You and your crew are alone on a spaceship, floating towards the far reaches of the galaxy. It’s peaceful mostly, and then you spot something out of the corner of your eye: a spiny black tail, and a shimmer of teeth. Then, a hissing sound. More teeth. You’re surrounded by Aliens, and their numbers are growing fast. You’ll need to use every tool in your high-tech arsenal to survive. This is Aliens: Fireteam Elite, a new multiplayer game in the iconic Aliens series.
If you’re in the mood for scaring yourself silly or just kicking some big alien butt, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is your ticket to flame-throwing, alien-stomping glory.
Here’s everything we know about the game so far.
What is Aliens: Fireteam Elite?
Aliens: Fireteam Elite appears to have mostly slipped under the radar in the last few months, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing exactly what it is.
In essence, it’s an upcoming co-op survival shooter where you play as a Colonial Marine attempting to take down hordes of Xenomorph aliens and Weyland-Yutani Synthetic hybrids on a lonely outcrop in space.
It’s set 23 years after the events of the original Alien film trilogy and follows the horrifying spread of the aliens within your crewed ship.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite: Release Date
Aliens: Fireteam Elite releases for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 24, 2021.
You’ll be able to nab it digitally or physically in Australia from every major game retailer.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite: Trailer
The first trailer for Aliens: Fireteam Elite was revealed in June 2021, so there’s been an incredibly short hype cycle around the game — but there’s enough here to get excited about.
In snippets, the trailer shows off some appropriately spooky locales including the unfortunate, soon-to-be-overrun UAS Endeavor spaceship, and what looks like an ancient colosseum at the mercy of slimy, creeping aliens.
There’s plenty of awful, gooey goodness here and it should give you a good idea of whether this game is for you, or if it’s something you’ll want to cower behind the couch to avoid.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite Gameplay
Aliens: Fireteam Elite pits a player crew of three Colonial Marines against an advancing tide of aliens as they spread throughout space. While it appears these aliens will start in stealth mode and bait players into paranoia, the longer you fight the more you’ll have to run and gun to survive.
According to the game’s official description, you’ll be facing off against 20 different alien types, including “11 different Xenomorphs along the evolutionary scale from Facehuggers to Praetorians, each designed with their own intelligence to ambush, outsmart and eviscerate vulnerable marines.”
It’s skin-crawling to think about, but at least you’ll be equipped with high-powered weapons, skills and tactics to eviscerate these aliens, protect your crew and save your spaceship from total annihilation in co-0p, third-person shooter action.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite Classes
In Aliens: Fireteam Elite, you’ll be able to pick from five classes: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc and Recon.
As you’d expect, each has their own unique weapons and perks. The Gunner is built around rapid gunfire, the Demolisher can utilise heavy weapons, Technicians can operate turrets and defend players, Docs are healers, and Recon players are able to spot enemy aliens from a distance and alert their team.
Since Fireteam squads are just three people, you’ll need to leave some classes behind and focus on the best tactics to survive — and you’ll need to experiment and see what works for you and your crew.
Given the Doc is able to heal wounded troops and you’ll be positively surrounded by aliens they’ll be a good pick — and the Recon class also sounds like it’ll be very handy in a firefight.
You can check out early impressions from our pals at Eurogamer to get a better feel for how each class plays on a practical level.
How Co-Op Multiplayer Works in Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is an online-only co-op multiplayer game for up to three players. There’s no option for local co-op so you’ll need to be playing on seperate machines — and you can only play others within your console group.
That is, the game technically supports crossplay but only between PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X.
You can also play the game alone if you choose, but that’ll mean teaming up with two other AI players which can be hit or miss, according to early reviews.
For the best co-op multiplayer experience you’ll want to round up two of your closest mates, gear up and head out on your space-faring adventure together.
Sadly you’ll only be able to play as Marines for now, with no information about whether players will eventually be able to terrorising their fellow Fireteams in the form of Xenomorphs or hybrids.
We can expect to hear more about the game as it launches.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is currently set for release on August 24, 2021. If you’re in the mood for all-out alien carnage, this might be the game that takes the edge off. Stay tuned to Kotaku Australia for more.
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