Legendary tactics RPG series XCOM can attribute a ton of its success to the Alien movies, and now it’s time for the space horror franchise to return the favour. It may be reductive to describe Aliens: Dark Descent as XCOM with xenomorphs – but, let’s be real, that’s almost exactly what it is. And for the record, we’re not complaining about that!

This short trailer published exclusively by IGN provides a snapshot of the release, which is due out on 20th June. You’ll control your squad as a single unit, with each marine best equipped for the task carrying out actions. Be careful, though, as just like in Firaxis’ iconic series, permadeath is enabled by default – and one wrong move will see you lose your best marines.

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It looks like the game has been expertly tuned for controllers like the DualSense, so for example, you’ll be able to slow time a touch during combat to give you opportunity to issue commands. Unlike in XCOM, all of the action is realtime, but the developer’s not compromising on tactics, hence mechanics like the one mentioned previously.

We reckon this could be a little bit of a surprise hit, as we do love a good tactics RPG and the Aliens franchise is obviously ripe for it. Are you liking what you’re seeing here? Don’t make any wrong moves in the comments section below.

[source youtube.com]