I’m only recommending it because it’s a decent game when it’s on sale. Don’t pay full price for it. The game gets repetitive fast. Enemy variety is limited, and ambushes become predictable. If you see a gap in a hallway, expect something to be waiting there.

One frustrating thing is that you can’t pause the game, even if you’re playing solo with bots.

There are only 12 missions after more than four years. One DLC adds just 3 more missions, while the rest are mostly cosmetic. I wouldn’t recommend buying the DLCs at full price. The mission DLC offers a bit more content, but it feels overpriced. Only consider the Pathogen DLC if it’s on sale and you want to extend your play beyond the base game.

Challenge cards add some variety and increase difficulty, but they’re nothing memorable or game changing.

Gunplay feels weak and unsatisfying. Class abilities are pretty standard and don’t stand out. Most skill upgrades are locked behind high levels, and by the time you unlock them, they don’t have a big impact. There’s more focus on customizing your character’s look than on adding meaningful gameplay options.

Bots can be frustrating. They often block your shots, all aim in the same direction, and leave you covering whole flanks alone. They also tend to get stuck or stop moving, which can force you to wait before progressing. You end up relying on turrets or awkward positioning to survive.

The player base is almost nonexistent, so unless you have friends to team up with, matchmaking can be slow or impossible.

If you want a casual co-op experience, it might be worth grabbing on sale. Otherwise, it’s easy to skip.

Listening to the soundtrack for Aliens: Fireteam Elite, composed by Austin Wintory, is strongly reminiscent of the cult film Alien. Each song chronicles this emerging story along with its missions through chamber music that signifies the dark space, hominids, and xenomorphs. Take notice of the piece Into the Hive, which echoes the intro performed by cellos in the introductory score by composer Jerry Goldsmith for Alien (1979). The distinctive sounds, like the radar or the musical notes when shooting at the aliens' heads (the unexpected movements of the predators), recreate the factual atmosphere to sustain the liaison of this game with the film. So why do some assume this game is “standalone”?

It is the year 2202; 23 years have lapsed since the incidents on the Sulaco spaceship orbited and landed on the planet LV-426. The present-day USS Endeavor receives a distress call from the destroyed Katanga refinery. It is in orbit around the planet LV-895. So, a trio of marines, an elite fireteam, are assigned to inspect the station verminous by xenomorphs. Navigating in hostile corridors, they encounter Dr. Timothy Hoenikker, a scientist from Weyland-Yutani. He alleges the existence of experiments with xenomorphs and research on a mutagenic substance referred to as the “pathogen” on the space station. This defines how the story gets underway.


It is awkward to adapt the Alien films to the world of video games, not because of their Gigerian bio-machine aesthetic but because of their intrinsic theme of critique concerning humanity. If the developers were to draw inspiration from the world of Alien, the game would turn out to be a survival game. Somebody like a human —anonymous, non-person, whoever it may be— is capable of retreating from predators (the human isn't a predator, but a hunted being). Aliens: Fireteam Elite acts as the reverse of this, a group of marines capable of dealing with and vanquishing the xenomorphs. Survival translates into action. And this game proves a sign of coping with the old shortcoming of the game Aliens: Colonial Marines (this one was due to its technical pitfalls that were never fixed).

To emulate the visual appeal of the sets in this game, the developers have retrieved design ideas from both the first film Alien and the film Prometheus. With this assistance, the story takes shape mostly in isolated surroundings, with a persuasive impression of claustrophobia triggering an uncanny atmosphere. At other times, we can contemplate the strong inspiration of Giger's art shaping the architecture and interiors of specific settings, feeling like we're on an expedition through the bowels of a living spaceship. Only a few scenarios stand out for their scrupulous creative plasticity of the backdrop. The game behaves akin to a movie due to its illumination, scenography, textures, and stark contrast. Unfortunately, at other times, prearranged the locations inside the spaceship, it seems streamlined, rigid, and recurring, contrasting the exotic alien ornamentation.

On the other hand, the game gives away crumbs of the plot as we go through the missions (four chapters). This hints that we're discovering gradually what's transpiring there. To find out details about the story, we need to collect some intel, but these cannot be read or heard by themselves until we reach the base when a character informs us what it contains. Here is a negative aspect in the literary design for this game. If we don't unlock the intel with the support of the characters, they pile up cumbersomely. But if we listen to them, we observe generic characters without facial expression, announcing information with a robotic tone and devoid of mood. However, if we read them more diligently, the script also seems as if an AI crafted the text. One might conclude that everything was encoded and recited by AI, but it turns out there were recognised voice actors. If we waive this component, the story we witness as we march through antagonistic corridors persists and is still absorbing, despite the limitations of a pre-programmed script.


The story runs organised into chapters, which are then arranged into missions. Two maps and a climax, so to speak. Each one entails a required level, and the climax seldom seems challenging. There are no checkpoints. If a team of three players fails, they'll be transported to the lobby, i.e., Endeavor Base. Success in a map adds experience points to weapons and the playable class, as well as earning credits (money). There is also in-game coinage to spend on equipment, weapons, attachments, outfits, and miscellaneous items. The game opts for a level-up role-playing system.

The game is balanced by the correlation between the players' roles and the gradual level of difficulty imposed by the behaviour of xenomorphs. To fulfil the missions, there are different weapons and tools, as well as an array of aliens, from common ones to heavy warriors. There are supply boxes and secret crates that contain rewards. Unfortunately, we can't grab just any weapon, but rather the one that works for our playable class selected. The game provides challenge cards to gain advantages and disadvantages in a match. If it's an advantage for the player, the match grows comfortable. But if it's a disadvantage for the player, the matches come with additional experience and credits. There are some that can be profitable without posing any hassles. All of this confers re-playability on tailored difficulties that simulate unique scenarios. Since all this suggests that the game is semi-tactical.

Enemies are agile and, upon death, offer temporary environmental damage. Shooting gets preference, but it all hinges on the event, as there are intervals when a horde of aliens breaks out or there's a defensive task to carry out. Defensive events have their respective timing. Players also perform selected moves to dodge enemies: cover, melee, and roll. However, teamwork is a vital principle in this game in relation to the enemies and the roles each adopts. There are seven classes in total. As we level up, we unlock perks whose features look arranged like Tetris puzzle designs in our backpack inventory. Each one takes up one or more slots and belongs to a specific skill type. Thus, the role packs exclusive tools and a specialised boost. The specialist operates its individual category of arms. The purpose of the game sounds palpable; it strives to have us play many times with each specialist.


Aliens: Fireteam Elite remains an attention-grabbing game, although certain narrative aspects —how the story is told and verbalised— could have been amended with a well-written script. It's still compelling. The game was slated to be played with friends. For this reason, it's suggested to play with someone so that the journey doesn't end up monotonous. Some sets, on the other hand, materialise stunningly given the nod to Giger, as well as Scott's film, Prometheus. The game features action and co-op. The downside, despite accepting the bland plot at times, is the DLC. This glances like the true conclusion of the story, the final chapter, the driving theme of the plot hinted at from the beginning. If there are no new enemies in the DLC, it's actually the true conclusion of the game, that is, the evidence of the experiments carried out at the special station with the pathogen. We pay to watch the ending. Another game inspired by Scott and Giger's xenoverse.

Coming off the high of Helldivers 2, I approached this co-op shooter with high expectations. Unfortunately, it fell short in almost every regard — to the point of being genuinely surprising how poorly executed it was.

I only managed to complete three missions before shutting the game down, and even after the first mission, the experience already felt repetitive. Environments are composed almost entirely of recycled rooms and corridors, offering little to no variety or sense of progression.

Animations feel stiff and unpolished, especially the running, which lacks fluidity and weight. The sound design is particularly weak — weapon audio lacks impact and immersion, with guns sounding more like hair dryers than firearms. It's hard to understand how such a critical element of a shooter was so poorly handled.

Even at a steep 80% discount, bringing the price down to €5.99, the game still didn’t feel worth the money. There may be a decent concept buried underneath, but in its current state, this title fails to deliver a compelling co-op experience. There are far better alternatives available for fans of the genre.