Aliens: Dark Descent Review

[@MandaloreGaming]

Aliens Dark Descent on Steam - store.steampowered.com/app/1150440/Aliens_Dark_Descent/ UPDATE: There is now an option to disable the campaign timer completely, skip the prologue, and a New Game+ mode.

[@christiankaiser3885]

They do tend to hunt in packs.

[@babalonkie]

Aliens: PTSD

[@callmetired2294]

Just wanna take a sec to say thanks for everything you do as a content creator Mandy

[@Ansonr]

I don't know if you read these or not, but I just want to say I love your work. It's always so thoughtful and insightful and you always look at things that are not already covered all over the place.

[@ukaszgrzesik7231]

At the risk sounding like a broken record, any chance for a vid about another Ice Pick Lodge game The Void (aka Tension, aka Turgor)? It had issues, but remains one of most unique games I ever played.

[@void-creature]

We've reached a point where I automatically assume any game Mandalore reviews is old, and am genuinely shocked when I realise it's actually brand new

[@VerGiLL1]

Ikr. When i saw it was a Alien review at first i tough it would be a obscure game that i haven't played yet,well i was partly correct 😂

[@satzbau9185]

Legit had a little thrill when he said it was by the same people who did Battlefleet Gothic

[@Orosian5]

Me whilst watching video: Oh, has that been out for a while? I'll check Steam after the video finishes. My email after the video finishes: Oh, hai! Steam here. Dark Descent has been released now.

[@CourierSiix]

Its like when sseth reviewed elden ring

[@sebastianhorn5156]

Yeah, I was also wondering how I'd missed an Alien game. Mandalore doing a brand new game? I'm shocked!

[@StephenBlane]

Persistent maps you can return to with fresh teams is an amazing idea. Does it persist blood or bodies from lost teams? It would be so cool to return to a once sealed "safe" room with the remnants of what happened to the last squad.

[@MandaloreGaming]

It didn't preserve bloodstains sadly, but some of the bigger alien corpses get left over or bodies that had loot on them.

[@StephenBlane]

@@MandaloreGaming Ah well, perhaps in a future update, or if the modding community decide to add some extra details.

[@FearlessSon]

I can see why it wouldn't leave bodies behind. The xenomorphs need the bodies of others, if not for breeding than for raw material for the hive. The xenomorphs themselves dissolve in their own juices when they expire. From a practical standpoint, with the amount of action that happens over time in this game maps would get very cluttered with dynamic assets and performance could drag down the further into the game you get. That said, seeing parts of the level evolve with baked-in assets that get revealed as things happen in certain areas would be pretty cool. Acidic burns etch themselves in metals on the floors, additional hive resin starts caking exposed surfaces, scorch marks and charring appear as explosive rounds and flamethrowers are heavily used, etcetera.

[@KABLAMMATS]

​@@StephenBlaneyeah imagine the horror with the new fresh blood when they found the corpses of the previous team and will affect their morale

[@StephenBlane]

@@KABLAMMATS It just fits so perfectly with this game! They need to do it!

[@victorvillela7089]

Only five hours in but man I'm LOVING this game. First mission I'm down three marines, one got killed, the other dragged away to the hive and the third I'm carrying on my back trying to get back to the ARC and extract. Once I returned I learned that the fallen marine I brought back was missing a leg and had to go into surgery for a prosthetic. I thought that was so badass!

[@schibleh531]

It sounds wasteful if I am being honest.

[@supermariogold0187]

@@schibleh531You must hate fun.

[@Mantis_Toboggan_TrashMan]

Aliens Dark Descent is fucking awesome. I hope that we get a good old fashioned sequel that doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but expands upon everything that already worked. But considering the track record of aliens/predator games, even the successful ones don't get follow ups because why print money.

[@giantfactory]

Do you see the prosthetic?

[@victorvillela7089]

sure do!@@giantfactory

[@nageboorte]

"tricked by a recruiter at their high school cafeteria" LOL most realistic part of the game.

[@AltereggoLol1]

"Will being in the marines get me laid?" "Kid, you'll be getting fucked _all_ the time"

[@palegrate392]

recruiter: “how would you like to serve your country?” some poor unfortunate high school senior in the summer of 2001: “boy, would i!”

[@JoshSweetvale]

*Laughs in Europe.* Thanks for dying for us, guys. You get the spOILs, but we get to not have tanks rolling down the highway.

[@crawlingchaos2811]

@@JoshSweetvale we are not isreal we do not have tanks out like normal (and also they are cool)

[@JoshSweetvale]

@@crawlingchaos2811 I meant _Russian_ tanks. Or Chinese or if we're truly narcoleptic Islamic tanks.

[@ChristopherBrown-bj4zl]

9:35 "It turns out not all the marines joined up for their love of slaying dragons, but were in fact tricked by the recruiter at their high school cafeteria." as a retired Marine, this quote gets a 10/10 from me Mandalore. lol. Never did get to kill my dragon.

[@Bugga451]

*police that moostache instensifies*

[@LAHFaust]

My first job was in a surplus store in Oceanside and we had a poster with a still from the commercial where a Marine kills a dragon. Needless to say, I wound up joining up and was immensely disappointed when instead of dragons, there was just guys defiling goats in the Afghan mountains.

[@jacobp.4593]

@@Bugga451 Fun fact: Sixta was arrested for luring a minor.

[@Can_O_Crayola]

@@LAHFaust "That, admittedly, took the wind out of the sails for some of the guys."

[@CatsOverdrive]

@@jacobp.4593 Welp. I guess you can say, he complied with his 'grooming standard'.

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

Imagining a weyland exec explaining how crossing xenomorph DNA with pizza to solve world hunger fills me with joy.

[@Streptovarius]

Now I'm imagining Pizza the Hut as a chest-burster.

[@gorionus9812]

Weyland-Yutani: Building better Breakfasts

[@DemuDesu]

Lab grown meat based on animal cancer cells is already a thing in real life...

[@Bec-Son]

i would love a story like that for the aliens series, because they always fall back to "aliens! we can do something with them!" but doesnt actually get into the nuances of what you can do with them, like xenomorph blood is an amazing melting chemical so why not have it be products for debris removal or waste management

[@Jimoshi1]

Still less toxic and acidic then pineapple piza

[@KrissFliss]

I love that they have started to integrate the Worker Joe's from Alien Isolation in most recent games! It's sutch a great concept afther seeing so many robots that looks too human!

[@arnowisp6244]

The Working Joe aka Poor Man's Android. Makes sense the Human ones are the top tier line.

[@MrErizid]

It doesn't actually make sense that Weyland-Yutani has "Working Joes" because those were Seegson things. There are many files in Isolation that talk about how far behind Seegson's androids were compared to WY.

[@StyryderX]

I could remember wrong, but Worker Joe are very much intended as the poor man's Android that are build by other (equally terrible) company. Why would Weyland build something that are already inferior than what they have?

[@rollfizzlebeef115]

@@MrErizid In other fiction like Fireteam Elite the androids were on the station prior to WY buying it off the original owners, or in the case of the USCM's combat synths they're Seegson models given a refurbish by WY. Just swap a few parts out and stick them into the company jumpsuit and viola! Cheapo Weyland androids!

[@iratepirate3896]

@@MrErizid Did you forget about the major plot point of Alien Isolation that Weyland-Yutani bought out Seegson just to take over the Sevastopol station AI?

[@lorcan0c]

17:08 I had the exact same issue with that Gears of War X-Com like, Gears Tactics. Throughout the game you're rotating between using the established story characters and your own customizable squaddies, but once you hit the final act, they drop a random new character on you solely as a tie-in to the mainline 3rd person games, and this caps you out for the final mission. You're forced to use all story characters. That didn't feel great there, I wanted to bring my random heavy gunner and his comically large organ-grinder minigun to the finale, but no, I have to use this dinky scout class character because 'the plot said so.'

[@mortarion9813]

Loved that your Average Gears were seen in most of the cutscenes, though. Jax and Ripper were GOATed heavy gunners. Especially since I'm addicted to the COG and geared as many of my guys up as Gear as possible - because fuck the Stranded and their lack of a dress code.

[@OneHotWolfie]

Yeah, I loved the game - but that final act with the story characters was a bit weak. All that hard-earned xp and struggle and nope, narrator says you have to play with his toys lol.

[@somerandomschmuck2547]

The weirdest part is X-com seemingly did figure out how to do this right before, in X-com the only times you have a character you're forced to take it's one single person out of the whole squad, and it's either A.) a character we've known and interacted with the whole game, Bradford, Shen, etc... B.) a character who has just been introduced that one mission and you aren't required to take anywhere else (like the one Yakuza guy from Enemy Within), C.) you, in the case of the Avatar from Xcom 2. Or even earlier we have the psychic from Enemy Unknown/Within, who is a character you select and in all likelihood is one you've grown attached to because you've been using and leveling them for a couple hours already. In short, it's usually only the one character, usually only for a single mission (and baring the Psychic and the Commander, it's not the last mission, hell usually it's entirely optional) and you have reasons to care about them/want to bring them.

[@leesasuki]

and not to mention that, you can spam skills without CD or cost in the final act, which make the whole final act a joke in either story or challenge

[@nonya1366]

"Stress is a little demon that compounds misery" is a fantastic quote.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

It is. It's why "lmao if your life sucks, just suck it up" is a really shitty thing yo say to people. Because that requires explaining, anyway 🤷

[@ootdega]

_Dazed._ _Reeling._ *_About to break._*

[@Eclipse_Being]

@@ootdega Injury and despondence, sets the stage for heroism or cowardice.

[@alphalightning00frost67]

What does it mean?

[@aussiekola2370]

Imagine when marines reach Max stress they have a similar mechanic where they either have a mental breakdown or become virtuous

[@MorningDrool]

It’s good to see this franchise is still trying to apologize for Colonial Marines even till this day.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Just like Sony churning out the Spider-Verse films for releasing that junk with emojis.

[@Steak818]

@@michaelandreipalon359 What junk ?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@Steak818 As I've said, it has emojis.

[@Steak818]

@@michaelandreipalon359 WHAT HAVE EMOJIS ?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

*sighs* Since you want to suffer, it's The Emoji Movie.

[@ianbyrne465]

I thunk a cool idea for a game is some kind of Weyland Utani tycoon game. Building up the company, developing the research on Xenomirphs while simultaneously trying to keep it secret and keep the threat contained. It could be alot like Frostpunk, where it slowly pushes you to being jaded and ruthless, like the WU execs. "Crew expendable" seems much more acceptable when youre trying to contain several Xenomorph outbreaks at once.

[@TheNapster153]

Better, I feel they could use the basis of gameplay in this game and go all out and play as a Weyland-Yutani kill squad. Not like the horrendous PMCs from colonial marines, but an actual top-of-the-line corporate black ops sent to retrieve sensitive data that not even the government knows about. You'll get access to tech right off the bat, and further down the line, it may even begin to resemble the Predators, which makes sense given they are the Xenos primary enemy.

[@tonoornottono]

@@TheNapster153jumping the shark in the concept stage i see

[@didgeteria9068]

Gae

[@117Netgear]

Marine welding door - "Yee shall not pass, fuckers"..yep I'm sold.

[@K3end0]

Something about this game feels so perfect. The fact maps are large and persistent and can be done multiple times, the fact enemy agro is a ramping up hunt system, the fact you can create a defenses and even a safe zone to manage stress just like in the alien movies, it's just so great. It feels like the devs looked at what parts of the xcom-like genre it liked but also what wouldnt fit, and figured out how to twist it all in one package to make it totally unique yet not too different. It all just seems to mesh together and it looks amazing. Can't wait to get it.

[@leesasuki]

have you tried it? The game, despite having quite a lot of issues, is just one of a kind and did really well in what they are selling for

[@TheXenomorphwarrior]

As a xenomorph I’d like to invite each and every one of you to the hive’s pizza party

[@ivegotbadtaste9181]

Oh boy pizza! Do I just walk towards the screaming and hissing or is there a line

[@peterwhite6415]

Are we allowed to bring snacks? Like teh Spicy Nuclear Bomb shaped kind? :3

[@Gatorade69]

What toppings on the pizza ? Acid and pineapple ?

[@metaparalysis3441]

@@Gatorade69 pineapple is a warcrime D:

[@DanBoy42]

​@metaparalysis3441 Sorry. I have to dislike that comment about pineapple on pizza 😂

[@yomuyugi]

This game makes me feel like the Predators are the most suited hunters to take on the xenomorph and it's pretty cool that you can get your soldiers to act like that, be stealthy and precise and take them out one by one. If they made the squad/individual soldier selection like Men of War 2 then it would be perfect! Amazing review Mandalore!

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

"An _Aliens_ line here or there in your _Aliens_ project is fine, but when it's this often it's mostly obnoxious... mostly." Oh you magnificent bastard, Mandalore!

[@RuralProgressive]

Man I used to love extinction as a kid but this, this I’ve been waiting for

[@dustinlawson5882]

thank god theres someone else! i thought i was the only one

[@Seras0]

I remember loving Extinction!

[@quismachina857]

Honestly I’m right there with ya, I can admit part of it was me being a kid and loving aliens and predator. Was it amazing or great? No but did I have an awesome time slaughtering humans and predators as a xenomorph hive? Hell yes!

[@Looneyface]

i loved playing exstinction when i was a kid loved the alien and predator story!

[@jhonzeimerman5650]

I loved the Alien campaign, is so rewarding starting with nothing and finish with a gigantic hive ready to lure prey to grow even bigger.

[@mj91212]

Ah, so it’s the fabled horror/strategy that I’ve often dreamed off but rarely seen. Good…gooooood.

[@xczechr]

Play Darkest Dungeon.

[@_BirdOfGoodOmen]

I assume you've also played Homeworld: Cataclysm? If not it's somehow a space rts that does horror really well

[@TurKlack]

I think it's the first time I heard of a cult that not only worships the Xenos but can actually coexist with them. I think that's pretty damn interesting.

[@peterwhite6415]

I recomed you to read the Alien Omnibus comics... your going to see a couple cults in them and their variations.

[@coffeeelk6364]

If you think that’s interesting, you should give Aliens: Rogue and Colonial Marines (the Dark Horse Comic) a read!

[@0lionheart]

I really hope it's not the robes & chanting kind of religious zealot cult, because I'm so tired of that trope. I can't picture the xenomorph hive not just dragging them all off to cocoon, why would they give a shit.

[@nevermore7285]

⁠@@0lionheart They use cybernetics among other things after they’ve been incubated seemingly, to prevent them from ‘bursting.’

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@nevermore7285 Now, my question is, whats their goal with all this? How do they intend to live? Do they really just want to help the Xenomorphs? I'd say they are crazy, but actually making cybernetics that renders the Xenomorphs non-hostile is something Weyland-Yutani would be drooling over.

[@WorldsMostWated]

This game has an immense amount of potential. I really hope this game gets expansions and modding support in the future

[@loudman12]

Agree. I know GTA has had 10 years of added expansions. This games foundations has the potential to do this. Even allowing people to create their own maps like in halo early days. For me this game had me mad but in a great way. Wanted me to keep going and actually think. Rare beast to get these days. Developers are true heart dedicated to making a game and respecting and loving the franchise

[@AxleTrade]

Mandy's been on a roll with these horror reviews. I'm extra hyped for what he's cooking up for Halloween this year now.

[@RussianPrimeMinister]

It'll be candy and rainbows, just to throw us for a loop.

[@bloodywilliam3083]

Jack Orlando

[@marcinkrz3140]

Garden of Banban

[@CZEFrank]

Hopefully the worst fucking adventure game I've yet to see!

[@Pattamatt1998]

Super Mario 64 piano room

[@alexbrent6592]

Im loving all these "Horror" videos mandalore is putting out.

[@poopoo-dk4hu]

WELL YOU KNOW WHAT?? I agree 😁

[@akiba2x0]

I'm just waiting for the System Shock Remake 0:31

[@DarthKain0]

@@thypeasantslayer3621 That goes to Dirk Gently.

[@kylemackinnon5696]

"Seagull being strangled" Give the subtitles guy a raise lol

[@ethanday5602]

Haze taking a break from eating dry cereal and killing pedophiles to manage an alien extermination squad is shockingly in line with AA lore

[@Around_blax_dont_relax]

Dry cereal is just human dog food

[@Gadtkaz]

Xeno smoothie time :))))

[@dinosaurkin5093]

@@Around_blax_dont_relax God, I wish

[@ogto]

the xcom 2 deployment menu music is something ELSE. it's got a starship troopers level of hype

[@oilimenoruega7836]

So it's kind of like a Aliens x Darkest Dungeon deal with the whole stress and negative personality traits. That's awesome

[@ni9274]

yes it really feel like darkest dungeon

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

It’s like darkest dungeon with guns -ign probably

[@gamefan987]

​@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116"It's the Darkest Dungeon of Dark Souls" IGN 2023

[@FearlessSon]

It's also a carry-over from the tabletop RPG, which has this whole stress mechanic. As stress builds, your chances for both critical success *and* critical failures increase, so the stakes constantly build up. Individual things can increase individual party member's stress, but party members can raise each other's stress too. For example having a comrade have a panic beside you is stressful, which can lead to "stress cascades" if you're not careful. So the RPG recommends giving the party a little downtime between encounters to give them a chance to administer medical attention and reduce each other's stress, if they can, so they're a little fresher for the next horror they have to deal with.

[@HellecticMojo]

Long as it's not actually handled like Darkest Dungeon, it should be fine.

[@dheck1138]

The Roleplaying Game is great, it's a wonderfully simple system that you could easily adapt to just about any horror franchise or create homebrew material for (like Predators, Terminators, etc.).

[@Bugga451]

There's a fanmade Dead Space supplement that makes me want to learn the system just to run a campaign in that setting.

[@wojakthecrusader1410]

Buddy play ss13 and try colonial marine server! It's cool!

[@CollinMcLean]

"It turns out not all of the marines joined up for their love of slaying dragons but were in fact tricked by the recruiter at their highschool cafeteria" Ok that one really hit close to home for me. If you came from a poor to middle class school district like mine you probably saw a military recruiter there twice a week on average.

[@VojislavMoranic]

This concept is so completely foreign to me that it is mindblowing. In Serbia when you go to serve in the armed forces your family makes a literal celebration like a mini wedding for you. You are actually respected and privileged to serve the fatherland and there is no such thing as a recruiter. You want to join up (Now that there is no mandatory service)? At the end of highschool you get a questionare. "Do you want to serve voluntarily" Yes? No? If you selected Yes then you wait for a envelope from the ministry of defense and go to your nearest Military department for further stuff. If you selected No and change your mind later on you just go to the nearest military department and sing "Buffalo Soldier" in front of the window. If you endure being called "Gay" three times they let you join.

[@berdyderg900]

America is Satan, the reason we'll never have universal healthcare or college is because this system forces the poor to become mercenaries for the rich

[@jessegauthier6985]

Are you American? I've literally never even met an Army Recruiter and this sounds to me like the kinda dystopian shit you see down south :/

[@iwatchyoutubealot]

@@VojislavMoranic lol is this real

[@EmergencyChannel]

Better yet, a lot of schools have Junior ROTC where you literally are training to eventually join the military while still in highschool.

[@witchfynder_finder]

The idea of a xeno cult that has found peace with the aliens is SO cool, sounds like they should've put more time into that plot and less into explaining that Wayland-Yutani are the bad guys.

[@AdamantLightLP]

But wait, did you know Wayland is bad????

[@Gatorade69]

@@AdamantLightLP Really ? No way.

[@HellecticMojo]

At this point, they aren't even the bad guys, just the dumb guys. How bad is your stocks that you think repeatedly working on creatures you can't obviously control is good for your stock portfolio? Umbrella was dumb, but at least they diversified their research with parasite, fungus, and virus. WY are just "No, only spess bugz"

[@nevermore7285]

@@HellecticMojo To be fair, a lot of time, they get sabotaged before they can even try to control them.

[@shcdemolisher]

At this point in the series, I’m always wondering how the hell wayland is even FUNCTIONING as a company with this level of shit happening to them. Like, you’d be having a company wide REBELLION, main HQ being burned to the ground by the former workers, military and governments hunting down the leaders for crimes against humanity. Just…. Everything that they deserve.

[@t4washere384]

They've brought back the Xeno Cult? Fuck yes! That was always the most interesting concept from the old books. Still disappoints me they weren't in Alien Covenant, because words means things.

[@chrispekel5709]

That movie was proof that Scott has age related dementia

[@Orcling]

My marines didn't get PTSD, the Aliens got PTSD from stepping into mines every 10 meters

[@Lucax97]

Dubbing Alien 3 the studio bar fight is so apt I'll be referring to it as such forever

[@michaelandreipalon359]

At least the Assembly Cut makes up for it.

[@RWxAshley]

6:52 This is why I will always remember XCom 2 for the music is starts to play in Act 2 on the Avenger. Getting the needed research for that part of the game was a goddamn nightmare my first run through as I wasn't expecting it. Returning to base after making solid progress was so goddamn perfect. It nailed the tone of finally making a breakthrough on something after being stuck just scrapping by during the first Act.

[@baronjutter]

I'd love a full on x-com style alien game. Turn based, details squad and base management, the whole thing.

[@wallman117]

One thing that I would love is for a helmet cam display for each marine with that grainy look from the Aliens film, just for some flavour

[@RECTANGLE339]

Ah, yes… finally. They may have continued the Amnesia series, but it’s been 13 years since the last entry in the “Dark Descent” series.

[@VioIetteMolotov]

Man I wish he would review Amnesia.. and SOMA too.

[@moldfather3633]

😊

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Also, he should review the Penumbra duology.

[@Gatorade69]

@@michaelandreipalon359 Duology ? I could have sworn there was three Penumbra games.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@Gatorade69 Requiem was made by different people from the previous two, is an expansion, and is deemed as apocryphal to players due to its weirder puzzles, story quirks, and undoing a good enough ending point in the form of Black Plague.

[@Mystyx-Sama]

I would love a 40K version of this. Hopefully not another Space Hulk deal, but perhaps a Deathwatch team dealing with a hostile xenos world or ship.

[@brooksriley9659]

PDF the game under manned under equipped you take the role of a PDF commander tasked with defending a section of hive from dark eldar raiders. There better equipped then you better trained then you and you don’t stand any chance. But you were tasked to defend the people of this hive and with faith in the emperor and your trusty lasgun you might just make a difference……

[@benhillman8384]

Part of me was sort of hoping rogue trader would be like that with a real-time with pause mode like Owlcat’s pathfinder games, but alas not.

[@brightestlight9462]

@@brooksriley9659 nah, if you want elites going against hordes, dark eldar are not the enemy you want to fight against, they dont fit that. choose orks or traitor guard or nids. dark eldar kabalites can give space marines a run for their money

[@throwdown1776]

Dawn of war 2 but it's a space hulk Rougelike

[@user-go1sl6rd7u]

This is somewhat like 40k Mechanicus but real time.

[@michaelfielding6666]

Yeah they definitively a missed opportunity not having more xenomorph types, the range xenomorph (the Spitter) could have been a great addition and would have changed some of the gameplay a bit having a xenomorph that can attack from range. Overall it's a solid game for fans of the Aliens/Alien universe. I never thought I would love a game like this that wasn't in first person. And your comments about this one being more true to the name "Aliens Colonial Marines" is spot on.

[@Cryten0]

The big large complexes is cool. The most memorable moments of Aliens vs Predator (PC) & 2 where infiltrating the large complexes from the outside and worming your way past security.

[@xczechr]

For me it was playing Last Man Standing at LAN parties. Good times.

[@HeisenbergFam]

Mandalore is like an uncle who cheers you up and gives you gifts whenever you see him Kudos for 11 years of dedication

[@TomBoss123]

that sounds weirdly parasocial to be honest

[@angellara7040]

​@@TomBoss123let us have this boss

[@Redfoxe]

Mandalore: "Hey Kiddo, do i got a suprise for you!" *Detective Hulligans special apple schnaps*

[@StrikeWarlock]

You're describing Sirius Black lmao, and it actually tracks.

[@peterwhite6415]

I was honeslty suprised to see the Cult stuff being touched upon, since that is some old comics stuff (havent read recent stuff for the most part) and it can spawn into existance through alot of ways: - The one that caused the Earth Wars/Infestation was due to a guy who was super obessessed with the Xenomorph to forming a large mob and break into one of the Weyland Yutani (or another pharmasuthical corporation), freeing a Queen and getting face-hugged. - The future variations are less "dumb charismatic guy running a cult" and more "crazy science dude running a secret cult and studying teh xeno and effects of the royal jelly on humans". Its a really interesting because the Xenomorph is often shown being Agressive as fuck towards humans (even ones who are docile), but the Cult showed how Smart this bastards really are... the moment the Queen realize what the Cultist were doing, she didnt attack them and Drones avoided attacking them. That is really terrifying cause it shows you really cant trust anybody in the Alien Universe if theres a infestation going on.

[@JohnDoe-wg9sy]

I think these cultists are using a form of "camouflage" with the little chestbursters locked in stasis inside their chest cavities.

[@7783DEATH]

The best alien stories are when they are portrayed as more than animals

[@Gellert1984]

Theres also the one where a CM General (Spears?) is trying to use them as soldiers, even sacrificing his own marines to increase the number of 'trained' aliens. The aliens in the books were always better than the ones in the movies, just the whole concept that they get into your head and fuck with you makes them a much more impressive enemy.

[@nonya1366]

They have chestbursters in their chest in clear light. The aliens don't kill the ones who are both not fighting and infected...So it might be a instinct loophole.

[@peterwhite6415]

​@@Gellert1984 True! I love that story. However I wouldnt call Spear's operation a cult... it was a miltary outpost that was cutoff from Earth and the guy running the place went crazy. Everyone was scared and they were in a Cost-Fail fallacy... they could have stopped Spears earlier and suffer a lighter punishment or none at all... but due to their Fear of him, they allowed it to go for to long, so if they restrained Spears and contacted whatever was left of Earth Military, they were all definitly fucked, scared and paranoid. Everyone was just trying to not get on Spear's badside or GTFO but it was clear Spear's was keeping info tight and them isolated from the outside for the most part (most of the soldiers didnt seem to know what happened to the Terraformer's colony). Spear's is a godo vilain, becuase he THINK's hes in the right path to "tame" or "control" the Xenos, but hes just getting manipulated by the Queen on the outpost and pays the price when he gos to Earth. His whole Alien-Army plan was doomed to fail.

[@Blurgleflargle]

Really happy to see developers starting to adapt the awesome TTRPG. Maybe the guys who made Mutant Year Zero and Miasma Chronicles are gonna take up the Alien license next (esp. considering Alien RPG itself is based on the Mutant Year Zero system).

[@t4washere384]

Also if it gets DLC I would love to see some of the "Kenner" Xenomorph hybrids in it.

[@BernardLangham]

interesting fact: Ron Cobb's original name for Weylan(d)-Yutani was... (British) Leyland-Toyota.

[@KarlRosner]

The Xcom 2 deployment music is just called "Squad Loadout". :)

[@Sir-Raph]

That little *_"Peek-a-Boo"_* bit at the end got a good chuckle out of me. 😂

[@mrboxleytheonly]

Im so glad you exist and make these awesome videos, you share awesome games that I would normally never see. That is all presented with a fair intellectual format that is done so well I feel smarter for having experienced it. Thanks for all the content, man!

[@FlamencoTV]

I guess Mandy finally got an answer to the Pizza question in Droods

[@dreenarmookington2240]

Pitza*

[@FlamencoTV]

@@dreenarmookington2240 I'm not a german savage though.

[@Twilleh]

The most important question, does the Pulse Rifle sound like the Pulse Rifle?

[@treefiddy3033]

5:19

[@michaelandreipalon359]

You can at least hear it on 9:12.

[@vulture8298]

Mandalore casually triggering my _Aliens: Labyrinth_ PTSD. Great, much appreciated 👨‍🔬😐 _"I hope you know Tony... none of this is personal."_

[@locolama]

The team management and stress/panic system reminds me of when Gearbox announced Colonial Marines way back in 2008. I remember at that early stage the game was supposed to have similar gameplay features. It's remarkable what this Indie team achieved with a fraction of the money Randy Pitchford blew on cocaine, and hookers performing "magic tricks" with their bodies.

[@carcosian]

Labyrinth is such a good Alien comic. Really captures the weirdness of the original movie.

[@protosopic6398]

It's plain shock value and is disgusting for the sake of it. Also, you're telling me the alien is weak to mold. That's lame. They aren't terrifying or scary in that story, and it is full of so many holes.

[@Zombie1Boy]

There's no music in the ship because Weyland Yutani DMCA'd it all.

[@angellara7040]

After misreading this For a brief moment I had the thought of weyland pulling dmc combos on a marine

[@ComradeKits]

I just realized the SA .357 Revolver is the revolver from Alien Isolation, what a great little detail.

[@Nyssine]

fav quote in the game was "I dunno guys, this is starting to feel like a dark descent... an Aliens: Dark Descent."

[@Assassin5671000]

Mission Packs ? Mandalore do you know what year it is ? The first thing you are getting is a skin to make your marines look like neon pink teletubes

[@MandaloreGaming]

Let me dream.

[@damaskovich]

Reminds me of Colonial Marines 13 on SS13 and I'm here for it.

[@Mark9013100]

no matter where you go there's no escaping SS13

[@randymcdougle7023]

Not enough shotgun juggling in Dark Descent to really be comparable

[@discountpotato5680]

​@@randymcdougle7023 not enough goofy neon hair anime girls 😂

[@wadewilson4018]

Kudos for 'Double-Cross' subtly playing in the background Mando..

[@realbillyb]

It’s cool to see a good tactical strategy game be released. I feel like we don’t see a lot of them.

[@TotallyNotElPresidente]

It's actually baffling to me that they didn't allow PC players the ability to control individual squad members. I get why on console that wouldn't really work...but like, you can bind your squadmates to like "1,2,3,4" and "5" selects the whole squad.

[@quickdraw6893]

They could have had the default control selection be the whole squad and then manually pick out individual squadmates when necessary. It would take some getting used to but it just doesn't make sense not being able to manually position individuals.

[@kveller555]

Why wouldn't you be able to do that with a controller? Having a button to cycle through them or to open up a selection wheel would've done the trick.

[@v44n7]

maybe they just dont want people to focus too much on micromanagment units, i could understand that, and not only a console thing

[@koreancowboy42]

I've played Xcom on Ps4 console. And honestly micromanagement is already annoying in this game. Cuz you have to keep tabs on the map for enemies but also where your going due to how sometimes the pathwalking is DUMB ASF. I'd make them run to a Grey area and they'd run back to go around. When they could've kept running forward and they'd be there already.

[@Infinite_Jester]

@@v44n7 Yes, and if you're able to split your squad you could A) complete objectives much faster and B) it would complicate the AI. That being said, I just finished the first mission and already I'm wishing I could move certain individuals to the front/back of the group and whatnot. If I have a squaddie with a bunch of accuracy bonuses, it would be nice to have her use the suppressing fire skill, for example. But currently it's really hard to choose who does what since it'll default to the closest member and then you won't always be able to get it in the direction you want.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

Controlling the entire squad as one entity over large & handcrafted maps are two really cool twist on the sub-genera of "XCOM Likes." Would like to see more takes on that. It seems like you could do some genuinly cool things with that idea. Like... mechanized SHIV & MEC style units that are very powerful, but slow down the squad as a whole, for instance. Something that in most other games would barely be a blip of annoyance, but due to such a squad focus might genuinely make you shelve those unit types due to poor synergy for your playstyle.

[@Dethmeister]

11:56 That's a scary monster that walked in the background.

[@benjaminotalora363]

As a lover of both strategy games and xenomorphs I am so gonna give this game a try. Sounds like a solid game that could be improved with a war of the chosen style DLC

[@ApparentlyJade]

AVP extinction was one of my favorite PS2 games haha. Things always looked better as a child

[@AlexisMrMachine]

I was half expecting this to be an Amnesia: The Bunker video until I realized no that's just the actual name for this game.

[@Umbral_Choir]

There is an older "Aliens vs. Predator" game I would recommend, the 2010 one with the 3 campaigns. Surprisingly few people have covered it. Could be interesting to look into.

[@Ummarth9]

@Umbral_Choir That's AVP Extinction he mentions toward the start of the video. Flawed, but no one has ever tried to remake that. Still have the Xbox version of it. That game needed a random map mode more than any other RTS I've ever played.

[@skibidibop3028]

I was about to call you out for calling AVP 2010 “old,” but then I remembered that it’s been out for nearly 13 years now.

[@quickdraw6893]

@@Ummarth9 AVP extinction is the RTS released in 2003, AVP 2010 is an FPS.

[@Umbral_Choir]

@@Ummarth9 It's not extinction. Google Aliens vs. Predator and look for the 2010 game. It is an FPS and even had multiplayer.

[@Umbral_Choir]

@@skibidibop3028 I feel old as well.

[@thecolorsaqib]

The closest we might get to a remake of AVP Extinction. Hope these guys get that property and can do something wonderful with it.

[@jounshon]

Wake up gamers, new Mandy upload.

[@Meitti]

Problem with Xenomorph types is their form depends on what facehugger jumps on. Praetorian and Queen are more like specialized ants-kind of thing but they're the only ones, rest would need a different planet with active wildlife of alien creatures to justify more types of Xenos.

[@joshuazimmer8568]

That's a terrible excuse, just set it on a planet with different types then lmao

[@markmahler6446]

The inclusion of the clip from that old ass “Lava Monster” recruiting commercial from the ‘90s made my day. The game seems good too.

[@SteveIsMe1291]

This game was a ton of fun to play and is a great love letter to the franchise.

[@TheSpectator64]

I didn't expected an early review of this game from you Mandalore, you're full of surprises.

[@kombatwombat6579]

This is the mix I needed, Aliens + Mandalore Gaming.

[@Spacialvekter]

8:59 The best part is, it's a wave frame, so it shoots a little line of energy out in front of wherever the grenade lands.

[@TheKyleman6]

Any acknowledgment that Mandy makes of D2 fills me with hope that he’ll do something with it for a video someday (vain though it may be)

[@isaacsalume6287]

@@TheKyleman6 He's disparaged it enough that it's obvious he's never going to touch on it properly, except to pull funny excerpts from since it's a rich well of lore, callbacks, and memes. I can see why, it's a games-as-a-service/"live service" product and those are [Myth]ic worst offenders for the worst kinds of stunts the industry pulls. Bungie might not be the worst offender by far (just look at anything Square Enix) but it's a structural bias based on principle, and a very, very well deserved one at that.

[@fitterniti]

Seeing that Darkwood reference at 5:10 put a smile on my face. WHAT a LOVELY game.

[@Henskelion]

That's cool that they brought the Working Joes from Isolation back, or at least something that looks like the same kind of design.

[@Marcara081]

The Alien franchise deserves a Splinter Cell-esque game. It works perfectly for the genre once you actually think about it. That's why Starcraft: Ghost made so much sense in the first place.

[@nekromorg]

Randy Pitchford is Maekos boss and Leafy has his own remote moon. Man, Alien Lore is wild.

[@AbuHajarAlBugatti]

0:50 i loved that music in exctinction. Really brought the atmosphere up

[@SquidZombie]

Just love your laid back review style and that you keep them longer. Also that you'll sometimes just let the gameplay go for a bit to get an idea of what you're talking about.

[@A_Wet_Duck]

Aside from how good this game looks, I gotta commend you for the masterful use of shadowrun's soundtrack in the background ❤

[@NoirProxy]

This reminds me of that Starhship Troopers game called Terran Ascendancy. Man that game was amazing.

[@Argumemnon]

I like how the station above Lethe has continuity with other ALIEN designs, including Sevastopol. And the Seegson androids. :)

[@ihavetubes]

They need to add some dynamic theme when your guys come back alive just like you suggested.

[@angryspacemarine6677]

Mandy Dolores cranking out three reviews in a month like it’s nothing

[@mgsPWlover]

"Studio bar fight that was Alien 3" Brilliant lmao

[@Cypherwraith001]

This game seems like it's in prime territory for an "Enemy Within" style DLC pack. More missions and enemies, but keeping the overall loop and feel intact.

[@davidiscool26]

Fun fact: Cats blink at people they enjoy.

[@nafereuskortex9055]

They also only show their belly's to those they trust implicitly

[@shallowgod5539]

We need a xenomorph romance game tbh

[@DakotaofRaptors]

There's probably a dating sim of that tbh

[@fishclaspers361]

*Hentai game

[@DakotaofRaptors]

@@fishclaspers361 dude there's a legit Silent Hill hentai manga

[@fishclaspers361]

​@@DakotaofRaptorsNot surprised really.

[@ancientflames]

@@DakotaofRaptorsI also doubt there is only one haha. Probably at least a dozen of them.

[@bthsr7113]

"the studio barfight that was aliens 3" Hilarious and accurate.

[@CarlWheatley-wi2cl]

Interesting. I love the environments and aesthetic and the gameplay looks solid enough. There's been plenty of squad based RTS efforts over the last six years trying to emulate the excellence of XCOM2 but all falling short. This looks like it could be the pick of the bunch without hitting that XCOM bar but that's a tall order.

[@EarthboundX]

It's nice to hear the game maps/world are designed. I'm so sick of procedural and randomized maps/worlds in games now.

[@architeuthis3476]

Yes! More people need to know about _Aliens: Labyrinth!_ Its a perfect horror story, a perfect sci-fi story, and a perfect _Aliens_ story! I would even go so far as to say its on the same tier as the first 2 movies!

[@king96730]

I'm struggling between my love of your videos and my desire to play this game without spoiling game play or story. You are one of my favorite reviewers, much love to you mandalore!

[@emilchan5379]

Really liked the addition or the Working Joes from Alien: Isolation, but what I love even more is the addition of a Xenomorph Cult. That was one story element from the books and comics that never made into the games, until now.

[@enjoyablehiccups]

This looks eerily similar to Alien Swarm - so much so that I thought it was that game when I first saw it. The name may have mislead me, but the fact they're both 4-person squad tactical horror games with aliens in them is unmistakable. I wonder if they took any inspiration from it?

[@Ummarth9]

Haven't played that in ages but that was always a blast.

[@empty5013]

i mean alien swarm is literally an unapologetic aliens ripoff (and I love alien swarm its one of my favourite coop games)

[@shcdemolisher]

They probably did! I need to play that game.

[@IAMTHEJUGGERNATE]

I wish it had co-op. If it played like a newer Dawn of War II but in the Aliens universe, I'd be buying it for sure. As is, I'll wait to see if they add more content and potentially get it on sale in a year or 2.

[@schnitzelfritzel6287]

14:25 Honestly when I started playing I wasnt all too excited when I heard I was gonna end up fighting fellow humans. But when I got into the meat of it, I found it extremely cool how the aliens would walk around snatching up Darwin patrols and then later on, either hiding or having a firefight with WY before the aliens swarmed around corners and turned everything into a free for all. Kind of sad there was really only one mission like that, it was extremely unique and fun. When you wernt in a firefight of your own you could even see on the motion tracker when a patrol ran into the aliens and every dot on the map would come crashing down onto the conflict.

[@Watchin4story]

9:40 tricked by the recruiter at their high school cafeteria. Now that just makes it more realistic.