I've been wanting to resume playing this game lately but cannot commit for various reasons one of them being this is not my usual genre but it is an incredible game, perhaps first of its kind for Aliens franchise. The gameplay style looks similar to Halo Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike, i could be wrong as i have not played those either despite owning them. I have been following the aliens, predator and aliens vs predator franchise as often as i can hence i bought this hoping to enjoy it and I did even if i may have played only approximately 3 hrs. I'd like to thank the devs and publishers and the people responsible for the joy they give

Reviewing after finishing the second playthrough on Nightmare difficulty (highest preset difficulty).

Great game, highly recommended especially because it plays so different than anything else. If Alien Isolation captured perfectly the tension and theme of the original 1979 Alien movie, Aliens Dark Descent does the same thing for the 1986 Aliens sequel.

I won't comment on the gameplay since watching a video will do more justice than anything I could write, so I will comment on some things that I considered novel and interesting and worth highlighting:

-You troops can sustain injuries during combat that can hinder their performance (limping, wounded arm that prevents them from using their main weapon, etc...). Although these can be healed/treated.

-You troops can be abducted by aliens, usually when they're on low HP. You can stop the alien if you're carrying the right tools. Failing to stop the abduction: KIA

-Using your flashlight and paying attention to the environment can save you from nasty surprises (e.g. an alien hibernating around the corner that does not show on the motion tracker, or walking into a room full of facehugger eggs.

-You can deploy multiple times per mission. This is useful because the more you fight aliens head-on during deployment, the more aggressive they become. It will make things a lot more complicated with enough aggressiveness.

-Customizable difficulty settings. In addition to the standard Story, Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulties, you can also opt to change other aspects, such as the amount of damage aliens do, how many saves (sort of like an Iron Man mode), or removing the campaign timer entirely.

-Game has a New Game+ mode. You don't retain all the gear or upgrades, from the previous campaign, but you troops retain their level and attributes. The level cap of the soldiers is also increased to level 15.

-Trauma/stress system: Troops have 3 stress levels measured in percentages. Once they reach a level, a negative effect takes place (lower accuracy, consumes more ammo, stresses other squad members, etc...). The game has system in place to manage it. Stress is per-deployment, unlike traumas which are persistent unless you give the troops psych help in-between deployments. This is done to force you to rotate your troops, although once you reach a certain level it can be almost entirely avoided.

My biggest criticism is without a doubt the story: it starts well enough, but then it takes some odd twist and turns that I honestly did not appreciate. By the end I could not care less of how it concluded, although you can see it coming a mile away. In spite of this, I would still highly recommend it.

Nice