From a franchise that has been infested with mediocre and, on more than a few occasions, straight-up bad entries, comes a welcome breath of fresh air, Aliens: Dark Descent. Both to the franchise that previously brought us the train wrecks Aliens: Colonial Marines and AVP: Requim, but also to the current gaming industry that has stagnated to the most watered-down experiences possible. Come to think of it, that could apply to the movie industry as well. Unlike the aforementioned industries and my cousin, who showed up to a funeral in a clown suit, the developers at Tindalos Interactive seem to understand the tone and feel they should be going for. A frantic squad-based RTS is a perfect gameplay style match for the franchise, though late in the game it can be a bukkake of alien goo for your marines.
Like many businessmen in Thailand, before I was actually able to get my hands on it, I was a little confused about what I'd get. It was difficult to tell if that bulge in its pants was just another XCOM clone or if it was something more. To my pleasant surprise, it was really just a roll of quarters in their pocket, and the game is a squad-based RTS, reminiscent of Company of Heroes but with a tighter focus. This smaller scope of focus lends itself perfectly to the overall theme and perfectly coincides with the source material. The start of the game feels claustrophobic; the fear of the unknown sets in, making you rethink fights, and levels are paced well, continuously bringing new challenges and aliens to be afraid of. While the back half of the game enjoys punishing overconfidence with dead marines, especially if you allowed the planetary infestation to grow too large. There is an obvious influence of XCOM in its base and soldier upgrades and customization, but thats not a bad thing, and has a tighter focus as well, naturally progressing as you complete levels and move through the story.
Double time.
The story itself is serviceable, but like what you did that time with a handle of tequila, it's nothing to write home about. There are some bugs, usually just minor annoyances, though I did run into one that made me redo about 20 minutes of progress, as well as a crash that had about the same impact. That said, that's pretty damn good compared to the state of new releases. However, like banging a deaf girl, there are some auditory annoyances and because she's just not that into it, some of the lines aren't delivered very well. That, and the game would have benefited from more voice actors; fairly often, my squad leader would have the same voice as enemies, causing some confusion. There was also an issue with your squad leader yelling out orders over and over and for seemingly incorrect things as well, though this has been tamed down a bit in a recent patch already.
Aliens: Dark Descent brings some fresh air to an industry that seems obsessed with trying to make the next Skyrim or Witcher 3 and always predictably failing. Tindalos Interactive seems to understand that narrowing focus and using multiple areas of design working together to a central point results in a good gaming experience. A lesson that most of the gaming industry has forgotten over the last decade that trying to take on too many dicks in the gangbang is just going to leave all of them unsatisfied and disappointed. 8/10.