Disney's aquisition of 21st Century Fox didn't just shake up movie and television, it also impacted those in the gaming industry as well. Last week, prominant game developer Cliff Bleszinski, the former design director of Epic Games and founder of Boss Key Productions,
revealed that his studio was in talks to create a new game in the Aliens franchise. Unfortunately, the talks were ongoing with Fox and ultimately ended up getting "lost in the shuffle" with Disney's acquisition of the company.
Bleszinski went on to explain that his game would have been a first-person shooter with players stepping into the role of Newt, all grown up and living on Earth. So basically it would be ignoring the events of
Alien 3. The story would have seen Weyland-Yutani weaponizing the aliens in a "Black Mesa style facility," that ultimately results in all hell breaking loose. Bleszinski went on to detail that Ripley would be alive and would serve as your "Cortana/Anya," and that Newt would have a Bishop-like android named Casey, obviously inspired by Newt's doll in the film
Aliens.
"I always said I'd never want to work on someone else's IP," Bleszinski added.
"Only exceptions for me personally? Aliens and Transformers."
His reveal caught the attention of another game developer, Frederik Schreiber, the vice president of 3D Realms. Schreiber also revealed that his studio was working on an
Aliens game, titled
Aliens: Hadleys Hope. The game was "quite far" into pre-production when the acquisition took place, resulting in the cancellation of the project.
Aliens: Hadleys Hope was conceptualized as a first-person shooter with four-player co-op. Schreiber actually shared what looked like concept documentation providing an overview of the game.
"A misfitting mix of colonists and marines fight together for their lives against a protective alien Queen who's willing to do whatever it takes to safeguard her eggs."
The game would've seen players work together to clear levels featuring relentless swarms of alien Protectors before ultimately facing off against the alien Queen in her well-guarded lair. In an interesting twist, it sounds like there actually would have been multiple alien Queens as the game was set on a planet that is
"a breeding ground with literally dozens of Queens and their hives."
The game would have had several unique levels with specific mission-critical goals as well as side missions that unlockcked
"extra loot, additional story nuggets, and Alien lore easter eggs." The plan was to continue supporting the game with additional content after its initial release.
Both games certainly sound intriguing, but there's really never been a shortage of fascinating video game takes on
Alien franchise. Unfortunately, not all of these ideas turn to gold, as evidenced by Gearbox's
Aliens: Colonial Marines. But there have been some gems over the years, including Creative Assembly's
Alien: Isolation, a first-person survival horror game set 15 years after the events of the 1979 film. The game followed Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, as she investigates the disappearance of her month, while being hunted by a deadly xenomorph.