Aliens: Fireteam is a co-op PvE shooter coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox

Foreigners: Fireteam – a three-player co-op PvE shooter similar to Left 4 Dead – has been announced for release this summer on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | S, PS4 and Xbox One. Developer Cold Iron Studios revealed that the project – which was teased back in 2018 – will take place on a multi-mission story campaign, apparently similar in structure to Left 4 Dead or Back 4 Blood. Craig Zinkievich, co-founder of Cold Iron, says one of the goals of Aliens: Fireteam is to fulfill the “Cameron-esque” fantasy we saw onscreen in classic 1986 Aliens.

Fireteam is set in 2202, 23 years after the original Alien movie trilogy. At this point in the timeline, xenomorph outbreaks are rare, but aliens are widely known. The Colonial Protection Act of 2187 tasked warships to patrol the universe and protect the settlers from the epidemics of Xenomorph. You play as a new soldier aboard the USS Endeavor and find yourself in orbit around Katanga after a distress call.

There are over 20 enemy types in total, including 11 unique types of xenomorphs ranging from Facehuggers to Praetorians, and synthetics will be on your enemy list as well. Each campaign has new enemies to fight, one of them being a Xenomorph Hive.

Players, meanwhile, can choose from one of five unique classes: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc, and Recon. You will be able to customize your Colonial Navy with unlockable cosmetics. Challenge Cards are optional mutators that modify gameplay to encourage replayability; a map may require headshots to do damage. Meanwhile, higher difficulty levels introduce things like friendly fire, the more lethal acid throw from xenomorphs, and rarer resources.

We’ll be covering Aliens: Fireteam throughout the month as part of our IGN First editorial program. Check back Thursday at 9am PT for the world-exclusive gameplay reveal of Fireteam, when we have a full 20-minute mission to kick off our month of coverage.

Ryan McCaffrey is the editor-in-chief of IGN’s Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, grab it Unlocked, and send him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.