Critics landed on a mixed verdict for Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2: an OpenCritic Top Critic Average of 63, with 34 percent of critics recommending it across 35 reviews, and a Mixed rating from players on Steam. The praise goes to four-player co-op, the build options across six kits and the challenge cards; the complaints are performance at launch, repetitive environments, a predictable story and weak AI teammates. Our short answer as of November 2026: worth it if you have a regular squad and like the first game, worth waiting for a sale if you mostly play alone.
This roundup draws on OpenCritic's review list, Push Square's PS5 review, the Steam, PlayStation Store and Xbox Store pages, HowLongToBeat and Cold Iron Studios' patch notes, all checked on 13 November 2026.
The Scores at a Glance
The spread is unusually wide for a mid-sized co-op shooter. Scores run from Push Square's 4/10 to PlayStation Universe's 8/10, and most outlets sit in the 6 to 7.5 range. OpenCritic ranks the game in the lower part of everything it has scored, which matches the tone of most written reviews: enjoyable with friends, hard to recommend on its own merits.
| Outlet | Score | In a line |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation Universe | 8/10 | "satisfying gunplay, and challenge cards that make for interesting difficulty experimentation" |
| COGconnected | 78/100 | "fun with friends, and for short play sessions of a few missions" |
| ZTGD | 7.5/10 | among "the few really good Aliens franchise video games" |
| IGN | 7/10 | "blasting Xenos and synths is a good time with friends" |
| Wccftech | 7/10 | "a more engaging shooting gallery than its predecessor" |
| DualShockers | 6.5/10 | "fails in too many places to be a worthy successor at this point in time" |
| PlayStation LifeStyle | 6/10 | "playing with a well-drilled fireteam to clear hordes is still satisfying" |
| Push Square | 4/10 | "a massive letdown of a sequel" |
Player scores tell a similar story. Steam shows Mixed, 61 percent positive from 2,887 English reviews, with recent reviews at 57 percent. The PlayStation Store averages 3.93 stars from roughly 1,965 ratings.
What Reviewers Liked
Almost every review agrees on the core loop. Four marines holding a corridor against a wave of Drones, Runners and Wardens is the moment the game was built for, and outlets from IGN to PlayStation LifeStyle single it out. The jump from three to four players gives each kit a clearer job, and even Push Square's harsh review credits the "in-depth build customisation" across six archetypes, the wide variety of Xeno types and difficulty options that tie into the Combat Rating system.
The challenge cards get specific praise. PlayStation Universe calls out how they make for "interesting difficulty experimentation", and they are what keeps replays of the same missions from feeling identical. Wccftech goes further than most, calling the sequel a more engaging shooting gallery than the first game.
- Classes: the Specialist, which borrows abilities and perks from the other five kits, is the most talked-about addition; our Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 classes guide breaks down all six.
- Arsenal: plenty of guns across five categories, each leveling to four stars, as covered in our Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 weapons list.
- Horde Mode: dedicated Horde maps at launch, with escalating waves and better rewards the deeper you survive.
What Reviewers Did Not Like
Push Square's 4/10 is the most detailed case against the game. Reviewing on PS5 and PS5 Pro, it calls performance "choppy" once combat starts, describes the first half of the campaign as feeling like it takes place in "the exact same location", says the story's reveals are obvious hours in advance, and calls the visuals and pre-rendered cutscenes a downgrade from the first game.
The same review is hard on the AI companions, "brutal to play with, with no real tactical awareness", and notes that public matchmaking "can be quite lengthy". DualShockers' 6.5 lands on a similar conclusion in milder terms, saying the game "fails in too many places to be a worthy successor at this point in time". That last phrase matters: several of the complaints were about the launch state rather than the design. Repetition and the story are design choices that patches will not change, while frame drops, broken rewards and stuck doors are the kind of problem that updates can and did address. When you read an older review, it helps to sort each criticism into one of those two piles before deciding.
Cold Iron acknowledged many of them. Its 4 September update named performance and stability on PC and console, doors locking players out and post-Queen-fight reward problems as the immediate focus, and the following patches worked through that list.
How Much Game Is There?
Content volume is one of the less controversial parts of the package. The campaign runs across six chapters, from the Prologue through Rescue and Recovery, Boarding Party, Rock Bottom and Ancient Anomaly to Final Endeavor, and the patch notes name a long list of individual missions inside them, from "Sleep Study" and "Bomb Squad" to "Piping Hot", "Synth Headache" and the Queen fight. Every mission can be replayed on any difficulty from Casual up to Insane, with or without challenge cards, and Horde Mode sits on its own dedicated maps.
The enemy roster is broader than the first game's. Cold Iron's pre-launch Xenomorph dossier introduced the Drone, Facehugger, Warden, Exploder, Crusher, Siren, Praetorian, Harbinger and Striker, and the trophy list adds separate kill counters for Pathogen, Synthetics and Combat Automatons, so the game does not rely on Xenos alone. GamingBolt's preview adds synth grunts with riot shields and batons, snipers, Incinerators and Heavies.
Unlocks are earned rather than sold. GamingBolt reported hundreds of cosmetic unlockables tied to gameplay and "no microtransactions", and the paid extras at launch were limited to the Premium Edition's two packs. That is a point in the game's favor for anyone wary of live-service storefronts, and it is also why the progression grind is long: everything, from optics to hats, has to be played for.
How It Compares to the First Game
The original Aliens: Fireteam Elite launched on 23 August 2021 from Cold Iron Studios with Focus Entertainment. Its Steam page describes three-marine squads ("up to two players or AI"), four campaigns on the planet LV-895 and seven class kits. The sequel, published by Daybreak Game Company, moves to four-marine squads, six kits including the build-your-own Specialist, a six-campaign story from the Prologue to Final Endeavor, and Horde maps at launch.
Whether that adds up to a better game is where critics split. Wccftech prefers the sequel's shooting; Push Square calls it a downgrade with less charm. If you finished the first game's platinum, the sequel's trophy list is noticeably lighter: 31 trophies against 43, as our Aliens: Fireteam Elite platinum guide and the new list show. Players who enjoyed the first game's class grind tend to enjoy this one more than newcomers do, because the loop is familiar and the extra squad slot is a clear upgrade.
The PC requirements also rose sharply. The sequel's minimum spec asks for Windows 11, 10 GB of RAM and an RTX 2060, against the first game's Windows 10, 8 GB and GTX 760, so check your hardware before buying on Steam or Epic.
What Has Changed Since the Reviews
Most reviews were written against the launch build. Since then Cold Iron has shipped Hotfix #2 (2 September, shader caching to reduce stutter), Patch #2 (17 September, framerate optimizations, door and checkpoint fixes, and Horde rewards after wave 50), Hotfix #3 (29 September), Patch #3 (22 October) and Hotfix #3.5 (5 November). Patch #3 alone made a large pass on hitching, fixed reward bugs, made Horde Mode available immediately to new characters and gave every player emotes and Halloween decals for the reward problems. Hotfix #3.5 made every cutscene skippable.
Steam's recent reviews are still Mixed, so the patches have not turned opinion around, but the game a new player installs in November is in better technical shape than the one reviewed in early September. Two things remain open: the Switch 2 version has moved to early 2027, and the "detailed roadmap" promised in the 29 September notes had not appeared on the official Steam feed by mid-November.
Is It Worth It in November 2026?
It depends almost entirely on who you play with. HowLongToBeat's small sample puts the campaign at about 13 hours, and the replay value lives in difficulty, challenge cards, Horde Mode and the kit grind, all of which are better with people.
- Buy it if you have two or three friends who will play regularly, you enjoyed the first game, and you like build-crafting across several classes. Crossplay means your friends can be on any platform; see our Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 crossplay guide.
- Wait for a sale if you mostly play alone, since the bots are the weakest part of the package, or if your PC is near the minimum spec.
- Skip it if you want a strong single-player Aliens story. The campaign is the element critics liked least.
The game ships in a Digital Standard Edition and a 40th Anniversary Premium Edition, which adds the Ripley's Hive Exterminator Pack and Herk's Mondo Pest Pack. Squad shooters live or die by their group: our co-op squad tips, written for a similar class-based shooter, apply here almost one for one.
Already Bought It? Skip Ahead
If the review that matches your situation is "great with friends, slow to unlock", the Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 page on our store lists a Mega Modded Save for PS5 and PC (not Xbox) with Prestige Rank 100, every kit and the weapon collection at Max Rank, and the campaign completed with Insane difficulty open, plus a PS5 platinum trophy service. Players who never finished the original can find the unlock-all save and platinum service for the first game on the Aliens: Fireteam Elite page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 good?
Reviews are mixed. Critics average 63 on OpenCritic and Steam players rate it Mixed, with the co-op combat praised and the campaign, performance and AI teammates criticized.
What did IGN score Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2?
IGN gave it 7/10, saying blasting Xenos and synths is a good time with friends.
Is Fireteam Elite 2 better than the first game?
Critics disagree. It adds a fourth squad slot, the Specialist kit and Horde maps, but Push Square and DualShockers felt it fell short of the original's charm and polish.
Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 good solo?
It is playable solo with AI companions, but reviewers found the bots weak. Solo players get the least out of it.
How long is the campaign?
About 13 hours on average according to HowLongToBeat's small sample, across six campaigns from the Prologue to Final Endeavor.
Has the game been patched since launch?
Yes. Two patches and three hotfixes shipped between September and early November 2026, focused on performance, rewards, Horde Mode and quality of life.