Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is one of the most frustrating fumbles of 2026.
I’m a huge Alien and Aliens fan, and I’ve loved the steady flow of video game adaptations over the years – everything from the daft Aliens Vs. Predator on the PS3, through to the iconic Alien Isolation on PS4. I’m even a pretty big fan of the first Aliens: Fireteam Elite as a schlocky but fun co-op shooter.
Aliens Fireteam Elite 2, however, is a massive downgrade of a sequel. It’s overlong, horrendously repetitive, and worst of all, it’s just bland.
The first thing that really hit me was the dramatic downgrade in visuals. Fireteam Elite 2 may have a sharper look than its predecessor, but it’s lost a lot of the charm that I enjoyed in the first game. The cast shadows in long, steely, misty corridors now feel quite empty and pretty boring.
There’s a lack of direction or artistry in the environments of this sequel, which means the first half of its campaign might as well have taken place in the exact same location; in some instances it actually does. It’s so samey, which is an appalling shame considering the series’ iconography is part of the appeal. There are little flashes of that sci-fi world we all love, but they are so fleeting.
Then there’s the story. Let’s be real: nobody is booting up the Fireteam Elite series for its narrative, but even still, this is rough. Weyland-Yutani experiments are naturally present, but the revelations are so drawn out because they’re painfully obvious hours before they’re revealed.
Even when the story dabbles in elements like the Prometheus lore, it feels like such a lacklustre version of what we saw in the first game, and its treatment of such corners of this universe feels uncharacteristically lighthearted.
As you eventually venture aboard an Engineer’s ship, which should be this daunting task, a character is yapping over comms about how jealous they are and how much fun you’re going to have.
Even the low resolution pre-rendered cutscenes that break up some missions reminded me more of arcade machine cutscenes than anything you should be seeing in a 2026 PS5 release.
Obviously it’s all just an excuse to go from one place to another and shoot Xenos, but the end of this campaign is such a wet fart of a climax that I just shrugged my shoulders and turned off my PS5 for the night afterwards.
Throughout the campaign, there are NPCs in the Endeavour hub area. In the last game, I enjoyed that NPCs had plenty of lore to tell you if you wanted to ask about it. In Fireteam Elite 2, you have to listen to them waffle for so long, with brutal voice acting, even worse writing, and weird dialogue options that just don’t fit with any of it. At least you can skip it so as to end your suffering early.
Then there’s the action, which comes brutally close to being considered a slideshow. Performance on both base PS5 and PS5 Pro is choppy. This thing runs buttery smooth when you’re walking down its corridors or in brief moments of action, but as soon as the Xenos start piling up and the bullets start flying (you know, the whole point of the game), the performance tanks. It’s borderline headache-inducing.
Admittedly though, when it does work, there is some form of fun to be had. Squad sizes have been bumped from three to four in this sequel, so there is still that turn-your-brain-off appeal – a childlike part of my grey matter still loves blasting Xenos, even more so with friends. It’s just a shame we don’t see DualSense haptics utilised here.
Speaking of co-op, if you don’t have a dedicated squad to play with, you’ll be relying on public matchmaking or AI companions. Since this isn’t really a tactical co-op shooter, getting by with randoms isn’t so bad, although matchmaking can be quite lengthy. AI companions, on the other hand, are brutal to play with, with no real tactical awareness.
Whichever way you play, Fireteam Elite 2 does have a plethora of Xeno types, ranging from long-range acid-spitters to charging bull-like monsters. There are some other additions in there, which may be familiar to those who played the Pathogen DLC of the first game. All of the enemies are still quite fun to go up against, especially in the latter part of the campaign when it starts throwing them at you by the dozen.
However, the game doesn’t really do anything new compared to the first when it comes to enemies. In fact, irritatingly, I felt that the AI of the Xenos wasn’t quite as impressive here. Sure, they will swarm you, albeit not to the effect of the Zekes in World War Z, or Tyranids in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, but they don’t utilise the ceilings or walls the same way they did in the first game.
This may be a nitpick, but I also missed the health bars of bigger Xenos and the big satisfying red cross that would pop up when an enemy was killed in the first game. For those bigger enemies in the sequel, you’ll blast away with no indication of how close they are to death.
Health bar or no, there is still some decent challenge to Fireteam Elite 2. Even the regular difficulty will knock you around, and I experienced a few levels that my crew needed to retry. There are also difficulty options if you fancy going up for more of a challenge, but these tie into the game’s combat score system, which for many could well be the game’s saving grace.
In Fireteam Elite 2, there’s pretty in-depth customisation, which allows you to fine-tune your characters’ abilities, weapons, and equipment, with each addition adding to your combat score. Booting up the game, you’ll be able to choose between six archetypes, each with their own skill.
However, as you level them up, you’re able to mix and match to make the perfect build for you. There’s an abundance of options across perks, abilities, and weapon attachments, and if you have some coordinated team synergy, it can be fun to bounce each other’s perks and weapons off of each other.
You unlock more weapons, perks, and attachments as you level up across the campaign, and continuously using specific archetypes and weapons unlocks additional perks. I changed my build a few times across my playthrough, utilising shotguns and smart rifles with missile barrage perks in some runs, and energy weapons and pulse rifles with turrets in other runs.
There are also challenge cards to spice things up a little further. Some of these can actually be used to help you out, like boosts to ammo capacity, but others are all about amping up the challenge, like locking melee or spawning an elite enemy for every 40 foes you kill. Since every player can equip one of these, each level can have its own little flavour.
You can put all of those to the test, too, in the game’s horde mode, which unlocks after completing the main game. But honestly, if you’re anything like me, you’ll feel like you’ve had your fill of the experience by the time credits roll.
