Aliens: Dark Descent can best be described as a top-down tactical squad shooter with resource management elements in between levels. It takes place in the universe based on the Ridley Scott's 1979 horror film 'Alien' which has since had a plethora of movies, games, and reboots to date. The games in particular do not have the best track record so when this one was announced I didn't really pay all that much attention to it. This year, I picked it up on sale and was pleasantly surprised at what I got.


During the missions the four, and later five, marine squad moves as one unit. The squad leader carries the iconic motion tracker that scans the area and gives you an audio-visual indicator on how far the moving object is helps you be ready for any approaching threats. As the team moves through the poorly lit environments you can hold down your left click to have the closest marine shine their flashlight in that direction highlighting supplies, data pads, and lootable corpses. Clicking on interactable elements will send out the indicated marine to perform the action, leaving them defenseless and your fireteam one gun down while they’re busy.

At any point you can slow down or, if you change the difficulty settings, stop time and get a list of all your team’s abilities in the form of a toolbar. Depending on your teams’ upgrades, equipment, and classes you get access to new weapons such as flamethrowers and landmines to augment your tactics and give you more solutions to being outnumbered and out-clawed. The longer you stay deployed, however, the more difficult the mission gets. At the top right of the screen the difficulty level is indicated by a rising temperature gauge starting at ‘easy’ and working its way up to ‘medium’ and ‘hard’. At any point throughout the mission you can pull your squad back to the APC they deployed from and extract back to the base, and another squad can be redeployed to pick up their progress right where they dropped off and a reset difficulty gauge

In my opinion a highlight of the gameplay is the stress management. As your squad continues to operate and fight their way through the hostile environments their stress levels will being to build. As their stress begins to pile on they will begin to crack. At first the effects might be minor; their accuracy will take a hit, or they might become disobedient delaying you from issuing commands. If the pressure continues to build they will eventually gain ‘traumas’ which are semi-permanent debuffs like longer reloads or acute stress gain when facing a particular enemy type.

The game does a good job of not being too ‘same-y’ with the missions. Pretty much every map has unique objectives and side quests to achieve with creative modifiers. A particularly memorable example of this is finding an infested research station and having to make the decision whether your squad can trust the civilians that they find or have them execute them for being suspected cultists, a decision which can be aided by uncovering data pad entries on the map.

Between missions you head back to the Otago, a beached USCMC vessel turned into a makeshift base. Here you will manage resources, heal & promote your troops, and research upgrades for your weapons and equipment. As you pass the day you will usually be given the opportunity to forgo your mission deployment in lieu of gaining extra supplies, staff, or research materials.

If this all sounds reminiscent of XCOM it’s because it very much is. The gameplay loop is, at the very least, inspired by the classic strategy game which can be seen in UI elements like the troop deployment screen and ‘end of the world’ timer during the base management. I will say that the game’s management aspects do not go as in depth as XCOM, and the similarities are limited to the overall structure of the game rather than an explicit 1:1 copy (i.e. XCOMs turn-based combat and Aliens: Dark Descent’s real-time combat are not at all comparable). I do think, though, that if you enjoyed XCOM that you would deeply enjoy this game as well.


While I am not an Aliens buff it’s clear that the source material is well respected here, at least in terms of art direction. The atmosphere here is phenomenal. Throughout the campaign you will find yourself deploying to derelict colonies, murky space stations, and claustrophobic mines infested with aliens. Weyland-Yutani’s dirty fingerprints are seen everywhere from the blood-soaked floors with their logos to the clandestine corporate skyscraper turned into a makeshift fortress. The soldier’s flashlights at times will feel like they’re being swallowed by the inky darkness that can be hiding a xenomorph around any corner, and walking down a long corridor to suddenly see a blip on the motion tracker approaching your team from behind can make you clench up. The models on the characters and aliens are high quality and are well modeled. Customization of the marines is limited but they can be made distinct enough. There’s also a host of collectable data pads that contribute to the world building, but these serve as garnish to the incredible environmental storytelling.

The game does not need a NASA rig to run, but it pays dividends to have the eye candy turned up all the way since the shadows and backdrops contribute so much to the overall atmosphere of the game.


By FAR the weakest element of this game is the story. The game focuses in on Maeko Hayes: a high ranking Weyland-Yutani administrator turned interim commander. Her dynamic between NCO Jonas Harper, a marine with a mysterious knack for knowing when the xenomorphs are attacking, is the overarching plot.

I have next to nothing good to say about the writing here; it comes off as contrived and corny. You’ve got the overdone totally not evil science man that, guess what, turns out to be evil. Quotes from the original movies (e.g. “Game over, man!”) are dropped for a cheap nostalgia quip and it just doesn’t land at all. Marines will huff and pant when taking cover when all they did was stroll over. The dialogue in general is stiff and doesn’t feel natural at all.

Aliens: Dark Descent has this obnoxious habit of interjecting major plot points with these mini-levels where you play as Maeko to progress the plot. The ending set piece is by FAR the worst offender here. Throughout the course of the game, you spend countless hours cultivating and upgrading your marines into the A-team that they’ll inevitably become. Obviously after becoming invested in the squad the final mission will be an epic culmination of your soldiers confronting the big bad, right?

Nope, instead (SPOILERS AHEAD) you play as the administrator and two random side characters who confront a titan-class xenomorph. Not only that, but the two side characters just get offed instantly and somehow this non-military bureaucrat who spent 99% of the game in a suit is able to hold off this giga alien WITH THE BASE UNUPGRADED PULSE RIFLE?! So instead of sending down the marine squad that is armed to the teeth with sentries, rocket launchers, and plasma rifles you’re telling me that Maeko was some secret super solider this entire time? This ending was such a slap in the face narrative and gameplay-wise that it seriously soured an otherwise great game.


To me this game was a great proof-of-concept. I would love to see a second Dark Descent game that takes the gameplay elements here and expands on it with more levels, upgrades, enemy types, stressors for the soldiers, and (for the love of god) better writing. I still think this is an excellent game worth at least a playthrough, and you can expect to spend about 20 to 30 hours on your first run.