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It’s been five years since the original Aliens: Fireteam Elite brought the iconic sci-fi franchise into the realm of squad-based third-person shooter action. The game has a sequel coming this year, with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 poised to double down on all things that made the first game so enjoyable while significantly adding to the overall action-packed experience. At Summer Game Fest 2026, we got a chance to play an early build of Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 and here our first impressions of the upcoming sci-fi shooter sequel.
The first major noticeable change in Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 compared to the preceding game is that the experience now supports up to four-person co-op multiplayer whereas the original title revolved around teams of three players at a time. This increase in team sizes doesn’t mean the level of challenge is diminished at all, with the xenomorphs and synthetic enemies just as numerous and relentless as ever. In another new wrinkle from the original, the sequel also features new types of xenomorphs reflecting the different breeds seen throughout the franchise, each formidable in their own way.
More than just adding the potential for a fourth teammate to join the fray, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 has created the Specialist class, in addition to bringing back the familiar character classes from the previous game. This new class also allows players to essentially customize their weapon loadout and other perks to optimize the overall experience if any of the established classes aren’t to their individual liking. Even beyond the class-specific weapon loadouts, players can customize their weapons themselves and expand their perk development as they progress deeper into the campaign mode and quick matches.
Jumping into the action ourselves, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is easy to pick up and play, perfectly suited for quick matches whenever players get enough free time to dispatch some xenomorphs and synths. More than just mindlessly blasting away at waves of incoming enemies, the increase in team size really suits the experience for a more tightly coordinated group effort than the preceding game. While my teammates moved out and drew enemy attention, I found myself frequently being the soldier on the squad to mount flanking tactics, striking advancing enemies from their exposed side as they charged ahead, moving whenever I became the main focus of their hostile attention.
The action itself is as frenetic as ever, with enemies pouring in clear area settings within the mission that we played, not unlike Warhammer 40,000: Darktide or Turok: Origins. The key difference here in Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, of course, is that the game retains its third-person perspective, which really suits itself in scenarios where you’ve got to take cover from incoming attacks. To be clear, I was taking cover often, especially when contending with enemies capable of long-range attacks instead of simply rushing and physically overwhelming the squad.
The technical presentation itself is marginally improved since the 2023 game, with the real emphasis made on ensuring that the gameplay runs smoothly; I didn’t detect any frame drops or visual hiccups during our time with this build. It’ll be interesting to see how the final build handles with a true online experience rather than the controlled setting at SGF, especially when it comes to things like random matchmaking. No cause for concern so far to be seen here, but I also acknowledge that I was in an optimized environment with the co-op situation already matched up.
For someone who admittedly didn’t play a lot of the original Aliens: Fireteam Elite, I found the sequel to be incredibly accessible and intuitive when it came to learning the nuances of its combat mechanics. The different scenarios to use different weapons came naturally to the gameplay and I found myself switching instinctively in the heat of battle and when to rush in to revive downed teammates. Even in times when we felt overwhelmed, the difficulty never felt unfair and I bounced back relatively quickly to get right back into a given skirmish.
In a way, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 feels like the version of the game that we should’ve received all along, actually taking advantage of its current-gen hardware capabilities and containing plenty of no-brainer quality of life improvements. We’re certainly not holding that against this game – we’ll happily take something overdue rather than turn our nose up at it – and anyone who gave the first game a miss should check this title out when it launches later this year. A solid squad-based experience, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 doesn’t reinvent the genre but, in fairness, it doesn’t try to. Instead, the sequel is an ambitious refinement of the previous game set to thrill returning players and newcomers alike.
Developed by Cold Iron Studios and published by Daybreak Game Company, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is expected to launch in Q3 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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