If there’s any franchise that’s been ill-used and horribly abused, it’s Aliens. It seems like a simple premise, and was a brilliant movie which still holds up even today. Yet, many games have fumbled the execution. However, Focus Entertainment, working with developer Tindalos Interactive (Battlefleet Gothic), is looking to try again with Aliens: Dark Descent.
The first trailer, shown at Summer Game Fest, starts on a windswept and lonely looking outpost on some godforsaken world sometime during the 22nd Century. A Colonial Marine sits in a room, seemingly undergoing a post-mission debrief by a pair of silhouetted figures, seen only from the back. The team was clearing a facility when they came across the Xenomorphs. Clearly, they’ve gotten a little smarter, using a corpse to suck the fire team into an ambush. The fire team is quickly taken down, the surviving Marine leaving one of his comrades behind by sealing the door behind him, much to her surprise.
The survivor finishes his debrief, and we find out that the unknown facility the Marines were clearing is Tantalus Base. The figures we believed were conducting the debrief are dead. The Xenomorphs have closed in for the final kill. The survivor prays that somebody will find out what happened right before the shot slams to black.
Tindalos Interactive is an interesting choice, but they’re a known quantity and have a demonstrated track record for licensed properties. The game’s website suggests a Warhammer 40K: Daemongate style of gameplay, with customizable characters and roguelike elements, and promises a persistent world where your squad’s actions echo into future missions.
Aliens: Dark Descent is tentatively scheduled for a 2023 release.
