Aliens: Fireteam Elite

A distress call sends a Colonial Marine unit to LV-895, where Xenomorphs and Weyland-Yutani secrets threaten the frontier. Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a third-person cooperative shooter for a three-Marine fireteam, built around four base-game campaigns, class abilities, weapon builds, and missions that can be played with friends or computer-controlled teammates.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite takes place in 2202, twenty-three years after the original Alien trilogy. A distress call diverts the Marine Assault Unit aboard the UAS Endeavor to LV-895, an outer-colony world where an outbreak has reached the orbital refinery Katanga and the planet’s surface. You create a Colonial Marine rather than choosing a fixed film character. Staff Sergeant Alejandra “Alex” Herrera directs the fireteams from the tactical operations center, while Dr. Timothy Hoenikker, a Weyland-Yutani xenoarchaeologist who survived an outbreak at Pala Station, becomes a source of information about the company’s work. Across the four base campaigns, the Endeavor’s crew pursues the cause of the infestation, encounters corporate secrets and ancient ruins, and responds to threats that spread beyond a single nest.

The base game has four campaigns of three missions each. Each mission sends a three-Marine fireteam through a connected facility, refinery, or alien-infested environment to complete objectives and reach extraction. You can play with up to two other people or take the mission with computer-controlled teammates filling the remaining slots. The pace alternates between advancing through corridors and defending a position when an objective or encounter brings a swarm. Before pushing onward, the squad can reload, use consumables, check ammunition supplies, and decide how to cover open approaches. Objectives tie the separate drops into a campaign, while the shifting locations bring the marines into contact with Xenomorphs, hostile synthetics, and evidence of what happened on LV-895.

Class Kits give each Marine a combat role and two defining abilities. Gunner supports concentrated weapon fire, Demolisher carries heavy weapons and area attacks, Technician sets up a turret and defensive equipment, Doc provides medical support, and Recon helps the team identify threats and sustain its ammunition. Later additions include the shield-bearing Phalanx and the Lancer heavy kit. Each kit can be levelled and adjusted with perks, so two Marines using the same class need not have identical ability setups. The Perk Board is a grid where perk pieces fit into available spaces; arranging them lets you tune a kit around its ability, passive bonuses, or a preferred weapon role. Choosing the team’s combination before dropping matters because only three Marines enter each mission.

Combat is viewed over the Marine’s shoulder, with cover and the fireteam’s position helping manage attacks from multiple directions. Runners rush the line, Prowlers can lie in wait for a close ambush, Spitters attack from range, and larger enemies such as Warriors and Praetorians demand focused fire. Facehugger eggs can release parasites if the squad gets too close, so scanning a room is useful even while a wave is pressing forward. Xenomorphs can emerge from vents and climb across walls or ceilings, while Weyland-Yutani Synthetics bring armed human-made opposition. When a mission asks the team to hold an area, players can place consumable defenses such as turrets or mines and use the room’s ammunition supply to prepare. Each ability and reload window competes with the need to keep firing, revive a teammate, and avoid being isolated.

After missions, experience raises the Marine’s level and the selected kit’s rank, opening perk spaces and class-specific options. Weapons also gain experience through use, while attachments change their handling or performance; credits earned on operations can be spent at Staff Sergeant Park’s armory on gear and other unlocks. This gives the player two linked build tracks: kit perks and abilities shape the role the Marine fills, while weapon choice and attachments determine how that role handles a particular fight. Consumables such as mines or turrets can be selected before a mission, then spent during a defense. Optional Tactical Opportunities add objectives beyond the campaign task, rewarding additional experience, currency, or equipment as players try different classes and weapons. These side tasks can ask the team to use a different kit or meet a combat objective, giving a developing Marine another route to earn resources alongside campaign completion. The player can also change the Marine’s appearance between missions.

Challenge Cards provide another way to vary a campaign mission. A card adds a rule or condition to the run, changing what the squad faces or how it can fight, and successful completion can increase the rewards. One card can replace Runners with explosive Bursters, while another can restrict the fireteam to handguns, forcing a different weapon plan. The base game’s four campaigns contain twelve missions; the later Pathogen story is a separate paid expansion with its own three missions and new enemies, weapons, and class perks. It is not part of the base campaign. Pathogen continues the Endeavor’s investigation into an infection on LV-895, but its additional story missions require the expansion. Beyond the campaign, Horde Mode turns the game into a wave-survival test. Point Defense is a separate free mode where the fireteam must protect, repair, and hold three strategic points as Xenomorph waves attack, then spend Fabrication Points earned between waves on temporary consumables.