◾ $59 | PC, PS4/5, XB1/S/X | focus-entmt.com
Many games have tried to replicate the slow burning tension and chaotic action of Aliens, but Dark Descent is the first game since Monolith’s AvP 2 to really nail it. Developer Tindalos Interactive has thought intensely about how to get the best out of James Cameron’s film in a virtual context, and their solution is a scintillating real-time tactics game that blends stealth, strategy, and nail-biting gunfights.
Dark Descent plays its weakest card first. The game takes place on Lethe, a xenomorph-infested moon owned by Weyland Yutani, and where the Marine frigate USS Otago has the misfortune to crash-land. The cause of the crash is detailed in a story-driven tutorial prologue, but the script is a mess of forced conflicts and awkward dialogue, a draining parasite that plagues the game throughout.
Once stranded on Lethe, the stories you create compensate for the narrative shortcomings. Each mission sees you dispatch a four-person team of Marines to locations around Lethe, either to improve your situation or investigate why the Moon is overrun with bugs.
Unlike most tactics games, you control the entire squad simultaneously, moving them with the right-mouse button and interacting with the left. It feels odd at first. As you skulk around the mission, exploring buildings and highlighting interactable items with your shoulder-lamp,
