Following its explosive reveal at the Xbox Partner Showcase, Alien Deathstorm’s head of design, Ben Fisher, has given us a little more information in an interview with Xbox Wire. When questioned about the game’s very compelling story and setting, he was understandably secretive, dropping a line about potential spoilers ruining the surprises that the folks over at Rebellion have in store for us.
“Well, we obviously don’t want to give too much away at this point; nobody likes spoilers! Suffice it to say that the player has been dispatched to this remote, off-world facility as a result of a complete loss of communications. Their job is to determine what has suddenly caused the colony to fall silent, and then try to save as many lives as possible.”
We’re always happy to investigate cataclysmic events, but what about the world that we’re going to be looking into? Fisher was happy to drop more details about what inspired its unique environments while once again managing to deftly sidestep revealing more than what the trailer showed us.
“We’ve been inspired by the slightly more analogue world of 1980s sci-fi, which is much more mechanical keyboard than it is touchscreen. We think it’s given our colony a chunky, lived-in aesthetic that has a genuinely unique feel. We’ve taken influences from everything from Lovecraftian eldritch horror to 1980s VHS sci-fi, so we think that people will be intrigued by what we’ve built.”
Aside from the world and its inspirations, Fisher also revealed a little more about the protagonist we’ll be guiding through the hair-raising adventure, and there’s definitely some shades of Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke here. “The Combat Engineer is a highly trained first responder who is proficient in search and rescue, combat, demolitions, and engineering. They fulfill a critical role. Whenever contact is lost with any off-world facility or spacecraft, they are the first on-site, providing emergency logistical support and physical protection to any survivors. Sometimes arriving days or weeks ahead of a full rescue fleet, they are often all that stands between a distant colony and total catastrophe.”
Last but definitely not least, he gave us some food for thought regarding the terrifying enemies. “That very much depends on which part of the colony you’re exploring. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that the player might sometimes feel more powerful, but they should never feel ‘safe’.”
It looks like you’re going to be both the hunter and the hunted in this one, and that’s probably going to be the most thrilling part about this sci-fi survival horror shooter when it drops sometime next year for the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
