Since the excellent survival horror Alien IsolationMany deplore the direction chosen by the franchise. Don't rely on his tricky trailer, which makes you think of an umpteenth deprerebated action game, Aliens Dark Descent is far from the fiasco Colonial Marines or the most recent Fireteam Elite who had divided the critics to a lesser extent. This new title made the bold choice of real-time strategy rather than a classic FPS. We were able to attend a press presentation of this original RPG tactical and which should put our nerves to the test.
Our first preview of Aliens Dark Descent
A Tactical RPG between GTFO and Darkest Dungeon
While we were going a little backwards to discover the beast after the unique CGI trailer broadcast by FocusWe left the presentation hands-off reassured. If Dark Descent takes the title well Aliens James Cameron, there is every reason to believe that under his automatic turrets there is a punitive and agonizing tactical. The goal of the game is to explore open levels by giving orders to our squad composed of four brave warriors. The developers told us that these areas covered by the war fog could take around an hour to explore. To fluidize the presentation, this mechanics was not activated in Cologne.
First point that calls into question, any death is final. It will therefore be necessary to move forward with felt to advance in the mazes of the Tantalus base. The balls too are not unlimited and we are very curious to see what the sessions in maximum difficulty mode will look like. In a muscular assault of the xenomorphs, we quickly saw how the situation could change from one moment to the next. A machine gun that comes out of ammunition and it's the insured debandade.
The developers also emphasized the behavior of aliens who do not hesitate to adapt their tactics to ours. In addition to the undefeated motion sensor, for example, it is possible to place a probe at a specific location on the map and thus keep an eye on the slightest movement around it. An interesting gameplay element, while aliens will not hesitate to look for the device to destroy it.
« Being in the marines is like a farm holiday. Every meal is a banquet, every mission is a pleasure, every end of the month we are millionaire. »
The smart little ones don't hesitate to hunt us down and it is therefore more than recommended to seal the doors behind us to put our squad out of danger or to save a few precious seconds before preparing an assault. On many aspects Aliens Dark Descent recalls the blind exploration of the excellent tactical FPS GTFO (read our critical). The stress that wins us before opening a Damocles airlock and spelt resources that always come to miss. Another particularity, the universe is announced as persistent. Condemning a door is therefore a strategic choice to consider with caution in order not to lose a possibility of withdrawals.
A healthy mind in a healthy body
The French Tindalos Interactive have also developed a gameplay mechanics that raises the pressure of a skull. This will require constant monitoring of the stress of our military to avoid berezina. Anxiety troffions will lose in precision, for example, during shootings. To avoid causing general panic, it is necessary to create secure areas where soldiers can blow a little. When orders are given to the squad, the most competent will execute. Otherwise, it is perfectly possible to target one of our four units individually.
At any time, it is possible to return to the extraction point even if it is possible to resume the mission later. We were thus shown a sequence of gameplay that went wrong and where, to save an injured soldier, the squad returned to the starting point to better exfilter. While it is always possible to recruit soldiers back to the base, keeping them in the flesh and bone allows them to improve and develop up to five different classes. We are promised dozens of combinations of specialties, skills and weapons to experiment with. Among the promises, the developers announce that we will face the squads of mercenaries and several types of xenomorphs: Facehugger To the Pretorians, to the Queens Alien and... an unprecedented threat to the universe of Alien.
If it is too early to advance on the quality of the title, the game already presents the merit of making new skin and trying its chance on the ground of the Tactical. Dark Descent should also have a scenario that will hopefully keep us in breath. Whether the variety of situations and objectives will allow Aliens Dark Descent among the tenors of the genre. On the other hand, we could not appreciate the sound atmosphere of the game as the presentation was in a hall too noisy for our Freluquet headphones. We cross our fingers so that just like Alien Isolation, Dark Descent had access to the film database. For the moment, Focus has been able to attract our curiosity and we are looking forward to seeing more about this game respectful of the universe ofAlien. Between the game VR freshly announced by the American Survios and this flight towards strategy, franchise Alien Is she back in orbit?
Degree of waiting: 
Trailer of Aliens Dark Descent
... a mixed feeling. Presented in hands off at Gamescom last year (read our preview), Dark Descent, published at Focus, had been able to give us water in the mouth. Rather than [...]