Alien Shooter Games - the games where your space pistol goes pew-pew and green liquid comes out of the spooky aliens. I love those sorts of games, especially the Half-Life series and the Dead Space series, generally games where you are in a FUBAR atmosphere in an even more grim and hopeless situation.
In this article I’ll discuss the following points in the listed games:
- Plot
- Gameplay
- Graphics
- Controls
Anyways, let’s get to it and start with our 15th:
20. The Thing
The plot takes place a few weeks after the end of the movie, 2 military rescue teams arrive at Outpost 31 to find out why the base stopped communicating. Team Alpha, under the leadership of Cpt. Pierce, was sent to the Norwegian facility to investigate. Team Bravo was ordered to stay in the American facility, shortly after they’re ordered to travel to the Norwegian Outpost after contact was lost with team Alpha.
Poop hits the fan very fast, an extraterrestrial lifeform can imitate the physical appearance and behavior of other living organisms - that means HUMANS. The game does a great job of keeping you paranoid and alone, keeping you safe and paradoxically in danger at the same.
Graphics are obviously a bit outdated but look fairly decent for its release date(2002). Controls to some might feel clunky or uncontrollable but meh, they’re good enough for me. Try it out if you’re a boomer, you might enjoy it!
19. Quake 1
I obviously won’t talk about the graphics in this game, but I simply had to include this game as it is one of the first video games I have ever played, I was always goddamn terrified of those floating thingies that spit some weird crap at you!
When it comes to the plot, you start as a “Ranger” and your job is to kill some mofo called “Shub-Niggurath”. Unfortunately for you, all your homies got wasted by the evil aliens and now it’s only up to you to destroy the spooky aliens.
The hype for this game was pretty crazy back in the 90’s, it has both single-player and multiplayer. I still remember it to this day when I was 3 years old and my brother introduced me to this game, a truly fascinating game that paved the way for the FPS genre!
18. SCP Containment Breach
The SCP Foundation makes sure that specific creatures, anomalies, and locations are being kept away from the public eye at all cost. One of the most infamous creatures is the SCP-173, or better yet a statue that moves only when nobody is looking at it. It’s also extremely dangerous, as it can in a blink of an eye snap your neck!
You wake up in a cell as class D personnel, you ended up in there because you’re a convict and now you’re forced to work for them as a guinea pig. They tell you to get inside a room with the SCP-173, unfortunately for the SCP foundation, crap hits the fan when the power went out, allowing the SCP-173 to go on a rampage. You’re supposed to get the F out of there and of course, encounter other SCP’s on your way. Lovely!
17. EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5
This game has bugs and it also has bugs. I don’t even know whether those things are alien or not, but shooting them with my buddies was quite fun. Those things are massive and they come in massive numbers, the game does a great job at overwhelming you and it’s perfect for people who just want to shoot stuff in massive chambers.
The story of this game though.. Uhhh, what was it again? Is there even a story? I never cared about it, and I doubt that it even existed, but its a nice mayhem simulator!
16. Alien Swarm
Alien Swarm was made by Valve back in 2010, 19th of July. I remember playing this game and having a BLAST - you can play with up to 4 people, choose 8 different characters with unique specializations to go on a murderous alien killing spree, solving puzzles, and finishing maps.
It’s a pretty fun 2D game that can be difficult at times and 10 times more fun if playing with friends. Graphics are pleasant and clear and gameplay can be very addictive. As of today, I dunno if people are still playing this game, but you can always try it out with friends!
15. Alien Vs Predator
The alien doesn’t care how pretty you are. You’re gonna get a hole in your skull anyway, or better yet, a face-hugger on your face. It’s going to disturbingly force an embryo down your throat, from there into your stomach. Then it’s going to fester and fester and eventually burst out of your chest!
That’s AVP 3 for you, folks. Some people consider this game to be horrible, I personally had a blast playing multiplayer in the OG days, aka 2010, where I was either ripping out spines out of humans as the Predator or just kissing humans as the Alien. You can play as a Marine, an Alien, or the Predator.
The game also has single-player, the plot I gotta admit could have been done better. The controls are fine for the most part - that is until you try walking on the walls/ceiling as the alien. The graphics for a 2010 game are pretty good. They might look a bit off in 2021, but hey, this game is 11 years old, damn it!
14. Crysis 2
Somewhere in NY, a mysterious virus starts spreading, possibly of alien origin, causing panic among the citizens. A corporation named CryNet promises to take care of the situation by creating an antidote. Unfortunately, the corporation failed to make it, thus extermination of the infected individuals takes place. Eventually, martial law takes place and a full-scale war breaks out with the aliens.
You are Alcatraz, you’re supposed to babysit some guy named Nathan Gould and kick ass with your brand new 2.0 nano suit gifted to you by Laurence Barnes aka the “Prophet”.
The graphics are beautiful and the story seems enjoyable as well, the gameplay+the combat system looks and feels smooth/fun, although I have to admit that after a while the game started to drag on and became slightly monotonic. It was still a great experience and I replayed Crysis 2 multiple times!
13. Warframe
This is a fun, quick-paced MMO RPG in which you can farm items, both melee or ranged that takes place in a Sci-Fi, futuristic world that constantly expands, allowing the player to explore more and more areas.
You might say that this game has a bad/mediocre storyline, but you gotta appreciate the frequency of the updates that this game is receiving, the developers are listening to their player base. The game has some microtransactions, but they’re fair and not P2W.
So, if you want to become a space ninja that slaughters countless creatures, this game is for you! It also has some eye-pleasing graphics and fun as hell gameplay. Try it out!
12. Halo 3
Welcome to the 26th century, where humanity is not only attacked by an alien superpower force called Covenant but also by parasitic aliens called Flood - the situation is FUBAR and the only person that can save the world from the evil spooky aliens is the Master Chief.
You are a kick-ass cybernetically enhanced soldier that destroys the Covenant+The Flood. Besides an incredible campaign, Halo 3 also offers multiplayer and a map editor tool.
The graphics for a game that came out in 2007 is pretty decent, the storyline of Halo is probably one of my favorite storylines in video games and I assure you that it won’t make you yawn 3 hours in!
11. Half-Life 1
Plenty of people know about Half-Life, but there will always be some people who just simply didn’t get into the game or some kids who were raised off of Fortnite. Half-Life is a classic that caused a massive poopstorm when it came out, everyone’s fascination with G-man, the Vortigaunts, the teleports, Xen...
The Half-Life series is just a mystery box that will probably never be resolved until Gaben decides to release HL3. Please Gaben, I’ve been playing your games since the age of 4, pretty please.
Graphics are obviously outdated, but were quite supreme back in ‘98 and blew everyone away, the plot of Half-Life is what’s driving everyone crazy and leaves the loyal Half-Life fanbase for HL3. Or Episode 3. Whatever!
10. GTFO
Quite an unorthodox name, but it’s quite fitting at the same time. GTFO is a multiplayer FPS shooter with horror aspects, it’s quite rare to see games of this type and it was nice of 10 Chambers Collective to release a unique game like this.
The atmosphere reminds me a lot of Dead Space, but you feel a bit safer due to your friends sticking around. GTFO is not too demanding, so you can play on relatively high settings without too many issues. Graphics are gorgeous and realistic, combat and controls feel smooth, that’s until some weird-ass thingy with a split-opened head decides to hug you!
9. Destiny 2
A very bad alien boy called Ghaul who’s the leader of the brutal and ruthless Red Legion invaded the last safe haven of humanity. At the start of its release, back in 2017, this game actually used to be Pay to Play, but Bungle scrapped that idea off and made it F2P on Xbox 1, PS4, and later on PS5, Xbox X/S. It’s also available on xCloud and Google Stadia.
It’s a multiplayer game and I’ve checked its reviews on Steam, everyone says that this game is horrible yet they’re recommending it, reminds me of my relationship with DotA 2, each game makes me anxious and angry and I still continue to play it. So it’s fair to assume that Destiny 2 is an addicting FPS shooter with levels, unlockable equipment, etc. I’ve checked some gameplay and I gotta say this game has top-notch graphics and tbh, enjoyable gameplay with futuristic content. I might give it a try in the future!
8. Black Mesa
A complete overhaul of gameplay and graphics of Half-Life 1, it’s surely a better experience for younger players who didn’t appreciate the outdated graphics/gameplay/mechanics in Half-Life 1. I was hyped up when this finally came out and was 30 times more hyped up when Xen finally came out and I could finally kill the big-headed floating baby.
The plot remains the same, enemies remain the same, there might be some new minor areas and easter eggs, but besides that Black Mesa facility remains the same. Try it out, it’s obviously better than HL1 - unless you wanna feel nostalgia, then play the ‘98 version.
7. Prey
Once upon a time, somewhere in Oklahoma, you were a witness to quite extraordinary events where Tommy, Jen, Tommy’s Grandpa, and the bar that you’ve owned were lifted by a gravitational force into the sky to be transported to an alien spaceship called “Sphere”.
Things go pretty south from there. Apparently, some aliens were being tested on and they didn’t like it very much, which resulted in the slaughter of the human personnel on the ship. The name of the game speaks for itself, YOU’RE THE PREY, so either defend yourself or get rekt.
The graphics look awesome and the plot is pretty deep, has a unique combat system and a pretty interactive environment. The game is worth giving a try!
6. Gears of War 4
The plot takes place 25 years after the events of the third part, where humanity managed to defeat the Locust and the Lambent via using the Imulsion Countermeasure weaponry, but at the cost of “windflares” ravaging the planet, this forces the remnants of humanity to get used to the harsh climate.
But of course, when humans have nobody else to fight, they’re gonna fight themselves. Humans who refuse to live in the walled-off cities call themselves outsiders and conduct raids on the COG territories for resources.
The game reintroduced some mechanics and weapons from the previous game, graphics are pretty good and the controls/combat system is as awesome - if not better, than in the previous game. GOW4 is awesome, but I suggest playing the previous games to catch up on the lore.
5. Alien Isolation
I remember playing this game. I would spend 1 hour on it per day, 45 minutes would be about me crying in a locker and the other 15 minutes were either about sneaking, hiding, or running away from the Alien and making little to no progress. If you want to crap your pants, this game is for you!
You can’t kill the Alien, but you can greet him with a shotgun to the face, it’s gonna stagger him for a while but will most definitely trigger him, so make sure you have your favorite shoes on, cuz he’s gonna bite you in the face! Besides the Alien, you can also kill Face-huggers, Androids, and other humans.
Graphics are realistic, which greatly contributes to the Spooky Meter. When it comes to the plot, I never cared about it but I was too busy dodging the alien and shooting his kneecaps with a revolver while hiding under a table. Good times!
4. Dead Space 1
Welcome to USG Ishimura, aka HELL. It was all fine and dandy till Cpt. Matthias thought it would be a great idea to bring the marker onto the ship from the colony FULLY KNOWING that it was causing chaos on the colony on Aegis VII - suicides, homicides, dementia, schizophrenia, paranoia, weird tissue growing everywhere, and eventually a full-scale Necromorph outbreak. The same fate awaits USG Ishimura.
The plot is incredible, the atmosphere is completely terrifying and unsettling, Dead Space 1&2 are probably the best horror Sci-FI games out there IMO. Controls might seem a bit clunky on the PC, so I suggest switching to a controller. If you wish to play a game that will keep you at bay all the time, then play Dead Space!
3. Mass Effect 2
The plot of Mass Effect 2 takes place 2 years after Commander Shephard successfully repelled the invasion by the Reavers. This time something more sinister is occurring, a mysterious entity is abducting human colonies. Cerberus, an organization that wants to make sure humanity survives at any cost, begins cooperation with Commander Shephard. The mission to stop the unknown seems impossible, but of course, Sheppy will let everyone know they’re wrong.
I enjoyed every part of Mass Effect, the only thing that I’ve completely hated was the ending in ME3, it was so bad that a DLC with a different ending had to be released.
The graphics are OK, the plot is awesome, you can get it on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. We’ll bang, okay?
2. Dead Space 2
Wakey, wakey Issac Clerkie. It’s time to finally awake from a long slumber, to once again be greeted by very friendly creatures called the Necromorphs that only wish to talk to you about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. You better get out of there Clarkie, before some weird bat thing hops on your face and decides to make love to you!
Dead Space 2 is a better version of its predecessor, Dead Space 1. The aiming is greatly improved, the gameplay feels smooth and killing Necromorphs awards you with perverted satisfaction. You’re in a midst of a Necromorph outbreak and at the same time being hunted down by Tiedemann and his goons. But you’re Issac, you’ll figure somethin’ out!
- Graphics - still up to par with today
- Plot - Awesome
- Atmosphere - Slightly less spooky than in DS1, but still spooky
- Gameplay - Awesome and satisfying combat, smooth controls
- Spooky Meter = 99%
1. Half-Life 2, EP 1/EP2, HL:Alyx
I could have just included the Half-Life series as a whole, but Half-Life 1 is way too different from the other Half-Life games when it comes to graphics, gameplay, and plot.
Around 20 years, after the incident in Black Mesa and the invasion of the Earth by an extremely powerful multidimensional empire that won a war that lasted mere 7 hours. You’re still playing as Gordon Freeman, you were probably put out of stasis by the mysterious G-man and spawned in a train heading to City 17. As Gordon Freeman, you’re a trouble magnet and will be one throughout the whole game.
Big Brother is watching you at all times, spectating your progress, and constantly pushing you in a direction, giving you an illusion of free choice. The Half-Life series, hands-down, is the best Sci-Fi Alien Shooter out there - the plot, the gameplay, level design, character development, multiple different enemies, and of course, the mysterious G-man that even after over 20 YEARS, we still don’t know who he(he?) is and what’s his agenda.
I highly suggest all of you sweethearts to try out the Half-Life series, it’s a fascinating series that will make your jaw drop, despite its age!
Summary:
I think that’s all for this article, folks. Those are my favorite childhood Sci-Fi games that I still replay to this day. Hope you enjoyed my Top15, thank you for reading, and ciao Bella, you lovely bastards!
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