For a film series ostensibly about lashings of sci-fi horror, it’s an oddity that the most enduringly popular entry is the action-filled 1986 sequel. Decades later it remains a fan favorite, with several video games of varying quality owing their existence to it. The best of these, Aliens: Dark Descent, is on sale right now and it’s hit a new historical low price on Steam.
Aliens: Dark Descent is one of those games that makes you wonder why it hasn’t been tried before. A squad-based tactical RTS game, it pits your team of marines against a variety of threats – with the titular aliens being most prominent. If you’re a fan of XCOM, Phoenix Point, or Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus you’ll be right at home – though this is a faster paced affair, with real-time decisions you’ll have to quickly make in the heat of battle.
The thing that Aliens: Dark Descent does best is make you feel like you really are hovering over events from the film, even though this is set in a completely different location. Your marines lay down covering fire, watch for incoming bleeps on a motion tracker, and await victory or death from alien menaces in abandoned Weyland-Yutani facilities. While it’s not the most in-depth of tactical experiences – you cannot control individual marines, it’s the whole unit or nothing – it absolutely nails the vibe of the 1986 original, something other attempts failed to do. Aliens: Colonial Marines, I’m looking at you.
Away from the vibe, another thing this game does incredibly well is tie together the 12 missions into one cohesive, continuous experience. Not only do you level up your marines and unlock new options, your failures will also come back to haunt you. Get a soldier wounded and they’ll have to be healed before they can re-join the fray, making you have to pass time between missions in order to see them get fighting fit again. Worse, if they die – that’s it, that marine you’ve spent so long on and leveled up is gone for good. It leads you to play cautiously, which is exactly what you would do were you faced with oncoming teeming hordes of alien creatures.
Aliens: Dark Descent is on sale until Thursday July 25 with 50% off, taking its price down to $19.99 / £17.49 down from $39.99 / £34.99. Head over to Steam to add it to your arsenal.
You can also take a look at our guide to the best PC games you can play in 2024, as well as our picks for the best strategy games out there right now.
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