Aliens: Dark Descent is an upcoming real-time strategy (RTS) tactical squad-based military shooter developed by Tindalos Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment. The game is supposed to release on June 20, 2023, on all major platforms, including PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4. That said, Nintendo Switch owners are worried if they will be able to play the game on their handheld console since the developers of the game have not included the console on the game’s list of supported platforms. In this article, we will share details on whether there is a release date for Aliens: Dark Descent on the Nintendo Switch.
Aliens: Dark Descent is the next addition to the Aliens franchise. The game features RTS elements in a squad-based setting, meaning you can assign roles and customize the members of your squad. You can also upgrade your squadmates, unlocking additional abilities to survive deadlier Xenomorphs. With the game releasing soon, speculations about its release on the Nintendo Switch are surfacing on the internet. So, we have featured this guide to clear the air around it.
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Is there an Aliens Dark Descent Nintendo Switch Release Date
No Official Announcement
According to the official website of Aliens: Dark Descent, the game will release on June 20, 2023, on all major platforms, including PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. At the time of writing this article, neither Tindalos Interactive nor Focus Entertainment had released an official statement stating the game’s availability on the Nintendo Switch. So it is quite obvious that the upcoming title in the Aliens franchise will not be available on the handheld console. As in the gameplay overview trailer of Aliens: Dark Descent, there wasn’t any mention of Nintendo Switch in the list of platforms, so we are sure that it won’t be playable on Nintendo Switch upon its release. However, we can make an educated assumption based on the release trends of the previous entries in the franchise.
Will Aliens: Dark Descent be playable on Nintendo Switch?
Although the Aliens franchise started releasing games in the early 1980s, Aliens 3 was the first installment in the franchise to release on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1993. You would expect that the debut of the Aliens franchise on Nintendo would have sparked a chain of Aliens games on the console in later years. Contrary to that, the franchise did not appear on the Nintendo consoles until 2011, with the release of Aliens: Infestation.
In 2017, the Aliens franchise made its debut on Nintendo Switch with the release of Aliens vs Pinball. Aliens: Isolation, initially released in 2014 on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC, was also ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. In 2021, Aliens: Fireteam Elite was released on all major platforms except the Nintendo Switch. However, the Switch port was made available in April 2023.
Thus, we can assume that Aliens games were seldom ported to Nintendo, and even if they are ported, the NS port is released after a few years of the game’s initial release. This is probably because non-portable platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, and PC offer better graphical fidelity and performance, which are crucial to a game’s success and reception. Hence, since the occurrence of Aliens games on the handheld console has not been frequent throughout the lifecycle of the franchise, we can say that Aliens: Dark Descent will probably not be available on Nintendo Switch on the day of the game’s launch. But as we said before, if the game turns out to be a success, the developers might port it to the Nintendo Switch at a later date to get more players to join the Aliens community. But that will most likely happen after a few years. As per our speculation, if a Nintendo Switch port of Aliens: Dark Descent is released, it will be in 2025 or later. Anyway, if you enjoyed reading this article, consider following Android Gram for such content in the future.
