Cold Iron Studios has announced Aliens: Fireteam, a third-person co-op shooter set in the Aliens universe. It'll launch for current-gen platforms, last-gen consoles, and PC this summer. Perhaps more excitingly, Gearbox's name is nowhere to be seen.
What is Aliens: Fireteam?
Created by first-time developer Cold Iron Studios, Aliens: Fireteam is a co-operative survival shooter which takes place nearly 25 years after the original Alien trilogy. You and your buddies must work together to take on over 20 different enemy types including, of course, the iconic Xenomorph and Facehugger aliens from the movies. Cold Iron says the game will have a series of "replayable campaigns" that will expand on the mythos of the films. You can check out the announcement trailer for Aliens: Fireteam right here:
Gameplay-wise, you'll be able to pick from 5 different classes in Aliens: Fireteam: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc, and Recon. Though we don't know exactly what each will do yet, they're fairly self-explanatory. The game will feature more than 30 different weapons, each of which can be modded with attachments and extras. There's also a Perk Board to help you modify and switch up your play style, and a Challenge Card system that changes your approach to each campaign. All in all, it looks like Aliens: Fireteam will go a long way towards expunging the memory of Colonial Marines.
When will Aliens: Fireteam launch?
The Steam page and the announcement trailer both currently give a release window of summer 2021. It's a shame we don't have a more specific release date than that, but it's likely Cold Iron will announce one in the coming weeks; after all, we're technically only three and a half months away from the beginning of summer. Of course, when it does launch, you'll hear about it here.
When Aliens: Fireteam does launch, it'll land on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, as well as PS4 and Xbox One. No word yet on a Switch version; it looks like it might be tricky to port to Nintendo's relatively underpowered console, but never say never.
Quick Take
Given the utter disaster that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, there's a lot riding on this one. 2014's Alien Isolation did a fair amount to rid us of the memory of that heinous atrocity, but a fully-fledged Alien co-op shooter that's actually good is a very, very tantalizing prospect indeed. I'll be watching this one with bated breath and hoping it lives up to the promise of its trailer.
Are you looking forward to Aliens: Fireteam? Let us know in the comments below!
