Aliens: Dark Descent

I found this game was far too unforgiving, even on Medium mode.

I got as far as the Berkely's Dock level - i.e. not far.

I found that the sleeping drones on this level would sometimes wake up and attack as soon as I entered a room, and no, I wasn't running. When they didn't attack immediately, I found them difficult to spot. (I know that's kind of the point.) Even when I spotted them in time, it was rare I was able to sneak past without waking them up.

Ditto the Queen on this level. The narration from your APC controller says not to wake her now, but I was unable to sneak past her whether I went left or right in her room. When I did contrive a plan to take her out, using 4 sentry guns, and feeling pretty pleased with myself to have done it, I was immediately attacked by another high level alien, like a Praetorian. It came from the opposite direction that the Queen did, so I was wiped out pretty quickly.

This is the kind of stuff I'd expect from Hard or higher level, not from Medium. No way of dropping to Easy without going back to the start of the game and losing my progress. I may do that in future, but at the moment I'm feeling this ain't the game for me.

So a very reluctant thumbs down from me.

If you're a fan of the franchise and are willing to go in with low expectations, you'll find a wonderfully atmospheric survival sim that didn't receive the time or budget its developers deserved to polish it. They did a great job with the constraints they had.

The only bugs I encountered were ones that buffed my squad. Completed regular difficulty in 40ish hours, so if buying on sale, you're getting good bang for buck.

An amazing, cinematic and game play masterpiece. Just straight up amazing game, story, and better than most of the movies after Aliens. I highly recommend it, just don't know why they never made a DLC or a sequel.

Really good so far. I was initially put off by the slow prologue and the inability to move marines individually but the atmosphere and environment once you get into the meat of the game are excellently crafted. Opportunities for good tactical play and snowballing fuckups, keep the gameplay fresh, The story might be a little predictable for people familiar with the franchise but still enjoyable enough framing for the game overall. For a sequel, it'd be great to see the story add to the universe (more alien variety, other corporations or human interests, more moral ambiguity etc.) and more depth in the base management aspect of the game. Absolutely worth price, especially on-sale.

Never mind the marines needing therapy, I am going to need some too after this game! Holy crap, Xcom never felt this dire (in a good way)! Despite some bugs here and there, this is quite a unique experience for squad tactical game out there, and plays really well. Dont play it in the dark!

A solid 6/10 game.

The actual gameplay of Dark Descent, when it works, is superb. You have to maneuver a squad of marines, manage their resources, make hard decisions, and ultimately have to navigate a planet filled to the brim with the beautiful nightmares of H.R. Geiger.

Unfortunately the frequency of bugs in this game, when they appear, end up ruining the immersion and instantly deleting 4 points from this game's score.
The severity of bugs ranges from harmless "haha, that alien is stuck in a wall" to "wow there is an endless stream of face huggers spawning and filling up the level so now I have to restart... or lose my entire squad".
In almost every level in the game, it's guaranteed that 3 bugs will happen. Some Alien spawning related bugs, some cutscene bugs (if the map has any cutscenes), and some special event bugs.
There's also many issues regarding individual soldiers gaining certain upgrades that are actually *NERFS* and make them WEAKER, such as the "upgrade" to make the guys who have tiny drones to upgrade their drones with a gun. That separate gun does the same damage as an un-upgraded soldier and requires the same amount of ammo as any other soldier... but it will also auto-fire on aliens that are visible, making it impossible to sneak around with this upgrade.

That's one of several examples I could pull up, but for the sake of brevity:

I still recommend this game, but make sure to look up a guide to avoid triggering any of the bugs and know that you are going to be fighting the game itself just as much as the alien menace.

It's not perfect in but it is a very commendable effort, takes around about 20 - 25 hours to play through, potentially up to 30 if you tackle all the optional side objectives. It's a real time tactics game but it absolutely scratches the same itch that XCOM does, at least for me. In all I had a lot of fun with it, so much so that I've restarted the game upon completion right away.

I have no problems recommending Aliens Dark Descent, it never crashed once and I only encountered minor bugs at best which I could count on 1 hand, far as I am concerned, it is worthy of your time and investment.

Played on the Deck and its very Playable. Alien version of XCOM :D

This game is really good, some small things I dont love like not being able to individually select soldiers, the throwback lines are super obnoxious, but overall really good, great atmosphere. Would love to see a sequel that improves upon the concept.

Easy to understand control layout and well scripted story line.

the game is grate, I love the game played hard and easy it not an easy game if you just play and not look things up on only thing i dont like is that there no add on to the game

That was one of the best games I've played in years. Awesome story that was like being in a full feature Alien movie. Gameplay was edge of the seat stuff, engaging, exciting, just couldn't wait until the next thing to come along. This game is going on my list of all time favourites and I've been playing PC games since 1991.

10 out of 10. When I first saw this advertised a while back I thought to myself, who wants to play an Aliens game with tiny marines on the screen that you can control. I eventually gave it a try and boy am I glad I did, best Aliens game ever!! They should make a new game based on this style for the Stargate franchise.

Slept on this one for too long, worth buying at full price still. If they make a sequel and improve / expand on a few mechanics I can see this being XCOM level good. Bravo to the developers. Also the story was pretty darn good and I want more!!

PS. I don't know how they managed it but even top down view with 4 marines you still get that anxiety similar to Alien Isolation (Best horror game of all time? Certainly a masterpiece either way)

I really, really like this game. It's fun and challenging, but experiencing game breaking bugs at this stage is unforgivable. I was finally having a good play through until I got to Tantalus labs and couldn't get the elevator to the 2nd floor to work. There are two buggy elevators on this level it seems. The second one I also experienced on a previous play through that I was able to get around by re-deploying the squad. Not a great work around when there are limited number of days in the campaign. This sucks, I'm pissed. I want to finish the game and I feel ripped off.

Actually really enjoyed this one, good storyline, well designed levels good customizability for your squad, anyone who is a xcom fan will like this.

XCOM style squad /base management and upgrading meets Aliens Fire-team. Game isn't turn based but does have a pause function that lets you select weapons (flamethrower, grenade). Add a Darkest Dungeon element of your members getting trauma which inst my favorite, but is fitting.
Get ready to get stressed from your motion detector beeps.

Incredibly immersive and true to the source material. The smart design and mechanics give it a very cinematic feel without taking away from the fact that it is still a game. The squad and enemy AI is dynamic and intelligent, with equally impressive level design.

The procedural and persistent campaign aspect gives this game a ton of replayability despite being constrained to a concise narrative.

What a disappointment.

Got about a quarter of the way through the game and it's just so buggy, boring and badly written. After the first mission, Dead Hills, the game just feels like a linear railroad, repeating the same tactics until you are funneled into an obvious boss room every mission. I feel like I've pretty much experienced the entire gameplay loop by the third mission. Haven't experienced all game-breaking or annoying bugs however. So far just having to reload automatic saves (not even allowed to manually save) when shit doesn't respond or when my entire squad stresses out to max when nothing is happening.

The story is just an eye-rolling cliche-filled script that resembles the Aliens movie but has none of it's charm. You can guess not only what is gonna happen next, but what corny phrase a character will say. None of the characters are worth listening to, especially the squad leader you control that repeats the same five phrases constantly. Too bad I can't refund.

One of its Kind

💖One of its kind!💖

• A stealth game where you control group of characters from a top and have to perform myriad of objectives together with gathering supplies;
  
• A game where you own all the guns and can easily plow through enemies, but you shouldn't do that for the optimal gameplay;
  
• Gameplay where you can abandon mission at any point if it is going south and continue from where you left off with fresh troops and supplies;
  
[*]A meta game above all of it where it matters supplies you had gathered, how quickly you complete missions, side objectives which you complete;

☠️Spooky Scary Aliens!☠️

🔥B movie plot written by an Amateur🔥

Like games used to be!

A fun game, Very reminiscent of the good parts of red solstice 2 with the good parts of xcom, this live action non turn based -- but pause-able game -- is very interesting and very fun. Managed to crank out over 50 videos of it -- very scary and fun game. Lacking in updates and completely empty of any dlc, a tragic mistake on the devs part. Also completely lacking a multiplayer function. If your looking for a multiplayer shooter game like red solstice 2, your probably better off playing red solstice 2 or poe. how ever if you are an aliens fan or simply enjoy single player horror games then this game is for you. Some minor and some fairly major bugs, be prepared to delete your save files level maps if you wish to continue past certain glitchy spots. Limited play ability due to its linear objectives, but is fairly expansive and explore-able, with alot of details and alot of really good visuals and sounds. Among my top favs for sure. Just wish it was updated more, and got some dlc to add to it in some way. 7.5-8 out of /10 could of been better with less glitches but still a memorable and mostly good experience.

Fun, kinda hard. It would probably be easier if I would sneak around and avoid the aliens more, but what's the fun in that?

You'll like this game more if you're a fan of the Aliens franchise. On its own merits the game itself is prob a 6 out of 10. Fun most of the times but frustrating at others.

Bug after bug after bug after ... and I'm not talking about the aliens. I have had to restart the campaign now 4? times because of bugs. Marines simply vanishing from the screen or getting stuck on a corner or not listening and moving into harms way when you didn't command them to do so. I am aware that you cannot pass terrain that has not been discovered first or cleared. The inability to initiate manual saves, you are forced to save when the game decides to save. Issues with Datapads and Xenotech not being able to be collected as you are not able to return to some maps to pick them up as a 'design feature'. No in game warnings at any of these points of no return either, you are simply forced onto the next scenario never to be able to return. I could go on ... but it's all been said before in forums and what not, since release and they couldn't care less. My time is precious. When you have had to restart the campaign due to bugs you should have the option to skip cutscenes, not be forced to have to view them again in their entirety. The UI is very primitive as well. The response time between clicking buttons is pathetic. The camera spinning around and disorientating the player without an option to return it to default, resulting in you having to constantly spin the camera manually.

This is one of those companies who couldn't care less about a product beyond the point of sale, once they have your money everything else is just 'too bad'. Stay away from all of their products like the plague, because a bad customer focus/'ethic' and design philosophy carries across to all products.

By the time you run into the problems you are well passed the point of being able to refund.

A shame this could have been an awesome title but even a crystal vase is pretty much worthless if it has cracks and can't hold water, regardless of how pretty it appears to be.

One of the best iterations of Aliens as a video game. Really great strategy and a compelling plot line.

Great Aliens experience. Am 'old, busy, remedial' gamer ;-), so playing on Easy with Pause, and it's very fun and enjoyable, movie like, experience. Tense and nerve wracking fun!

Game is super buggy. Everytime i get back to the ship from missions i cant navigate thru the menus. Can't advance to the next day or just get stuck in whatever menu i might pull up. Dumb! Dumb! DUMB! This game has been out for awhile now, figured they at least have that crap worked out by now..

We got tactical smart missiles, phased plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks...

A fabulously unique Birds Eye view game that certainly keeps you on edge the whole time. Rather than selecting your troops, you are always in control of them as a unit. There are so many little details that go into this title that make it incredible. Like the way your soldiers will gradually begin to panic while running about, or how they will suffer from major trauma and develop phobias and negative traits as a result. If you are playing in anything above story mode this title is pretty challenging and you will fail a lot. One little nice trick to help in a pinch; if you weld a room shut to rest, you can immediately load from the fresh save when they wake up and rest again and again, reducing your squads panic.

I've beaten the game several times. All difficulties completed. I have over 100 hrs on record. The game is amazing. I came for the ALIENS feel and I got all of it and more. Story is great, game is different and fresh. Haven't enjoyed an ALIEN game this much since AVP2.

Good game over all, definitely not 'thumbs down' worthy, but I am giving up on it half way through because the save system is awful and it's a deal-breaker for me. Tired of reloading a save and doing the same parts over and over just to try and get to the next checkpoint or able to seal a room for resting (or elevators also save); -- some missions you can't even save at all and the entire mission is a gauntlet run. Doesn't mesh well with how I like to play RTS style games. But anyway if you ever want to live out a colonial marine fantasy a la Aliens (1986) this game does a good job of scratching that itch.

TLDR: It's a nice game, worth playing if you're into the Alien franchise, or if you're a fan of RTT games and want to try something with a bit of novelty and interesting design choices. But suffers from a short dev and post-launch support time window, resulting in frustrating situations that will test your patience.

The general ambience of the game is well executed as far as Aliens is concerned. The music's good, levels are surprisingly varied in design for the type of setting Alien is. The story might be over the top to some, but it's fun, and pays off nicely in the final level.

The gameplay's really interesting, it's pretty novel, feels incredibly fitting to the franchise, has great ideas like saves being tied to a resource that you might want to invest in other ways, the available tools are fun to use, and the missions are excellently paced. There are some frustrating elements though, like randomized patrol routes causing blobs of enemies in chokepoints, silently sniping enemies being janky due to sight lines, and a lack of fine tuning in balancing things like Hive aggression growth for later missions, perk randomization distribution etc.

The game's biggest flaws though, are the considerable amount of bugs. For the most part they're very minor bugs, like dead Xenos being stuck in their sprinting pose (incredibly funny when the hive's aggressive), or destroyed eggs still spotting your marines and alerting the hive (not funny at all when the hive's aggressive). But I did have to restart a mission at least 3 times due to bugs related to the Xeno aggression state, or Stress growth, being stuck, not only is this potentially mission ruining, but campaign ruining as a whole if it happens at a bad time. This wasn't a huge deal at the end of the day, but it is frustrating to deal with in a game with limited saves and that is meant to be taken slowly.

An amazing game for any Alien/Aliens fan or for anyone that enjoys RTS/Tactical games and obviously fantastic for anyone that enjoys both together.

In regards to the world of ALIEN the game acts as a true sequel after the events of both Alien/Aliens (watch those two to be well familiarized with the world and recent in-world events). In terms of the mood with all the tension and familiar sounds that the game evokes, creature and world designs plus the impressively gripping narrative being told, I can easily say that it's miles away and way better story than anything that they try to do with the movies after Aliens so for sure a must play for old and new fans alike.

In terms of the gameplay aspects you have two parts to the flow, the first being the pre-mission akin to XCOM management where you see who you will send to heal up in the infirmary, who goes for regiment intensive training and for which specialization, which new recruits you have, who's available, new Tech and weapons to research, etc and also which missions you will select and which you will forfeit with different rewards/objectives depending on what you are currently needs or lacking in your arsenal.
In the second part of the flow you go in to the mission with your squad and control them in a way akin to Warhammer 40K Dawn of War II, going from cover to cover and calmly explore the new unkown mission environment and complete the multiple objectives that you have assigned.
As time passes during the mission, it becomes progressively more dangerous for your squad since the zone becomes more active and thus aggressive, plus on top your squad becomes tired, starts arguing with each other and overall just wearing down from all the combat, so if you start making hasty decisions you might lose an important member of the squad, if not the entire squad (Tip: doing a preemptively Evac after a first round of research can be key to some missions! This way you can come with a fresh squad for the most difficult part of the mission).

Some games that can be good references for how it plays out or in case if you are looking for another game within these lines (unfortunately there's not a perfect match due to being a quite unique game):
■ Tactical real-time squad gameplay: the direct reference is definitely Warhammer 40K Dawn of War II, W40k DWII Chaos Rising and W40k DWII Retribution; there's also a few older games such as Myth series where there is an emphasis on a small specialized set of units against difficult odds, plus some recent ones that share of the same DNA and could be a good fit are The Red Solstice, Starship Troopers Terran Command, Terminator Dark Fate Defiance;

■ Tactical real-time squad gameplay but controlled at an individual unit level: there's quite a few where you control a small squad of units but do it individually such as Shadow Tactics plus expansion, Partisans 1941, Commandos series, Helldorado series, The Valiant, etc

■ Base + Squad resources Management: all games in the XCOM series and the combat still has a tactical aspect although obviously not in real-time (XCOM 2 and Chimera Assault are good entries for newcomers - others that might be interesting just for the Tactical combat and their themes Gears of War Tactics, Warhammer Chaosgate Daemonhunters, Omerta, Wasteland series, Shadowrun series, etc) and also Darkest Dungeon I and II, specially when it comes to playing a game where you have to deal building a squad properly, setting up resources and specially a game where you have to deal with managing things going wrong during a mission due to the squad stress and in-fighting that generates as time passes.

■ Alien theme and mood: Alien Isolation (horror), Alien Versus Predator 2000 and Aliens vs. Predator™ (2010) are really good (action based and you can play with all different factions), Aliens Fireteam (horde shooter) and for a isometric hard stakes type of shooter there are a few games and series such as Alien Swarm, Alien Shooter series, Alien Breed series, Shadowgrounds series, Halo Spartan series, etc

Very enjoyable play through, good story and gameplay. It's squad combat kinda like xcom, but your squad must stay together to survive so it's more tactical than strategic in some sense. It has a slow down mechanic instead of pause or turn based so it's fast passed and a nice take on the genre, keeping the action very intense. It really captures the Aliens movie feel. Highly recommend.

It's good. Pretty hard, but a fun XCOM RTS like game.


-Just keep swimming.

Honestly one of the most slept on strategy games I've found. Gameplay is polished with some really fun mechanics. The gameplay reminds me of Balder's Gate 3 combat just without the turn system. Worth checking out!

Play with headphones on, in a dark room. I particularly love the stress mechanic.

A tough but fun game. Aliens Dark Descent felt like a combination of Xcom and classic Helldivers. Although it doesn't quite master any element, I think they combined a few different ideas into a game that managed to be very fun while being quite hard at times. I recommend this for any Alien fans that like games of this genre; however, it could have used some extra polish.

PROS:
Different marine classes with customization options and good RTS mechanics.
The visuals and audio really nail the atmosphere from the Alien movies.
A surprisingly decent story that would have fit in with the comic book series.

CONS:
Lots of bugs and glitches, but nothing game-breaking.
It felt excessively unforgiving at times, with a very steep learning curve.
I had to switch to DX11, as DX12 PC performance is very disappointing.

RTX 4080
AMD R9 7800X3D
64 GB DDR5 RAM
SATA SSD

All tactical turn-based strategy games want to be compared to XCOM. I've played them all and none ever came close... until now (edit: except Mutant Year Zero). This game actually does feel like XCOM all the way down to the straight-up copied troop selection screen, the base interface, and the impending doom clock of Alien aggression as the days pass by. If you love XCOM and the Alien universe, don't pass this one up. I overlooked it at release because all Alien games have been crap since AVP, but after seeing so many good reviews and 50% off sale, I jumped on it. And it was worth ever penny. Never played a TBS game that actually made me feel trepidation, but they managed to do it with the beautiful scenery of fucked-up Alien-infested space ships from the movies. They really captured the atmosphere of the Alien universe. What an unexpected gem! The Alien ai is pretty good and showcases the intelligence of the aliens when they go around the one little section of your flames that didn't cover a hallway, or barely sneak past the view range of a turret. My only complaints are I can't lay waste to every single xeno I see because of the stress meters always running up when they find you; and the fact that the aliens never climb the walls to get to you, but the game mechanics wouldn't work so well if that were the case; and that you can't individually control your squad mates to make a tight sniper shot around a corner. But the simplicity of controlling the whole squad works for this game anyway because you need all 4 marines to stay together to take down a xeno before they melee you and acid your whole squad.

10/10

Get snipers with silencer perk asap to take down xenos without being detected. And flame throwers XD (wasn't even gonna bother buying the flamethrower, but after reading some tips from other people, I'm glad I did! Beautiful...)

Aliens Dark Descent - 7.5/10 - A solid RTS game that makes you focus on where you're going and how quick you can get ambushed and absolutely wrecked by Aliens. I appreciate it's tone and feel to the game, and the sound design is great. The gameplay is solid but sometimes just far too hard at points to make it fun all the time. Overall a good game, I'd suggest any Alien fan to give it a go. Just be ready for a hefty challenge at times.

Very satisfying game, a 8/10.

If Alien: Isolation was similar to Alien 1, this Aliens: Dark Descent takes its source from Aliens (2).
X-Com like HQ where you control material production, research, events, marines and going into the missions.

Gameplay during the missions is really well thought and implemented. It involves stealth elements (trying to go through as quiet and as undetected as possible), with RTS and tactical-like component. You control your squad as a unit, but still can use the individual perks of each Marine as long as they are able to do so (meaning not dead or unconscious). The Aliens in all its variations feel like a tough enemy, diverse enough to not become boring, and put into the game with mechanics that make you stay constantly in your toes (the beeping signaling their distance, the sudden shifts in their routines, and how your aggressiveness creates an increase in their numbers and attract bigger aliens).

Sound and graphics are great, really inmersive experience, faithful to the Alien franchise. Story so far (played through 1/3 so far) makes it interesting for you to keep playing.

My wish would've been that the squad had more options: I get you cannot control individual members, that would make the game more like Desperados and Commandos, which doesn't really fit in a high-speed environment like Aliens. However, it would've been cool having different formation standards that you can choose from, or different attitudes presets when facing the enemy, so your squad would feel more dynamic rather than just a unit with each Marine's perks and flaws.

Still, highly recommended game if you like fast paced RTS games like Dawn of War 2, or games like X-Com but with realtime combat, and the Alien universe.

I've ALREADY passed this game to the end and start again after purchasing it in steam, I like it, but there are so many things to be fixed/improved... The game needs a patch!

Gameplay issues:
- every mission is almost the same - stealth in ghost town, no civils fighting for life, no defending them/evaq with decisions to save or use them as distraction for aliens, from lvl to lvl is all almost the same. You already used locations with static bots, why only at the beginning?? There was epic and cinematic (when facehuggers break into the room). On every lvl(in 99%) there is a boss - the aliens queen, oh... again, and again. Pals. you got nests, you got egs, facehuggers, praetorians, barrels, demolishable objects, why not to mix it
- alien that running toward the turret from the front side my start attack it from side or even behind, what makes the turrets totally useless at this moments, again 1 alien in tiny corridor may destroy the turret. nice)
- cinematic of loading the squad to ARC and arriving/take off from mission, totally 5th wheel, everyone will skip it, BUT, but, there is no "click to proceed" screen on game loading )
- you can skip dialogs in Otago(the base), but not in the lvl
- can't spook the alien in a vent, have to wait till goes away, if it's the only way... well, wait and wait... Give us an ability, if I'm ready to use the redemption point
- each. damn each auto-camera moment in game (when the game is showing you something) changes the angle when you obtain back the squad controls, so you need to adjust it back, every DAMN time. Same with map zoom after each re-opening
- can't hide codex shortcut from the game screen, same with button to focus on squad leader...
- when the day action appears and need to decide the troopers fate, how should I remember who is who if I didn't rename them? I see only the name and can't open his cart for lvl and perks details, NICE
- can't tell when will next difficulty level appear by that rectangle at screen top-right, yeah, it shows icons and colored rectangles that moves... Well, as I said I'm playing the game second time and still can't
clearly get the info
- YOU CAN'T choose the marine for action, so sometimes one of them will be "chosen" to perform ability, but he will stay behind some object or only on his way to your squad and you won't be able to do anything at all, that's not bad, that's just HORRIBL
- CAN'T use the map or even move the camera during squad re-deploying, wtf, can't even check what is waiting for me so in 90% of times better to go there on foot than extract right into the aliens
- marines that carry someone uses sub weapon (like pistol), again, if you trying to save someone, perhaps your other marine, you make one more fighter in a squad to be a useless unit, that barely moves and can't do any good dmg, it's more like to lose him



- BUGS:
- PDA that after receiving data are highlighted again and again, same with aliens
- in second mission the container after reloading is not reachable (not on the ground after reloading)
- empty legend panels after looting something
- after main mission is done, don't see the marker on ARC, so if you didn't hear the msg, you are on you own, to think what to do and is it a bug or what is going on
- if you have already opened the map and after got access to the cameras - you won't see them, need to re-open the map
- aliens that stack at one place and doesn't move
- ! my favorite: stuck unit(mostly when looted something). hello last saving, goodbye all progress
- after loading not showing cur difficult (aliens) lvl, but icons for crashers and massive attack presents
- full game freeze on loading
- can't detonate barrels in slow-mo mode or even exit it
- scanners (not always show the real covered area)
- scanners on map sometimes are lagging and you can't move the map smoothly
- phrases from marines doesn't always make sense - they should ask for a break after loading in safe room (after the break) or scream if their mine has detonated somewhere far away, like he killed the alien him self
- cool story: at first mission at the end you need to get a physician out of the nest, after aliens attack my marine dropped it and I missed that, coz the mission didn't highlight it, keeping showing me the ARC, so I withdraw from location and lost 1 day ) When I was back, I've to find the dropped body by my self, as I said the game highlight only the arc, nice. Someone could try to re-play the entire lvl or load somewhere fire behind his progress, OR refund the game, coz it to bugged

Ok with the bugs, in most cases, but the gameplay need a real polish.
Hope we will see the next game and there would be more pleasant experience

Highly RECOMMEND for people to play this game,
out of 10 i would give it a solid 9/10.

at the time of posting this this game has been added to gamepass so go and try it out

I tried this one on Xbox Gamepass and loved it. I've decided to buy the game on Steam and enjoying so far. It took 11 hours to finish %70 of the game. This game is hardly like XCOM. First of this game is not turn-based. More like Real-time strategy with the ability to pause/slow-mo and it's implemented very well. I can easily say that gameplay is really fluid and missions are hand-crafted. Various difficulty options to enchance your gameplay. Sadly the game doesn't offer much replayability. They didn't do much marketing for this game either. So don't expect updates or any changes at all. There are some bugs, you might have to re-do some missions. Devs left the game broken. If you're an achivement hunter you'll have to manually downgrade the game to previous versions to get some achievements. For me i can live with that. At least it's a playable and enjoyable Alien game.

Verdict: 8/10. A little marketing and a little more care and this could be a masterpiece. But we'll have to consume it as it is.

This game is excellent, a 5 out of 5 alien game.... until you want to do the harder difficulties and challenges. There are 2 or 3 achievements that are broken. You have to do some crazy version downgrade in steam to get them. New Game + is broken (it only works for whatever is in save slot 1 of 3). I spent hours trying to get my team to work for a 2nd new game + only to give up and download a save from Nexus to get the final achievements, because my saves would not work. There is a work around, but you need to have save slot 1 free for it to work and it is absurd. AND THEN sooooo many game breaking bugs in the final two missions, when I tried to get the final achievement on “No one can hear you scream” mode. For the final two missions on this mode just weld doors in safe rooms to save often. Otherwise you'll be doing the sections multiple times for very frustrating reasons.

That being said, if you do not care about the challenge of the achievements this game is excellent. I actually made a point to not let any of my marines die because they have a lot of personality just like the film. All the npc characters are cool too. The story isn't the worst alien story but the gameplay makes up for it. There is also a very cool dog fighting cut scene that's worth the price of admission.

This is a novel and entertaining game with a good story. It combines several well known genres of game in a unique way that I personally find very fun. It does have small glitches. They're annoying but I still recommend the game.

"I Like to keep this handy, for close encounters"
Love the "Aliens" story line but most of the games don't satisfy that I look for, that the movies deliver. Thus, this game has been on my radar for some time now and I am glad that I broke down and got it. I waited for a sale to happen and regret even having the thought for passing it up in my head. The beginning cut scene of the game, felt like I was watching a movie, in terms of the game building the plot etc. and it swept me right off of my feet on how good it was. In terms of visual aspect when first playing this reminded me of scenes from "BATTLETECH" with animations of a bit better than "Borderlands" but not on the same level of visual from it. The characters look like they are yelling by the jaw movement even though its a simple calm conversation (That does not deviate bad or good from my opinion).
As you progress in the game your in a overhead view of your character(s) that you control. Mainly being a point and click to where your character moves and shoots and does the interactive scenes. The controls are a bit different being that the characters that you control automatically shoot at a target like in RTS games that you would play. The squad commands that you can control on the firing is the suppressive fire location (Sector of fire) and the special abilities that your squad has. Essentially you are a over head squad leader. During the game play it has certain quotes from the movie "Aliens" Ripley 1986. Which got me into this game a bit more than it already did.
Once you get passed the prologue the game finally starts to develop and you find yourself a commander aboard the ship trying to save and help other people through out the game play from the ALIENS. The lay out of the ship and the missions reminds me of the game "XCOM" to the exact T... I really loved that game as well and now that it's in ALIENS game is just awesome.
In my opinion, this game is most definitely worth a full buy, however if you can get it on sale to save a few bucks, hey why not. But this game is something I can continue to play and continuously have fun doing it. AMAZING JOB DEVS!! MAKE ANOTHER ONE LIKE THIS

Really great game.
Absorbing, 24hrs in 4 days and finished on Medium.
Trama system is great, marines are great.
Graphics did pop in on every load and I saw lingering windows that won't go away when finished their task.

My only other issue is with 2 missions.
- 1 where you have to stealth or die. It's short but annoying and tedious.
- The second one was the final mission, a real let down to the whole game.
In the final mission, nothing you have done up to that point matters. You are given infinite health and ammo, except the very last 2 minutes where they let you die again, kinda.

The second to the last mission was massive and I was wondering how they were going to finish it off, oh with a mission that could have just been a 10 min cutscene cause my actions dont matter.

The 23 hr and 50 min I played was not ruined by the ending, still a great game.

I had so much fun with this game and it's the Aliens franchise too. I was skeptical about a real-time strategy game for this kind of series, but I personally think it worked out great. I have had so much fun trying to beat it on higher difficulties too!

9 hours in and I just finished the first mission in 3 deployments. Yes, the games is buggy as s***, but it's extremely fun (and scary tbh). I grew up playing Aliens vs Predator and Aliens Colonial Marines on PS3, and now Aliens Fireteam Elite on PS5, and Aliens Dark Descent on PC; AND ITS BEEN A TOTAL BLAST.
8.5/10 due to the annoying bugs and lack of dev support