Going into Summer Game Fest 2026, I had a list of games that I was excited to check out, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 was sitting near the top of that list. I’m a huge fan of the Alien and Aliens films, and I’ve played just about every game that has featured our favorite Xenomorphs.
When Aliens: Fireteam Elite was originally released, I felt it was easily one of the better games based on the franchise. Not only did it feel close to the source material, but it also gave fans a multiplayer experience with plenty of Xenomorphs, Working Joes and more, to gun down and lots of stuff to blow up. Now, with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, there’s even more to love.
As we already knew going into the Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 hands-on during Summer Game Fest, the sequel now supports four players taking part in the chaos, while the first game featured three. In addition, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 does not just bring back the old classes as-is. It takes the original roles, renames several of them, changes their weapon identity, and then adds the Specialist as the big new customization class, which only becomes available once you’ve put enough time into the other classes.
But how does the game actually feel?
Well, great. I know that doesn’t say much on its own, but based on what I played, that feels fair to say. As someone who put plenty of time into the first game, jumping into Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 felt very familiar from the start, and I mean that as high praise. There’s a lot of the first game’s DNA here, and that’s not a bad thing. The shooting still feels familiar, the Xenomorphs, among other enemies, still come flying at you from every direction, and the moment things start to fall apart, that familiar Aliens chaos kicks in.
The biggest change, at least from what I played, is the added fourth player. That one extra person may not sound like a massive deal on paper, but once the action starts, it changes the entire flow. There are more bullets flying, more abilities being thrown around, and more chances for everything to go sideways in the best way possible. Because of that, the developers also had to make some adjustments. The areas feel a bit larger this time around, which makes sense when you’re giving another player room to move, shoot, and survive. It also gives the Xenomorphs more space to attack from, which means you can’t just stare down one hallway and expect to be safe.
During one section of what I played, they were pouring out from four different locations, and my team needed to focus on where they were coming from before we were overwhelmed. That’s where Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 started to click for me. It still feels like the game I enjoyed before, but bigger, louder, and more chaotic. And honestly, that is exactly what I wanted from a sequel.
And yes, challenge cards are also back, and they are still a pain in the butt. During my hands-on, one of the reps at the event told the rest of the team not to enable challenge cards, but apparently one person didn’t get the message.
That caused all sorts of issues for me because I was playing as the Machinist, which feels like a tweaked version of the Technician from the first game. The challenge card that was in play disabled my ability to use my turrets, and while I still had a drone that stayed with me, the turrets would have given me extra firepower and the ability to lock down areas. Without them, I was pretty much gimped. Even the rep was a bit frustrated. At one point, he turned to me and said, “It would be awesome if you could use your turret right now.” Yeap, it would have been.
My time with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 was short, but it left a strong impression. It didn’t feel like Cold Iron Studios was trying to reinvent the wheel here. Instead, it felt like they looked at what worked in the first game, expanded on it, and made the bug hunt even more intense.
And really, that’s all I wanted. The first game was an amazing attempt, and now we’re seeing an evolution of that, and it’s going to be more of what I loved, and with an extra person to come along for the ride.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
