Alien Rogue Incursion Switch 2 Review

Alien Rogue Incursion Switch 2 Review
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2

A few weeks ago, Alien: Rogue Incursion skulked out of the shadows and onto the eShop with little fanfare. Originally built as a VR experience, Rogue Incursion has been reworked for Nintendo Switch 2, dropping the headset while still aiming to deliver the same tense survival horror the Alien franchise is known for. Set inside a Weyland-Yutani blacksite crawling with danger, the game tasks players with uncovering the truth hidden deep within its steel corridors. What’s it like? Pack your motion tracker, load your pulse rifle, and keep one eye on the vents as we review Alien: Rogue Incursion for Nintendo Switch 2.

Alien: Rogue Incursion follows rogue Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks in what was intended to be the first part of a two-part story, although more on that later. Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, the game begins with a distress call on the remote planet of Purdan. Upon arrival, Zula discovers a secret Weyland-Yutani blacksite that has been completely overrun by the franchise’s iconic Xenomorphs. Joined by her android companion, Davis 01, you must fight to survive while uncovering the mystery behind the facility and the source of the deadly infestation.

While the story itself is genuinely interesting, there is unfortunately a large question mark hanging over its future. Reports and public posts from former staff suggest developer Servios has allegedly all but gutted the development team, casting doubt over whether the planned continuation will ever see the light of day. It also raises concerns about future patches and post-launch support, meaning some of the bugs and technical issues mentioned throughout this review may never be addressed. I believe that this is an important context to keep in mind as we proceed with this review.

Alien: Rogue Incursion plays out as a first-person survival shooter, and after the obligatory tutorial section aboard your ship, the game almost instantly builds tension as you enter the Weyland-Yutani compound. I spent my first 30 minutes tiptoeing through the base using a motion scanner and flashlight, scanning every corner where a Xenomorph could be hiding. Much like how the movie Jaws makes the shark terrifying by not showing it, Alien: Rogue Incursion does something similar here, hinting that the Xenomorphs are always watching while allowing their mythology to do a lot of the groundwork. Those opening moments really creeped me out, and my first few encounters with the Xenomorphs were a panic-inducing spray of pulse rifle fire.

That tension does wear off the more you encounter Xenomorphs, which can eventually be dispatched with more traditional weaponry like a revolver sidearm, pulse rifle, and shotgun. There are still some jump scares in store, but I felt like the atmosphere breaks down fairly quickly once you become more comfortable with the game’s mechanics. There are remnants of the VR design still present, now replaced by traditional FPS controls that work rather well. Actions like lifting your harness or inserting disks into your PDA require holding down a shoulder button, while a hacking mini-game, where you divert power, is now handled by moving your multitool with the control stick like a mouse. There are light puzzles here, along with some frustrating design choices, mostly revolving around finding the right credentials for a door code or waiting for your android companion to use a terminal while you deal with a few straggling Xenomorphs. The shooting gallery sections often consist of aliens appearing in front of you, almost waiting for you to unload rounds into them before they begin their attack. And that’s where Alien: Rogue Incursion starts to feel… just okay. It’s not particularly exciting, and it doesn’t really do enough to stand out.

Graphically, Alien: Rogue Incursion is also a mixed bag. Environments do a lot of the heavy lifting here, with dark corridors and environmental detail that highlight the remnants of a horrific attack and infestation within the base. However, the environments start to feel very similar after a while, and texture work alongside model detail often feels like it’s a generation behind. This carries over into some noticeable performance issues that really hurt the immersion the game works so hard to build. These can include mouths not moving during dialogue, level-of-detail pop-in taking a while to fully resolve during loading transitions, and generally janky animations. There were also some particularly odd and occasionally blinding lighting issues that would completely white out the screen with strobe-like flashes. Alien: Rogue Incursion also offers both Graphics and Performance modes. Graphics mode targets 30fps, but it doesn’t feel especially stable or smooth. Performance mode aims for 60fps, but hovers closer to 40-45, and drops resolution quite heavily, making the game look fairly average in motion compared to its already mixed presentation.

For my space marines looking into accessibility, I’m pleased to report that Alien: Rogue Incursion has a solid range of options to make fighting Xenomorphs more comfortable. The game supports gyro and mouse controls, along with the ability to adjust FOV, reduce motion blur and depth of field, lower camera shake, and add hold inputs for rapid button press mini-games. There’s also aim assist available, and full input remapping for accessibility controls. As always, I recommend doing further research to ensure Alien: Rogue Incursion suits your specific accessibility needs. When it comes to value, this is where Alien: Rogue Incursion shines, as it comes in at under $28 AUD for a 6–8 hour adventure.

While it doesn’t do anything particularly spectacular, Alien: Rogue Incursion is still an okay game that fans of the Alien series will likely get a bit more mileage out of than I did. With Servios launching a distress call of their own, only time will tell if we see the second part of the story, or if the bugs will ever be fully addressed in the Switch 2 version. As it stands, Alien: Rogue Incursion is a serviceable shooter at a great price, but one that never quite reaches its full potential.

So, What’s it Like? Alien Rogue Incursion is like Doom 3 crossed with Alien Colonial Marines

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