For me, a massive fan of the universe, Alien games are few and far between. Good Alien games are even fewer and farther between. But, among various titles of questionable quality or even complete blunders, *cough* Colonial Marines *cough*, a gem shimmers from time to time. 2014’s Alien: Isolation was one of those gems.
Let me not beat around the bush too much. Aliens Dark Descent is to Isolation what the second film is to the first. You’re no longer mano-a-mano with the almighty xenomorph. This time, they brought friends.
Aliens Dark Descent is a real-time tactics game not dissimilar to W40k’s Dawn Of War or the successful XCOM series. It may be a departure from claustrophobic first-person action but never has such a switch-up made so much sense. Coupled with ingenious, innovative controls where your marines squad controls pretty much as a single character, the tense atmosphere of the all too familiar setting, fantastic play between shadow and light, and devilish difficulty, it’s nothing less than my game of the year so far.
Aliens Dark Descent is available now on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. Don’t let the acid hit you.
