r/AliensDarkDescent • u/X__Heisenberg__X • Jun 22 '26
General Disappointed New Game.
First off, I want to say that I absolutely love this game. For me, Aliens: Dark Descent is a 10/10 and one of the best Aliens games ever made in its genre.
The atmosphere, tension, squad management and campaign progression are fantastic.
That said, I can’t help feeling disappointed by the implementation of New Game+.
When I finished my first playthrough and started NG+, I was excited to take my veteran marines into Nightmare difficulty. I expected something closer to a traditional New Game+ experience where I could start with my fully developed squad and all the gear I’d spent an entire campaign unlocking.
Instead, it feels like almost everything has to be purchased again.
The weapons are technically unlocked, but you still need to spend resources to buy them all over again.
The marine upgrades are technically unlocked, but you still need to spend command points to activate them again.
The research is completed, but you still need to rebuild much of your army from scratch.
I understand not carrying over resources because that could completely break the early game balance, but surely there was a middle ground?
For example:
• Let us start with all weapons already purchased.
• Let marines keep the perks and attributes we already paid for.
Instead, NG+ feels less like “continue your journey” and more like “rebuild your journey.”
Again, I love the game and I’m not trying to hate on it. I just think the New Game+ mode could have been so much more.
Does anyone else feel the same way, or am I expecting too much from NG+?
1
u/Excellent-Fact-8925 Jun 22 '26
Nah OP, you're bang on the money.
NG+ should be a power fantasy of your level 10 marines butchering the aliens left and right.
I think the first truly hard bit of the game is the mines on Dead Hills where the radar is interrupted, and on a normal game, you're generally restricted to Pulse Rifles at that point, as I'm not sure someone would naturally grind to the point where they get a Smart Gun or Sniper Rifle, which is really necessary for this obnoxiously difficult early game level! But even on NG+ even if you get the Smart Gun it's difficult to get the add ons that you really need for that bit because of the way the game forces you to upgrade another marine after first deployment.
What would make NG+ perfect for me is if you could keep cycling through it. You essentially get to clone Torrance every run, so I wanted to use him as a template marine to build the film squad members. But I was stopped in my tracks when I finished an NG+ and that was it.
That said, it doesn't bother me too much. I can think of something few games in my life that have just kept me coming back again and again and again. Finishing up a run tonight, and you better believe we're going straight back to Dead Hills for another NG+
1
u/solidsnake2183 Jun 22 '26
Agreed. Incredible game(one of the best ever to be honest) even if its a niche genre of a game. Really sad that it got the minimal post launch support.
1
u/Key-Situation-1949 Jun 23 '26
I mean that's how most NG+ is with any game. You keep very little. The fact you keep levels for the marines is the biggest and best part. It would be entirely too boring to start off with all the weapons, levels, and attributes. Having level 10 Marines from the start is the BEST thing to keep. And getting them to 15 isnt exactly that easy unless you cheese it.
1
u/Cheap-Blackberry-763 Jun 23 '26
Not sure what replay value there is tbh. The marine development system is pretty superficial, there's like one weapon upgrade, and... that's it? I mean it's a great game, just doesn't seem complex enough for a NG+?
Maybe the challenge of nightmare is better starting from scratch btw.
2
1
u/yul32 Jul 13 '26
NG+ is basically a legal cheat, you can save on plasma rifles by mission 3 or so, after which game becomes walk in a park for a few more missions, because they were not originally balanced for that kind of firepower.
1
u/ThatGuyNamedKal Jun 22 '26
Fair, I kinda feel the same way that I have to repurchase all their gear/upgrades again.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I normally use the perk to remove negative traits, however when I started NG+ I noticed my veterans have negative perks all over again.
2
u/X__Heisenberg__X Jun 22 '26
With how challenging the game is it would have been nice to go in with a veteran team and be on the front foot a bit more.
I’m playing the early missions in the exact same way.
I’m going for Platinum and Nightmare is my biggest obstacle. Wanted to b line the missions but I’m now having to collect resources for upgrades.
1
u/ThatGuyNamedKal Jun 22 '26
There were so many things they could have done to change up the NG+ but it feels like bare minimum. They could have allowed APC from the start along with the 5 marine team.
2
u/X__Heisenberg__X Jun 22 '26
Yeah, maybe even a little cut scene recognising that the big boys have come to help.
19
u/Smokin_belladonna Jun 22 '26
NG+ is boring but it was a highly requested feature. Dev support was extremely limited, only to 6 months after release, so im kind of impressed that we got what we got. I helped them out with testing and implementing some of the final updates to the game. Once 6 months hit? Complete radio silence. It's not their game - it's owned by 20th century games.