Considering little more than a few weeks stands between gamers and the entertaining pastime of culling huge numbers of an extremely aggressive species of extraterrestrials, pre-release marketing for Aliens: Fireteam Elite has been notably absent. Since its surprise announcement earlier this year (when it was then just called Aliens: Fireteam), developer Cold Iron Studios has delivered only infrequent updates for the co-op shooter. The most recent—barring today’s reveal—dates back to June, alongside confirmation of a release date.
From what fans of the IP have so far seen, though, the action-packed take on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror franchise is shaping up to be a worthy riff on Valve’s Left 4 Dead formula. In fact, Aliens: Fireteam Elite will likely find itself competing with Back 4 Blood for gamers’ attention.
The main difference here (besides the setting), of course, is the change in team size. In Fireteam Elite, you’ll only be entering the belly of the beast as a group of three. Though what your squad lacks in manpower it’ll more than make up for with weapons clearly designed to be wielded only by bodybuilders. As standard, players will be able to customize their Marines’ loadout and appearance, the latter of which will supposedly all be obtainable through play.
Cold Iron has been keen to stress that microtransactions won’t be present here, though that golden rule has an exception in the form of a Deluxe Edition. Anyone who picks up the premium bundle will be granted access to the Endeavor Pass, which contains four seasons of post-launch content, including weapon and character skins, emotes and “much more.”
Aliens: Fireteam Elite releases Aug. 24 for Xbox One, Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC.
