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Aliens: Dark Descent
Released On: Jun 20, 2023
75
8.1
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 68 Critic Reviews
75
62% Positive
42 Reviews
42 Reviews
32% Mixed
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
3% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 68 Critic Reviews
75
62% Positive
42 Reviews
42 Reviews
32% Mixed
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
3% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Aliens: Dark Descent is a heart-pounding game that stays true to the franchise's roots, bringing action-packed sequences paired with horrifying atmosphere where dangers lurk around every moment. From the terrifying enemy AI to the Unique Quirks that define every soldier at your disposal, Aliens: Dark Descent is the perfect recipe for those who seek a definitive Aliens experience.
Aliens: Dark Descent is an excellent real-time tactics game mixed with survival horror and arguably the best Aliens game around. Excellent tactical action in a world ever-succumbing to the Xenomorph threat, you will find resources scarce, leading to difficult decisions, ones made all the more difficult when time is also a factor. Add on an engaging enough story and an excellent atmosphere, and you have a game that I can't help but recommend to anybody and everybody.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 91 User Ratings
8.1
76% Positive
69 Ratings
69 Ratings
14% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
10% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 91 User Ratings
8.1
76% Positive
69 Ratings
69 Ratings
14% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
10% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
Best game since Alien Isolation. i have so many hours in it already, and I hope there will be many more games just like this
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PC
Excellent game which is brutally hard. Felt like I was in the aliens franchise. The work the Devs put in to create the aliens universe was fantastic. Play the game with surround sound system. The sounds and effects/music is mind-blowing
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PC
Aliens: Dark Descent marries its inspirations with reverence for its source material to create arguably the best Aliens game of all time.
With Aliens: Dark Descent Tindalos Interactive merges one of the coolest sci-fi-horror licenses of the last decades with a cleverly designed realtime tactics foundation. Combined with permadeath mechanics, challenging enemies and a persistent world that allows you to retreat if things get too dangerous, players will experience high levels of tension. Despite a remaining technical problems, deficits in the number of alien types you encounter and a sometimes too predictable plot, Dark Descent still snatches our insider’s tipp award for June 2023.
If all of its technical issues can be fixed, Aliens: Dark Descent will prove to be something special. It treats the franchise with respect and care — and when working properly — it nails the tension the series is famous for. Unfortunately, a full, completed release simply should not have this many technical issues, nor cause so much frustration that has nothing to do with the aliens themselves.
If not for the technical issues, this would be easily one of the best Aliens games ever. And it still probably is. Borrowing from some of the greatest squad-based tactics games and adding its own twists, I don't think I've played anything that really gets what was so cool about Aliens, the film, since Monolith's Aliens Versus Predator 2 way back in 2001. And many have tried! It's the sort of game that makes me wish I could look the other way and praise it even higher, but on balance, I just can't. With a few weeks in the med bay for a bit of extra technical polish, it could shine up nicely into something amazing. As-is, it's still an intriguing, inspired, imaginative survival RTS that I can enthusiastically recommend, but only with some caveats.
Dark Descent is a generic XCOM clone with brief moments of engaging puzzle-piecing strategy. The horror is underused and feels wholly out of place as it pushes you further and further into action. Music is adrenaline-pumping and clearly designed to compliment firefights, troops yell ‘LET’S GO TEAM’ every time you move, and xenomorphs are easier to mow down than avoid. Nothing about Dark Descent wants you to be scared, but everything about Aliens does. Mix in the cocktail of performance issues and thin mechanics, and what you have is another disappointing entry in the catalogue of Alien games.
Amazing game
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PC
Aliens: Dark Descent expands upon the beloved franchise via a genre it has rarely visited in the past. TINDALOS has done a good job of replicating the feeling of anxiousness and stress when faced with the IP's iconic antagonist, although the game can sometimes be hit-or-miss with its mechanics. Nonetheless, the respect towards the core material shines through every instance and one can feel the love and care that went into the creation of the game.
In-Depth Review: YouTube /watch?v=Dgmt4S6ZS7o
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PC
I wanted to give the game a higher score, but the cons were too vivid.
Pros.:
- It is a nice attempt to blend real-time games with the X-Com aesthetics like squad management, base management, etc.
- There are memorable characters in this game. Like the protagonist.
- Aliens universe.
- Cinematics are cool. They unwrap the story well.
- Some references to the Alien: Isolation. Especially with the synthetics, and their design.
- Gradual raise of difficulty.
Cons.:
- Absolutely ridiculous anticlimactic ending.
- Too many static characters in the game.
- Some upgrades do not make any sense and are never used.
- Alien movement almost always lead to you.
- Too many bugs like wasting your precious tools or aliens stuck in front of an unfinished wield of the door. You have to reload the whole last batch of action, which is a waste of time for sure.
- The worst part probably is the last mission. You grind your way, trying to play best to have a mission with invulnerable characters with minimum abilities. What the ...???
- The most minor cons are some SJW vibes - all white characters are either evil or psychos (btw, why the protagonist's voice is not Asian?). It is a minor issue compared to the bizarre design of the marines - their models are horrible.
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PC
Technical problems - mouse lag in vsync mode - didn't see this one for years. Even turning on tripple buffering in nvidia drivers didn't solve the problem. Overall game felt clanky at times with frame skipping or something. I run it on RTX3070, Ryzen 7 58003D with 32GB ram, so hardware was not the problem, and as an IT guy i know what im doing with it. Regarding presentation, voice acting is _really_ bad, at times actors read their lines like in children cartoon or puppet show, breaking immersion. I don't know who wrote script for this game, but that person clearly hates men, portraying all of them as incompetent bullies towards strong, competent, diverse female lead. It was enough for me to refund the game pretty quickly.
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PC
The "gamplay" is NOT a XCOM clone as one outlet called it. Its not turn based, you can not position your squad members individually and the gameplay on the difficulty above normal ranges from boring to frustrating trail and error. There is no "strategy" to the gameplay. You may try to sneak but that is basically it. The same boring waves of alients get sent at you. The gameplay is spam granades and shotgun ability while walking backwards and if you have a long ling of sight you can use supresive fire or basically all at once vs the stonger enemies. The game boringly also warns you about every big fight coming so you can prepare and set up turrents and smart gun tripods. I mean it eases the frustration but it feels just boring.
When the hive turns "hard" you bascially have to leave, the game tells you this and its true. There is basically nothing for you to strategize other then not runshing into enemies and healing when you ahve to heal and spamming abilites. I really am baffled by what people see in this game. Its just a boring trial and error that you may just get overwhelmed and have to reaload and setup a sentry or something to make it better not with some great "strategy" but just because you know what is coming.
I am not even a super big fan or turn based combat but I really enjoyed XCOM. It has A LOT more to offer and for you to actually strategize and make decisions other then a to be forced to extract at a certain point in a mission.
Then there is the fact that you can not rest when you have one guy injured in the ARC for whatever stupid reason, or its a bug. I also had a bug where rest was basically not available and I wasted wrenches welding doors for nothing. I think about not even finishing the game. The base also as no base building AT ALL so again NOT like XCOM at all. Some tiny similarities but a very bad game design poor mans version if it.
Graphically is looks nice, but feels too forced dark. Wasted potential. It COULD be a great game but its for sure is not.
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PC
Summary In Aliens: Dark Descent, command a squad of hardened Colonial Marines to stop a terrifying Xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. Lead your soldiers in real-time combat against iconic Xenomorphs, rogue operatives from the insatiable Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and a host of horrifying creatures new to the Alien franchise. Infiltrate large ope...
Platforms:
- PlayStation 5
- PC
- Xbox Series X
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Jun 20, 2023
Developer:
- Tindalos Interactive
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Genres:
