Games like Aliens: Dark Descent
If you like Aliens: Dark Descent (real-time tactics, horror and sci-fi), these 10 games are similar in what you do and how you play. They go from most to least similar.
X-COM: Apocalypse
- In common: long sessions and thinking
- Difference: less story
When you already know the first two X-COM games and want the most different one: real-time combat and politics in one city.
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
- In common: long sessions and thinking
- Difference: less story
When you already know UFO Defense and want another campaign: same engine, set under the sea and reputedly harder.
XCOM 2
- In common: long sessions and thinking
When you feel like thinking and have an hour or two: each mission is a small tactical drama.
X-COM: UFO Defense
- In common: long sessions and thinking
- Difference: less story
When you feel like weighing every move: in combat, each soldier spends time units to move, shoot or kneel.
SteamWorld Heist
- In common: thinking and progression
- Difference: shorter sessions
When you fancy turn-based tactics without endless battles: each mission usually takes 10 to 20 minutes.
Star Wars: Empire at War - Gold Pack
- In common: long sessions and thinking
- Difference: more multiplayer
When you have a long afternoon and fancy moving entire Star Wars fleets with calm planning.
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
- In common: thinking and a challenge
- Difference: less progression
When you've got the calm to plan: you study the patrols, coordinate your men and retry until it works.
The Last Spell
- In common: long sessions and thinking
- Difference: less exploring
When you have a free afternoon: a single night can run past 40 minutes and each map takes around ten hours.
FTL: Faster Than Light
- In common: thinking and a challenge
- Difference: less progression
When you have an hour and want to make tough decisions in a compact adventure.
Dead Space (2008)
- In common: progression and long sessions
- Difference: less thinking
When you fancy being scared aboard a spaceship over several evenings: Den of Geek puts it at around ten hours.
How we pick them
We compare the tags the Steam community gives each game with our own classification: what you do (action, story, building…), the difficulty, how long sessions last and whether you play alone or with others. Nobody pays to appear.
About Aliens: Dark Descent
You command your Colonial Marines from above, in real time, across maps crawling with Xenomorphs. You can slow the action to give orders, stress takes its toll and the dead stay dead. Between missions, you manage your troops on the ship.
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