Aliens: Dark Descent review: The Prometheus of RTS games

Aliens Dark DescentIt is described as a “real-time action” game. The real-time-strategy classification has been avoided. This new designation is not just a marketing ploy. Tindalos Interactive’s single-player game is a tension-filled experience which flirts with a variety of genre traits while maintaining a unique and ambitious style. Like the Alien film franchise, this game has divided opinion. PrometheusIts experimentation struggles to keep a creative energy throughout.

Dark Descent Many RTS games have a focus on resource gathering, technology improvement and building bases. This game does the opposite. It deliberately strips away or narrows down these aspects. There’s no real-time macro layer to speak of, with the moment-to-moment focus on the micro actions of maneuvering your team of four USMC soldiers. It’s akin to StarCraft campaign missions where you’re exploring with just a handful of Terran marines. This spotlights the tension around specific named characters and their survival: Instead of ore and minerals, you’re worried about ammo and stress. And when one of your grunts is slaughtered — or worse, carried away by an Alien drone to be impregnated — it fosters grief and regret. It’s a game that will stay with you forever.

You’re eased into this framework with a 45-minute tutorial, which also functions as a prologue to the greater story. It’s good to have a longer introduction, since the system is a little odd and has some unusual tactics.

Most of the most advanced tactical systems revolve around command centers. This resource is used to create cones of suppression fire, powerful shotgun blasts at short range, or spit fire walls to defend your position. The game can’t be paused, but you can use slow motion when opening the menu. It’s imperative you attain comfort with this system quickly, as it’s the heart of tactical decision making during the high-intensity conflict.

This tutorial will also help you to learn how to use this tool. Dark DescentAt its most banal. Action sequences lack creativity and offer few tactical or creative options. It flirts with danger in not attempting to hook a new player, failing to highlight the game’s strengths or entertaining cinematic combat. It is followed by a similar rote plot, starting with an Weyland Yutani corporate story complete with a frightening synthetic human. There are moments later in the campaign which similarly slip into predictability, and it’s in these stages where the game threatens to loosen its grip on your attention.

The various subsystems which make up the battle texture are what creates the most intrigue. Clicking around and maneuvering are not particularly exciting. What’s more, you can’t send a solitary trooper or smaller fireteam to defend a position or perform a flanking maneuver; the squad is forced to stick together. It keeps things streamlined but also reduces the depth of tactical thinking. This can also lead to some repetitive sequences as you try to keep long, narrow sights to drive approaching hordes into bottlenecks beneath your withering gunfire. The game does keep the gameplay simple. They are all richly detailed and have great scope. The game allows you to explore sprawling space colonies, massive docks and sections that are encased with xenomorphs. This is further enhanced by the role-playing and open-world elements of the game. It’s in these periods of tentative, heavily armed exploration where Dark DescentTake off with a real bang

There are moments of creativity and beauty. While you are traversing massive sectors with both interior and exterior combat zones, you’re unexpectedly swarmed by xenomorphs of all shapes and sizes. It adapts its tactics to you, avoiding defensive weapons like sentry guns or walls of fire. You have to contend with facehuggers and acid blood, and it feels as though you’re actually being hunted. Your soldiers will be forced to face their psychological traumas by locking themselves in rooms and using welding torches.

While on missions, your troopers can learn new abilities and research gear. You can pour experience and resources into your barracks. This layer, clearly inspired by Firaxis’ XCOM games, creates a wonderful loop of steadily increasing your soldiers’ potency only to make them an even juicier target for the xenomorphs. It’s sharp and memorable, and it leads to some great emergent storytelling moments.

What is the best way to get in touch with you? Dark DescentMission selection pushes XCOM beyond. The campaign is somewhat linear, but it achieves an open-world feel by allowing you to uncover new areas of the world map — various settlements and installations on the planet Lethe, which is undergoing a global crisis. While it’s required that you complete the main story objectives in each sector, you can also return to each one to scrounge up missing items and complete sub-tasks at a later time. Dark Descent’s structure even allows you to evacuate mid-mission, preserving the mental and physical health of your squad members after it all goes sideways. I’ve had extreme moments of highs and lows, as I’ve evacuated multiple times when pursuing certain objectives, salvaging what I could and placing my squad in the med-bay before re-deploying with new roster members. This will only intensify the alien menace over time if you repeat it too many times. This creates an illusion of a persistent environment, one that’s evolving of its own autonomy.

Aliens Dark DescentIt can be ambitious and sometimes even indiscreet. Some may want a less intimate, more terrifying experience. Alien IsolationThis isometric challenge offers a wealth of rewards and consequences. This may not be the most coherent or exceptional Alien video game we’ve seen, but it’s certainly noteworthy and imaginative.

Aliens Dark Descent It is now available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows PC. Xbox One and Xbox Series X are also supported. Focus Home Interactive provided a retail version of the game for review. Vox Media is affiliated with other companies. Vox Media earns commissions from affiliate products, although this doesn’t influence the editorial content. This is where you can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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