The Alien franchise debuted in 1979 becoming one of the most prominent Sci-Fi horror series of all time. Although there have been plenty Sci-Fi horror films before the Alien, it definitely raised the bar and has been helmed as one of the best of all time. Ridley Scott changed the game with his film, and it’s jump from film into the multimedia space wasn’t surprising

However, not every format has been successful. And even though Alien has inspired a lot of video games (one of my favorites being Dead Space), the Alien game series itself hasn’t the best track record. But hopefully Dark Descent can be the game that fans have been longing for.

Games in the Alien franchise have at best been mediocre and at worst, total trash. But in 2014 Alien: Isolation changed the curse, offering gamers with good mechanics, great characters, a well-written story, a tense environment, and a relentless antagonist. Since then, the games have more or less not been able to come close to the success of Isolation.

Perhaps the most recent disappointment, Aliens: Colonial Marines, is the best example of a solid premise with some of the worst execution possible. And what makes it so bad is that the cinematic side of the game was good, scenes that looked as if they were ripped from the films. The premise follows a group of marines who must survive against hordes of aliens. In 2021, Aliens: Fireteam Elite was released and although it received mixed reviews it was definitely a step up from Colonial Marines.

Dark Descent was announced at Summer Games Fest 2022 and there’s some interesting highlights to see. From what we can tell, the game looks to be a squad-based top-down shooter, similar to Diablo or Hades. Now this can be a good thing or a bad thing. Most fans associate Alien game as first-person shooters, the format seemingly more immersive, while as Fireteam Elite gave players third person. The choice to make this an isometric is an interesting choice to say the least but could be a step in the right direction if they can nail the story and gameplay.

Details are still light but at least we do have a release date. Dark Descent will be released in 2023 for the PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PS5.