Xeno Enigma

The soundtrack for James Cameron's film "Aliens" has an interesting feature.  The classical musical instruments that make up soundtrack play specific roles, strings and woodwinds for the Aliens while the percussion and brass represent the colonial marines.  Depending on the scene, audiences might only hear one or the other.  However, certain sequences (such as in the track "Futile Escape") the music reflects how events playout on screen.  As the music progresses the alien instruments slowly, but inexorably undermine and finally eclipse the colonial marine ones.  Horns, in particular, grow weaker while the drums and chimes (which start off strong) struggle increasingly to maintain tempo and rhythm.  Apparently, due to time constraints, the entire score had to be recorded in one go which (as anyone can imagine) led to very exhausted orchestra of musicians.  Debatably, this may have unintentionally added a subtle layer fatigued desperation to the music that most viewers would only pick up on subconsciously.  I certainly didn't notice any of this until someone pointed it out to me.  So what does any of this have to do with video games?  Well...when it comes to adaptations of the "Alien" IP video game developers like their bugs and guns, but fail to really notice the disturbing implications at the core of the whole concept...namely, the erosion of advanced technology and organization by an invasive, organic malignancy.

One of the best ways to illustrate this theme is by examining the xenomorphs themselves.  Fans of science fiction and horror are probably familiar with these creatures.  They are slender, hairless, humanoids with elongated skulls, fangs, and claws.  Their tongues even have pseudo-mouths of their own.  Aside from a fairly ordinary pair of arms and legs each alien has a barbed tail as well as a set of dorsal tube-like appendages along the back.  This is where things start to get ambiguous.  Most "Aliens" media depicts these oddities as purely decorative, although the Aliens tabletop RPG suggests that they are used by xenomorphs to cling to walls and ceilings.  Sounds plausible although none of the films explicitly show this being the case.  The purpose of the elongated head is another mystery.  Is it tied to the secreted resin Aliens use to build their hives or does the large cranium contain organs serving another purpose?  Overall, the torso and limbs seem entirely too slender for the degree of physical strength Aliens possess.  There has also been some speculation (backed up by secondary sources) that the xenomorph's tail spike can inject a paralyzing venom which is one way they can bring living hosts back to the hive for embryo implantation.

The Alien life cycle is another case of something that is complex, but makes sense in that it's pretty similar to certain species of wasps.  However, the more you study it the less comprehensible it becomes.  The details are particularly bewildering.  What do Aliens eat?...nothing, appears to be the answer...and yet they don't seem to suffer for it.  The fact that they have highly corrosive acid for blood might lead one to theorize that Aliens are actually big, organic batteries.  That might help explain why they don't eat, but it doesn't really address the next obvious question - "how do they recharge?"  The Aliens preference for nesting in warm environments might be an indicator that they can absorb thermal energy which is somehow converted into matter that can be used for growth, repairs and egg laying, but that's pure conjecture on my part.

The intelligence level of the xenomorph has always been difficult to determine.  Are they on par with insects?...predatory cats?...or near human?  It seems to vary from film to film.  Senses and communication are also largely unexplained, so-much-so Dark Horse comics came up with the idea in their graphic novels that the Aliens were actually psychic.  DNA requisition is another aspect to the Alien physiology that has been around since the original film.  The script writer, Dan O'Bannon, admitted that his concept of the Alien was inspired by the Lovecraftian monster Yog-Sothoth.  What's less clear is the potential for RNA requisition.  Do Aliens steal not only the genes of their hosts, but memories as well?  If so it appears that any such information is only utilized in ways that expedite the Aliens' primal goals; survive, kill, reproduce.

What is the ultimate purpose of the Aliens?  Dark Horse comics went with the concept of a xenomorph homeworld whereupon they are the dominant species.  Incidentally by implication it might have been more frightening if they were not, but I digress...The enigmatic, spacefaring giant seen in the first film was simply a victim of its own curiosity.  Meanwhile, in the quasi-prequels "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" the xenomorphs were engineered.  It's certainly possible to treat xenomorphs like a highly invasive species or even biological weapons.  Personally, I'm inclined to think of them as a malignant, unsustainable, almost cancerous disease that infects whole ecosystems rather than individual life forms.  I feel like the best way to convey this sort of horrific vibe isn't with tense FPS action or stealth gameplay, but rather grand strategy along the lines of Plague Inc.  Replace the epidemic with Aliens, countries with other-world colonies, and the CDC with colonial marines.  The Aliens themselves can retain the mutation mechanic based on the inconsistencies and speculation surrounding xenomorph biology that I previously mentioned.  In Plague Inc. it's also possible to get a boost from anti-vaxxers.  In a similarly structured Aliens-themed games the boost would come in the form of a Corporate Bio Weapons Division being stupid/greedy.

Now, I'm sure there are a few Aliens fans who would decry my ideas as being too abstract.  Frankly, the best of what the Aliens franchise has to offer has been milked dry by games that aren't even part of the franchise.  System Shock, Starcraft, Doom, Space Hulk, Dead Space and a whole slew of other titles did it better than any official game has, so if you're going to make a licensed Aliens game why not go with an as of yet unused macro viewpoint from which players can watch humanity unravel in the face of a threat they can't control or even truly understand?