Aliens meets XCOM in this intense real-time strategy game - Aliens: Dark Descent Quick Review
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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Play it if you’re a fan of the Aliens franchise or like RTS games. Aliens: Dark Descent blends squad-based tactics with survival horror, resulting in a tense and rewarding game with some truly unique elements. The Aliens franchise has a bumpy track record, but this title manages to capture the feeling of the 1986 film while still delivering a satisfying game. I encountered a few bugs during my playtime, but they weren’t a major problem, and I can confidently recommend this game in its current state. I’m a huge fan of both Aliens and strategy games, so this title was tailor-made for me, but it’s accessible enough to appeal to a much wider audience.
TIME PLAYED
I played around seven hours of Aliens: Dark Descent, which got me through the prologue and the first two missions of the game. Some sections of the opening tutorial were a little tedious, but things really picked up once the Colonial Marines arrived. Once I had a marine squad, I could travel to planets, search for survivors, and shoot the alien hordes that crossed my path. When I was back at base, I spent lots of time customizing and upgrading my recruits. The game offers a diverse selection of classes and lots of useful skills, so I could turn my favorite marines into absolute powerhouses. I got pretty attached to my squad, and since the game has permadeath, I found myself reaching for the reset button every time I saw a xenomorph dragging one of my favorite marines away.
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Streamlined tactical gameplay. Aliens: Dark Descent let me control a team of four marines and eventually expanded my squad size to five. Instead of making me issue unique commands to each team member, I was able to control my squad as one unit. This made it much easier for get around the map and deal with alien threats. When I needed to do something specific, like heal a soldier, it would automatically select the best unit for the job. I really appreciated this simplified take on RTS gameplay. There’s enough strategic depth here to please die-hard tactics game fans, but the game is also accessible to players that are new to this genre.
• Tense alien encounters. Dark Descent isn’t quite as scary as Alien: Isolation, but it can get pretty intense, especially if your squad has been in the same location for a while. Whenever my marines fired a gun or got spotted by a xenomorph, the other aliens in the area went on high alert. Sometimes, they’d kick off a hunt, which meant small groups of aliens would repeatedly try to take down my team. When things got really bad, I would get a warning that a massive onslaught was coming. A timer would tick down, letting me know how much time I had to prepare for a terrifying wave of enemies. I had to scramble to set up sentry guns in a desperate attempt to keep my team alive. This mechanic turns every in-game mission into a nail-biter, and I found myself getting nervous whenever I detected nearby aliens on my tracker.
• Unique stress mechanics. Getting bombarded by armies of aliens is already pretty intense, but Dark Descent kicks things up a notch by giving your marines a stress meter. During a deployment, the stress level of each marine would gradually rise, and certain events, like a near-death encounter or an acid attack, would cause those levels to skyrocket. I managed those stress levels by welding doors shut so that my squad could rest, but when I couldn’t give them a break, things quickly got out of control. High stress levels weakened my marines’ combat abilities, and if I left them stressed for too long, they could become traumatized, which caused them to develop negative traits. Coping with stress became a key part of my strategy and changed the way I handled my deployments.
• You can split up missions. The missions in Aliens: Dark Descent can get pretty long, but thankfully, I never had to finish them in one go. As long as I navigated my squad to the right location, I could send them back to base at any time. This gave me a chance to upgrade my recruits, get them medical treatment, and restock on supplies. Retreating to my base also lowered the alien threat levels, which made it easier to tackle objectives. I like strategy games with long, large maps, but it can be frustrating to play the same map for hours without a break. Being able to retreat made things easier on my marines, and it also let me make progress on a map even when I could only play for twenty minutes or so.
WHAT SUCKS
• Your squad won’t stop talking. Even though my team was surrounded by deadly creatures, they weren’t interested in keeping quiet. Whether I was moving forward, welding a door shut, or just standing still, they always had something to say. Not only are the marines chatty, but they repeat the same phrases over and over, which gets annoying pretty quickly. I got so sick of hearing things like “Double time, marines!” and “Hurry up, you slugs” that I wound up muting my game.
• It’s a little buggy. I encountered several bugs during my Dark Descent playthrough, and it seems like other players are having similar problems. Most of the time the game runs fine, but every now and then, I’d encounter an issue. I had more than one crash when I tried to take my squad back to the base, and at one point, a map completely failed to load, leaving my marines in total darkness. None of the bugs I’ve seen are game-breaking, but it might be worthwhile to wait for a patch.
💬Will you become the ultimate badass in Aliens: Dark Descent, or is it game over, man? Let us know in the comments!
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