The Video Game Awards may have come and gone without any news on Cold Iron Studios upcoming Alien game, but the brand new prequel novel from Weston Oche and Titan books, Aliens: Infiltrator, is just over the horizon! And to help get everyone excited, Titan Books has given Alien vs. Predator Galaxy the task of revealing the upcoming book’s cover art!
The official prequel to the new Alien video game from Cold Iron Studios. Dr. Timothy Hoenikker arrives on Pala Station, a Weyland-Yutani facility. Lured there by the promise of alien artifacts, instead he finds a warped bureaucracy and staff of misfits testing the effects of Xenomorph bio-materials on living creatures. Unbeknownst to the personnel, however, there is an infiltrator among them whose actions could spell disaster. Also on staff is Victor Rawlings, a former marine who gathers together other veterans to prepare for the worst. As the personnel receive a delivery of alien eggs, the experiments spin out of control, and only the former Colonial Marines can stand between the humans and certain death.
![[Exclusive] Aliens: Infiltrator, Prequel Novel To Cold Iron Studios Game, Cover Art Reveal!](https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/11122020_04.jpg)
Aliens: Infiltrator is currently slated for release just before Alien Day, on the 20th of April 2021! It is now available for pre-order from Amazon (US/UK). You can also find out more about Weston on his website!
In related news, the cover artwork for Alex White’s upcoming novel has also been revealed! Alex took to Twitter to share off this artwork by Marco Turini!
![[Exclusive] Aliens: Infiltrator, Prequel Novel To Cold Iron Studios Game, Cover Art Reveal!](https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/11122020_03.jpg)
“Shy” Hunt and the tech team from McAllen Integrations thought they’d have an easy job–set up environmental systems for the brand new Hasanova Data Solutions colony, built on the abandoned ruins of a complex known as “Charybdis.” There are just two problems: the colony belongs to the Iranian state, so diplomacy is strained at best, and the complex is located above a series of hidden caves that contain deadly secrets. When a bizarre ship lands on a nearby island, one of the workers is attacked by a taloned creature, and trust evaporates between the Iranians and Americans. The McAllen Integrations crew are imprisoned, accused as spies, but manage to send out a distress signal… to the Colonial Marines.
Into Charybdis will be releasing before Infiltrator, on the 23rd of February, and is likewise available to pre-order from Amazon (US/UK).
Make sure your browsers are locked into Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien and Predator news! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. Be sure to join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums as well!
I really enjoyed his short in Bug Hunt, so fingers crossed anything new he does is more akin to that than Infiltrator.
I'm hoping that if he is writing another book, he isn't bogged down with restraints and mandates like he clearly was for Infiltrator.
I'd forgot about Hunters and Hunted. Definitely the best of the bunch but I still didn't think it was anything particularly special.
Hunters and Hunted was great! And I really enjoyed ADF's Covenant novelization. Couldn't say the same about The Predator though.
As far as Titan's Alien and Predator video tie-ins go, they've all been 5/10s for me.
I did think the novel picked up considerably once Aliens were actually running amok, and I even quite enjoyed the interplay between the hero group and their adversaries in the midst of an Alien outbreak, but none of this happened until really late in the game and then the book just kind of ended with no real climax. It's by no means the worst Alien novel I've ever read - I'm not sure anything about it was even especially bad - but it was thoroughly by-the-numbers and middle-of-the-road.
It felt every bit the media tie-in it was. Has there even been a good video game tie-in book?
I'm guessing a lot of the dropped threads will be revealed in the game but i can agree that it makes for a frustrating read that makes the overall novel feel incomplete at times.
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The Leon? I'm not entirely sure. It did not leave that big an impression. Apart from being in essence an oversized chameleon that I am not clear on the appearance of otherwise.
Could you elaborate on it please?
Also what exactly is the Leon?
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Good Things:
- It used the Pathogen/Black Goo (I love the prequels so good for me)
- It used some other creatures
- Reminded me of John Carpenters The Thing in parts, especially the spider creature, reminded me of the Norris Thing
- I found the story engaging enough to want to finish it
Bad Things:
- Why didn't the Xenomorphs fight with the other creatures like the spider one or the Leon (I get the Leon might have ghosted past with the camouflage skin)
- Overuse of the word 'Xenomorph' (seems like a prominent bug bear with most)
- Some typo issues
- Shame they didnt expand on the alien artefacts or the engineers (assumed thats for the game though)
- Awful description of the Leon creature...still now I can't fathom how it's supposed to look
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Ridley-proofing!
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So lots of twists and turns that I didn't expect. I thought Hoenniker's ex-girlfriend showing up was an awful twist, but then Ochse managed to make something interesting out of it. A lot of characters we'd spent time with in the first third of the booked wiped out 'off screen', which I also liked.
The subplot of Hyperdyne blackmailing Fairbanks to map Pala station as well as the 'secret areas' hinted at earlier and all but confirmed by McCune, are forgotten. I'm assuming these will pop up in the game as will the hunting lodge.
The cast and crew names from the outline had been dialled down quite a bit, but there were still too many – we spend the last third of the book with Hoenniker, Kash, Rawlings, Cruz, McGann and Buggy – four of the six are named after Aliens and Alien 3 cast or crew. Cruz and Etienne were also originally named after Aliens cast members. I'll do up a full list if anyone wants to be really annoyed. Cruz may now hold the record for 'most used name'. Clara pointed out to me recently that there's a Cruz in the new comic series, as well and A:CM and the Xenogenesis comic. And I found Immy Cruz from Steel Egg.
On a personal name-dropping note I liked that they took a couple of my suggestions on board (PDTs were going to be nanites originally, for example).
I really didn't know what to expect from this book, but again, overall I quite liked that it left me guessing, as well as utilising the black goo in a non-specific manner that allowed for different creatures without really ever defining it.
It's definitely not a bad book. I just wish it wasn't a game tied in as a few things were left unsaid or just completely dropped.
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I was feeling 5 at first, largely because it felt like the book teased a lot of things but never paid them off, like
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But hearing him specify in the Studio Yutani interview that he was instructed to tease things that would be paid off in the game, I'll forgive it and go with a 6.
Did the outline you read include
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I kept trying to figure out which character he was supposed to be originally.
God, the ones that made it in were distracting enough.
Just finished reading it. In short, I thought it was ok. I enjoyed it just a bit more than Stalking Shadows or Alien: Isolation, but Titan is still suffering the video game novel curse IMHO. Lots of interesting little things in there that didn't really make it into a complete or satisfying story IMHO. None of the characters really clicked with me. Cruz was kinda interesting by the end, but Hoenikker just bored the crap out of me. Then when Cruz called him a fool and idiot, I was like "yep."
I'm trying to decide between a 5 or a 6. But I'll make my mind up when I do a full review.
I'm watching the Studio Yutani interview now that I don't need to avoid spoilers. Westin says the the Leon will show up in the game, so we'll get to see a visualization to clear up the shoddy book description.
Hearing Weston say the end of the book is the very beginning of the game makes it a little more enjoyable.
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But instead, the book casually mentions that he was able to just fart out a new one with stem cells he collected from the first one - as if that's no big deal...
The Blu-ray doesn't feature the name "Eldon Tyrell". I don't see it as an either/ or absolute. Especially when the guy who wrote it said it wasn't to be taken seriously anyway.
They wouldn't be making that decision, though. That would be someone like Andrew Gaska retroactively saying "yeah that's canon, and here's how it fits".
-- edit, just asked him, and an Eldon Tyrell reference could work exactly the way I'd proposed it.
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(The Prometheus blu-ray also establishes that the derelict beacon is already transmitting during the Prometheus mission. I think it's still up in the air as to whether or not that's true, but I don't want the guy who put the blu ray together making that decision.)
But Disney doesn't own the Bladerunner IP
Anyway, I'm only about a third of the way through. It's okay so far. Not hating it despite my gripes. Honestly, Cruz is the only character who feels developed and interesting to me at this point.
Okay, this definitely got more interesting once
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Absolutely, i've seen a few instances of spelling and grammar issues also something where the book said it had entered someones room, Fairbanks I think it was then the next sentence they were looking into his room from the corridor.
I'm quite enjoying the book anyway despite the errors i've found.
Easter Eggs and Blu-ray menus don't count as canon otherwise the whole thing about Eldon Tyrell would be canon, and we both know Alien and Blade Runner aren't in the same universe.
Missed that.
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https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TslLPF6zrd4/V8083CdLztI/AAAAAAAAb2c/VIN4b0Bougs09JtwTd7YIqT2az0EMFlfACPcB/s1600/alien%252Bwarrior%252Bsketch%252Bby%252Barthur%252Blee.png
Although with a pointed head and more features of the "Leon 895" described in the novel.
Such as the crystals underneath the translucent skin.
https://i.imgur.com/9uTmTi5.jpg
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I also wasn't sure if "center leg" was a typo and he meant to say "center legs".
I've noticed a lot of typos on this book, so I'm starting to make that assumption.
*salutes Protomorph and Stitch with coffee cup*
The most annoying typo to hit me so far was:
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I also considered that look myself. It's very odd to form a picture of it based on that description.
Flagship or not, Weyland was a big company with a lot of projects going on. I imagine that the disappearance of one ship would be newsworthy, but maybe not as much as you'd think. The death of Weyland could also be covered up by the company with the explanation that he was a very old man, and the new of the ship's MIA status was what caused his death; heart attack or something like that.
As for the eternal life thing, I imagine it wasn't actually planned, either by the filmmakers or the characters themselves. I mean, if you're going on a last ditch effort to save your own skin, how much do you really believe it'll happen?
I thought that was a bad description as well. The only way I figured it could look is
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If it's got 4 legs and 1 is in the centre then I assume two are behind like in a quadrupedal stance. Where's its other leg? or is it just some deformed thing with no recognisable shape?!?!?!
Or is it just me being stupid?
It's more the word 'backstory'. Very clunky when 'background' sounds better.
Told by whom?
I wasn't a fan of LV-223 being in Z2R personally. Iota Persei was a better choice based on the distance stated in the film. However CdL does that stuff and works closely with Ridley and was involved in the films production, plus it's been pretty locked in ever since so I just go with it.