For the first time since 2014’s Alien: Isolation, there’s a brand new AAA game in development based on the popular sci-fi horror franchise. Only this time, it takes inspiration directly from James Cameron’s far more action-focused sequel, Aliens. Developed by Cold Iron Studios, Aliens: Fireteam is a third-person cooperative PvE shooter in the same vein as games such as Left 4 Dead or Back 4 Blood, with players facing off against hoards of deadly Xenomorphs. With series continuity and canon being as important as it is when it comes to pop culture, when exactly is Aliens: Fireteam set and where does it fit into the Alien timeline?
Despite releasing a whopping 33 years after the original Alien, when it comes to the timeline of the franchise, for better or worse it all begins with Prometheus. Set in the year 2093, Prometheus follows archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway. With the help of Peter Weyland and Weyland Corporation, they are on a quest to discover humanity’s creators, the Engineers — better known as Space Jockeys or the dead pilot from the original film. Prometheus was planned as the first of four films that would explore the origins of the Xenomorph, followed by 2017’s Alien: Covenant, and an untitled third film that’s currently in production.
While Prometheus‘ mixed reception led to a number of creative changes behind the scenes, director Ridley Scott doubled down on the production of his prequel series and leaned further into the idea of exploring the origins of the iconic creatures; with plans for the fourth and final film to lead directly into the first Alien film. Alien: Covenant takes place eleven years after Prometheus in the year 2104, and follows a colony spaceship called the Covenant that a signal from a seemingly perfect planet for human habitation.
It’s revealed the planet was the homeworld of the Engineers, but all life was wiped out when David, an android from Prometheus, used the Engineers ship to escape LV-223, return to their homeworld, and unleash a weaponized black liquid which the Engineers planned to use on humanity. David had been experimenting with the black liquid in hopes of creating the “perfect organism,” and in turn creates two early versions of the Xenomorph, known as the Neomorph and Protomorph. By the end of the film, the entire cast has been wiped out except for Captain Daniels and Tennessee. David has placed two of his created Facehugger embryos into the colonist ships cold storage with the human embryos while they sleep.
With multiple films currently in production, both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant took the series in an interesting direction, but have ultimately created more questions than answers with very little time left to fill in the gaps. Set eighteen years after the events of Alien: Covenant in the year 2122, the original Alien was built around its mystery and set up a terrifying and iconic monster that was perfect for a sci-fi horror film.
The premise is simple: a commercial spaceship known as the Nostromo came across a distress signal on its way back to Earth. When the crew went to investigate, it came across a mysterious alien spaceship and a creature that would stop at nothing as it hunted them down and took them out one by one. Fans would spend decades wondering what the mysterious space jockey creature was, and where the Xenomorph came from but these were questions that didn’t need an answer; the mystery was part of the fun.
By the time Aliens: Fireteams releases, it would’ve been close to seven years since the last AAA video game in the Alien franchise released. Developed by Creative Assembly (Total War series, Halo Wars 2), Alien: Isolation was a direct sequel to Alien and took place fifteen years (2137) after the events of the original film.
Inspired by the horror themes of the original film, Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival horror game that follows Amanda Ripley, the daughter of series protagonist Ellen Ripley (who is played by Sigourney Weaver), on a mission to find out what happened to her mother. Although Alien: Isolation wasn’t perfect, it was one of those sequels that easily fit into the timeline of the series and built out the world and lore without creating complications, so its a shame the game never got a sequel.
James Cameron’s Aliens represents the biggest time in the series up until this point, and the biggest departure from the original film in terms of its direction and genre. Set in the year 2179, Aliens trades horror for action and replaces one Xenomorph with an entire hoard, as well as a Queen – serving as a key inspiration for what Cold Iron Studio wants to do with Aliens: Fireteam.
Almost equally as beloved by fans as the original despite its vast differences, Aliens introduces the Colonial Marines for the first time and sees Ellen Ripley return to LV-426, which is now the home of a terraforming colony. At this point in time, no one outside of Ripley had ever encountered a Xenomorph before, so naturally, the Colonial Marines were no match. However, that won’t be the case by the time Aliens: Fireteam takes places.
Directly following the events of the previous film, Alien 3 takes place in the same year as Aliens, after a fire on the Colonial Marine spaceship causes their pod to be ejected and land on a nearby prison planet. Having gone through multiple rewrites and directors, and suffering from severe interjection from the studio, Alien 3 was the directorial debut of David Fincher (Fight Club, Gone Girl), and unfortunately saw the surviving cast of Aliens killed offscreen in the films opening besides protagonist Ellen Ripley.
The film is most notable for introducing a new type of Xenomorph known as the Dragon, and marking the end of Ellen Ripley’s story. Over the years, audience opinion surrounding the film has grown more positive due to the far better received Special Edition extended cut. However, it never reached the heights of the first two films, something that no film in the series has ever done since.
The upcoming Aliens: Fireteam takes place in the year 2202, a full 23 years after the events of the original trilogy of movies which includes Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3. Players take on the role of a Colonial Marine (the same Colonial Marines from Aliens and the disastrous Aliens: Colonial Marines game) aboard the USS Endeavor; a warship that was commissioned to patrol the universe and protect colonists from Xenomorph outbreaks. While little else is currently known about the setting, Aliens: Fireteam features over 20 enemy types including 11 types of Xenomorphs, five unique playable classes, and twelve missions across four campaigns.
Finally, the only film in the series to take place after Aliens: Fireteam so far is the critically panned Alien Resurrection. Set in the year 2381, a full 202 years after the death of Ellen Ripley in Alien 3, Alien Resurrection sees the United Systems Military attempt to clone Ellen Ripley so they can breed a new Xenomorph Queen and study the creatures.
As expected, everything goes wrong and the cloned Ripley must work together with the survivors of the USM Auriga to stop the creatures before it gets to Earth. To think someone saw the first horrible hybrid Xenomorph in Alien Resurrection and thought it would be a good idea to try and do it again in the spin-off, Alien vs. Predator Requiem.
Aliens: Fireteam is scheduled to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2021.
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