Aliens: Darkish Descent captures the sense of terror and claustrophobia made well-known by the legendary horror franchise to which it belongs, regardless of being a tactical technique sport performed from an isometric perspective. It alternates between intense stress, explosive motion, and contemplative technique, often undercut by a technical hiccup or UI irritant. Deeply rewarding, with sensible additions we hope to see developed by extra video games sooner or later, this Aliens outing would not completely stick the touchdown. However, it stays a simple suggestion for anybody even remotely .
Darkish Descent tells the harrowing story of deputy administer Maeko Hayes, a Weyland-Yutani exec turned unlikely strategist by determined circumstances and extraterrestrial horrors. The motion primarily takes place on the distant Colonial backwater of Lethe within the yr 2198, telling an authentic story set within the storied Aliens universe. After an inevitable and immediately devastating xenomorph outbreak, and because of a planetary containment system known as Cerberus, Hayes and a small group of survivors discover themselves trapped on the planet’s floor with an unknown variety of quickly reproducing, extraordinarily lethal predators.
On this endeavour of survival, she is ably assisted by a ragtag (and extremely customisable) platoon of foul-mouthed Colonial Marines, with all of the perspective, laconic one-liners, and heavy ordinance that comes commonplace problem. With out giving an excessive amount of away, it tells a surprisingly verbose, well-written story that had us engaged all through — and planning a collection rewatch of the movies besides.
When it comes to presentation, Darkish Descent has clearly been a labour of affection for the builders at Tindalos Interactive, and so they’ve knocked it out of the park. The hard-sci-fi industrial look is pitch-perfect, with blood-soaked Weyland-Yutani logos emblazoned throughout stark and futuristic buildings. The sound of roaring pulse rifles or the regular beeping of a movement tracker because it detects motion combines to make this really feel like one of the crucial trustworthy licensed video games we will recall taking part in.
An interesting mix of genres, Darkish Descent mixes fascinating mechanics from different video games and comes up with one thing concurrently acquainted and but wholly distinctive within the course of. Gameplay takes place inside two distinct phases ala the XCOM collection: a strategic layer from which gamers launch events of Marines on away missions, and the tactical engagements themselves, the place alien abominations relentlessly hunt your Marines in real-time, and also you do what you may to stop the inevitable for so long as doable.
Aboard the Otago — a USCM frigate which serves as your base of operations — you may outfit your Marines, cope with dilemmas as they come up, and direct what quantities to a hopeless conflict in opposition to not possible odds. This strategic layer, in our reckoning, is a few single step again from what was requested in XCOM: Enemy Unkown, which is to say, you solely have to fret about your Marines. Whereas there are some unlocks because the marketing campaign progresses, you aren’t developing buildings or actually allocating forces or plane. As an alternative, you need to fear a few dozen or so fragile, fleshy people whose minds will be damaged as swiftly as their bones.
Missions happen on persistent maps, which bear the scars of earlier encounters. Deploying a squad to one of many various and impressively detailed settings, your troops discover blood-soaked hab buildings and deserted labs, encountering the uncommon survivors not already contaminated or insane, scavenging for sources all of the whereas. Doorways will be welded shut, permitting a secure Shelter the place the squad can relaxation and recuperate earlier than grimly persevering with on. To be clear, there will be no victory right here: you merely get in, do what you may, and get out as rapidly as doable.
Fight performs out in horrifying real-time and is kind of distinctive, with the closest analogue to our thoughts being in control of a single squad of troopers in Firm of Heroes 3 (even utilising an identical cowl system). Your Marines will routinely hearth upon enemies, and the motion will be set both slowed to a crawl or paused totally when activating a ability or using among the extra specialised weaponry within the USCM arsenal. The good things, which ranges from automated sentry weapons to moveable flamethrowers, is the key to turning the tide in opposition to overwhelming odds. Your Marines even have entry to an armoured transport car, which can be utilized to soundly redeploy across the map or to extract again to the Otago as soon as the hive begins to get up.
Taking a sublime web page out of the Darkest Dungeon playbook, the expertise of being hunted by xenomorphs is a heart-pounding one for each the participant and their fragile Marines. Backs to the wall, with hordes of chittering xenos pouring out of the woodwork and ammo operating low, even the bravest troopers will start to crack.
Your enemy is sensible and can actively search the map for its prey, coming out of air vents and remaining away from sightlines, even trying to take your screaming wounded alive. You are inspired to keep away from fights the place doable; more and more extra highly effective aliens will enter the map in response to a commotion, with Praetorians and Crushers finally backing up the rank-and-file Drones, Runners, and Facehuggers.
This psychological trauma has a tangible impact on Marines within the discipline and must be managed again on the Otago. Mechanically, this forces the participant to rotate recent troops into the sphere, letting shell-shocked veterans recuperate whereas untested rookies are pressured to earn their stripes. Naming, customising, and changing into greater than slightly emotionally connected to your troops is simple to do, and it is devastating to lose a well-recognized face.
Everpresent is the specter of xenomorphs and the extent of issue we discovered to be difficult in the absolute best approach. Taking part in on onerous issue with Darkish Descent’s model of Ironman Mode enabled (craving a problem), we had been punished relentlessly over the course of an addictive 50 hours of marketing campaign gameplay, and we would even return for extra on Nightmare sometime. The problem is, fortunately, extremely customisable, and if that doesn’t sound like enjoyable to you, it may be tailor-made as you see match.
The expertise was solely marred barely by just a few crashes and a few technical hiccups (our bodies bugging out, Marines getting caught within the setting), which did, sadly, result in a number of hours of misplaced progress all instructed. The expertise of wrestling the UI on the Otago can develop into one thing of a chore as the sport progresses as effectively, and we do want the administration facet of issues was slightly cleaner, however these are admittedly small points within the grand scheme.
Conclusion
Aliens: Darkish Descent is well the most effective online game variations of the legendary franchise to which it belongs, one way or the other managing to be a wonderful tactical technique sport and genuinely terrifying on the identical time. Tense, partaking, and intensely trustworthy, it stumbles solely in technical execution, and even then, not sufficient to spoil the expertise.
