Aliens: Dark Descentis a squad-based tactical RTS from Tindalos Interactive and Focus Entertainment. Players must take control of a squad of Colonial Marines, exploring a variety of dark and Xeno-infested locations in a semi-open world format. While similarities have been drawn between the new title and theXCOMseries,Aliens: Dark Descentis considerably more difficult owing to the fact that players do not have the luxury of waiting and strategizing in quite the same way.
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However, the game does provide players with a whole range of different tools andgameplay mechanicsthat can counteract the difficulty of the game, such as support vehicles, special abilities, and a lot of freedom for players to choose how they wish to approach any given mission.
5Manage Stress Levels
One important gameplay mechanic inAliens: Dark Descentis the use of a stress meter. Marines will gain Stress on deployment the more they encounter Xenomorphs and see horrific things. If stress gets high enough, Marines will then receive aTraumalevel, which comes with severe penalties to combat abilities. Fortunately, Stress levels can be reduced by buildingSheltersandRestingduring deployment and by treating them at thePsychiatric Care Unitin the Medical Bay aboard the Otago.
It is important thatstress levels are monitoredon the field as when they get out of control they can cause Marines to become less obedient to commands, less accurate, less mobile, and generally less effective in the field. Taking regular intervals to create Shelters (that haven’t become alien-infested with hives etc.) will mitigate the impact Stress will cause on the squad overall.
4Treat Every Room As A Potential Threat
Line of sight is crucial for the Marines inAliens: Dark Descentas there is always a chance of Xenomorphs lurking just out of sight. Making use of theFlashlightcan help to extend the available line of sight, as well as highlight any interactive items in the room such as Datapads, Materials, and Terminals.
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While not every room will necessarily contain a lot of big, menacing enemies, eggs can be harder to spot and yet cause even more damage to the squad with aFacehugger. Traveling slowly with the Flashlight in use will ensure that the squad is able to spot any potential threats before they develop into catastrophes, and players should try to clear rooms and make note of all available entrances and exits.
3Use The ARC
The ARC is a heavily armed vehicular support unit that can be used to assist the player in a variety of ways while deployed on a mission. Primarily, the ARC will be used to transport players to various areas of the mission location, allowing for a faster,safer form of transport than moving around on foot. In addition to this, the ARC can alsoExtractplayers and take them aboard Hunslet’s ship, which will subsequently fly them back to theOtagoto recover fully.
The ARC can also be repositioned around the map during deployment. This can be used forFire Supportpurposes as well as Extraction, since whenever players are in trouble in the proximity of the ARC, it will unleash a powerful barrage of machine gun fire and take down most threats before they can get anywhere near the Marines.
2Check The Map For Points Of Interest
There are a lot of different objectives, materials, corridors, anddangers for players to keep track ofinAliens: Dark Descent. One simple way of keeping on top of this, as well as ensuring that all availableMaterialsandXenosamplesin a given mission area are collected, is to check the Map to scan the surrounding environment. Unlike theHeartbeat Monitor,which is displayed during exploration, and quite limited in the information it presents, the Map will show all points of interest within the explored area.
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From the Map screen, players can also check theirObjectives,and overall missionBriefas well as check out theLegendwhich explains all the different icons and what they signify on the map. It is also possible to check the Squad Recap and Codex here if players require any specific and more in-depth information about the game.
1Don’t Be Afraid To Extract
Aliens: Dark Descentutilizes a persistent-world system, meaning that every actionaffecting the environmentwill be permanent for the duration of that playthrough. Welding a door shut in one location means that it will remain welded shut even if the player extracts and doesn’t return for days. Similarly, loot will not continuously respawn over and over again in an endless supply of resources, so players should be careful to grab what they see the first time around to avoid having to backtrack later in the game.
The benefit of this system is that players can freely Extract, return to their base and recover their squads, or perhaps send a new squad to complete the rest of a mission. Given how many different objectives there are per mission area, the game does not expect players to complete all of them in one go, and attempting to do so will make for a considerable challenge even for experienced players. Simply call in the ARC and use it to extract in order to live to fight another day.Marine deaths are permanent, meaning that losing one in the field means they will not come back even back aboard the Otago.
Aliens: Dark Descentis now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
