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Saber Interactive has, once again, shown off its spectacular horde simulation technology with Warhammer: Space Marine 2. A stunning tribute to the awesome tabletop game, Space Marine 2 tasks players with cutting down swarms of Tyranids in the name of The Emperor.
With tonnes of support planned for the Warhammer game, fans will be treated to loads of new multiplayer content, but what comes next? While a third game in the franchise would be fantastic, Saber’s stunning crowd tech could be used to craft an absolutely stunning game set in the Aliens series.
Space Marine 2 could lead to a perfect Aliens game
After the rancid Colonial Marines and the mediocre Fireteam Elite, the Aliens franchise has been met with some unfortunate video game adaptations. While the brilliant Alien Isolation excels at the (mostly) solo Alien side of the series, Saber is the perfect fit for the game’s action-focused side.
One of the biggest issues with Aliens games comes in the form of its Xenomorph behaviour. Fireteam Elite and Colonial Marines both suffered in many of the same areas. While Colonial Marines was broken in many ways, both have Xenos that mostly just run towards you in small crowds.
However, with the huge crowds possible in Warhammer: Space Marine 2, Saber’s tech could be used to create some truly terrifying crowds of the iconic sci-fi monster. Imagine dozens of Xenomorphs scuttling across walls, sprinting over cover and leaping directly at your team of marines, acid blood spraying everywhere as you dispatch the alien crowd.
Despite not being included in the theatrical cut, the video game version of Aliens should take direction from the Sentry Gun scenes from the director’s cut. Hordes of Xenos force their way through intense gunfire, pushing through an army of bullets to get to their target.
In many ways, this is what Space Marine 2 does best, and so did Saber’s World War Z. The studio’s massive crowds react to the bullets, stumbling and flinching at the hot lead, but they keep on coming. It’s horrific, and exactly what Aliens should be replicating in video game form.
A perfect pair for a perfect organism?
With the massive success of Alien: Romulus, Disney will be more keen than ever to ship the franchise out to game developers. Aliens games are never in short supply—a VR game Rogue Incursion is coming out later this year—but Saber’s work on its new Warhammer game shows why it’s the perfect fit.
With a true reverence for the franchises it adapts and an eye for detail usually befitting a blockbuster AAA release, Saber could finally make an Aliens shooter that’s more than mediocre. It would be a dream come true but, right now, it’s just a dream.
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