Cold Iron Studio's co-op third-person shooter was released in August 2021, and was the best-selling retail game in the UK in the first week of its release according to Gameindustry.biz. However, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is largely considered mediocre, with middling reviews and a modest player base. That all might change thanks to Xbox Game Pass, which has recently announced that Aliens: Fireteam Elite will be coming to the service on December 14.
Xbox Game Pass has proved popular with gamers, and in some cases, has led to increased player bases for both newer releases and older titles ever since their inclusion. It's a great way for players to access games that they might have otherwise not have picked up, and with the ability to play as many titles as they like for "free," it removes the agonizing decision-making involved when deciding which games are going to be worth the money to play. Aliens: Fireteam Elite's inclusion is likely to lead to more gamers jumping on board to play this co-op shooter, potentially marking a comeback for the game.
Introducing Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Arguably, the last great Alien game was 2014's tense survival horror title Alien: Isolation, which saw players crawl through cramped ducts and investigate abandoned areas of a space station as engineer Amanda Ripley. Aliens: Fireteam Elite abandoned this survival stealth horror approach in favor of a more action-based focus similar to Aliens: Colonial Marines, and is a standalone sequel to the original Alien film trilogy.
Although not as well-received as Alien: Isolation, the game still has some points in its favor when it comes to frenetic action, unsettling sequences, and unrelenting tension. There are six character classes for players to choose from, including Gunner, Doc, and Recon, as well as weapon customization and character progression for the player and their two companions.
Gamers can either play co-op with friends or with AI teammates as they face hordes of xenomorphs as a Colonial Marine from the UAS Endeavor. The game's story may be based on the second film in the Alien franchise, but it's actually a sequel to the third and is set 23 years after the original trilogy of films. After receiving a distress call from the Katanga refinery station (which was previously thought to have been destroyed), a fireteam of Colonial Marines is sent to investigate. What they find, however, is not a group of survivors, but a station that was completely taken over by the sinister and extremely dangerous extraterrestrials. Fighting through xenomorphs and Weyland-Yutani combat synthetics, players must shut down rogue AIs, prevent a potential alien infestation of Earth, and destroy the station.
What Xbox Game Pass Could Do For Fireteam Elite
Aliens: Fireteam Elite had a respectable launch, with solid sales figures and a good debut player count on Steam. However, it wasn't long until players turned their attention to other games within the same genre. Player reviews were admittedly more favorable than its reception from critics, and it seemed that Aliens: Fireteam Elite might maintain its player base after all. However, although it may have once been in the top 100 played games on Steam, it has now dropped significantly. While a fun action shooter, the game suffered from a lack of support and new content, and players turned their attention to other titles providing more frequent updates and expansions.
Now that Aliens: Fireteam Elite will be joining new titles like Among Us, Guacamelee! 2, and the full version of Halo Infinite on Xbox Game Pass, it may be a lifeline for the beleaguered game. There are plenty of examples of games that have seen a bump in popularity since joining the subscription service, with gamers who subscribe allegedly increasing the number of individual games they play by up to 40% thanks to the wide selection on offer.
Co-op games always prove popular with gamers, with the chance for people to play with friends online a welcome feature. Aliens: Fireteam Elite lets people play with other gamers either with private or public matchmaking, and hopefully with an expanded player base, this will allow for more variety with a wider net of players to choose from.
What Else Is New
To coincide with its addition to Xbox Game Pass on December 14, Aliens: Fireteam Elite will also be receiving new content to entice players back, or to encourage new gamers to check the game out. Season Two of the game will feature a new free content update, with the patch bringing a whole slew of extras to the base game. Included in the update will be a new Lifetime Stats feature, brand new weapons, and extras including attachments, weapon colorways and decals, new head accessories, and new emotes.
A new game mode called Point Defense is also on the way, which calls on players to defend, repair, and keep hold of three strategic points through wave upon wave of xenomorph attacks. Ensuring the group of Colonial Marines makes it through the levels of this survival-based mode will unlock all 13 new attachments and various other extras that are on offer. In addition to these, crossplay will also be available for Xbox and PC players who install the game via the Microsoft Store.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.