Aliens: Dark Descent - real-time squad-based tactical action

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

They pretty much abandonded it like they did with Battlefleet Gothic, but to be fair, if you are not very unlucky you can complete the game without encountering any major bugs.

It's mostly ok although it should have received 1 or 2 more patches ideally. I think they never fixed some of the minor bugs, for example the icon overlays that show up after looting an ammo/health/sentry gun box will often not disappear and stay on the screen indefinitely. It's a cosmetic issue but still. It's a great game though.

That's unfortunate. The first real couple of missions were intense and scary as hell. I reinstalled it and decided to give it a go. If it maintains that intensity throughout the entire campaign it's on a different level. Unicorn Overlord is proving to be rather gay and boring. I need this game in my life.

 

[Tyranicon]

I ignored it for so long because opinions on 'dex are rather negative, but decided to get it recently anyway and got hooked.

? Most of the opinions here are rather positive.
I think the consensus agreed that despite the shit story and some rough edges, it was a decent game, and probably more importantly, a weirdly innovative game that managed to capture the horror of the second movie.

 

[ciox]

It's fun to play, but being unable to control individual troops will drive you nuts, and replayability is all but nonexistent.
IMO gets better if you use slowdown instead of pause.

It was very nice of them to try and make a tactical game that is more pumpin', like Fallout Tactics was in continuous mode, but it also needed a little more work.
It feels like it's kinda late to announce additional content, and the game's construction also makes extra content awkward, they obviously don't intend for there to be a lot of itemization, and the campaign is pretty much complete when you finish the game. Probably gonna be a sequel or just new game in the same vein much later.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Not being able to control or at least be able to choose where to put squad members is what killed it for me.
I found it too annoying to deal with. That Montero ship mission can fuck right off too.

 

[ciox]

Not being able to control or at least be able to choose where to put squad members is what killed it for me.
I found it too annoying to deal with. That Montero ship mission can fuck right off too.

It led me to replay Tactics and appreciate it a little more for how it lets you control characters, jank and all, was a fun chaser.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, I found FoT a lot more fun than Dark Descent. The only real issue with tactics is the linear weapon progression, where everything except .50, 2mm and energy weapons become useless by the end of the game.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

There are things to like about the game, but there is no gameplay progression after the first four hours or so. The weapon tree is barren and the skill tree is at least anemic. There is some enemy variety but I don't think the AI or behaviors present any kind of challenge.

I liked the presentation and some ideas, but the writing was idiotic. I think it will hold up better overall than something like Alien Isolation, because the mechanics are a little sturdier than the paper thin dioramas from that game and there's some kind of actual affection for the source material and ideas that bleeds through.

Alien Isolation has yet to be surpassed or even matched in terms of "invincible stalker" AI. REmake 2 tried something similar with Mr. X and you could immediately see right through his gay ass teleportation bullshit. Nothing comes close to the xenomorph in Isolation. Doesn't hold up my ass. It's like comparing the enemy AI in modern day shooters to what FEAR used.

 

[orcinator]

There are things to like about the game, but there is no gameplay progression after the first four hours or so. The weapon tree is barren and the skill tree is at least anemic. There is some enemy variety but I don't think the AI or behaviors present any kind of challenge.

I liked the presentation and some ideas, but the writing was idiotic. I think it will hold up better overall than something like Alien Isolation, because the mechanics are a little sturdier than the paper thin dioramas from that game and there's some kind of actual affection for the source material and ideas that bleeds through.

Alien Isolation has yet to be surpassed or even matched in terms of "invincible stalker" AI. REmake 2 tried something similar with Mr. X and you could immediately see right through his gay ass teleportation bullshit. Nothing comes close to the xenomorph in Isolation. Doesn't hold up my ass. It's like comparing the enemy AI in modern day shooters to what FEAR used.

The alien Ai breaks down the second you press the crouch button so I'm not sure what you're on about.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I gotta give this game credit. If you critique it purely as an RTS it's a piece of shit. But the fact that they managed to merge effective survival horror elements in and do a good job, it's a very interesting game. Not sure if there is another like it.

The alien Ai breaks down the second you press the crouch button so I'm not sure what you're on about.

Well I was talking about it's overall behavior compared to enemies in similar games. It's more realistic.

 

[cretin]

There are things to like about the game, but there is no gameplay progression after the first four hours or so. The weapon tree is barren and the skill tree is at least anemic. There is some enemy variety but I don't think the AI or behaviors present any kind of challenge.

I liked the presentation and some ideas, but the writing was idiotic. I think it will hold up better overall than something like Alien Isolation, because the mechanics are a little sturdier than the paper thin dioramas from that game and there's some kind of actual affection for the source material and ideas that bleeds through.

Alien Isolation has yet to be surpassed or even matched in terms of "invincible stalker" AI. REmake 2 tried something similar with Mr. X and you could immediately see right through his gay ass teleportation bullshit. Nothing comes close to the xenomorph in Isolation. Doesn't hold up my ass. It's like comparing the enemy AI in modern day shooters to what FEAR used.

Have you played amnesia the bunker? I haven't but I've seen people saying the AI in that is better than Alien isolation

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Have you played amnesia the bunker? I haven't but I've seen people saying the AI in that is better than Alien isolation

Nay, but now that you mention it I do own the game. Bought it when it was on sale me thinks. I completely forgot about it. It's gonna be a while before I get around to playing it. Still got alot of stuff to do in Dragon's Dogma 2 and then Stellar Butt comes out at the end of the month. Maybe I can sneak a playthrough inbetween. I'm assuming it's only a few hours long like the other Amnesia games. I typically find stalker enemies incredibly annoying. Isolation was one of the few games that got it right. It's gonna be hard to top.

 

[Silva]

Stumbled on this recently. Great game.

A Shadowrun in this formula would kick ass.

 

[Dr1f7]

it looks really good waiting for it to go on big sale tho

 

[Fedora Master]

Stumbled on this recently. Great game.

A Shadowrun in this formula would kick ass.

As would a Space Hulk game. The squad controls work surprisingly well.

This is a good game but I don't think it's worth playing more than once.

 

[Tyranicon]

If they added a map-maker component or a rogue-lite mode, this thing would have a lot more legs.

Confounding that they stuck to a narrative campaign model, especially with the story being 3/10 at best.

 

[Silva]

Game balance feels a little off, with sarges and gunners being OP (for stress and DPS respectvely), while techs feel circumstantial (only useful when there's hackable doors around) and medics almost useless (Recon is in a fine place). This suggests the ideal squad is something like:

2 Sarges
2 Gunners
1 Recon.

 

[Oropay]

^ The tekker's drone is pretty good for revealing sections of the map, scouting in general, and attracting enemies with its lure feature. The tekker's hacking skill doesn't even matter if you get the Smart Ass attribute on a few marines. You're right in that Medic is useless unless you get one to level 10, which decreases the time your marines spend in the medbay if you bring the medic on the mission. Really medic is for NG+ when you're playing on Nightmare without save scumming

Really good game regardless, 8 out of 10 for me. Lost one point for bugs, half a point for the last mission, and half a point for the finicky nature of some aspects like the skill Precision Shot. Fairly difficult on Hard (with extra alien dmg as well); I had to reattempt some parts multiple times and abuse elevators for convenience saves

 

[Gregz]

This game has some serious flaws that I hope someone mods away. Specifically, the inability to control individual marines is extremely frustrating.

 

[Zombra]

Coming up next: Gregz complains that Dark Souls forgot to add quicksave/quickload.

 

[Barbarian]

Have you played amnesia the bunker? I haven't but I've seen people saying the AI in that is better than Alien isolation

Nay, but now that you mention it I do own the game. Bought it when it was on sale me thinks. I completely forgot about it. It's gonna be a while before I get around to playing it. Still got alot of stuff to do in Dragon's Dogma 2 and then Stellar Butt comes out at the end of the month. Maybe I can sneak a playthrough inbetween. I'm assuming it's only a few hours long like the other Amnesia games. I typically find stalker enemies incredibly annoying. Isolation was one of the few games that got it right. It's gonna be hard to top.

Amnesia the Bunker doesn't have groundbreaking AI, it is just simple scripting done right and the monster's behaviour makes sense.

If you make noises or break doors he shows up. You are the last man standing in a secluded area and he is hunting you as his last prey, so I would expect nothing less. Also basic stuff like if he sees you closing yourself in a wardrobe he will break the door and kill you, or smell your blood if you are wounded and hiding. He moves through tunnels and enters rooms through holes in the walls, so if you cover the holes you can delay him. Also something pretty basic and reasonable that in many similar games doesn't happen.

Hardly brilliant design but most horror games don't follow such simple rules and common sense with reactivity. In most similar games it is all about scripted chases and jump scares, with monsters magically teleporting behind your back and such.

 

[Oropay]

Specifically, the inability to control individual marines is extremely frustrating.

I can see how someone with less patience than I have would bash his keyboard with a hammer fist. At the very least, a squad formation or order should be available, such that my fucking recon operator isn't always (at least when I need him) at the god damn back of the squad.

 

[ciox]

I think it's safe to say the game will never have individual control, it was made with consoles in mind, and now it seems to be all but forgotten. If you want realtime squad based with individual control, fire up Fallout Tactics.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Can you split the squad like in Cannon Fodder?

 

[ciox]

Squad mates can actually split and go all the way to opposite ends of the map, if there is some kind of interactable object to send them to. You can't send them to arbitrary points on the map. Not unless you tell the whole squad to go somewhere, then select individual marines that should stay behind and give them Stop commands one by one, and then repeat the whole process every time you tell the squad to move or attack. This is annoying enough that it's rarely done.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Is it beneficial to kill enemies or should you avoid them whenever possible? If the game simply refills all killed enemies it would seem that stealth is always better, but if the games spawns enemies at a constant rate, engaging them could be worth it. Does anyone know which one is the case?