Rebellion return to their AvP roots with Alien Deathstorm, an 80s sci-fi FPS with apocalyptic winds and some slightly naff aliens

Alien Deathstorm is the new sci-fi FPS from Rebellion, developers of skull-popping shooter series Sniper Elite and the recent, Very English survival game Atomfall. What is Alien Deathstorm about? Why, it's a visual novel about a neurodivergent person growing up in the big city HOHO OF COURSE NOT, it's a game about aliens in which there is a storm that will make you dead, set in another collapsing extra-terrestrial colony full of dependably phat, lived-in 1980s technology. Here's the announcement trailer.

I've got a lot of sympathy for any game that tries to cram the entire plot arc and premise into not just the title, but the title's acronym. Still I'm pretty lukewarm on the aliens so far. Rebellion have made actual Giger-brand Aliens games in the distant past. This time, they're going with the screechy flapmouth variety popularised by Stranger Things, and I just find those guys a bit embarrassing. Your head looks like an angry giftbox, mate, pipe down.

While the trailer suggests that the aliens will mostly be charging into your bullets, the announcement materials make mention of sections in which you will be underpowered. Flashes of Doom 3 at its least accommodating, to break up the business of Vasquezing whole corridors of wall-crawlers. Predictably, I'm most interested in the period fittings, which range from LED ammo counters to scattered readymeal trays.

And then there's that deathstorm, which is a persistent threat. I'm hoping that it will be more than apocalyptic scenery, that you'll have to be imaginative and tenacious in how you avoid it. But let's be honest, this doesn't look much like any kind of complex tactical simulation so far, let alone a smarty-pants horror game like the brilliant Routine. It looks like a solid Friday night with a curry. Alien Deathstorm is out in 2027 and you can find it on Steam.