Aliens: Fireteam Announced

[Kane99]

Looks like we're getting another Aliens game, and this time it's in the style of Left 4 Dead, but has 3 player co-op instead. I wish these games allowed for co-op from 2-4 players, but I'll take 3 I suppose. Anyway, check the trailer out below and share your thoughts. 

 

[Withywarlock]

While I was going to snarkily respond to this announcement along the lines of 'something something Space Hulk: Deathwing / Darktide', the thing that picqued my interest about this was who's behind it.

Developer Cold Iron Studios LLC's site doesn't say much about their past experience, other than having "decades of experience developing and launching award-winning shooter, MMO,  and action titles". No specifics, which had me suspicious of their claim. As it turns out though they've been acquired by Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) of EverQuest, Planetside and H1Z1 fame. Cold Iron Studios were previously tasked with creating and maintaining Star Trek Online and Neverwinter, so they're not unfamiliar with online-only games and the pitfalls that will come with it. But still, it doesn't appear they've made anything as tightly-knit as Aliens: Fireteam appears to be.

I'm not sure what to think of this one myself. On the one hand the audience for horde games exists; some of it's even willing to put their money where their likes are. On the other hand, for every Vermintide there's nine or so Space Hulk: Deathwings. I for one am still feeling the dull bruise that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, and one Alien game since then hasn't done much to help with that.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Withywarlock

[Kane99]

2 hours ago, Withywarlock said:

While I was going to snarkily respond to this announcement along the lines of 'something something Space Hulk: Deathwing / Darktide', the thing that picqued my interest about this was who's behind it.

Developer Cold Iron Studios LLC's site doesn't say much about their past experience, other than having "decades of experience developing and launching award-winning shooter, MMO,  and action titles". No specifics, which had me suspicious of their claim. As it turns out though they've been acquired by Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) of EverQuest, Planetside and H1Z1 fame. Cold Iron Studios were previously tasked with creating and maintaining Star Trek Online and Neverwinter, so they're not unfamiliar with online-only games and the pitfalls that will come with it. But still, it doesn't appear they've made anything as tightly-knit as Aliens: Fireteam appears to be.

I'm not sure what to think of this one myself. On the one hand the audience for horde games exists; some of it's even willing to put their money where their likes are. On the other hand, for every Vermintide there's nine or so Space Hulk: Deathwings. I for one am still feeling the dull bruise that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, and one Alien game since then hasn't done much to help with that.

Here's hoping the game turns out to be good. I remember hearing Star Trek Online was pretty bad, but I think it was one of their first works if I remember correctly. But I could be wrong on that. Anyway, I'm interested in seeing how this one turns out. Just hope it's not a repeat of that Colonial Marines game lol. 

 

[skyfire]

I think group upto 6 sounds fair as it can be helpful in many group and party games too. I learned that during among us play that having more people other than 2 always helps to have fun. But the alien games are always fun so I am definitely waiting for it. 

[killamch89]

On 3/2/2021 at 4:13 PM, Withywarlock said:

While I was going to snarkily respond to this announcement along the lines of 'something something Space Hulk: Deathwing / Darktide', the thing that picqued my interest about this was who's behind it.

Developer Cold Iron Studios LLC's site doesn't say much about their past experience, other than having "decades of experience developing and launching award-winning shooter, MMO,  and action titles". No specifics, which had me suspicious of their claim. As it turns out though they've been acquired by Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) of EverQuest, Planetside and H1Z1 fame. Cold Iron Studios were previously tasked with creating and maintaining Star Trek Online and Neverwinter, so they're not unfamiliar with online-only games and the pitfalls that will come with it. But still, it doesn't appear they've made anything as tightly-knit as Aliens: Fireteam appears to be.

I'm not sure what to think of this one myself. On the one hand the audience for horde games exists; some of it's even willing to put their money where their likes are. On the other hand, for every Vermintide there's nine or so Space Hulk: Deathwings. I for one am still feeling the dull bruise that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, and one Alien game since then hasn't done much to help with that.

I used to play both Neverwinter and Star Trek Online and those games quickly became Pay 2 Win so their track record is off to a dodgy start. Second, the games were so flipping repetitive that I eventually got bored of it so not much confidence there either. Alien: Colonial Marines was such a letdown and that's probably why I'm not entirely getting so hyped up for this game. We need to see more in-game footage before I can take it seriously. If this was more like Alien: Isolation but in multi-player format, I'd probably be a bit more excited but we'll see.

[m76]

Seems to be a very inexperienced and amateurish dev team. I believe this is not a AA title. And I expect a 30-40 price tag on it. Anything else would be highway robbery.

It doesn't seem particularly interesting just a simple shoot em-up. The dev commentating in the video is way to enthusiastic about gameplay features that are neither new or very interesting. The funniest bit is when they find a "hidden cache" that is totally in the open.

If the game does cost < 40 it might be worth picking up for a few hours of fun, but even then I fear the gameplay gets repetitive and boring fast. Since your characters seem to be locked in to one weapon.

[killamch89]

2 hours ago, m76 said:

Seems to be a very inexperienced and amateurish dev team. I believe this is not a AA title. And I expect a 30-40 price tag on it. Anything else would be highway robbery.

It doesn't seem particularly interesting just a simple shoot em-up. The dev commentating in the video is way to enthusiastic about gameplay features that are neither new or very interesting. The funniest bit is when they find a "hidden cache" that is totally in the open.

If the game does cost < 40 it might be worth picking up for a few hours of fun, but even then I fear the gameplay gets repetitive and boring fast. Since your characters seem to be locked in to one weapon.

I totally share your lack of enthusiasm regarding this game - I've been burned so badly by Alien: Colonial Marines that when I see a new Alien title, my first reaction is this again...You made some very good points and if you've played their previous projects like Neverwinter and Star Trek Online, those two games eventually became repetitive and P2W MMOs so I don't have much faith in this game either.

[Withywarlock]

9 hours ago, m76 said:

Seems to be a very inexperienced and amateurish dev team. I believe this is not a AA title. And I expect a 30-40 price tag on it. Anything else would be highway robbery.

Given it's being published by Disney's 20th Century Games publishing arm, I would fully expect this to be massively overpriced. Expect a £55 digital edition minimum, if their older, less noteworthy games' prices are anything to go by.

I've got a feeling that between this and Back 4 Blood, there's going to be calls for such horde-mode games to stay dead a wee bit longer.

[killamch89]

On 3/8/2021 at 1:54 AM, Withywarlock said:

Given it's being published by Disney's 20th Century Games publishing arm, I would fully expect this to be massively overpriced. Expect a £55 digital edition minimum, if their older, less noteworthy games' prices are anything to go by.

I've got a feeling that between this and Back 4 Blood, there's going to be calls for such horde-mode games to stay dead a wee bit longer.

I mean mowing down 1000s of enemies in a game can only be so entertaining unless those enemies show some kind of tactical ability, they'll be mindless zombies which is boring.