A good Alien game is like a cold ice cream in mid-July. Delicious, but ends too quickly. Passable projects were released too often: mobile phones, unsuccessful remakes, controversial experiments. Alien: Isolation was good, but horror isn’t for everyone. Although it pays homage to the classic – the very first film.
Against the backdrop of this mess, a fresh Aliens: Dark Descent comes out. I finally completed it and am ready to add a little to the general collection of comments and impressions.
Administrative difficulties
After starting, the player is greeted with a spartan interface and a close-up of an anatomical model of an alien. Well, it’s nice to know the enemy by sight.
The first mission introduces us to the determined Maiko Hayes. Hayes is an administrator at the station with the proud name "Pioneer". They immediately make it clear to us that there will be no concessions: “responsible” colleagues and suspicious cargo will not let us lie. The invisible hand of Weyland-Yutani and silicon lumberjacks straight from the uncanny valley do not add optimism.
Since we’re talking about the starting mission, there is nothing more senseless and merciless than its stealth elements. Hey Tindalos Interactive, this isn’t a stealth horror game! No more please. Give the character a gun already, it hurts to look at him. It seems like a small thing, but it’s annoying.
We have to leave the station because of our slobbering friend, but not far. The station sends greetings with torpedo salvoes to any ship due to the isolation protocol. Hayes is introduced to a team of Marines and is entrusted with the crashed Otago, which “successfully” landed on a planet nearby. There are not enough people and then everything is simple. Administrator? Administer.
The heroine has a lot to do: she needs to save survivors, collect resources for repairs, and equip the naked Marines with something. What? Signals on approach to the ship? Holy shit.
Hush, it doesn’t see us
The first 2-3 hours you involuntarily compare the game with X-COM. The premises of the Otago really resemble it, but the tactical part is different. Dark Descent is not turn-based – it is real-time. In difficult times, time dilation helps, but that’s all. In this, the game was somewhat reminiscent of Space Hulk, if they made a tactical strategy based on it.
A squad of Marines is https://bookmakersnotongamstop.co.uk/cricket-betting-not-on-gamstop/ managed as one unit. The meaning of this decision is clear – a full-fledged RTS would cause Korean flashbacks. Just kidding, this solution just fits the concept better.
Initially the squad is hidden. Stealth saves resources, but you won’t be able to hide for long. Shooting any xenomorph will trigger a pursuit phase in which the hive will send patrols to the location of last contact. Any noise also attracts tailed friends. Individual individuals wait in the ventilation, and sometimes sleeping morphs sit around the corner. You won’t even be able to burn a clutch of eggs quietly—the hive will sense. After detection, the soldiers shoot themselves. And what? The finger on the hook just twitched.
In battle, you can mark a particularly harmful target, and the machine gunner will work on it. If he wants. Spacebar slows down time and opens the ability menu. This includes shots from special weapons and personal skills of Marines. Over time, more special weapons are unlocked: mines, flamethrowers, or the good old RPG, a shot from which will calm even a Praetorian.
Watch your stress guys
You won’t be able to walk around the map endlessly; there are three main mechanics that prevent this:.
The first is the hive’s alarm level. It grows while the Marines play tag with the aliens. At each stage you will have to fight off a large wave of xenomorphs, and sometimes from a single larger creature. The higher the alarm level, the more aggressive the hive becomes – in words. In fact, a couple of additional runners or warriors may appear on the map, but a pumped-up squad stops noticing this difference.
The second mechanic is much more dangerous – stress. Desperate battles in dark tunnels leave their mark on the fighters. However, these are not the first Marines on stimulants. You can relieve stress with chemicals from first aid kits, or seal the doors in the room and give the guys a rest. Stress has three levels, and at each level Marines will be given random penalties to accuracy, courage, ammo consumption, etc. d. After the task, they receive a psychological disorder, which also imposes penalties. The ship’s psychologist works with these problems, but fixing a leaking roof takes time.
Along with all this, there is a third mechanic – consumables. The squad has several magazines for their main weapons, first aid kits, turrets and tools. If the magazines run out, the Marines switch to a weak secondary. First aid kits heal and reduce stress, and tools open supply rooms. Ammo urgently needed? You’ll have to search the map. And yes, they weld doors with tools too. Turrets help control the map in difficult situations.
An angry hive can be dealt with. Until the last store or first aid kit runs out. A couple of extra runners, a sudden Praetorian, and the squad’s pouches are already empty. And then a perverted game of survival begins, in which sooner or later the strangers will win. And then you understand – all mechanics are important. They work well together and complement each other.
Let’s get out of here
Each mission in the game is a map with a set of tasks. Marines calmly roam around different zones, ride on BRT and can return home at any time. Too easy? The developers thought so too and added a timer. One outing – one day, and the number of days is limited. Sometimes random events force you to miss a day and sit out on the Otago. You’ll have to turn around if you want to get off the planet alive.
Utilities are scattered around the map: consumables, resources, research materials. The latter, however, are still alive. To take it all with you or to go through a convenient path, you will have to break into doors, so engineers are always at a premium.
The locations are gradually becoming more complicated, and only tokens may return from the next hole infested with strangers.
First, the squad quietly sneaks around the locations, freezing at any signal on the scanner. But with each card there are more surprises, and the hive increasingly enters the red phase. Over time, you realize that sometimes it’s easier to gallop halfway across the map before the Marines start going crazy. But if you run in the wrong direction and catch a xenomorph from around the corner, that’s all. The ammo counter is approaching zero, the Marines are frantically taking antidepressants, and the turrets are falling silent one after another. Snipers help out – a couple of these guys will deal with the endless patrols of the hive.
Ascended? What other ascended ones?
Narration is clearly not the strongest part of the game. A couple of “unexpected” turns, a few atmospheric notes, a classic timer so you don’t relax too much – nothing special. It works, but there are not enough stars in the sky. By the way… it’s news to someone that WU are still the bad guys?
The developers tried to come up with something new, so they added “cute” cultists with implanted breastbreakers, which can be seen in a beautiful blue illuminated window. It becomes interesting how they came up with this… someone at Tindalos Interactive saw a photo of a guy with a cat in a backpack?
The story cannot be called terrible, they simply did not make the main bet on it. Somewhere the narrative is crumpled, somewhere the player has to figure out the details himself, and the direction of the scenes is lame. The developers devoted most of their energy to the gameplay and it’s noticeable.
Closer to the last mission, several questions appear, which the screenwriter answered in a unique way, with fantasy in the style of “Testament”. How much of this corresponds to canon is an interesting question. As a result, the story leaves a bad aftertaste, typical of B-movies.
Queen dissection
Time to ask the main question: is it worth playing at all?? The short answer is it’s worth it. This is a strong tactic for those who like to cuddle with strangers in cramped corridors. Even on medium difficulty the game gives me a kick, I have three days left before the final mission. Well, it’s either that or beat the Marines to death. The game has problems with the plot, but to be honest, some triple-A have never even heard of an adequate script. But Dark Descent does not claim this title.