I was really surprised when I read today that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is in development, because the first game was such a notorious mess—until I realized I was confusing it with the much older Aliens: Colonial Marines (the concept of time has pretty much slipped from my grasp at this point), and that Aliens: Fireteam Elite was actually fine. Good, even! But good enough to warrant a sequel? I guess we've already answered that question.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 looks very much like its predecessor, but brings a couple of notable changes to the table. Instead of descending into a xenomorph nightmare with an elite fire team of up to three players, for instance, the sequel will support squads of up to four: More gun, more fun, right? There's also a new "Specialist Class," which enables players to forgo the preset classes and put together a mix of major and minor abilities as they see fit.

The downside to having an extra shooter in the squad is that the xenos have been ramped up too: "[A] massive variety of new xenomorphs will force players to stay mobile, maintain situational awareness, and use every tool at their disposal." The game will also launch with "multiple dedicated horde maps," with valuable rewards for players who can survive the onslaught and horrific, shrieking death for those who cannot.

The reveal trailer looks suitably Aliens—bad lighting, red flares, chaotic action, and Vasquez—but I do have to wonder at what point the Colonial Marines will figure out that maybe they need to start sending more guys to these things. Sooner or later somebody has to think, "Hmm, another colony offline—maybe it's those Big Chomp freaks who keep kicking our ass," right? Although maybe not—I'm not really up to speed on Alien lore, so maybe there's a reason for these repeatedly limited responses.

Or maybe it's the classic parable: The general told me xenomorphs keeping eating his marines so I asked how many marines he has and he said he just goes to the recruiting center and gets new marines afterwards so I said it sounds like he's just feeding marines to xenomorphs and then Sigourney Weaver started crying.

Anyway, one other change of note: Fireteam 2 is being developed by Cold Iron Studios, the maker of the original, but it's being published by Daybreak Game Company, best known for publishing MMOs like Everquest, D&D Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and most recently the life sim MMO Palia, through its Singularity 6 division.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 hasn't announced a release date yet, but it's expected to be out this summer. It's up for wishlisting now on Steam, and will also be available on the Epic Games Store.

Crimson Desert's enjoyed beefy updates nearly every week since its blockbuster launch almost two months ago, taking a hammer to what players don't like and shoving more of what works into the already overflowing game. Despite the rapid cadence of patches, developer Pearl Abyss apparently didn't pre-plan anything in an effort to work off fan feedback.

Speaking to The Washington Post, the developer explains there wasn't an "official communicated roadmap with set-in-stone dates" for Crimson Desert's expansive post-launch content. Instead, the studio reacted to what fans were talking about as they were talking.

"Everything, patch-wise, content-wise, has been iterated in real time based on feedback, based on response," the studio's head of publishing and PR lead, Will Powers, says. "If you bake in a road map, you're presuming. We are not baking in presumptions around what the players want."

Powers goes on to say that the studio's way of working actually came from Black Desert, the company's long-running fantasy MMO that enshrined that kind of player-first attitude into the company: "There is no Black Desert if there are no players, and there is no Crimson Desert without Black Desert."

And you can see that philosophy reflected in the game itself. One glitch that let main man Kliff dash mid-air was patched into the game with a bespoke animation. Another bug that caused pet cats to idly sit on players' shoulders indefinitely was also turned into an official feature. Complaints around inventory space or an empty late-game world or wonky controls were acted on within no time at all in the context of AAA games.

Pearl Abyss devs also aren't precious, apparently, and don't mind taking ideas from players. "We're not onerous about, if an idea didn't come from us, then it can't be in the game," Powers adds. "I think that's something that [other companies are] too ego-driven a lot of the time to be able to accept other people's ideas. It's almost Silicon Valley-esque. A good idea can come from anywhere."

Good ideas can come from anywhere, that's right, but does Crimson Desert surrender its own individuality (or potential individuality) by trying to appease as many people as possible or adding content for content's sake? I guess with over five million copies sold and a mostly happy player base, Pearl Abyss doesn't mind.

Check out our Crimson Desert review to find out why it's one of the most popular new games for 2026.