Aliens: Dark Descent creeps into pre-orders for “Alien Day”

The next big title to bear the “Aliens” name is coming up fast, with a June launch. If you’ve been waiting to secure your copy, now’s the time.

Descending darkly

Yes, it’s Alien Day, meaning it’s 4/26. If you’re somehow unaware of the Aliens reference, and yet still reading this, all you really need to know is that the overrun Acheron colony in the film Aliens was designated LV 426. Yeah, that’s it.

But let’s get past that, because as Aliens-branded names go Dark Descent is pretty darn interesting. This isn’t your usual shooter, or even a survival-horror affair, as Dark Descent plays off of arguably the most popular movie in the series, Aliens.

Players will take command of a squad of Colonial Marines, as they dive deep into a hive But this isn’t a straightforward bug-hunt, as Aliens: Dark Descent will be loaded with “sinister secrets”, and fresh threats. Yeah, while there’ll be a ton of xenos to eliminate, there are other things out there lurking too.

And from the looks of it, they’ll straddle the line between human and… something else.

In Aliens: Dark Descent, the horrors and wonders of an authentic Alien narrative unfold through a cinematic campaign full of sinister secrets, iconic Xenomorphs and brand-new threats. A range of tactical abilities come into play as you recruit, level up and command a squad of Colonial Marines in real-time and as one unit with intuitive controls on both keyboard/mouse and controller.

Any command issued over comms is swiftly obeyed by the Marine best-equipped for the situation, according to their abilities and equipment. Players will need to use their wits to navigate expansive, persistent and reactive levels. However, each Marine’s vitals should be monitored cautiously — for death is permanent.

Focus Entertainment press release

As for that pre-order

Aside from the great-looking visuals there, you can also see that Aliens: Dark Descent is now available for pre-order. The game will be landing on Xbox and PlayStation platforms, as well as the PC, on June 20th.

As you might imagine too, fans who pre-order the game will get a little gift for doing so. Pre-ordering a copy will net you the “Lethe Recon Pack” for your trouble. What’s in that? Well, Lethe is the name of the moon that Dark Descent takes place on, so that explains that.

And as for the rest, the official site for the game notes “an exclusive black Armor Set” for your squad and a cat for your ship as pre-order bonuses. So it might be that stuff. Of course, you could just pre-order and find out for sure too.