[STEAM] Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 review: "I love this janky, deliciously imperfect bug-hunting adventure"

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You know that family member that can occasionally be a little frustrating to talk to, but you love them anyway? That's Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. It's a lovable upstart clearly working on a relatively limited budget, which makes three good decisions for every not so good one. Suit up marine, this is a bug hunt, and it's gonna be fun.

You don't need to have played the first

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in order to keep up with the story or mechanics, but if you have, there's some warm familiarity to settle in to. This includes a few returning characters, including the General of your ship who is called General Shipp (yes, really). The dialogue and acting are… not great, and your character is given the eye-roll-inducing tag of "Hotshot". Nonetheless, there's a little joy to be had out of it in terms of new characters Raptor and Wrench at your base. Raptor has some crushingly bad dad jokes, and Wrench – for no apparent reason – can be prompted to give you a handful of bird facts over the course of the game. I love this.

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(Image credit: Daybreak Game Company) The squad size has been bumped from three to four, with AI synth companions again taking the place of any gaps. The class upgrade system remains as it was in the first game, with a bunch of new options to put in there. Similar to the classic

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inventory system, perks and their modifiers come in different shapes and sizes, and must be rotated to fit into the available space (which slowly increases as you level up). With the added complication of certain pieces needing to be adjacent to others, there's excellent scope for each class to have an evolving build while requiring you to think carefully about what you equip.

Xeno evil

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(Image credit: Daybreak Game Company) Fast facts Release date: August 25, 2026
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2 (Sep 29)
Developer: Cold Iron Studios
Publisher: Daybreak Game Company

The campaign takes place across 15 missions, most of which will take you about half an hour to complete. The story, while unremarkable, rings one of the franchise's lore bells by finding a way to loop in the Engineers. It's a suitably

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story, and a lot of effort has gone into nailing the atmosphere.

Outside environments, while rare and brief, are cold and barren. There are plenty of gloomy corridors with tight corners and hissing steam. When xenomorphs come galloping towards you, and you're pouring bullets into them alongside your squad, it can be a gripping experience.

The problem – and it is a problem – is that the Aliens atmosphere I crave is broken several times. I'd rather just fight the creatures from the movies, but OK, I can accept that the team (and perhaps you) want more variety than that. I have no problem with fighting the androids, and the Pathogen – the milky xeno variant from the first game – fit in pretty well. But robot spiders? Bipedal robots that look like cheap toys, for some reason? That's not Aliens at all. A new hybrid is introduced late in the campaign, which I'll give a pass, as it's not nearly as ridiculous as the silly monsters from the end of

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(Image credit: Daybreak Game Company) Still, there are a few questionable choices for teamplay. Sticking with Horde, there's a vote every five waves on whether to continue. If 'continue' wins, everybody stays, including anybody who wants to leave. You don't want a less than enthusiastic member of the squad, and if overconfident squadmates force you to continue and everybody dies, rewards are pitiful. Similarly, any selected challenge cards (which increase or decrease rewards attached to a buff or debuff) apply to the whole squad and can't be opted out of, but generally, these are a welcome way of spicing up gameplay and boosting XP and credits.

The frame rate is unreliable, I've had two instances of a medkit that can't be picked up, Xenomorph corpses sometimes dangle from the ceiling on death; yet I'm happy to keep going back for more. This is Aliens-flavored jankcore, and I am here for it.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 was reviewed on PS5, with a code provided by the publisher.

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