Author guest post from Mike Diver.

Just as March brings us Mario Day, a celebration of everything to do with Nintendo’s moustachioed mascot (on March 10 – you see what they did there) and May invites us to make some noise for Star Wars on its fourth day (because… yep, you get it), April is the month that Alien fans get excited.

Every April 26^th is Alien Day, due to the importance of the moon LV-426 (aka Acheron) to the sci-fi series’ first two movies. It’s where the crew of the Nostromo encounter the derelict and its lethal cargo in 1979’s Alien, and the inhospitable rock that a relative handful of hardy colonists try to make their home, through the establishment of Hadley’s Hope, in 1986’s sequel, Aliens. LV-426 has appeared as a location in many Alien stories since, across comics, novels and video games.

What will get announced on this Alien Day? Well, there’s a good chance that we’ll get information a new video game (or two… maybe even on a Part Two) based on humanity’s encounters with the acid-blooded biomechanical nightmares first dreamed up by Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger, now legitimate icons of the monster movie world, immortalised in endless items of memorabilia. Which will make my forthcoming book on this long-running series of games – which go back to 1982 in terms of officially licensed titles – out of date before it’s even in your hands.

Never mind! Such is the way of video games, and their inexorable march towards the next new thing. I’m confident that Aliens: The Video Games, which is published in August and available to pre-order now, is the best way to read about all of the Alien-, Aliens- and Alien 3-based games to date – as well every other official release (be it movie tie-in or not), all Predator crossovers, several unofficial and fan creations, and a number of cancelled projects. It includes a wealth of new and exclusive interview material, first-hand insights into the development processes of games that span hardware generations from early computers to today’s most-powerful consoles. It’s the only book of its kind – and if you enjoy Aliens-related media, it’s a book for you. And if you love video games, even better.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Author, actor and YouTuber Stuart Ashen – known to his 1.66 million subscribers simply as ashens – found it “an entertaining and enlightening look at how the xenomorph infested computers and consoles as well as our nightmares”. The good people at Perfect Organism: The Alien Saga Podcast feel it’s “an indispensable resource” which is “beautifully researched and yet eminently readable”. And legendary gaming journalist Julian ‘Jaz’ Rignall comments that it’s “an absolutely fascinating read packed with anecdotes and details”. Thanks to them, and others who’ve been extremely positive about the book, ahead of its publication. I appreciate all of you.

But what about you? Whether you pick up the book or not, hopefully you’re this deep into this post because you’re curious about what Alien video games you can play right now, to mark Alien Day 2026. While I’d love to list all of my favourites, the reality is that a lot of them aren’t readily available – and some of them are effectively unplayable in the here and now. So instead, here’s four (rather than 26!) you can download and play, on modern hardware (computers and consoles), as soon as you’re done here. Enjoy?

Aliens: Dark Descent – a tense and spooky choice for tactical minds

Played from an isometric perspective, with stages revealing themselves as you move your squad of Colonial Marines through the dark tunnels of xenomorph-infested colonies, Dark Descent takes cues from 1986’s Aliens but typically plays out in a slower manner than the frantic firefights of that film. Until the aliens come for you, that is, as things can heat up extraordinarily fast as you hurry to input orders for your marines to follow in real time, mixing offensive actions with finding escape routes and welding yourselves into a respite-enabling safe room. Between missions, set on the moon of Lethe, you can patch yourself up at the grounded USS Otago, but every day that passes takes your mission closer to failure, as eventually an automated defence system will kick in and nuke your location from orbit. It is the only way to be sure, I suppose. Featuring a wholly original alien variant known as the Titan – an appropriate name given its gargantuan proportions – Dark Descent released to a positive critical reception in 2023 and can be downloaded on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X/S consoles.

Alien: Rogue Incursion – Part One – a shooter that’ll scare you sideways

Originally developed for virtual reality systems, the makers of Rogue Incursion knew they were onto a winner when one of their testers tore off their headset and left the session, scared out of the room by a xenomorph getting the jump on him (twice). TQ Jefferson, chief product officer at the game’s developers, Survios, told me that was one of his best days on the project. The first official VR game based on the Alien series – anything that came before its 2024 release was only playable that way through modding, or was a temporary immersive experience rather than a fully released video game – this one looks to the Dark Horse-published Alien(s) comics for inspiration, as the player assumes the role of former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks. She’s a character who features prominently in the stories of Aliens: Defiance, Resistance and Rescue, as well as some of the tie-in novels, but Rogue Incursion represents the first time she’s stepped from page to screen. Through her eyes, the player explores the settlement of Castor’s Cradle – a colony which has, inevitably, become overrun with aliens. It’s a blood-pumping VR experience, if you have the equipment to play it that way – but if not, the game received an Evolved Edition release in late 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, making it playable on TVs and monitors. And just ahead of Alien Day 2026, the game was shadow-dropped onto Switch 2, meaning you can fire it up between Mario Kart sessions.

Aliens Versus Predator Classic 2000 – an old-school inter-species showdown

UK studio Rebellion already had one generally well-received AvP game under their belts in the shape of the Jaguar-exclusive Alien vs Predator of 1994, but this 1999 title – still available to download in its Classic 2000 guise on PC – was something else. Adored by many who participated in its multiplayer mayhem at the turn of the millennium, Aliens Versus Predator set a new high bar for crossover experiences featuring these two interstellar species. The player could choose (and still can) between being a Colonial Marine (twitchy, squishy), an alien (speedy, toothy) or a Predator (chunky, shooty), and each has their own unique abilities and equipment, as well as individual campaigns to follow when you’re not facing off against other human players. The version you can find on Steam today includes bonus content from 2000’s Gold Edition, and given it costs less than five English pounds, you could do a lot worse. It may look a little dated compared to other games here, but it’s fast, full of different modes to try out, and retains the potential to make you jump out of your skin.

Alien: Isolation – a first-person fright-fest with movie DNA

With its events set between the events of Alien and Aliens, and the player cast as Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda on a mission to discover what really happened to the crew of the Nostromo, Isolation is well-established as an indispensable piece of the wider Alien story. Amanda finds herself on Sevastopol, a space station orbiting the gas giant of KG-348, which is where the black box from her mother’s destroyed ship is meant to be. But there’s something a whole lot more menacing there, too – an alien which, if it spies you creeping from room to room, will pounce with incredible speed and almost certainly kill you. Unlike so many Alien games which throw swarms of bugs at the player, Isolation encourages you to keep its prowling predator at a safe distance. You might find a gun on Sevastopol, but its bullets won’t harm the creature; and while a burst from a flamethrower will send it scuttling back to the safety of a vent, it’ll learn not to approach you face-on. The way that the alien in Isolation learns from your behaviour is one of its greatest strengths – and biggest challenges. Initially released in 2014 and available for PC, PlayStation 3 and 4 (playable on PS5), Xbox 360 and One (playable on Series X/S), Nintendo Switch (playable on Switch 2), Android and iOS devices, Linux and macOS, Isolation is a game that every Alien fan should experience. Just don’t be surprised if you don’t make it past Medical on your first try. We’ve all been there (and have the scars to prove it).

Please consider pre-ordering Aliens: The Video Games, thanks!