Aliens: Dark Descent Reviews

Aliens: Dark Descent is ranked in the 63rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
8.4 / 10.0
Jun 18, 2023

Aliens Dark Descent is a harrowing, strategic take on everybody’s favorite sci-fi monsters.

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8.4 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens Dark Descent is one of the best, if not the best, Aliens games made.

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Jun 19, 2023

Despite being a solid real-time strategy game oozing with ambiance, 'Aliens: Dark Descent' joins the ranks of 2023's buggy releases.

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10 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent successfully pays homage to the Aliens franchise by deftly incorporating fear and suspense into story and gameplay alike. It embraces the established aesthetics and lore of the series, delivering an immersive experience that’s sure to resonate with fans. With a story that clearly loves its originator and gameplay that’s fun for RTS and Horror fans alike, Aliens: Dark Descent solidifies its place as a faithful and masterful entry in the Aliens universe.

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8.5 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a fun real-time strategy squad game that manages to feel tense and rewarding at the same time. It isn’t a perfect game, the loop can get a bit repetitive, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every second of it.

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TheSixthAxis
Top Critic
8 / 10
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a fantastic Aliens game. It absolutely nails the feel of the films and brings exactly the kind of tense and thrilling strategy combat you would want. The iconic motion tracker and creature design fit perfectly with the genre and there is even an interesting narrative that introduces some new perspectives to the series. While game over can come far too swiftly at times, there is always something to draw you back in.

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Unscored
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is an authentically atmospheric campaign borrowing from both turn-based tactics and survival horror, stymied by a seemingly deep paranoia you might mistake it for one of those strategy games for nerds. It's not. It's not for nerds. It's for cool Aliens fans. You can use a controller. It's not for nerds.

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7 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens Dark Descent is a good real time strategy game set in the Alien universe and equipped with some winning ideas that are hard to overlook, such as the feature of permanent death. It's not gonna become the next XCOM, but it's a pretty enjoyable RTS nonetheless.

Review in Italian | Read full review

9 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is one of the most immersive and exciting tactical shooters I've played, and a worthy successor to James Cameron's masterpiece.

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IGN
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a fascinating, tense, inspired survival horror RTS with a few too many technical bugs to recommend it without caveats.

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8 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a great strategy game with a lot of replayability and is set in the perfect horror franchise, even if long-time fans of the genre may have some minor complaints.

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Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is an occasionally wayward but on the whole, inspired movie adaptation, and a suspenseful real-time tactics game.

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Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a fresh and fun take on the series, with great tactical action supplemented with unique concepts like stress management. The writing and characters sadly don't amount to anything memorable, and boss battles can feel incredibly jarring to the pacing and tension.

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78 / 100
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is a remarkable tactical action game like XCOM, respectful of the bases of the Alien universe, and that knows how to innovate in certain aspects. It is a love letter for fans, which can also convince lovers of the genre, although with somewhat unfair difficulty peaks and with graphics and mechanics that need to be improved.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent does a great job at recreating the pseudo-horror atmosphere that has made the movies such a cult classic. Your marines are hardened and capable, but they are against a threat that is out of the ordinary; for this reason, avoiding unnecessary encounters is more often than not a good idea. Sometimes it would be nice to be able to control each individual soldier, however.

Review in Italian | Read full review

8 / 10
Jun 19, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent sees Tindalos serve up a cracking RTS that manages to capture the essence of this terrifying sci-fi series whilst giving players plenty of sweet strategy to sink their teeth into. Tweaking the established XCOM setup to better suit the nature of the enemy at hand, this is an Aliens adventure that leans into stealth, studious preparation, consideration of resources and slow-burn exploration as you manoeuvre through evocative environments whilst attempting not to disturb the deadly xenomorph hordes. There are a few rough edges here and there, and some strategy fans may mourn the loss of individual unit control, but overall this is one express elevator to hell we absolutely recommend taking.

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Jeremy Penter
Top Critic
Wait for Sale
Jun 19, 2023
Aliens Dark Descent Review - Uneven and Unfun...until its not - YouTube video thumbnail
8 / 10.0
Jun 20, 2023

Despite its rough edges, Aliens: Dark Descent has my thumbs up as the sleeper hit of 2023. It’s an addictive, unabashed love letter to one of the greatest action films of all time.

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9.4 / 10.0
Jun 20, 2023

I'm shocked with just how good Aliens: Dark Descent ended up being, and I could hardly put it down from the moment I loaded it up. It clearly respects the Aliens franchise, but it uses the elements in a way that is in service to the gameplay rather than as mere fan service for the player. Its gameplay is not only incredibly fresh compared to the other games of the franchise, but it's also so well executed that it stands as a high point among real-time tactical games, let alone for an Aliens game. Out of the franchise's entire history of games, there are only three games notable for how uniquely good they are; Aliens: Dark Descent is one of them.

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Chris Wray
Top Critic
8.5 / 10.0
Jun 20, 2023

Aliens: Dark Descent is an excellent real-time tactics game mixed with survival horror and arguably the best Aliens game around. Excellent tactical action in a world ever-succumbing to the Xenomorph threat, you will find resources scarce, leading to difficult decisions, ones made all the more difficult when time is also a factor. Add on an engaging enough story and an excellent atmosphere, and you have a game that I can't help but recommend to anybody and everybody.

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