The story (spoliers obviously)

[Mesond]

There's not much story really. It does it quite well in places. In other places however it falls really flat. The weakest parts of the game are the intro and the very end. The character introductions at the base was very weakly done. When things pick up pace though it gets really great. And the voice line for the soldiers is good too. Voice acting good. Story pacing not so much.

Introduction I don't think I need to go into too much detail about. It's a slow burn. It's on the rails. It's too forced. Never hand hold like that. Let players do their own thing. Make the popups sure, but don't force people to click the win button. Handholding vs guiding.

The first big mission is ok. Big map, players get used to things. I played nightmare first. Managed. Barely. But that's because I was still getting used to things.

Missions. More missions. You see most of it. It's the last level that's standing out for me. It doesn't really make sense if you think about it. If you seen the alien movies inside those giant spaceships then that's basically where it takes place. Except it's underground in some big city like maze. Bigger eggs. Really big alien, bigger then a queen. That seems to have come from one of those giant things. But how does this make sense if they're all long dead? Aliens need a living host don't they? There's a big plot gap here.

Then there's what happens to those two characters at the end. The first gets grabbed by that mouth thing. But not killed by it. They end up inside that big alien. They could be consumed and digested or something, or perhaps in a twist of irony if a DLC comes out they could burst out of them somehow.

The other gets hit and knocked aside. The big alien then chases that woman (well, two). So the character can quite likely be alive. It's a blow but that soldier is tough. I'm sure they can survive that. The alien gets distracted with chasing the girls so he can easily be alive here. Except there's that nuke. But we never know what happens off camera. Pretty sure being underground like that will help protect from a nuclear blast as well.

Here's where the ending becomes really weak. First, "everyone else is getting killed" is overdone. Second, the ending of "just go to sleep" is so cliffhanger. The only way to salvage that ending is to have a DLC with a more impactful ending. Because if it's just ending with "Save the daughter and go to sleep" then there's zero context. What, that's it? Good gamplay. Good action scenes. But give us some more context.

It's like the devs knew the intro was too slow paced but at the end went backwards with it and then gave zero pacing or context. Too slow and forced is dragging it out. But if there's no talk about the girl we rescue then what was it all for? At least let us get to know her a bit first.

As for Marlow, in case you missed it at the end he was in one of those seats with his body with a hole in it. The rest are synths. Not surprising. He was big on "evolving into another species". Which is actually dying yourself when new life emerges from your body. I'd be willing to change my form but I'm not suicidal about it.

The character jumping on the APC and sneaking into the base was also short lived. Could have been a more interesting person. He dies too quickly. Some voice over during a mission would have been interesting. Add a bit of backstory about the cult while on mission.

There is some logic in dying for a goal. People want to be useful. We're all worm food in the end anyway. But go into some more detail with it. Maybe have the faction more devided and fight itself with a mission about it. I can see a DLC being pulled off if it hits on some key points. There's some potential here and the gameplay is good. It's the story that's lacking. It's a bit crammed in/rushed in terms of cutscenes in places. In other places it does it well. Like with facing the first Marlow synth. Or when facing the leader in that tower.

Planet is blown up, but surely there's other planets with cults like that. Somehow I don't see this being the end. In terms of story. I can see plenty of ways to expand on things. Just try not to get too stuck in doing what's already been done in the alien films. Get creative with it. Take more risks. Because some stuff here is really good.

[Narrowmind]

Is there any reason given why we can leave or approach the space station in the dropship rather than just being destroyed by Cerberus, like the other ships in orbit?

[Mesond]

Good question. Range? The other ships were trying to leave the station. I figure the turret opens fire when moving a certain distance away from the planets orbit. The station is close enough to the planet that it's not in range of the turrets.

The other ships got blown up when trying to leave. The synth in the intro makes it clear enough. "Nothing in. Nothing out." Basically once you're far enough away from the station and planet the turret will open fire.

Plus a dropship isn't designed for long range space flights. It's a shuttle. So it might not even be a target for the turret. You'd run of of oxygen long before you get anywhere (preventing risk of biohazards and such). The space turret is designed to take down bigger ships. That's what will have the oxygen supply and get places. Take that out and a little shuttle is helpless anyway. Makes sense from a logical standpoint.

One of the data pads might give a reason. Maybe not though. I'm thinking about how it can make sense from an immersive standpoint.

I'm pretty sure "Alien infestation that can wipe out all life" isn't something people prepared for.

[SGT Rock [82EN]]

@Ratlegion Not sure, I remember Hayes saying that low Orbit was safe, and that the Station was falling apart. In my head cannon I just chalk it up as the dropship approaching from planetside via low orbit to the station and therefore it was safe.

@OP Valdez You make some valid points from your point of view, thank you for the insight. I rather enjoyed the story myself. It's an Alien Franchise game, and the films were not known for their great plot lines and narrative, so going in my "bar" was not super high in the narrative expectation department. Yet I was indeed surprised by how the narrative unfolded and told a fairly good "Aliens Story" that I could enjoy. Should the creative department decide to expand upon the story with some future updates or content packages I will most assuredly look forward to seeing where they go from here.

All things considered, I'm of the mind that the game nailed the look, feel and narrative of "Aliens" that I experience when I watch the first 2 films of the franchise.

[alt3r]

I thought the beginning with Maeko going insta-ballistic could have been a more realistic reaction if it's somehow explained that she knew/had heard about the xenos and what happened on LV-426 (at least at a rumor/ufo conspiracy theory level if as I imagined Weiyu managed to keep things under wrap). And then ease things into how the aliens had spread on the planet for a while giving rise to the cultists.