The game is a third-person co-op shooter, able to be played with friends or AI teammates. Although based on the second film, the game's story is a sequel to the Alien trilogy, set 23 years after the original films. The player assumes the role of a Colonial Marine on board the UAS Endeavor, a spaceship...
The game is a third-person co-op shooter, able to be played with friends or AI teammates. Although based on the second film, the game's story is a sequel to the Alien trilogy, set 23 years after the original films. The player assumes the role of a Colonial Marine on board the UAS Endeavor, a spaceship tasked with responding to a distress call from the outer colonies. The game contains four-story campaigns with three missions each, and the player is accompanied by two allies who can be controlled by another player or by an AI. There are plans for post-launch DLC, but there are no loot boxes or microtransactions. The gameplay seen in the reveal trailer and in a hands-off demo has been compared to the Left 4 Dead duology. In the year 2202, the USS Endeavor receives a distress call from the previously thought-destroyed Katanga refinery station orbiting the planet LV-895 and moves in to investigate, sending a fireteam of Colonial Marines to board the station. Hoenikker reveals that Weyland-Yutani discovered Xenomorph eggs as well as a mutagenic substance dubbed the "Pathogen" on LV-895, and have been secretly breeding Xenomorphs and experimenting with the Pathogen before the Xenomorphs broke containment. Determined to find answers, the Marines head down to the surface of LV-895, where they discover alien Engineer ruins that were being studied by Weyland-Yutani. Since SN/TH/YA has gone rogue, the Marines shut her down, but not before she activates "Asset Zero." The Marines travel further into the ruins and find that Asset Zero is an intact Engineer starship loaded with Pathogen that SN/TH/YA has arranged to send back to Earth. Realizing the danger the ship poses, the Marines sabotage its power source to prevent it from lifting off. The Marines are then sent back to Katanga to manually overload the station's fusion power core and destroy the Xenomorph hive on board. While they succeed, they are forced to flee when they anger the Hive's Xenomorph Queen, and narrowly escape the station before it explodes. However, despite the mission's success, Xenomorphs and large stores of Pathogen are still on the surface of LV-895, and both Weyland-Yutani and rival corporation Hyperdyne Systems are sending forces to claim the planet. The Endeavor and its Marines remain to prevent the Xenomorph infestation from spreading and the Pathogen from falling into the wrong hands. The prequel to the game is the book Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse, published by Titan Books. The novel tells the backstory of the events that lead up to the game and ends when then game begins. Cold Iron Studios was founded in 2015 by a team consisting of former Cryptic Studios employees, who had previously made titles such as City of Heroes and Star Trek Online.