The Alien franchise has been having somewhat of a resurgence in the video games space lately. Last year, Cold Iron Studio and Focus Home Interactive released Aliens: Fireteam Elite, a multiplayer third-person shooter with a focus on action rather than survival horror — much more reminiscent of James Cameron's Aliens movie sequel. Focus Home Interactive is back with another Aliens game revealed today during the Summer Game Fest.
Aliens: Dark Descent is a single-player, squad-based action game in which you command a squad of Colonial Marines to stop a terrifying Xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. A cinematic trailer provided a bit of backstory as Sergeant Leo Alvarez, of the CM Lethe Recon squad, describes his first encounter with "a new kind of evil" on Tantalus Base. The trailer gives off some serious James Cameron Aliens vibes as we see the squad of soldiers desperately trying to escape the onslaught as well as how Alvarez managed to get away.
Unfortunately, we only get a very brief glimpse of gameplay at the end of the trailer, but the description sounds promising.
Infiltrate large open levels and annihilate enemies with your squad, dispatching orders strategically and intuitively at the touch of a button. Tread carefully, as your foes will adapt their tactics to your actions while hunting you down because death is permanent. Forge unique paths for survival, uncovering shortcuts, creating safe zones, and setting up motion trackers in a persistent world where your actions impact levels forever.
You'll be able to customize your squad by selecting different classes and level up and specialize your individual soldier with unique abilities, weapons, armor, and special perks. As you progress through the campaign, you'll be able to develop your base which will allow you to research new tech and improve your squad further. Your decisions and loadouts will be important as it's not just Xenomorphs you'll be facing, but rogue operatives from Weyland-Yutani Corporation and "a host of horrifying creatures new to the Alien franchise."
Aliens: Dark Descent is slated to release in 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.