If you ever wanted to feel like you’re one step from being lunch for a big, drooling space monster, then boy, do I have a board game review for you! I gathered my bravest (and noisiest) friends, broke out the snacks, and we strapped in for a tense ride through dark hallways and suspicious glances. This review will cover what worked, what didn’t, and whether you’ll end up screaming in fun or just screaming. Grab your flamethrower—let’s get into it!
How It Plays
Setting Up
First, put the spaceship board in the middle of the table. Everyone picks a character card (dibs on Ripley, sorry not sorry) and gets their tokens and item cards. Place the sneaky Alien on its starting spot, and make sure the objective cards are shuffled and handed out secretly. Set all the fiddly tokens nearby. Prepare for a lot of staring and side-eyeing your friends.
Gameplay
Players take turns moving through the ship, collecting items, and completing personal goals. Someone always makes noise, which can attract the Alien. You never want the Alien’s attention (trust me, after my third space death). Sometimes you scheme with others, but beware: betrayal is always around the corner. Use your action cards, sneak around, pray the dice don’t betray you, and just try to survive until you finish your goals.
Winning the Game
To win Alien, you must complete your secret objective and then find a way out—usually the escape pod. You might try to make friends, but in my experience, someone always locks the door behind you. If the Alien catches you…well, start writing your will. The first player to finish their objective and escape wins, unless the Alien eats everyone first. Good luck, space cowboys.
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Alien.
Alien: The Spooky Space Vibe is Real
Let me tell you, playing Alien is basically like starring in your own late-night sci-fi movie. Only this time, you’re not the actor—you’re the poor soul who forgot to check under the bed for monsters. The theme oozes from every card, token, and pulse-pounding moment. The Nostromo spaceship (yes, that’s really its name) sits on the table, and I swear my kitchen felt colder. Maybe the heating was out, but I like to think the alien’s icy stare was to blame.
The atmosphere is top notch. We turned off the lights and played with a flashlight on the board. Totally not necessary, but it made every alien encounter scarier—and made my cat think we were bonkers. The board art looks grimy, the way spaceships in actual alien movies should. I almost expected Sigourney Weaver to bust through my door and start shouting orders.
Alien’s gameplay does a great job making you feel like things could go wrong at any moment. And let me tell you, they often do. You never feel safe. It’s like the game itself is lurking behind a corner, ready to pounce. Every turn feels tense, especially when the alien could strike anyone. It’s not a game to play with nervous people unless you like picking your friends up off the floor.
If you’re already shaking in your space boots, just wait until we talk about Player roles and character balance—it’s about to get real personal.
Player Roles and Character Balance in Alien
Every time I played Alien with my friends, we fought over who got to be Ripley. She has a flamethrower on her card, folks. Who doesn’t love a good flamethrower? But let’s talk about what really matters here: does every role actually stand a chance, or are some crew members just alien snacks waiting to happen?
Alien shines with its variety of characters, each with special skills. You’ve got Ripley with her no-nonsense attitude, the brave (but very squishy) Lambert, and Dallas who wishes he was as cool as Ripley. Parker, Ash, and Brett round out the roster, offering their own little perks. For example, Parker objects to pretty much everything, and Brett likes to fix things until the Alien fixes him. These differences make selection fun, and you’ll end up rooting for your favorite — or blaming your friends for the role you got stuck with when things go wrong. (Looking at you, Parker.)
Now, is the balance fair? For the most part, yes. Nobody starts the game with “superhero powers.” Even Ripley’s flamethrower can fizzle if you aren’t careful. However, I noticed that in smaller groups, certain characters can feel a bit weaker or less interesting. The Alien player, on the other hand, is always having a blast. Sometimes a bit too much blast — nobody likes getting outsmarted by their friend who spends half the game hiding in air ducts.
In summary: roles in Alien feel different, mostly balanced, and you’ll argue a lot about who gets which one (in classic board game fashion). Up next: let’s see if Alien is as fair as it is fun, once we poke around the game mechanics…
Does ‘Alien’ Play Fair? Game Mechanics Under the Microscope
If you’ve ever wanted to sweat bullets over a cardboard spaceship, ‘Alien’ gives you that chance. The mechanics put you in a pressure cooker. One player sulks around as the alien, while the others try to stay alive and complete missions. There’s a lot of suspense, and you never quite know when it’s your turn to become alien chow. No kidding—I jumped out of my chair more than once, and not just from too much coffee.
On the plus side, the game does stealth and tension really well. Actions are clear, and the alien’s movement feels sneaky without being impossible to track. I’ve played as both human and alien, and both roles felt powerful in their own ways. The hidden movement—where the alien slinks around unseen—actually works, and you don’t waste half your turn in rulebook land.
But, ‘Alien’ has a few bumps. Sometimes, the balance skews in favor of the alien, and it’s not always because of smart play. If the alien player gets lucky with a couple of hidden moves, the humans lose fast. If you hate randomness swinging games (like I do), you’ll notice this. It doesn’t ruin the fun, but it can feel like you’re losing because the universe is rolling dice behind your back. If the humans don’t get good gear early, they’re often toast.
So, is ‘Alien’ a fair fight? Usually, but not always. Now, let me tell you about how many times we wanted to play back-to-back—next up: Replay value and luck factor!
Replay Value and Luck Factor in Alien: Is The Xenomorph Always Watching?
If you are the type of board gamer who likes to play a game over and over until you can recite the rulebook in your sleep, Alien might have your number. Every session feels tense, like the xenomorph is hiding right behind the snacks. The game switches up objectives and setups, so no two games ever feel quite the same. My friends and I have played it way more than once (I lost count after the third time someone screamed during a surprise attack), and none of us could predict how things would unfold.
The luck factor, though, can be as cruel as the alien lurking in the dark. Some games, you pull the right cards and escape by the skin of your teeth. Other times, you might feel like you’re just fodder for the queen’s next meal. Don’t get me wrong—some randomness helps with suspense, but too much of it means skillful planning sometimes gets squished like a space crewmember in an air duct. My pal Sara once had the perfect escape planned, only to have a single unlucky card dash her hopes. She may still grumble about it, and frankly, she’s got a point.
If your game group loves tension, surprise, and keeps coming back for more even when luck ruins their plans, Alien brings the goods. If you want every win to feel totally earned, you might end up howling louder than the monster in the vents. Would I recommend it? If you like your board games with a side of wild suspense and don’t mind a bit of chaos, absolutely! Just don’t blame me when you start jumping at shadows.
Conclusion
Alright, that wraps up my review of Alien! This game bursts with tension, teamwork, and surprise backstabs—just like my last family reunion, but with fewer lawsuits. The theme absolutely shines and you truly feel on edge the whole time. I loved the variety in roles, but got a little salty when luck decided my fate. If you have a group who can handle a bit of chaos and doesn’t mind yelling at dice, you’ll have a blast. Just beware: if you hate randomness, you might end up flipping the table (or flipping off your friends). For suspense and party drama, Alien is a solid pick, but it loses points for leaving too much to luck.
