Alien: Fireteams Elite 2 Fixes What Made Colonial Marines Such A Historic Flop

The Alien franchise has always seemed like an ideal one for gaming adaptations, but there’s actually only ever been a handful of games that have correctly reflected the mix of existential tension, sci-fi horror, and bombastic action that the films have perfected. Alien: Isolation nailed the horror and the tension, while Aliens: Dark Descent, Aliens: Rogue Incursion, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite have largely done well with their action at the expense of the tension. The less said about other games in the series, like Aliens: Colonial Marines, is often for the better.

Luckily, the newest game from Cold Iron Studios looks to be far more in line with those successes than the failures. The studio was at Summer Game Fest 2026 to show off Aliens: Fireteams Elite 2, which improves on the previous game in a lot of key ways. In fact, the way the action and horror are intermixed in the new game feels like what Colonial Marines was trying to achieve over a decade ago. We got a chance to dive into the game alongside some other members of the gaming media and can attest to it being a pretty fun way to face off with the iconic monsters.

Game Over, Man!

Aliens: Fireteams Elite 2 is a bombastic addition to the Alien franchise that leans into the chaos of facing off with hordes of Xenomorphs — which previous games have proven can be a difficult experience to really nail. The best Alien games tend to be the ones that reflect the horror of the franchise, like Alien: Isolation. While Alien: Fireteams Elite was a solid entry to the online shooter genre, it couldn’t completely escape the shadow cast by games like the infamous Aliens: Colonial Marines. There was still a sense of repetition to the level design and overall action that, at least initially, left the game feeling fairly basic.

While it was still miles better than Colonial Marines, it highlighted the natural challenge that comes with making a strong action game in the Alien universe. The team at Cold Iron Studio has bounced back from that experience, though, and built upon what worked — leading to the much more polished and engaging Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. While the underlying gameplay is still largely the same, the tighter controls, more impressive graphics, and higher difficulty made for a more compelling experience.

Playing through a lengthy level alongside three other members of the gaming media, I was genuinely impressed with how quickly the game could escalate. Encounters with Synths could go from easy to lethal in a heartbeat, while the motion scanner proved invaluable to keeping an eye out for an incoming swarm or hulking Xenomorph. New enemy types keep the player guessing during each firefight, as more of the creatures could suddenly burst out of the shadows and overwhelm the group. It honestly feels like the realization of what games like Colonial Marines wanted to be.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Does What Colonial Marines Couldn’t

Colonial Marines remains an especially infamous entry in the franchise and the shooter genre in general. Lackluster graphics, forgettable level design, and terrible CPU enemies left the game with little challenge and with little impression on the larger gaming community. By contrast, Fireteam Elite 2 was actually difficult at points. In our first encounter with Syths during the demo, my team and I dispatched a few pretty handily — only for a massive swarm of them to ambush us from all sides. As soon as our medic went down, we were quickly overwhelmed and slaughtered.

It took another two tries (and the help of a friendly member of the dev team) to actually push through, upon which we found ourselves dealing with massive Xenomorphs and hordes of smaller foes. The gameplay is just the right amount of challenging, where teamwork and clever play can get you out of a dangerous corner. Conversely, getting too cocky is an easy way to be taken down, reflecting the fates of so many Colonial Marines in the film franchise that inspired the game. The strong visuals feel befitting of the series while still feeling like its own unique corner of the universe.

Getting through the mission was vindicating, especially once we actually figured out how to maneuver around one another and adapt to the threats waiting behind every corner. Whereas Colonial Marines flubbed its attempt to create that ideal mix of tension and action that would make for a great Aliens shooter, Fireteam Elite 2 strikes a much better balance. As an Alien fan, I’m still mad about how badly Colonial Marines tripped over itself — and while I enjoyed Fireteam Elite, it wasn’t long before I moved on to other games. By contrast, Fireteam Elite 2 — coupled with Sega’s upcoming Alien: Isolation 2 — has me convinced that the gaming future for the franchise has never felt brighter.

Aliens Fireteam Elite 2 launches later this year for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.