ActionStrategy
Aliens: Dark Descent
Give it 3 hours
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 27% of players who started
Started playing 81% of owners
Steam reviews 88% positive of 19,021
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (44%); after 20h it's 1 in 11 (9%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- 27% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “This Is Hayes, Pioneer Station, Signing Off” (Finish the Prologue) and “Something Lurks Under The Hills” (Complete Mission 01): from 100% to 69% of starters.
- 81% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 19,127 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 32.8h for positive, 8.9h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (81.3% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- This Is Hayes, Pioneer Station, Signing Off Finish the Prologue. 100%
- Something Lurks Under The Hills Complete Mission 01. Most players quit here 69% −31
- First Steps Into Madness Complete Mission 02. 59% −10
- Harper's Hell Complete Mission 03. 52% −7
- Making a Stand Complete Mission 04. 50% −1
- Where It All Begun Complete Mission 05. 46% −5
- Living Nightmare Complete Mission 06. 39% −7
- The Darwin Era Was Here Complete Mission 07. 35% −3
- Deep Into Insanity Complete Mission 08. 34% −1
- The Passenger Complete Mission 09. 33%
- The Spire Complete Mission 10. 31% −2
- Excavating The Truth Complete Mission 11. 28% −3
- Abysmal Horrors Complete Mission 12. 27% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (45)
story milestone ending side
- This Is Hayes, Pioneer Station, Signing Off Finish the Prologue. 100%
- Keep 'Em Coming Kill every Alien of a Massive Onslaught. 82%
- Snatched Out Prevent a marine from being Abducted. 77%
- Call Me Snake Kill an enemy before they detect the squad. 70%
- Something Lurks Under The Hills Complete Mission 01. 69%
- Cleaning Lethe, One Nest At A Time During a campaign, kill 100 Xenomorphs. 68%
- The Shrink Hates Me Remove a Trait from a marine. 65%
- This Was No Papercut Save a marine from dying of Bleeding. 63%
- People Person During a campaign, secure 5 survivors. 60%
- Use The Bumper, That's What It's For Make the ARC/APC run over an enemy. 60%
- First Steps Into Madness Complete Mission 02. 59%
- Colonial Barrels Kill an enemy by using an explosive barrel. 55%
- Harper's Hell Complete Mission 03. 52%
- Making a Stand Complete Mission 04. 50%
- Where It All Begun Complete Mission 05. 46%
- Damn Dude, You Gotta Lose Some Weight! Secure an unconscious marine. 46%
- The More The Merrier Unlock the APC. 40%
- Living Nightmare Complete Mission 06. 39%
- Omelette Du Fromage Destroy 4 eggs with one grenade or an RPG shot. 37%
- The Darwin Era Was Here Complete Mission 07. 35%
- Deep Into Insanity Complete Mission 08. 34%
- Come on, You Wanna Live Forever? Advance a Sergeant to level 10. 33%
- The Passenger Complete Mission 09. 33%
- El Riesgo Siempre Vive Advance a Gunner to level 10. 31%
- The Spire Complete Mission 10. 31%
- Excavating The Truth Complete Mission 11. 28%
- Frontliner Advance a Recon to level 10. 28%
- One For Every Occasion During a campaign, unlock every weapon. 28%
- Abysmal Horrors Complete Mission 12. 27%
- The Cable Guy Advance a Tecker to level 10. 27%
- Stuff Of Nightmares Save a Marine from being incubated. 26%
- Bandage Lover Advance a Medic to level 10. 25%
- Regicide Kill every Queen during a campaign. 21%
- This Went Smoothly Finish the game on Medium. 20%
- Flawless Victory Keep all of your marines alive during a campaign. 17%
- Recouped Investment Have one Sentry kill at least 10 aliens. 17%
- Heavy Steps Lure a Queen into a Mine. 17%
- Hardened In The Heat Of Battle During a campaign, advance each Marine Class to level 10. 14%
- Perfect Enhancements During a campaign, unlock every Xeno Tech. 13%
- The True Experience In any mission, complete at least one objective with only one marine in the squad. 8.2%
- Fair And Square Finish the game on Hard. 5.7%
- This Ain't No Picnic Finish the game on Nightmare. 2.7%
- Perfect Organism Finish the game on "No One Can Hear Them Scream" mode. 2.5%
- Chalk It Up To Experience Have a marine with at least 2 Prostheses. 2.3%
- Archivist Gather all datapads. 1.8%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.