Fan Reviews

[Necronomicon II]

Hard to say really, so far I find Fireteam easier (overall) and more straightforward. There's more variables at play in DD, that said the bugs atm are annoying my experience lol

[TheBATMAN]

I think it is hard to compare the two because they are so fundamentally different in design. Fireteam is a lot of fun but DD is a whole different type of 'fun'. It definitely captures the authentic 'Aliens' experience and so far they seem to have put a lot of effort into the storyline. I just wish the visuals were a little sharper and some of these bugs get ironed out in a future patch.

[Kailem]

Yeah they're very different games. Fireteam has a more narrow focus and emphasis on immediate action, and it does it very well.

Dark Descent is more of an "overall" Aliens experience imo, in that you're managing squads and heading to overrun colonies that you'll be exploring often slowly and carefully to gather resources and complete missions. By design there's more tension, since you really want to try and actively avoid the Aliens here whenever possible, as opposed to Fireteam where the whole point is to blast everything that moves.

They're both really good though, and as the patches for Dark Descent roll out it'll get even better. If you're an Aliens fan you really can't go wrong with either of them.

[Xenomania96]

I watched the Mandalore Gaming review for Aliens and he said "Aliens Dark Descent is the game I never knew I wanted". I feel the same way because the only game you could compare this too really is AVP Extinction which was a blast but was more like Starcraft and was pretty janky. I think Dark Descent captures the feeling of Aliens perfectly. The thought of losing your leveled up marines means every time you step into a labyrinth of corridors your heart sinks a little. The stress and trauma aspects I really enjoy cause while the marines are all HOORAH types it reinforces that the aliens are terrifying and even if you walk away with all your limbs you lose your mind. I haven't finished the story yet but I'm getting a 90's era comic vibe, a cult that worships the aliens is something that has never been explored in the games. It's not a perfect game for sure. I've had a few bugs that forced me to reload saves multiple times and replay large sections of fights but I can be more forgiving on that front knowing there will be patches. My biggest criticism is when you  issue commands the marines either say "DOUBLE TIME, COME ON TEAM or HURRY UP YOU SLUGS"! Maybe just some simple "yes, understood, ok" to break up the DOUBLE TIMES!!!

[Wweyland]

Any similarities to AvP: Extinction?

[Darkness]

Started it this morning. Definitely easy to control and move around on a console. It's good that they've made it so you control the group of marines as a whole instead of just a single. Stealth seems to be quite difficult. Took me ages to get through the first encounter as it seemed to spot you from a mile away.

[Xenomania96]

Any similarities to AvP: Extinction?

In gameplay aspects just the isometric camera and the RTS gameplay. Everyone is comparing it to X-com and in terms of marine management, research projects, a workshop, and

Spoiler

an end game timer

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it's X-com to a T. I'm glad that the boots on the ground gameplay isn't turn based like X-com. It would take a lot of the tension out of the combat. The game is about making split second decisions and hoping it works out for the best and then trying to salvage your situation when it all goes to shit, sort of like an Alien movie  . In AVP Extinction the aliens had to create a giant death wave to overrun the firepower of the marines/predators whereas in Dark Descension two xenos can be a massive problem for your squad. The game has massive levels like AVP:E but its a more "open world design" for lack of a better definition. There isn't as many dead zones as the AVP:E levels had. Exploring away from the main objective rewards you with data pads or more resources and works into that idea of choices. Do you go looking for more materials to build better weapons and risk having the hive come down on you or just run through and finish all the objectives to bug out with all your marines alive and well?

[Predatorium]

PC, zero crashes. 13 hours in, only on mission 5. Maybe I'm very slow. 2-3 deploymemts per mission. The gameplay loop is very addictive with fun tactical options! They nailed the visuals and the sounds. Imo it's a near flawless Aliens experience that have you deal with the same problems the characters did in the movie, e.g. stress, trauma, limited resources, a ticking clock and being hopelessly outnumbered.

[Nightlord]

Binging this for the past couple of days which never happens with new games anymore for me.
They've got pretty much everything spot on for giving you the same experience as the movie in a game.

I thought it being real time would be weird but it actually makes it so much more enjoyable to play, compared to xcom where it's always too easy to save scum if a turn goes wrong.
In this with it all being instant if a marine dies I just keep going and it adds to the experience, such as turning the mission into a desperate escape from dark nightmare tunnels (I never want to see an atmosphere processor again).

Also on pc and apart from a few minor glitches like aliens getting stuck behind a door they wouldn't break and one marine not following orders it's been a pretty good experience, everything on high with smooth frames and I'm still on a 980.

[S.E.B.]

The game has been enjoyable so far (I think I'm more than halfways through the game) and I'd say it's the second best Alien(s) game after Alien: Isolation. The concept of the mental states of your marines being pivotal to their performance is really well-made and adds a lot to the already tense game play, and in theory the expendable marines concept is a great addition as well. However, I wish that the marines were even weaker, especially against Alien attacks. It breaks the immersion when a Warrior lounges at you and it just takes away a bar of health, or two at tops. Also, Crushers and Queens are way too easy to kill once you set up a good sentry gun kill box perimeter - I almost wish that Sentry Gun fire did barely any damage against larger Aliens and that you'd need to use Mines, Grenades and ARC/APC attacks to kill them.

Other than that I'd say it's a solid game. It definitely reminds me a little bit of XCom, but the real-time mechanic, with the slow-down of time, works really well and kind of sets it apart from somewhat similar types of games.

Oh, and I also like that (so far) the powerloaders in the game are only used for carrying and placing objects that too large and heavy for humans ans synthetics to carry, i.e. no mecha boxing matches with Queen Aliens.

[Darkness]

Currently in the mines on the first mission and I managed to make it to the Crusher once but got completely decimated. I'm not looking forward to trying again as I've moved onto the next infestation level now. It's hard enough as it is without it getting harder as time moves on.

I definitely think they need to patch it to disable the "Let's Go Marines, Double Time!". It wouldn't be so bad if it was quieter but it doesn't make any sense to shout it when you're trying to be quiet.

[Wweyland]

I will try this in a few days. Is there any possibility to paint yourself into a corner after a few missions and have to start from scratch? Meaning you have little marines remaining or something.

[S.E.B.]

I definitely think they need to patch it to disable the "Let's Go Marines, Double Time!". It wouldn't be so bad if it was quieter but it doesn't make any sense to shout it when you're trying to be quiet.

Yup, it's annoying as hell and it gets old fast. Personally I wish that the cocky killing commentary was more sparse and only applied to certain marine character types. Like, "Smells good!" or "You shall not pass!" after killing a Crusher is just silly. I wish the

[Necronomicon II]

PC, zero crashes. 13 hours in, only on mission 5. Maybe I'm very slow. 2-3 deploymemts per mission. The gameplay loop is very addictive with fun tactical options! They nailed the visuals and the sounds. Imo it's a near flawless Aliens experience that have you deal with the same problems the characters did in the movie, e.g. stress, trauma, limited resources, a ticking clock and being hopelessly outnumbered.

Lucky to have no crashes, you running NVIDIA for graphics or AMD? I can run Doom Eternal and Fireteam averaging over 100 fps with max settings but for some reason for DD something isn't optimised.

[bobby brown]

okay, So I finished the game yesterday and I would like to make a little spoiler post with my thoughts.

Spoiler

I mainly want a good story And this game had although not quite the greatest, still a satisfying story that had you wanting to find out more.

Also, the cutscenes were quite awesome! Perhaps not blizzard-level polish, but still fun and inspired.
(especially the ones involving dropships)

this game mainly uses the 3 first alien films for inspiration. Mainly Aliensesque environments like the atmosphere reactor and space stations, but I liked that you also had a Nostromo-type level. and finally a Fiorina-like mine. But there are also some new types of environments. among them a colony city with a monolithic Weyland-Yutani headquarters building.

Interestingly, This game makes no acknowledgments of the prequel films, no mentions of David 8s, or environmental design choices. This becomes even more clear in the very ending.

The game occasionally breaks up the regular missions with special story segments with gameplay that switches up the playstyle a little. there is a quite big nod to alien isolation in one of them where you have to dispose of a single Alien drone without weapons.

As for the Story, it's mainly standard lore practice, except for the questionable introduction of some characters being latent psychics and able to feel the hive mind. The explanation for this is, they were just born with it and happened to encounter aliens, triggering it.

The very end reveals a vast Space jockey structure discovered in the mine, I say space Jockey because there aren't any Prometheus/Covenant-related elements here. (No hieroglyphs, no urns, no black goo) However, there are giant fossilized beings here with holes in their chests, and it's not the usual chair jockey either! YES! (finally, some inspired new content!!!) After discovering that the bad guy also found the eggs here, in a similar hold as in Alien, you also discover another hold, with much larger eggs, with, like, 8 petals. They don't react to you, it is said they are primed for larger targets. this reminds me of the initial scripts for Prometheus, where a jockey craft contained multitudes of different types of alien eggs.

And then you encounter the final boss And it's a Jockey Alien!!! Wow!! and it's quite cool! a far cry from that lame design in the DS game.

Also, Marlow, the bad guy, was a fun character. Although, as his name suggests, his storyline is also quite inspired by the heart of Darkness.

All in All, I am quite pleased.

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