Geoff Keighley's 2022 Summer Game Fest event started off strong with an announcement of a brand-new game in the Alien franchise, entitled Aliens: Dark Descent. The game, which will once again see protagonists forced to take on the mysterious, deadly, Xenomorphs, has been announced for a 2023 release date. Aliens: Dark Descent has been confirmed to be coming to both PC and console. Its Summer Game Fest reveal included a cinematic trailer and a brief look at gameplay.
Aliens: Dark Descent will tell a brand-new story, focusing on a new set of protagonists who will have to face down multiple Xenomorphs at once in a new scenario. Officially described as a third person action title, the game will draw from both the horror elements of 2014's Alien: Isolation and the more combat-heavy gameplay of 2021 release Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Players will be given the opportunity to lead a squad of Marines, who will be forced to battle against a massive horde of Xenomorphs all eager to devour them.
The first trailer for the game, which focuses on the survivor of a Xenomorph attack being interviewed about his experience, reveals that Aliens: Dark Descent was co-developed by Focus Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Games, and Tindalos Interactive. 20th Century Fox Games previously worked on the 2017 Steam title Alien: Covenant in Utero, which was a sequel to the 2017 film Alien: Covenant. Focus Entertainment has worked on previous Alien titles including Fireteam Elite, while Tindalos Interactive is an independent France-based developer that is best known for Battlefield Gothic, a series of strategy games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The Alien series, which began its life as an iconic 1979 horror film, has spun into an enormous franchise including novels, comic books, tabletop games, theme park attractions, and video games. The history of Alien video games is a long one, beginning with a Pac-Man-style game inspired by the original film and continuing through the modern day with over a dozen different titles. Recent years have seen somewhat of a renaissance for Alien video games, with Alien: Isolation repeatedly being described as one of the most terrifying horror games of all time.
Aliens: Dark Descent was one of several titles to officially have their world premiere during the Summer Games Fest 2022 event. It shared that honor with titles including Frost Giants' Stormgate, the hilarious Goat Simulator 3, and chilling sci-fi horror title Routine. Many other games showed off an extended first look at gameplay, including upcoming survival horror title The Callisto Protocol and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a sequel to the 2019 reboot of the popular first-person shooter series Call of Duty.
Aliens: Dark Descent will release in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.