Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Review – Game Over, Man

Over the past two years or so of breakout co-op hits at budget prices with simple yet effective hooks that go viral, it’s interesting to see Cold Iron Studios stick to its guns with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. The rudimentary cover system; the fixation on hunkering down in a single position, eliminating hordes of enemies to complete an objective – or really, when traversing a simple corridor – it’s all here, feeling far more haggard in 2026. And the Aliens IP, let alone the new levels of power fantasy that it offers, can only do so much to help.

Story-wise, Fireteam Elite 2 tries to present a more compelling narrative. You’re back on the UAS Endeavor, and after rescuing 2nd Lieutenant Ko Feiyan, it quickly becomes apparent that Weyland-Yutani is up to no good, yet again. Except this time, a rogue scientist, Lily Pierce, is the main villain, conducting experiments for an unknown purpose. As you work through the Prologue, four “campaigns” of three missions each, and the final mission culminating in the game’s sole boss fight (guess who it is and get a gold star), you’ll debrief with different characters.

"I could deal with all that if the missions themselves offered up something unique. The Prologue started well enough, showcasing the larger spaces and how a four-player fireteam could function within them."

What starts as a seemingly cheesy throwback to 80s action movie writing devolves into conversations I struggled to care about. As a Year 1 Destiny player, it’s the Tower. Every key NPC is either a vendor or a vacuous individual with too much dialogue. The only difference is that I can’t skip any of it when trying to jump into the next mission, and their banter during the same offers only the slightest modicum of clever writing. Also, there are cinematics which mysteriously vary wildly in terms of performance. And no, you can’t skip them either, even when replaying them.

I could deal with all that if the missions themselves offered up something unique. The Prologue started well enough, showcasing the larger spaces and how a four-player fireteam could function within them. Seeing the Xenomorphs crawling across walls and ceilings, sometimes leaping over cover and other times dodging and weaving against our attacks made for some initially enjoyable battles. From there, the first campaign offered up shorter missions and some notable twists, like throwing Synths into the mix, but it quickly became apparent that Fireteam Elite 2 has a very limited gameplay loop to fall back on.

You’re either traversing spaces and stopping to clear out the hordes, standing in one spot with your team, or activating terminals and standing in one spot to clear out the hordes with your team. There are a few exceptions – like having to activate multiple terminals, very occasionally trying to beat a timer, or trying to disable some automated turrets while dodging their fire (by, you guessed it, activating a terminal). And I can’t even fault the environments for the linearity because you’ll eventually experience some truly fantastical architecture, and that same lack of imagination when it comes to objectives rears its ugly head. Where is the “teammate picks up something and you need to protect them” objective? What about an actual mini-game for bypassing certain terminals? Or perhaps trying to navigate a crumbling spaceship à la Alien: Earth? It’s simply mind-boggling.

Cold Iron Studios at least opens things up for those who enjoyed the first game. Weapons can have Augments, and they go beyond simply throwing on elemental rounds (which come with the tradeoff of reduced stopping power, ensuring that the dedicated consumables remain viable). You can almost universally use Traits across every weapon once a gun has been leveled enough. The Perk Grid expands to allow more Core options and modifiers. Then there’s the Specialist, which lets you mix and match different Core Perks for some great combos like the Machinist’s turret for supporting fire and Combat Stims to keep my team topped off with temporary health whenever possible. And since there are limitations to the Core Perks it can equip, the other classes remain viable, excelling at their niches, even as you grind to fully maximise their kits.

So understand my disappointment when I say it sometimes feels wasted, given how many of the missions actually play. And I could forgive the lack of variety if the gunplay were satisfying, but it really isn’t.

"I could probably deal with all its shortcomings if Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 were more polished. The occasional microstutters didn’t kill it for me – I actually experienced relatively solid performance for the most part."

To clarify in case there’s any confusion: There are plenty of weapons which can do different things. The Type 99 Incinerator, which is essentially a flamethrower in the primary slot. A signature plasma emitter which requires heat sinks. The HNT-1 El Alamein revolver rifle. The F4AA Pulse Rifle with its impossibly large magazine and slight Smartgun properties.

And as good as some of them sound, many of them feel a little too rudimentary. You would think that each assault rifle would have more than a marginally different kick, much less feel good to fire, but that’s not the case. I can’t say I’m under or overwhelmed – just whelmed.

The fact that weakpoint damage and exploiting elemental damage is all that really matters further devolves the gunplay into simply dumping dozens upon dozens upon dozens of rounds into enemies as everyone crowds around the trauma station with their turrets and drones until the wave ends. It’s predictable, repetitive and ultimately unsatisfying. Add on the lack of cover-to-cover movement, and even playing tactfully against Synths can feel awkward. Don’t even get me started on the sheer number of environmental objects you can’t take cover on, outright gutting some of your Core Perks in the process.

If Cold Iron deserves credit for recreating anything from the Aliens franchise, it’s retro-futuristic computer systems and UI, combined with the smoke effects. Even if it feels a little mid-budget when it comes to the character models – try not to pay too much attention to characters’ mouths during dialogue sequences – at least the locations felt accurate to the films. Then there’s the music, which feels like it’s doing all the heavy lifting in terms of generating tension and intrigue. Play with it off, and the difference is enormous.

I could probably deal with all its shortcomings if Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 were more polished. The occasional microstutters didn’t kill it for me – I actually experienced relatively solid performance for the most part. The macrostutters were curious, though I attributed that to locations with more environmental effects. But then you see Xenomorphs getting stuck in environments. Running into each other on the walls. Standing around, waiting for something to happen. Occasionally, enemies will clip into the environment.

"Even if you’re a fan of the original, despite addressing the original’s shortcomings, it doesn’t feel like a meaningful evolution, much less a compelling Aliens story."

Other times, their animations jank so much that they become difficult to track. During one wave of Horde, I couldn’t access the consumables locker. The next wave, it started working again. I’m not sure how much of that is related to connection quality, but I’ve seen it happen while playing solo as well. And while we’re on the topic, I’d love to know how joining in progress works because it’s seemingly absent. I’ve never had other players join a mission, leaving me with Alpha, Beta, and sometimes Gamma to pick up the slack. Which I wouldn’t mind all that much if they possessed actual abilities, didn’t try to facetank Synths with gatling guns, or didn’t count towards my Coordinated Assault Challenge Card.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a difficult game to sum up, because even if you’re a fan of the original, despite addressing the original’s shortcomings, it doesn’t feel like a meaningful evolution, much less a compelling Aliens story.

Perhaps the best way to describe it is through one encounter where I cut through a door, and it opened to reveal a Xenomorph standing tall. For several painfully long seconds, non reactive, even as the entire team proceeded to light it up until it seemingly got into character. And as someone who remembers the sheer terror it inspired while playing Aliens Versus Predator in 1999, that really says it all.

This game was reviewed on PC.