Alien Deathstorm Gamescom Hands-On Preview & Developer Interview

Rebellion is no stranger to creating video games that excel at letting players blast alien bugs. More specifically, the studio was behind the original Aliens vs. Predator and its 2010 reboot. Since then, it’s better known for the Sniper Elite series, its Zombie Army spinoffs, and last year’s Atomfall. At Gamescom 2026, I got to play their return to old-fashioned FPS action: Alien Deathstorm.

Many players would agree that modern double-A and triple-A games often lack sincerity and simplicity. After an extremely busy Gamescom, I must say I really struggle to think of an upcoming game that’s as direct on its approach and honest about its intentions as Alien Deathstorm. It features plenty of (legally distinct) aliens and throws a mute engineer into a deathstorm on a distant colony world. There are no twists here. You’ll be doing exactly what you expect after looking at the trailers released so far, alone or with a friend.

This is what Rebellion has always excelled at. It’s the rare sort of enduring developer that’s been around for what feels like forever, sticking to its strengths and consistently delivering both linear rollercoaster rides – often filled with horror elements – and tightly designed sandboxes that have their own strengths, away from the trend-chasing seen elsewhere. Alien Deathstorm obviously seeks to recapture the DNA of the studio’s AvP titles, even if they’re missing the iconic IP. In fact, my hands-on time with the game confirmed it pretty much feels like a better Aliens: Colonial Marines.

There wasn’t much to the hands-on demo, honestly. And I mean this in a positive way. The guns feel good to shoot; ammo is scarce and pushes players to actually count their shots; and aliens were varied and relentless enough to keep me on my toes, especially as they were randomly spawned depending on what I was doing and how much I stuck around a location. There are no surprises here, but it’s a comforting, retro-styled experience that’s assembled by total pros and artisans in the double-A space.

A highlight was the adverse weather engulfing the doomed colony, brought to life through detailed but clean visuals and sharp and booming sound effects. Looking at how familiar everything else feels, the deathstorm might be the element that sets this shooter apart from the competition.

That and its sandbox approach to mission design, which had me running around the area surrounding an unstable reactor while fending off endless hordes of the mysterious aliens and searching for coloured access cards (I’ll always welcome Doom influences). Even if the combat engineer we control seems like a rather capable guy, it’s a very isolating experience overall, like first-person Dead Space. While light on genuine scares, I’d totally describe Alien Deathstorm as stressful and relentless.

After getting through the mission and checking out some really cool custom weapon props that Rebellion had brought (photos below), I sat down with producer Martin Willingham to learn about the game’s inception and what makes it special.

The following interview has been trimmed for better flow and ease of reading.

GW: What do you want to bring to the table with this take on a sci-fi shooter?

MW: The most important thing for us was bringing that Rebellion DNA around sandbox gameplay, player choice, loads of the work that we’ve been doing in Sniper Elite and then in Atomfall recently. In the reactor level you’ve played there’s very little hand-holding. In the game, you play as an engineer, so you’re often faced with “engineer style” problems. You need to diagnose what’s wrong with it, and we’re trying to establish what you need to do.

GW: In the demo, the character is alone, but he’s got an AI companion. Do you have the help of other NPCs at any point or come across other people?

MW: There will be other characters that you interact with during the campaign and through the narrative. We’re not ready to speak more than that at the moment.

GW: Can you speak about the story setup? Looking at the trailers, it’s straight into the action. What’s going on?

MW: The premise for Alien Deathstorm is that you’re an engineer returning to the colony after an off-world mission, and you crash-land and discover the colony is being destroyed by this planetary megastorm. Things are falling apart and there’s nobody around. This invasive alien species has also appeared and begun attacking the colonists, so you find yourself in this battle to survive not just the aliens, but also the storm while trying to find a way to escape.

GW: I like how direct the title is. How did you land on it?

MW: We want players to understand what are the most important things to know about the game. You are fighting aliens in this deathstorm. The storm is a key part of the game, part of its character. I think that’s what helps it stand out.

GW: There’s a visor mechanic related to the weather that has you wiping it clean constantly. What other weather mechanics or systems are in the game?

MW: There’s a few other ways weather will affect you. It will affect your movement, so you’ll go into some areas where incredibly fast winds impact your movement. Also, the player has an integrity shield on their suit, so it’ll degrade over time when the storm gets very intense. Throughout the game, you’ll experience the storm at various different intensities.

GW: One thing that stands out is how little hand-holding there is. How did you find that balance of how much you want to guide players?

MW: A lot of it is informed by the aforementioned sandbox DNA. One thing I will say is at launch we are going to have playstyles, so if you are a player who wants a more guided experience, we will have an option for you. But what we really want is the player to own the sandbox and work out how they want to approach all the problems. It’s a similar thing when it comes to combat; a lot of what you played is all dynamic, with spawns based off of your movement in the game world and how much you’re doing to draw the alien’s attention.

You can go to the reactor control room, diagnose there’s an issue with the power network, use your map schematic, and learn there’s an issue with the substation. Another player may just stumble upon the fact the substation is not working and then fix it. When they head to the control room, they can already reboot the reactor. It’s player agency and choice.

GW: What can you say about the aliens? What are they doing?

MW: I’m not sure how much we’re ready to reveal about the aliens and their nature, but in the demo you played, there was only three alien types. There is more that we will reveal in the future. But they are just an incredibly invasive and aggressive species. They come in various shapes and sizes, which we’re obviously using for different types of gameplay.

GW: Rebellion is a pretty active studio. How long has Alien Deathstorm been in development?

MW: Rebellion has lots of projects in development. I’ve been working for three years on ADS.

GW: Have you talked about any multiplayer component for this game?

MW: What we’re sharing at Gamescom is that the campaign will be playable on two-player co-op. There will be more to share later.

GW: What’s something that you’re especially proud of?

MW: The team have worked so hard on the game, and it’s been great to get a really positive reaction here at Gamescom, with people getting hands-on with it for the first time. We’re especially proud of the combat; it’s very fluid, very frenetic, visceral, and intense. But also, the visuals of the game are really impressive; I think we do a great job selling the intensity of that deathstorm.