Alien Deathstorm is a brand-new action-horror-shooter game from Rebellion. Following the gameplay trailer’s reveal at Gamescom, GameSpot was able to go hands-on, and it definitely has a retro feel with interesting-looking mechanics tied to the titular deathstorm that I wish we saw more of in the demo.
Alien Deathstorm puts players in the boots of a combat engineer, who becomes stranded on an devastated off-world colony. The planet is being ravaged by a cataclysmic “deathstorm,” and it’s also overrun by very aggressive aliens. In my interview with producer Martin Bellingham, the developer said it was keeping the location of the colony’s planet a secret for now, but I at least recognized the area I explored to be a dilapidated nuclear reactor site.
This specific mission required me to survive the stormy conditions and relentless waves of aliens as I fought my way inside the location’s reactor core. Navigating to the objective was difficult, as I was often swarmed by waves of the colony’s alien threat. The aliens are attracted to sound and any perceived disturbance to the space immediately around them, attacking on sight. Bellingham explained that Alien Deathstorm isn’t a stealth game, so these combat encounters will always occur–there’s no way to avoid them entirely.
However, you still have a choice in how you explore an area and how much noise you’re willing to make, allowing you to draw the aliens to you instead of being ambushed by them. You can even use sound to draw the enemies out of their hiding spots or toward areas that are more advantageous for you if you’re feeling strategic.
There are a few varieties of aliens on this planet, but most notable are the giant retro-styled creatures called soldiers, who look like a mash-up between the Predator and the Alien franchise’s famous xenomorphs. The soldier aliens aren’t especially difficult to kill; instead, the biggest issue was running out of ammo and trying to scavenge more while they remained hot on my heels. These aliens threw themselves at me at almost every turn, and while I enjoyed the nostalgic feel of blasting through alien hordes as if I were back in an arcade shooter, it’s the intrigue around the colony’s deathstorm that draws me to the game.
