Aliens: Dark Descent

Aliens: Dark Descent is a real-time strategy video game developed by Tindalos Interactive in collaboration with Disney's 20th Century Games and published by Focus Entertainment. Set in the Alien universe, the game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on June 20, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Gameplay

The Dark Descent story is set in the year 2198, 19 years after the events of the original trilogy films. It is a real-time strategy video game played from a top-down perspective. Players need to issue commands to a squad of four colonial marines, who must battle the Xenomorphs and rogue agents from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The game features five starting character classes, each with their own unique weapons and abilities. While combat happens in real time, players can briefly slow time to a crawl in order to issue commands or set up an ambush. Players are encouraged to explore the moon station, discovering short cuts and deploying motion trackers which allows players to track alien movements. They can also use an electrical saw to open locked doors, or weld a door shut as they retreat from one room to another. The changes to level layout are permament. Welding a door may stop the Xenomorphs from advancing, but it may also block the player's route in subsequent visits.

Between missions, players can upgrade and customize their characters. Players need to maintain not only the physical health but also the mental health of these characters. Each character has their own mental traits. Their combat performance may be affected if they were put under too much strain. They may miss their shots, behave irrationally, or even sabotage the player's mission. Squad members may die permanently after being attacked. Players can evacuate during a mission to prevent losing the entire squad.[3] According to the developer, each mission in the game lasts "anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour".