Aliens: Rogue Incursion – A Standalone That Nails the Atmosphere but Fumbles the Flow
Aliens: Rogue Incursion had my attention the moment it loaded — or more accurately, the moment I finally got into the game after a nearly four-minute delay. That wasn’t a one-off, either. From hitting “play” to gameplay took 3:58 on first launch and it is agonisingly slow every time after. Not ideal, but leaves time to make a coffee I suppose.
When Rogue Incursion is firing on all cylinders, it feels like the Aliens game we’ve been waiting for in Quest VR. It’s tense, immersive, and capable of real moments of panic and dread. The lighting and sound are straight out of a sci-fi horror film, and when the xenomorph finally comes for you, it hits hard. Your first kill feels earned. Your first death feels inevitable. The atmosphere works.
The early moments of the game deliver. You crash-land, explore the wreckage, grab your sidearm, solve some puzzles to break through sealed doors, and then suddenly you’re being stalked. A few encounters in, the game makes its big mistake: every death means a reset to the Panic Room. At first, it’s immersive. The idea of waking back up and venturing back out sells the fear. But it quickly becomes a chore. The repetition drains the tension. Knowing exactly what to expect kills what made those early encounters work.
Even worse, the inventory system lacks consistency and quickly becomes frustrating. Some items are accessed on your datapad, others are mapped to your body, and a few are tied to quick-access buttons. But there’s no clear logic or unifying style. You’re never quite sure what can be picked up and what’s just scenery, and that ambiguity wears thin fast. In high-stress moments, you need clarity — not hesitation. I had a moment where an Alien charged me and I confidently grabbed my sidearm with its six non-lethal Alien bullets — only to realise, as it killed me, that the machine gun I actually needed was slung across my back. That’s not a clunky inventory issue so much as a panic instinct: you reach for what’s in front of you.
Still, there’s a solid experience underneath it all. The core gameplay loop is there. The environments are impressively detailed. The tension is real. But the structure gets in its own way. You end up spending more time retreading old ground than forging ahead, and the constant interruptions to momentum start to wear thin. The deeper I go in some sections the more I find myself pondering, “A panic room, a panic room — my kingdom for a panic room,” dreading the looming death and the ten-minute replay that likely follows.
Graphically, the Quest version holds up well enough — especially after some post-launch patches — but it’s clearly a step down from what’s possible on PCVR or PSVR2. To the developer’s credit, it looks better now than at launch, but it still doesn’t quite hit the fidelity mark set by the very best AAA titles on Quest, like Asgard’s Wrath II or Batman: Arkham Shadow.
Final Verdict:
Aliens: Rogue Incursion is a solid standalone VR horror experience that delivers on mood and immersion but stumbles on pacing and polish. If you’re an Aliens fan, there’s enough here to make it worth your time — just be prepared to battle the game as much as the xenomorphs.
