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Announced with a cinematic trailer that only featured a few quick glimpses of actual gameplay, Aliens: Dark Descent is still shrouded in mystery when it comes to the mechanics and content of the game itself. However, as with most cinematic trailers, the developers snuck in some hints as to what players can expect from the next game in the Alien franchise.
8 Aliens, Not Alien
The game’s choice of title - referencing the James Cameron sequel and not the original Ridley Scott film - gives away a lot about the kind of atmosphere players can anticipate. Alien was about an unprepared crew being stalked by a single Xenomorph, whereas Aliens featured a fully-armed military squadron facing off against a nest of creatures.
As such, it’s safe to assume that Aliens: Dark Descent will be less focused on the hunter-prey dynamic of the series than Alien: Isolation was, and will instead lean more heavily into trained soldiers being outnumbered by alien enemies.
7 Motion Trackers Are Back
With that said, the trailer does show us that one of the soldiers has the classic Alien motion tracker equipped on their gun. Since their function is so rudimentary, the motion trackers are often used to add tension by only indicating the direction the Xenomorphs are coming from, but not their exact location.
This suggests that the series’ classic horror elements will be more prevalent than the brief look at gameplay implied. While the basic concept of the motion tracker could be repurposed into a minimap, the idea of these soldiers equipping them to their weapons could mean that the aliens will be stalking their squadron, rather than attacking them head-on.
6 The Return Of The Pulse Rifle And The Smartgun
Another detail from the trailer that will stand out to Aliens fans is that the soldiers are equipped with some very familiar weaponry.
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In two separate shots, we see one soldier carrying what is unmistakably an M41A Pulse Rifle, the weapon favored by Cpl. Hicks in the 1986 Aliens film. In another shot, there is an even clearer look at the M56 Smartgun, a heavy machine gun that requires a harness and head-mounted sight to operate, which allows it to auto-target enemies. The Smart Gun was famously used by Pvt. Jenette Vasquez in Aliens.
5 Xenomorph Breeding
This is nothing new for the Wayland-Yutani corporation, but Tantalus Base seems to be doing more than just terraforming Lethe.
This image shows a hatched Xenomorph egg placed in a container with a human host who was positioned directly above to receive the Facehugger when it hatched. Xenomorph breeding has been featured in the Alien comic series published by Marvel and written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, although in that case it was based around a religious colony that was manipulated into becoming Xenomorph hosts. What’s happening in Aliens: Dark Descent appears to be far more sinister.
4 Winter Planet Or Nuclear Fallout?
The trailer’s opening image is an establishing shot that shows what will presumably be the game’s primary setting, Tantalus Base, viewed through a heavy snowstorm. Tantalus Base is located on the Moon Lethe, which is a new location in the Alien universe, and therefore it is unknown if this is a standard winter on this planet or the result of a disaster.
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One notable feature of the opening shot is the massive terraforming array in the distance. As seen at the end of Aliens, these arrays are powered with nuclear energy and can explode, either by accident or through the deliberate action of their operators. While the array seen in the trailer appears to be intact, there may have been another array that exploded elsewhere on Lethe. It would explain why the CommSat relay that CM Lethe Recon Squad was sent in to repair went offline in the first place.
3 Permadeath
As stated on the game’s website, Aliens: Dark Descent will feature a permadeath mechanic when squad members are killed. Sure to ratchet up the tension when facing hordes of Xenomorphs, this mechanic suggests that the game will be more in line with tactical isometric shooters like XCOM than bullet-hell shooters like The Ascent or Nex Machina.
It also suggests that the player will technically be playing the game as either Sgt. Leo Alvarez featured in the trailer as both the narrator and assumed protagonist, or as another commanding officer who is tasked with giving out orders to their squad of soldiers.
2 The Late Sgt. Alvarez
The reason for this uncertainty surrounding the player character is that, by the end of the trailer, it appears that Sgt. Alvarez will not survive long enough on Tantalus Base to make it to the beginning of the game.
The trailer’s narration is a recording that Sgt. Alvarez is making it on an old-school tape recorder (which is also evidence of the game’s adherence to the retro-future tech of the movies). In the closing shot, Alvarez is seen making that recording alone in a room that is slowly filling with Xenomorphs. It seems unlikely he will escape that situation alive.
1 A New Kind Of Monster
The most striking moment in the trailer is when the CM Lethe Recon Squad stumbles upon these new enemies. There is nothing in Alien canon to suggest what they may be, and therefore as of now, all conclusions are speculation.
At first glance, these humanoid creatures appear to have arc reactors in their chests, but that is, of course, another universe entirely. There is something else of note that happens to people’s chests in the Alien universe; namely, that creatures tend to burst out of them. If Tantalus Base is already being used as a breeding ground for Xenomorphs, there are going to be a lot of bodies with gaping holes in their chests lying around. Perhaps Weyland-Yutani has found a way to repurpose the dead alien hosts into some form of weapon.
Aliens: Dark Descent will release in 2023 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC
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