Aliens: Dark Descent Review (PS5) | Push Square
Aliens: Dark Descent captures the sense of terror and claustrophobia made famous by the legendary horror franchise to which it belongs, despite being a tactical strategy game played from an isometric perspective. It alternates between intense tension, explosive action, and contemplative strategy, occasionally undercut by a technical hiccup or UI irritant. Deeply rewarding, with smart additions we hope to see developed by more games in the future, this Aliens outing doesn't perfectly stick the landing. Nevertheless, it remains an easy recommendation for anyone even remotely interested.
Dark Descent tells the harrowing story of deputy administer Maeko Hayes, a Weyland-Yutani exec turned unlikely strategist by desperate circumstances and extraterrestrial horrors. The action primarily takes place on the remote Colonial backwater of Lethe in the year 2198, telling an original tale set in the storied Aliens universe. After an inevitable and instantly devastating xenomorph outbreak, and thanks to a planetary containment system called Cerberus, Hayes and a small group of survivors find themselves trapped on the planet's surface with an unknown number of rapidly reproducing, extremely deadly predators.
In this endeavour of survival, she is ably assisted by a ragtag (and highly customisable) platoon of foul-mouthed Colonial Marines, with all the attitude, laconic one-liners, and heavy ordinance that comes standard issue. Without giving too much away, it tells a surprisingly verbose, well-written tale that had us engaged throughout — and planning a series rewatch of the films to boot.
In terms of presentation, Dark Descent has clearly been a labour of love for the developers at Tindalos Interactive, and they've knocked it out of
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