Alien has an aesthetic, and it’s fear—fear of dark spaces, fear of your teammates, fear of that massive, ultra-fast killing machine lurking in the air ducts. If this gets your blood racing, there are a ton of amazing games to try that capture some of what the Alien film franchise is all about. This list is dedicated to survival, horror, suspicion, and blasting seven shades of hell out of aliens.
Games like the Alien films
Whether it’s the trapped horror of the first alien film or the balls-to-the-wall bulletfest of the AvP films, there are plenty of games that can scratch the itch.
Dead by Daylight
Team-based survival is the name of the game. Many of your favorite bad guys and heroes are available to play while you and your team either try to survive the onslaught or pick off the victims one by one. Dead by Daylight perfectly captures that sweaty, heavy-breathing horror of Alien films. The tension of never knowing where the enemy is as you and your team try your best to survive a massively more powerful foe is amazingly fun but incredibly tense.
Alien: Isolation
There are many games using the Alien IP, but this one is a standout among them. The nail-biting tension and horror of the Alien movies are perfectly replicated in this game in a way most others drastically failed at. Despite Alien: Isolation coming out all the way back in 2014, it still holds up today as a solid horror that really makes you feel like you’re in the closed confines of a spaceship with a Xenomorph.
It is up to you, the daughter of Ripley, to survive while the Alien stalks your ship. It is incredibly fast, and it has pinpoint location identification with its hearing. The AI of the alien is on point, too. This game takes stealth, cunning, and a very calm head to not end up as a human kebab.
Dead Space
The Dead Space games are absolute classics in the space horror genre, and I can’t recommend anything better for Alien fans. The original games have been remastered to fantastic quality, bringing the timeless horrors up to date with modern hardware. All the terror of the Lovecraftian monsters has been carefully remastered to ensure that every jump, attack, and gory dismemberment is just the way we remember them.
Psychosis threatens to overwhelm our hapless miner as he fights his way through hordes of aliens on board his spaceship. With only limited weapons and infuriatingly limited ammo, he has to fight for survival. The aliens are many, and chances of survival are slim. However, this is up there with the best as horror games go.
DOOM 2016
This one is much less about the fear factor and more about wading through hordes of monsters with an arsenal that could take down a city. The DOOM games, especially since their reboot, have flown the flag for rhythm shooters. Every bullet, takedown, jump, and slide must be a thought-out and choreographed move if you’re hoping for success in DOOM 2016. As each level clears, and you’re standing on the piles of demon corpses, you know that you succeeded with perfect precision and muscle memory. It’s a shooter that makes you feel like a machine.
Akin to the more action-packed Alien films, this game is a no-holds-barred bullet storm. The high-octane action is only matched by Mick Gordon’s absolutely impeccable musical score. Pick up a copy and feel the true power of DOOMGUY.
HellDivers 2
Flame Throwers? Check. Turrets? Check. Massive hordes of bugs bent on turning you into easily digestible chunks? Check. Do they mostly come at night? Mostly. But they also come in the daytime, and some of them are robots. The enemies in Helldivers 2 are aggressive, and there are thousands of them. Thankfully, you and your squad are armed to the teeth with massive weapons and some serious aerial firepower. This game is similar to the madness of Aliens out of all of them, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
If you want the high-octane madness of Aliens, then Helldivers 2 is the one. There are moments of tense sneaking as you and your squad try your best to go undetected to the next objectives. However, when shit hits the fan, it’s time to call in the heavy guns from orbital bombardments and a massive selection of personal weapons.
Among Us
There is something on the ship, living in the ducts, killing people without being found. Among Us is a great group game to play, borrowing from the unknown killer aspects of the Alien movie franchise. The name of the game is simple: either kill the other players without them discovering you’re the killer or survive and correctly kick the killer out into the vast nothingness of space.
This simple game has taken the idea of a sneaky, unknown killer lurking in the shadows of a spaceship and turned it into a game of deception. The hilarity that ensues while everyone tries to deduce the killer can be brilliant, but playing as the killer is fantastically tense.
Subnautica
Being way out of your depth in a completely hostile and alien situation is the making for a fantastic horror game, and that’s just what Subnautica delivers. For any fan of the horror game genre, I cannot recommend this Ocean World, stranded game more. It manages to create an incredible sense of fear, discovery, and desperation to survive, no matter the odds. There are things in the ocean that you cannot imagine, and they do not like you being there.
The isolation and desperation of Alien films are part of what makes them so important to the genre. Being all alone in space, fighting against something unknown and infinitely more deadly, makes for a film that has us all on the edge of our seats. Subnautica captures this essence as you try to survive on a hostile alien water world after your spacecraft crashes into it.
Metro: Exodus
In post-apocalypse Russia, things are pretty much the same as they ever were. It’s nuclear-winter cold, everyone has a cobbled-together AK-47, and the entire population lives in the metro tunnels, hiding from the terrible monsters that roam free. Metro is the perfect mixture of terrifying, trapped horror, and brutal gunplay. It is all tied together with a rich and satisfying story of survival and comradeship.
Metro: Exodus tells an amazing story of life after the bombs have fallen in Moscow, struggling to survive. Pockets of humanity exist, dotted around the various stations and tunnels running under the city. However, humanity is barely human, and violence, theft, and mistrust are everywhere. Despite this, the survivors are united against a common foe. The mutants that threaten everyone are out there, and they are monstrous.
Outer Wilds
For a much more pleasant and unstressful game on the list, try out the Outer Wilds. This beautiful and truly unique experience will take you out into space on a journey of exploration and discovery. As you make your way from planet to planet, a story will unfold in a way not many other games have ever managed to do. This game is a beautiful journey from a planet and out into space and beyond.
There is a need to survive, which, in a way, likens the game to Alien. However, apart from the limit to time the game has, there isn’t too much stress or horror. Stories unfold around your journey, inviting more exploration. Take a load off and enjoy this one.
Lethal Company
The Corporation doesn’t care if you survive; they just care if you get the job done or not. This mantra seems to be a common theme in futuristic space films and games, and it’s undoubtedly true in Lethal Company. Like Alien, the company doesn’t care so much for human life and is much more concerned with profits instead in this game. It’s up to you and your team to try to collect as many valuable items as possible without alerting the various monsters and aliens in the game. If you die, it’s just going to end up being deducted from your paycheck.
Being in an unlit corridor, trying to collect together scraps, and avoiding the monsters in the walls is what makes this game like the Alien movie franchise. It’s a hilarious game of suspense and essential communication. The various monsters hiding within the levels are varied, and each is as lethal as the next.
Published: Aug 31, 2024 11:09 am