A cancelled multiplayer Aliens game would have seen you facing an alien Queen and her swarm

(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

3D Realms' vice president and executive producer Frederik Schreiber has revealed the details of a cancelled Aliens game. The game, which was going to be called Aliens: Hadley's Hope, was eventually scrapped when Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox. 

Recently, game designer Cliff Bleszinski revealed on Twitter that before his studio Boss Key Productions went under, it was in talks with Fox to make a new game based on the Aliens franchise. But, as it turns out, that wasn't the only Aliens game being discussed. 

In a reply tweet to Bleszinski, 3D Realms' vice president and executive producer Frederik Schreiber said 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks was also involved in talks about a possible game based on Aliens, and it even went so far as to begin pre-production before it was ultimately cancelled. 

Schreiber also posted some details about the Aliens game that never came to be. Aliens: Hadley's Hope was set to follow a mix of colonists and marines who fight together for their lives against a "protective alien Queen who's willing to do whatever it takes to safeguard her eggs." The multiplayer alien fest was then described as a "story-driven PvE multiplayer adventure shooter dripping with atmosphere, lore, and suspense." 

The game's concept was also posted, detailed how players group up to battle the alien Queen and her "relentless swarm of alien protectors." Sounds like quite a fight, doesn't it? It also mentions that the game requires you to work in a team and operate tactically to take defeat the swarms. With several levels to survive your way through that all have their own unique styles and challenges, you would then face the mighty Queen. 

But there isn't just one Queen. Oh, no. Apparently this planet would have been a breeding ground for dozens and Queens and their hives. The levels were also set to be packed with mission goals and side quests too. The scrapped project also planned to add new content for years, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. 

Hadley's Hope, which is mentioned in the title of the game, was a human mining colony that appears in Aliens, and also featured in Aliens: Colonial Marines developed by Gearbox Software. It does sound like a pretty fun set up based in the world of Aliens, and we can't help but wonder how it would have shaped up if the game came to be. 

Read about how this cancelled Aliens game was basically a horror Mass Effect

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.