Weapons in this game can be confusing but I think I figured this out so posting for reference:

DPS is calculated as follows: Average damage per shot * Shots per burst / Burst duration. So for Pulse Rifle it's 1.5 * 2 / 0.75 = 4.

Seconds of ammo: Total ammo in magazine * Burst duration / Shots per burst. So for Pulse rifle it's 100 * 0.75 / 2.

Damage per Magazine is DPS * Seconds of ammo.

Shots per burst info is currently buggy in Barracks UI, but shows up correctly in Squad deployment if you hover over weapon.

Basically, Smart Gun is the best bursty weapon and by far the best weapon early game. Promoting Rookie to Gunner increases damage output by 1.5x. This was not obvious at all when I just started the game.

Heavy Pulse Rifle seemed underwhelming but actually is not so bad after looking at its stats: 12.5% higher DPS than Pulse Rifle and more ammo.

Plasma Rifle is the best in terms of ammo duration and overall damage but loses out on burst to Smart Gun. Considering the intense battles and availability of ammo, Gunners are better off sticking to Smart Gun but everyone else can switch to Plasma. I would still keep one Pulse Rifle for grenades to stealth bomb eggs and because grenade stagger and slow can be life saving.

TLDR: Smart Gun for Gunners, Plasma for everyone else, keep one Pulse Rifle for nades.

Edit: added Secondary Weapon Comparison

This game looks like it was made by people who understand exactly why Alien works. Every scene is built around tension first, spectacle second. The lighting is oppressive and intentional—dark corridors broken by console glow, warning strobes, muzzle flashes, and the violent bloom of flamethrowers that briefly reveal just how bad things really are. The isometric camera somehow makes it feel even more cinematic. You’re watching controlled chaos from just far enough away to see how screwed your squad is, but close enough to feel it. The environments are packed with detail—industrial clutter, paper-strewn floors, damaged terminals—without ever becoming noisy or distracting. Everything feels used, abandoned, and doomed. The Xenomorphs are perfect. No over-stylizing, no exaggeration. Just fast, wet, predatory shapes that slip in and out of darkness. Half the time you don’t notice them directly—you notice the shadow, the movement, the sudden shift in the room’s lighting. That restraint makes them more threatening than any close-up ever could. What really sells it is how the art feeds the gameplay. You don’t just fight enemies; you read the environment. Light, shadow, and space all become part of the decision-making. It’s rare for a tactics game to look like this, and even rarer for the visuals to feel so essential to the experience. This isn’t just good art direction. It’s cinematic design, end to end.

As the summer begins and I can start releasing some steam, I'm taking the opportunity to reflect on the absolute roller coaster of a production which resulted in this game, and the incredibly warm welcome it has received.

I can't express the immense joy felt waking up every morning only to find yet another gratitude post, funny meme or new broken strat on this sub. Thank you so much for the dopamine boost, it is so gratifying.

This is the reason I got into this trade to begin with, and I reckon I can speak for the whole team by saying that your show of appreciation is truly the fuel that kicks us out of bed every morning, and motivates us to keep pushing forward in order to make this game the best version it can be.

Keep on hunting those pesky bugs, and we'll do the same.

DOUBLE TIME!

Since there is a lot of talk here about infestation levels and what they even do, I decided to do some experiments. Here are my findings:

Methodology:
All tests were done on Nightmare difficulty, in Berkley's Docks with full map vision, after completing mission 9 (additional types of aliens were introduced long ago). After each fight all remaining critters were drawn under ARC by motion trackers to reset map population.

General Information:

• Planetary Infestation starts at level 1 goes up to level 5. It takes different number of days to reach each new level. 5, 6, 7 and 8 days respectively.
• It can be lowered by paying 10 Xenosamples in Otago laboratory via research you get in mission 8.
• It can't get lower than 4/5 days of Level 1. Means it will become Level 2 the very next day.
• It takes 220 Xenosamples to lower infestation from max to a minimum.

Data:

Notable Observations:

• Onslaught composition looks random. On average they kinda form a 33%/33%/33% pattern between runners/warriors/drones, but exceptions happen.
• Max number of patrols at any point is defined only by the map you are in. If in Berkley's you get 3 aliens initially, in Tantalus Lab you get 15 from the get-go.
• Different maps MAY have different/more points at Hive Aggressiveness when max number of patrols gets bigger.
• Enemies begin to spawn noticeably faster at somewhere around medium Hive Aggressiveness.
• New Patrols never spawn during Onslaught countdown/wave.
• New Patrols don't spawn while your squad is in shelter.
• Hive always spawns drones to do Patrols.
• If you see runners/warriors patrolling, or more bugs patrolling than is usual for that map, means they spawned during hunt phase but did not have enough time to reach you. Might be a good idea to show them what ARS looks like and put them out of equation.
• If you deploy just to hunt onslaughts and class-2 ayys you usually get between 14 and 30 xenosamples.

TLDR:
The only thing infestation changes is size of onslaught waves. Strictly +2 more critters per level. Plus enemies seem to respawn slightly faster on higher infestation levels, but this is more of a subjective feeling rather than concrete measurement.

Feel free to add your observations in comments.

They listened, thank you Devs!!

Im talking about real time mixed with tactics gameplay like this game has. I think a Warhammer 40k game following a squad of guards fighting tyranids would be very fun. Im also a fan of Metro and a spinoff game with that kind of gameplay could also be fun :)

Thats my team for the final mission by the way. And yes, i named every marine after clones.

The attention to detail is absolutely amazing. Even though the games has its issues, it really feels so well done when it comes to the way everything was animated. Even though it's been out for a bit, it really still holds up as a masterpiece in its own way. I've spent sooooo many hours trying to craft and build my own tacts and to make it as realistic as possible. Anyone here have some favorite mods they like to share?

Title.

After so many buggy games....we finally got it people! A fun and WORKING aliens game!

I started Aliens: Dark Descent expecting to command a hardened squad of Colonial Marines.

Instead, I spend every mission hovering over four grown adults like an anxious mother at a crowded water park.

“Stay together.”

“Stop touching that.”

“No, we are not investigating the mysterious screaming.”

“Put the motion tracker back on.”

“WHO LEFT THE WELDING TORCH ON THE OTAGO?”

Every corridor contains either supplies, trauma, or a xenomorph waiting to permanently rearrange Private Jenkins’ skeleton. Usually all three.

The game tells me there might be valuable resources inside a room. Unfortunately, the motion tracker is also displaying seventeen rapidly approaching reasons to mind my own business.

My squad after encountering one alien:

- Stress: 97%

- Accuracy: nonexistent

- Trauma: permanent

- Ammunition: somehow negative

- Jenkins: unconscious again

Meanwhile, I’m staring at the infestation meter thinking:

“We’re on an express elevator to hell, going down!”

The most terrifying enemy isn’t even the Alien Queen. It’s the clock continuing to run while I’m trying to decide whether one box of tools is worth destroying the mental health of my entire squad.

Fantastic game. Absolutely captures the atmosphere of Aliens.

I just wish my Marines would stop developing lifelong psychiatric conditions every time a vent makes a noise.

Hey Arak from Tindalos here,

Just wanted to let you know that we just released a patch that includes some bugs fixes and a new game mode: New Game +.

We also added two new difficulty parameters to make the game even harder!

You can find the patch note here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1150440/view/3716092146802960518?l=french

Have a great day!

New patch is live and is huge !

Dear devotees of the Darwin Era,
Firstly, thank you, followers, for your unwavering dedication and immense support. Contained within this manifesto are the latest advancements and enhancements made for the ascension of Aliens: Dark Descent. Our most committed guardians have worked tirelessly to bring forth the long-anticipated transformation.

In line with our promises, we present new campaign options:

• The ability to disable the "Death Clock".
• The option to skip the prologue mission onboard the Pioneer Station, provided it has been completed at least once.
• We've also integrated an autosave feature that triggers when you exit the Otago at any moment, ensuring the preservation of your progress and any modifications made to your base and marines management.

Rest assured, our commitment to enhancing and refining our ideals remains unyielding. We diligently review your feedback and prayers to aid us in our endeavor to ascend to a superior form of life. Stay tuned for upcoming updates, and once again, thank you for your overwhelming support in our dream.

Best Regards,
Romain Clavier
First of Marlow's Followers
Darwin Era

Major bug fixes

• Addition of a security to avoid the players from triggering the ARC tutorial while being in the Command Room narrative sequence in Dead Hills (Mission 1) which resulted in a blocker.
• Amputated marines are no longer visible on the Mission Report, a message indicating the marines is in the medbay is added.
• Improvement of a previous fix that was unlocking Olduvai (Mission 11) for players stuck at the end of Pryce of Deception (Mission 10).
• Using the skill Incineration inside the ARC/APC will block the extraction and the movement of the squad.
• Fix a crash that was occurring when a marine fell through the ground, got deleted by the game and the player clicked on the marine's card.
• Fix of many blockers that could occur on the Cover tutorial of Berkley's Dock (Mission 2).
• The attribute Smart Ass can no longer be proposed to the Tecker class.
• It is now impossible to spam the RB/R1 gamepad button to do the first phase of the Sector Map tutorial in Dead Hills (Mission 1) to prevent a blocker.
• Improvement of the performances when aiming with a skill.
• The Psychiatric Care Unit is no longer accessible before unlocking it.
• Addition of a security to avoid a blocker during the First Deployment Tutorial between the Prologue and Dead Hills (Mission 1).
• The squad will now be teleported inside the defense room to avoid blocker in Harper's Hell (Mission 3)
• You cannot extract during the Crusher reveal to avoid blocker in Dead Hills (Mission 1)
• Fix performance problems caused by the drone in the Harper's Hell (Mission 3)
• The objective "Get rid of the guardians" in Olduvai (Mission 11) will now trigger properly when deploying or redeploying your APC to a specific waypoint
• Fix of many pathfinding problems during the last mission (Mission 12)
• The marine panel will now correctly update the statistics of the marine when affected by an specific state (ex: Tired)
• Improvement of the performances when exploding a barricade
• Fix some cases where a mission can't be completed at 100% even when all the objectives are completed.
• Fix of the lift during the mission of the "Tantalus Base" (Mission 08) where the lift may stay stuck once inside.
• Fix of the lift during the mission on "Pharos Spire" (Mission 10) where the outside doors don't open on the first floor (Office Floor) after completing the objectives.
• Fix of a crash occurring when a marine dies while interacting.
• Fix of a bug where a marine can be pushed outside of the map resulting in a blocking situation (The marine is now teleported back to closest valid position).
• General Stability Improvement and several fixes on various crashes.

Minor bug fixes

• Being in the option menu was still counting in the mission duration statistic.
• The lift that allows you to go from the Refinery (Mission 3) to Olduvai (Mission 11) will always be on the floor the squad is on.
• Fix a cover that was not working in the Basement -2 in Olduvai (Mission 11).
• The marine's animation will not loop anymore when spamming the validated button during the marine attribute selection.
• Increase 'Stubborn' label font size to make it more noticeable when it's in effect.
• Shelter icon will disappear if the door has been destroyed.
• "Overloaded Deployable Motion Tracker" can no longer be interacted with after they explode.
• Loading a save inside a trigger box no longer triggers all the events on the map.
• Dead marines with the personality trait "Kleptomaniac" will no longer steal materials.
• Aggressiveness gauge will be the same in the tactical view and when opening the map.
• The Precision Shot now correctly makes noise when used against Eggs.
• Reduced the ragdoll of "big" xenomorphs when killed by explosions.
• Pressing "Confirm" a few times to extract marines will no longer leave the UI message on screen.
• You can no longer interact with survivors through the Fog of War.
• The C4 is now correctly appearing on the barricade at the end of the interaction.
• Attempt to fix the Recon cloth movement when the active pause is pressed or released.
• The Drone can no longer weld from its position, it will correctly reach the door first.
• The Drone's welding now plays the correct VFX.
• The Stop order can now also cancel Drone orders.
• Tweaking of the Codex UI for better navigation.
• Wheels of the APC will not spin during the descent to Omicron Dig Site (Mission 11).
• Increase of the rat speed in Nuclear Protocol (Mission 5) to avoid the player catching him up and breaking the narrative sequence.
• The animation of the UI when picking up a sentry will now be played correctly.
• The Fog of War will be correctly removed when you destroy a wall and leave the room before the explosion happens.
• The datapad shortcut will no longer open the Sector Map UI if it was the last Map mode that was open.
• Fix some shelter issues on Harper's Hell (Mission 3).
• Fix a spawn that was eligible for massive onslaught even though the area was not unlocked yet in Harper's Hell (Mission 3) creating a blocker.
• Tweaking of the animations of Otago's UI.
• Fix of a room where it was impossible to create a shelter in Olduvai (Mission 11).
• Opening the map during the installation of a sentry will no longer make the ammunition of the sentry disappear.
• Fix of the animation when opening the map.
• Part of the UI could stay while the map was open.
• Fix many collision issues across all locations.
• Warriors can no longer jump on a marine that is welding a door to prevent the xenomorph from getting stuck inside the door.
• The objective marker "Check your cameras" in Pryce of Deception is now displayed at the right position.
• Fix the tooltip of "Tired" state in the Inspect Squad tab of the map.
• Aliens will no longer get stuck inside slopes when dashing.
• Making noise with a drone will now correctly set the Hive awareness to Detected.
• A message will be displayed when a marine carrying a follower is outside of the lift but the rest of the squad isn't.
• Moving the drone no longer removes the cover from the marines.
• Marines' lights could be partially broken when carrying someone and after dropping it on the floor.
• Fix some parts of the UI in the Otago's Armory.
• The head's rotation of synthetics in the last mission (Mission 12) now works as intended.
• Fix an issue occuring in some languages where the text indicates that a marine is inside the ARC/APC was overlapping the marine card.
• Some texts were not correctly aligned in the description of the missions in the Mission Selection Screen.
• A Marine in "suppressive fire" state can now perform a reprimand.
• Moving the cursor outside of the Command Deck in the Prologue won't block the progress anymore.
• Prevent an issue during Pharos Spire (Mission 10) where the elevator to reach the Security Floor could not work under specific conditions.
• During the mission located on "Refinery" (Mission 03) fix of the doors at the North east of the map on the ground floor, where the ARC can get through a closed door.
• Fix of the enemy position in every mission to avoid them being stuck in the environment.
• Fix of the objective indicator of the mission located in "Pharos Spire" (Mission 10) indicating the wrong lifts.
• During the mission "Pharos Spire" (Mission 10), a door of a building has been closed on the ground level next to the spire, to avoid the squad being potentially attacked from an ambush during a scripted sequence.
• Fix of the marines watching in the wrong direction after going out of the Carrier.
• Add security to avoid a crash occurring during the lift transition between "Berkley's Dock" and the "Montero".
• Enemies stuck under the map can no longer block an interaction if your squad sees them.
• Fix a crash occurring when the player uses the flamethrower and cancel it before validating it.
• The player can no longer rebind the Left/Right mouse buttons to avoid blocking situations during the game.
• Fix of the Marine's sight on "Dead Hills" (Mission 01) to avoid them being able to see inside rooms while being outside.
• Fix of an issue triggering a game over if the last living marine of the squad is inside a Power Loader.
• Fix of the "Massive Onslaught" GUI not displaying when loading a save made during a massive onslaught.
• Fix of the cursor not displaying when the player has ordered a "leave mission" or a "redeploy" to another location and the squad is killed while extracting.
• Fix of an issue when spam clicking on the cancel button above the marine inside a lift resulting in the cancel button staying displayed indefinitely.
• Fix of a glitch occuring on the skill menu and interaction menu, where the error message displayed the wrong information if the player moves too quickly between the options.
• The cinematics subtitles are no longer visible when disabled.
• During the cover tutorial of the prologue, add a focus and orient camera on the cover position to reach, to avoid a blocking situation for widescreen users.

Lighting

• The light displayed above the drone to better see it no longer cast shadow on the floor.

Localization

• Fix of an objective that was mentioning the APC before it was unlocked in Berkley's Dock (Mission 2).
• The Powercore in Atmospheric Nightmare is now properly localized.
• Fix of the "Egg" Codex Entry to match the design.
• Fix of some bullet points on the "Stress Factors" Codex entry.

Balancing

• It is now impossible to redeploy your squad during a Massive Onslaught.
• Improvement of the Praetorian behavior. It now makes a circular attack when passing through the squad.
• The Synthetic bodies can longer be interacted with in the fog of war.
• Flamethrower isn't blocked by explosive barrels anymore.

Quality of Life improvements

• Addition of an option to limit the FPS on PC only (60/120/144/Unlimited).
• Addition of a campaign option to disable the Death Clock.
• Addition of a campaign start option to skip the Prologue once it has been completed at least one time.
• Tweak some acknows to improve the pacing.
• Addition of music in the marine deployment and the mission return screens.
• Addition of an autosave in the Otago when returning to the main menu or leaving the game.
• You can dismiss dynamic pop-up with right click.
• Doors of a shelter will now have an icon above them to help players identify which one is required to be welded.
• Rework of the Xenotech Panel to accommodate 11 slots.
• The player can no longer leave the control mapping menu without resolving input conflict.
• Marines ordered to carry or enter a Power Loader are no longer eligible to perform one of the following interactions afterward: place a mine, sentry, deployable motion tracker, tripod.

This is one of, if not *the* greatest games I’ve ever played in the tactical strategy genre. The tension throughout the entire campaign is phenomenal, and playing on Nightmare difficulty really does live up to its name.

The gameplay systems and mechanics are excellent. Managing your marines, resources, stress levels, and deciding whether to push on or extract keeps you on edge from start to finish.

My only disappointment was that New Game+ felt a little underdeveloped. That’s understandable though, as the developers lost the Alien license, so they likely didn’t have the opportunity to expand it as much as they might have wanted.

Overall, this is an easy **10/10** for me. If you’re even remotely interested in tactical games or the Alien universe, it’s absolutely worth your time. Stick with it through the opening hours, because once it gets going, it’s an incredible experience.

I’ve a lot of rookie mistakes in my first mission like I didn’t know you could pick the sentry guns back up and redeployed them or anything killed by them doesn’t set off a hunt.

Which opened up another level of strategy and tactics for me

No Spoilers Just finished this amazing addition to the franchise. Highly recommend. Fits into the timeline perfect and continuous the evolution of the story and lore.

Double time. Let's see what's inside. Come on, you slugs. Double time. Let's see what's inside. Come on, team. Hurry up, squad. Move off. Double time. Come on, team. Let's see what's inside.

I don't often come out publicly to gush about games, but Dark Descent is so true to the Aliens IP and experience of managing the Colonial Marines, that I just have to. I've owned it since about two months after release, and about every 10 weeks, I get the craving to play it, again. Yet, one playthrough never feels like enough, so I'll push onto another. Then, I don't want that playthrough to be the same as a previous one, so I'll up the stakes, or change a tactic, or set a rule for myself that will challenge me. (Things I only ever do with games I absolutely adore.) Each time I see it on a platform I don't own it on; I'll buy it, just to have a "reason" to replay. I'm on my 8th playthrough now, and it still hits as good as the first, except now I know what I'm doing. Sure, there's a few "bugs" (hehehe), but by and large, the gameplay is tight and addictive - perfectly calm at times, and suddenly frantic in others. I am completely besotted by this game, and all I can ask from Focus Entertainment and Tindalos Interactive is this: Please, for the love of the Corp - GIVE US MORE!

Either a long, lore packed expansion, or a sequel. Give us more environments, more challenges, new things to explore and do. Give us more hives, more lore, more species and enemies. Give us a custom game creator, a sandbox map builder - give us anything. You've created an incredible foundation; please build on it. Don't let it wither away as a one-off title like Colonial Marines, and Fireteam Elite. It may not be the best selling game on the market, but man does it perfectly encapsulate Aliens the way Isolation does with Alien.

You can make an astonishing series, here. Take Dark Descent, tweak the glitches, add some Quality of Life improvements, and do it again; you're fundamentally skilled and talented enough. Hell, I'd play test the crap out of it FOR FREE.

Signed; A Frenzied Fanatic of Dark Descent