Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Hands-on Preview – A Bigger Bug Hunt
Calling all Colonial Marines! It’s time to step into action, as Cold Iron Studios is back with an all-new Aliens game: Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. Building on the success of the original 2021 release, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 promises an even more hostile co-operative experience, bringing even deadlier threats this time around. With an expanded arsenal of cutting-edge weaponry, deep class customization, and high-intensity defensive encounters, survival hinges on your squad’s discipline under pressure.
Check your ammo, watch the ceilings, and stay frosty—another bug hunt is underway.
Bug Hunt Season Is Back
With a bigger horde and even deadlier threats to face off against, naturally, it means that Cold Iron is bringing with it a whole slate of improvements for Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. If you’ve played the first game, you probably have a good idea of what you’re in for with the sequel. But for those who haven’t, it’s essentially Aliens (the second movie in the franchise) where you play as a group of Colonial Marines, who are tasked with undertaking missions in Xenomorph-infested zones. Like the original, it’s not a game necessarily meant to have you fear a single hunting Xenomorph, like Alien Isolation, but rather drown you in an unrelenting sea of them.
Survival isn’t about hiding in a locker; it’s about holding the line, coordinating crossfire with your squad, and making every single pulse rifle round count before the hive completely overwhelms you.
While I only experienced this as a solo player, the game supports up to four-player co-op this time around (one more player than the first), with AI-controlled synths taking the place of real players during solo play. They’re not the most reliable of companions, but they’ll certainly help you get the job done when it comes to fending off the Xenomorphs. I, of course, dread the idea of using them in the much harder difficulties, because this game really does make it a point of overwhelming you with Xenomorphs. As it should, because the amount of “holy shit” moments I have gotten from the sheer numbers of Xenos homing in really captures that thrill that the films are best known for.
Nothing screams panic more than seeing your motion tracker light up with a bunch of white dots, with dark corners of a room suddenly erupting with dozens of Xenos. They’ll come from everywhere too, from doorways, vents, and ceilings, scrambling down walls in a frenzy to close the distance before you can even reload. Nowhere feels safe, and the game constantly keeps that tension up every second of the way.
The AI synths played as much as you would expect from an AI-controlled character. They’re not awful, and they do make for an enjoyable experience. But it’s also clear that this is a game meant to be played with friends, much like the first game, and even with the bots, I could tell this will be an absolute blast once you jump into a full squad of real players. Even alone, I found myself smiling at just the sheer amount of Xenos that were flooding the screen, getting pushed back on a level as their number began to overwhelm me.
There may have been an ammo crate right next to the major objective points, but even then I felt on edge about running out of ammo, which I very much did, plenty of times throughout the preview.
I’m not sure where the trend of uneven player counts in co-op games came from, but I am happy to see we can now have four players to play with this time around. Maps have been expanded in size, as well as the enemy horde, so it not only allows more players, but also seems to allow even more Xenos and environments. It’s not just numbers either, as the sequel introduces different Xeno types too, from Sirens, which continuously call in more Xenos, to new Exploders which, as the name suggests, erupt into a pool of acid. There are your traditional drones and warriors, but on top of that we also have the Warden, which is just this massive brute of a Xeno. I’m curious what creature this was born from, cause it’s an absolute monster.
The classes from the original game are back, though they’ve been completely revamped, and even renamed. They’re now: Marauder, Duelist, Machinist, Hunter, and Medic. An archetype for each player type out there, and each of them has their own progression system, with guns having upgrades and perks (the perks board is back and expanded). There are both old and new weapons to choose from for each class, along with look customization for your marine.
The neatest surprise is the addition of a fifth class, the Specialist. It’s essentially an end-game class that allows you to mix and match abilities from other classes. It’s not a class worth using early on, thus being an end-game class because it does require you to level up the other classes high enough to actually get some useful skills to mix and match. It’ll be interesting to see how viable this class is in the final game, especially on the harder difficulties.
Generally speaking, the sequel has improved across the board. The UI, for example, has been redone in several areas, with the loadout screen looking less like a generic character screen and more like something fitting of the Alien universe with its retro computer look. An expanded perk board grid to let you have even more weapon perks. The hub zone, the place you’re in between missions, has also been developed a lot more, with more interactable NPCs and features. Those who wanted more lore from the sequel will be glad to know that Cold Iron added plenty of dialogue options.
Weyland-Yutani Shenanigans Again
Speaking of story, you can expect plenty of Weyland shenanigans here. I mean, it wouldn’t be an Alien product if they weren’t involved, and it seems that Cold Iron is bringing an even bigger story with the sequel.
In terms of environments, I really love what Cold Iron has captured here. Plenty of variety to play through, but very in-theme with the movies. The lighting really takes the atmosphere up a notch, taking you through cold, damp areas; claustrophobic industrial corridors bathed in emergency strobes; and sprawling, eerie Engineer ruins that feel plucked straight from films. I’m a huge sucker for Alien games, especially when the environments are captured perfectly. I just can’t help myself from taking a moment to stop and absorb my surroundings. Cold Iron nails it.
The only thing I wasn’t too fond of was the music here. I can’t quite put it; it sounds like something you would expect from an Alien property. Perhaps it’s more of the mixing and battle music, or more of a lack of it, as the same whimsical tune seems to loop endlessly without ever matching the frantic chaos on screen. You want the audio to kick in when you’re being cornered by a swarm of Xenomorphs, not be ambient and mysterious, to the point where it’s better suited for you to check the environment out.
But since this is an earlier build than the final one, the studio warned us about several things they were fixing and polishing. So the audio may still be being tuned. I’ll refrain from talking too much about performance and general polish, since most of the issues we encountered are expected to (or have been) addressed in the final build. The performance did look fairly promising, though, for those wondering. I can’t imagine this being too demanding a game, even with the number of enemies on screen. I did note one area having some heavy hitches, but again, this is an unfinished build I was playing, and beyond that, it looked very promising.
Overall, I left feeling pretty good about this sequel. I enjoyed the first game a lot, and in all truth, I wasn’t even expecting a sequel. It’s been five years since the first game, and in that time, it seems Cold Iron has been improving the core experience while still maintaining the frantic, tight co-op loop that made the original such a surprise hit. Fans will doubt what’s being crafted here, and although it plays it safe in some regards, it’s shaping up to be the exact kind of sequel fans have been waiting for.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 launches on August 25, 2026, on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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