game’s expansive, persistent, reactive levels and complete objectives. Being cautious and monitoring each Marine’s vitals is essential, for death is permanent for any who fall in combat.
Players can find refuge in their base — the stranded Otago spacecraft. There they can customize their squad with a selection of different Marine classes. Level up and specialize each soldier with unique abilities and an arsenal of weapons, armor, and perks. Players can also treat wounds and trauma, as well as research new tech to improve their squad even further.
Discussion (8 replies)
Join Discussion →I'm still in favor for Alien 3 on the Snes as beeing the best.
I remember playing Aliens Versus Predator 2 at LAN parties back in the day. Not saying it was the best, but we all had a lot of fun with that game.
We played a lot of AVP on LAN, it was great
I never did LAN parties back in the day, I was kind of out of pocket for tech during that time and taking a break but when I got back into it around 2005-2006 I backtracked to AvP2 and played the heck out of it for the next decade. That game was truly awesome. I also got the expansion pack for it, don't remember what it's called and learned the cmd/cfg tricks for updating to 1080p at the time. Fairly positive I've still the box sitting around somewhere.
My wife still has an Atari Jaguar with the first version which looks pretty cool for its time period. It was the only game she ever bought for it.
Given that it's not a first person shooter I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the idea that this could be the best Aliens franchise game ever made on that basis alone.
AvP2 was a staple game of my LANParty crew for many years. We had a friend who absolutely excelled as the Predator, and we had a lot of fun trying to survive his preying on us as a group of Marines. I tended to do best as a Xenomorph though. We had a lot of mixups, Marines vs Predator, Marines vs Aliens, Marines vs Predator(s) vs Aliens, and of course Aliens vs Predator(s). The game provided countless hours of multiplayer LAN fun. We also enjoyed AvP 2010 the few times we played it, but it was nothing compared to AvP2.
Indeeeeeed.
Back when I was still in high school, or maybe it was early college, my dad came across some kind of mail-order dealy where a brand-new Atari Jaguar and 50 sealed-new games were included all for the cost of $60, so he bought it for me and my bro. We lost the system and most of the games, as the Jaguar was not something we gave a sh1t about. It's probably still somewhere in my parents' house. However I do still have my boxed copy of AvP1 that came with that big-@ss bundle of games. That was actually the first platform I played AvP1 on.
I'd not outright dismiss a game on that account alone, but after seeing gameplay and reviews, it is definitely not the best, not even a particularly good game. Just an OK one with annoying peculiarities.