In the fight for survival in space there are no winners and losers, but predators and prey. In Aliens: Dark DescentDespite being a strategy game, there are many more of the first… And I can tell you in advance that from its initial bars it is clear that we have to assume that second role. And, despite this, the more you internalize and adapt to that nightmare, the more the sensations and immersion align with the 20th Century Fox saga. Something that is and should be prevailing.
For practical purposes, Aliens: Dark Descent a strategy and survival game with curious (and accurate) parallels with two games that are nothing like it: Diablo’s ARPG and the classic Commandos. There is action in both, and the need to traverse and navigate treacherous twisted spaces. Progression and understanding of what is happening between the walls (and where the danger is coming from) is absolutely critical.
And yet, all those common ideas end up leading to different sensations. Aliens: Dark Descent It has its own touches of ARPG and the team management is transcendental, but above all it is a game of tactical strategy in real time. With Colonial Marines, by the way.
Tindalos Interactive It sweeps home when it comes to playing with the franchise born in movie theaters, expanded in practically all media and very well established on PCs and consoles. What’s more, his way of capturing in the form of a video game what is expected of that complex, dark and sinister universe of science fiction with fidelity is a success. But, on the other hand, Aliens: Dark Descent It’s a very fucking game. The one who warns is not a traitor, and the truth is that they already advance it to you from its initial bars.
But of course, when the general premise is to survive a Xenomorph outbreak on a moon far from God’s hand, the last thing the player can expect is for the experience to be a bed of roses. The good news: in the absence of an army, at our disposal we will control a squadron of Colonial Marines. And the more powerful they are, the more likely we are to escape this madness. Above all, when our starting point is also the worst scenario imaginable for humanity itself.
A legitimate foray into the Alien universe
Twisted mega-corporate interests, androids whose allegiance to humanity is unclear, infrastructure in which half the panels that emit little lights are cracked. An incessant fight against what you can’t see, but that you know is stalking you.
Aliens: Dark Descent It is an experience that masterfully captures the atmosphere of the best films in the film saga, but in the end it all comes down to two crucial elements: extreme survival and teamwork.
Survival is something that is difficult to apply to strategy and in this game it is done with an insulting naturalness. It is put by some wide, open and reactive scenarios to our decisions and actions, what really brings a special depth to each game is the way in which the strategy has been raised in real time.
Not through moving rivers of soldiers, like in the games of total war either Age of Empires, but based on making tactical decisions on the fly with a small group but highly specialized in specific functions. What’s more, that management is one of the greatest successes of the video game.
Although, throughout the prologue we will be taught to function as a single administrative of the Weyland-Yutani armed with a sad pistol that will not even tickle the Xenomorphs, through these bars we begin to internalize essential elements such as the importance of to develop in dark maps poorly lit with our flashlight or to use stealth and the design of each area to our advantage.
And be careful, this is a prologue in which they can easily take you ahead repeatedly.
The big problem comes when we jump from the frying pan to the stove: after the debacle derived from a leak of xenomorphs in the ship in which we were traveling (and after having a good feast with the crew) we ended by force in Lethea planet that is experiencing an outbreak of xenomorphs.
And despite the fact that everything was said like this without bad news, it is then when the greatness of Aliens: Dark Descent manifests itself: after encountering the Colonial Marines, the game becomes completely addictive. And terrifying.
Space terror in the key of strategy
Despite its presentation, in the form of a Top-Down action game, the strategy, unit management and survival experience is omnipresent and, together with the setting itself, prevails over everything else.
The first big milestone passes through the Squad Behavior System that Tindalos so that each unit reacts to what happens and accommodates to instructions in the most efficient way, achieving the feeling that the group functions as a single well-assembled unit; although we always have control of what happens or what kind of recruits we take to each mission.
Something that is of vital importance since, as we already mentioned, Aliens: Dark Descent It is not a walk but a real nightmare in the form of a strategy game. Not only because of the setting, but also because of conditions that go beyond the circumstances, such as the way in which stress and nervous breakdowns affect our units and their performance or a system of permanent death for the units of our squad.
whereupon, in Aliens: Dark Descent It is not enough to understand what is happening, but to attend to priorities during the development of each game. Strengthening the sensation of survival and terror while we manage each action.
That said, and to give more emphasis to the strategic element and give us a much-needed margin in the most desperate situations, by activating the abilities of our Marines the course of time slows down, being one of the essential mechanics of this experience despite not being treated of a resource that we can use indefinitely.
And while our squad adapts to circumstances, the environments and enemies are also reactive to our actions. As expected from games alien, the creatures that assault us will take into account what is happening or what we are doing. What’s more, the same will apply to the rest of the threats that are not of xenomorph origin and that, sooner rather than later, end up being revealed. during the course of the campaign.
Aliens: Dark Descent is one of the most fucking games of all 2023. As it should be
There are strategy games that are Machiavellian, and then there is Aliens: Dark Descent. And that’s not bad, mind you. In its DNA there are elements of very different genres that converge in different ways to crystallize in an experience of strategy and space survival accurately faithful to what any production based on the saga of alien. And that implies that the protagonists of it -that is, we- are going to have a hard time.
I am not one of those who usually fall flat in the first levels of a video game. In Aliens: Dark Descent I admit that I had to repeat the prologues repeatedly. My stubbornness, for the record, since the game itself offers you four difficulty levels (plus a custom one) and I refused to go down to the Medium level until I had passed the introductory section.
From there, I contemplated with different eyes the options that were offered to me.
And it is that when you just choose the difficulty a message appears that quotes “Aliens: Dark Descent is a difficult game that offers unique gameplay“It is impossible to refuse the challenge. Having reached the basic objective, opening the door to having at least a couple of save points with which to consider how and in what circumstances to resume the game seemed much more than reasonable to me. Above all, facing to what is to come.
I have played more than ten hours a Aliens: Dark Descent and I am fully aware that I have not even a third of the challenge that opens before me. But I guarantee two things right away: the Tindalos Interactive game is one of the best and most original adaptations of the Alien universe brought to video games and I have the same determination as Lieutenant Ripley to get out of it.
Not out of stubbornness, but because this nightmare genuinely has me trapped.
For now, the launch of Aliens: Dark Descent It is scheduled for June 20, 2023 on PC, as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The triumphant return of the xenomorphs is absolutely inevitable, to the delight of Alien and science fiction fans.
Aliens: Dark Descent Token
- Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X /S, Xbox One and PC
- Multiplayer: No
- Developer: Tindalos Interactive
- Company: Focus Home Interactive
- Release: June 20, 2023
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