When Disney acquired Fox, it didn’t just shake up the film and TV industry, but it also deprived gamers of two new Alien titles that could very well have reignited the franchise. These projects had a lot of potential, but were effectively canceled when the House of Mouse took control.
Two developers have unveiled concepts for their Alien games that never got to see the light of day this week. Both of the canceled projects’ premises sound very intriguing, too, and could have been some impressive additions to the vast library of Alien titles released for gamers.
Not too long ago, it was revealed that prominent developer Cliff Bleszinski and his studio were in talks to create a first-person shooter with the main character being Newt from Aliens. This version of her would’ve been all grown up and living on Earth, completely ignoring the events of Alien 3. Ripley would also be involved in aiding Newt similar to how Cortana aides the Master Chief in the Halo series. The story would have seen the Weyland-Yutani corporation attempting to weaponize Xenomorphs in what he describes as a “Black Mesa style facility,” where the aliens obviously escape and all chaos ensues.
Funfact: Before BKP shut down we were in talks to do a new game in the Aliens franchise with Fox.
Then Disney bought them and that got lost in the shuffle, darnit.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) February 10, 2020
Bleszinski’s surprising reveal garnered the attention of another talented game developer as well named Frederik Schreiber, the vice president of 3D Realms. He claims that they were quite far into pre-production on a project titled Alien: Hadleys Hope. This was going to be an FPS with a four-player co-op. The objective would be for gamers to clear levels featuring relentless swarms of aliens before having to take on the Queen. It took place on a planet that served as a breeding ground for multiple Queens and their deadly hives.
Yup. Game was called Aliens: Hadleys Hope. We went quite far into pre-production before the Disney/Fox acquisition, and then we had to cancel it, and move on with something else.
Maybe some day! I bet yours was very different than ours? pic.twitter.com/brpq4FgwWT
— Frederik Schreiber (@Freschism) February 11, 2020
These games sound extremely intriguing and it’s too bad that they were canceled. The franchise has spawned some great titles that fans revere like Alien: Isolation and some awful ones they wish they could forget like Aliens: Colonial Marines. And while we may never know which type the Newt game or Alien: Hadleys Hope would fall under, what we do know is that the future of the Alien property is very, very unclear right now.
