Category: Space Books

The history of Alien video games is long and twisty, but Mike Diver — veteran writer, editor, critic, and journalist — decided a few years ago to make a complete chronicle of Xenomorph-filled games his next big adventure. Ahead of Aliens: The Video Games' August 30 release, we sat down with him and discussed the franchise's past, present, and future in games.

The following interview has been edited for better flow.

"I played a lot of Alien 3 on Mega Drive," Diver recalls when asked about his first few contacts with Alien. "I was slightly too young to be watching those movies... I was also quite taken with a book that a friend of mine's dad owned – it was a book with stills of the film in it... I saw the chestbursters in those stills before I saw it moving on-screen, and in a way that was more striking." He believes that left an impression on him, which likely helped his fascination with the franchise over time.

Diver worked in games media for a long time, which afforded him opportunities such as covering the first Alien: Isolation, going into Creative Assembly and playing before it came out. This led to Diver researching Alien games for "on and off over, let's say, five to ten years".

It was actually the Nintendo DS exclusive Aliens: Infestation — a gorgeous 2D sidescroller with a permadeath mechanic for squad members — that made him realize maybe there was a cool opportunity in trying to chronicle the entire history of Alien video games, including the overlooked ones.

"There's no book about Alien games. There was one about Doom, Nintendo, Star Trek... So why not Alien? I pitched it around, got a commission, wrote a book. It sounds easy when you say it like that." While he admits being a fan of the franchise helped, it wasn't easy, especially as he had to chase developers from disbanded studios for research.

"I was speaking to Dave Dorman, who's a comic book artist, and he was working on the cancelled CDI game Aliens Interactive, so he's quoted from archive material, but he and I were exchanging emails, and he was going to send me some concept work and answer some questions, but that never came off, unfortunately," he reveals. "I spoke to a couple of people for Alien: Isolation, but I didn't speak to [director] Al Hope. Sega were quite positive about it, and then they said 'actually no, you can't', and that may be because of the new Isolation game."

While those were notable misses for Diver, he also landed plenty of big shots too. "It was really cool to get someone like Tony Beckwith [producer on Alien 3 for SNES], who's retired, in there, and John Heap, who programmed the original Alien on ZX Spectrum, or Mark Eyles, who worked on Aliens: The Computer Game... There's 24 new interviews across the book in total, so yeah, happy with it."

After reading through the book myself, I must say it's a proper deep dive that, despite being full of illustrations and screenshots, still feels like a rather breezy read at under 200 pages.

It was a balancing act, Diver admits: "You gotta think about where the audience's interests are gonna lie. I could definitely write a lot more on the MSX Aliens, for example, but the reality is that not many people will know that game. It's nice to include, but I'm not that worried it's a smaller chapter next to something like Colonial Marines. It made sense to go deeper into the games that people played, but I wanted even the smallest chapters to have some sort of substance."

Diver and I also got to gush about weirder, more overlooked experiments like Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction for PS2 and Xbox, an off-beat real-time strategy game that wasn't released on PC. "I managed to get in touch with someone on that game; Jason Hough, a designer at Zono... They had totally worked on multiplayer for ages, and then it was all removed." The reason? Probably deadlines and the fact that "online play wasn't really a thing" in the console space back in 2003. (It wouldn't be long before it took off with titles like SOCOM and the Halo sequels.)

Speaking about the future of Alien video games, we have Fireteam Elite 2 right around the corner and Isolation 2 already being shown off. Diver admits he knows "quite a lot about the Isolation sequel" since "devs talk to devs", but the actual chapter in the book only quotes other people about what they think it'll be like. "It's a little bit annoying to sit on that because I thought there'd be more about that game out by the time this book's out... There are things about that game that I'm excited for people to see."

With all the movement around the IP right now — especially after Alien: Romulus and Earth revived a lot of interest in it — Diver wants to return and do more work on upcoming games. "It's quite a rich, fertile period for Alien games, and I'd really like to do more about them in the future."

When asked about his favorite part of the book to put together, Diver returns to Alien 3: "That came really quickly, the combination of the Mega Drive and SNES ones, and then being able to speak to Jas Austin, who did the Game Boy version. I wasn't expecting to get anyone for the Game Boy one because credits back then weren't great. I had to dig around a bit."

The AvP (Atari Jaguar) chapter also came together fast according to Diver: "James Hampton was pretty cool as well... He was very responsive. It's lovely when an interviewee is sending you stuff and like really happy to talk more if I had any follow-ups."

I had to ask Diver about the 'ideal' way to go through his guide, which will no doubt push curious gamers to check out some forgotten Alien games one way or another. "It doesn't go from the early '80s through the 2000s in a straight linear, chronological way... Let's say Alien or Alien 3 is your favorite movie. You can go straight to that," explains Diver. "I'd love it if anyone who picks this up sees an Alien game and they go 'Maybe I'll go check that out' and find a way to play them."

Before logging off, I also asked for his top three Alien games of all time. Diver went with Capcom's AvP (1994) for arcade machines, Aliens: Infestation, and Alien 3 on the SNES. "The Mega Drive one is quite punishing with its time limits... The SNES one is just a lot more methodical, and you can take your time, and the environment art is great. The game ends like Alien 3, so credit for that as well, 'cause the other ones didn't."

We don't get movie tie-ins like those anymore, but looking at what's next for Xenomorphs in video games, I'd say we mostly can't complain… mostly.

Aliens: The Video Games will be available where books are sold starting on August 30. You can pre-order it through Amazon right now.

The world of science fiction started with the written word, long before it hit the silver screen. Stories of man-made life, Martians, and other marvelous subject matter were being read long before the first sci-fi movie was released in 1902: Georges Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon". Some of these stories became classic tales that have been repeatedly adapted for Hollywood and television, think Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."

This isn't by any means an exhaustive list but these are the sci-fi books that inspired some of our favorite movies and shows. We have big names like Project Hail Mary and Dune, as well as more obscure titles like the haunting Under the Skin and Stalker. We have included links to the best streaming services to watch each adaptation on right now, but for those of you who are tired of endless subscriptions, we have provided the 4K and Blu-ray releases so you can physically own your favorite media again.

Books are often sidelined in today's visual-obsessed world, but I think they deliver a stronger experience that movies and shows just can't replicate. Now don't get me wrong, I love the movie adaptation of Annihilation, but I have a very special connection to the book. I read it multiple times before the movie release and it made me feel immersed in the inherent weirdness of the natural world and think about how alien our own planet is. The book always came to mind when taking a walk out in the forest and seeing the hypnotic curl of a fern or a bird alighting on a branch inches away from me.

At some point next year, when planets and stars momentarily align, we’ll hopefully be getting what’s sure to be the most anticipated sci-fi RPG in recent memory — Wizards of the Coast and Archetype Entertainment's "Exodus", which is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

This far future "Mass Effect"-like saga follows the daring time-traveler Jun Aslan as he and his companions hop about the cosmos searching for ancient artifacts to ward off the destruction of their worlds. This threat comes from an evolved group of transhumans called Celestials, with the whole affair taking place within the Centauri Cluster, 16,000 light-years from an abandoned planet Earth.

As part of Archetype’s ambitious cross-media marketing plan, the dev team enlisted the help of celebrated British sci-fi author Peter Hamilton ("The Salvation Sequence") to fortify the game’s worldbuilding and also pen two companion prequel novels.

The first of these books, "Exodus: The Archimedes Engine," was released on Sept. 17, 2024. Now, the second half of this duology, "Exodus: The Helium Sea," was just published on June 16, 2026, and continues the tale of Finn and his human allies to see if they can outwit the Celestials and finally earn their fellow humans a place of independence and power in the Crown Dominion.

"Because I helped build the 'Exodus' world, they sent me what I always call the skeleton, and I helped put a lot of flesh on it, like the assorted cultures, some of the technologies, and the starships," Hamilton tells Space.

"It was partially my universe to write in, so I knew the limits and constraints, which made it easier because I was part of the structure."

"The Helium Sea" concludes the background saga started in "The Archimedes Engine" and is one story told over the course of two books.

"All the characters that were alive and survived at the end of 'The Archimedes Engine' just carry on into 'The Helium Sea,'” he adds. "You get to find out what’s been hinted at before and what the real motivations are for the rebels and who they are. It was all misdirection; some people we think are on the bad side are not, and you get to see a whole lot of new places and settings as well, and it really expands the universe."

"The last one was set over 40 years because we have a lot of time dilation elements when you travel at relativistic speed," explains Hamilton. "This book is set over ten years, and you have various characters going on different missions, and I had to bring them all together at the same time and same place. That was a lot of plotting."

Hamilton admits that his collaboration with the whole Archetype team on the colossal "Exodus" project has been an enriching affair.

"The joy of it was, which I’ve never had before writing a book, is that I'd send them a description of a world or something, and I’d get my little spaceship back, and it would be this magnificent picture, and of course, being top-flight artists, they've added to my original concept. It was a real growth process, developing this world. We all got on really well, and we just gelled. They were very professional. You could see they had a job to do and they were doing it."

When pushed to choose a favorite destination amid both "Exodus" prequel books, Hamilton immediately picks a world called Kingsnest.

"It's a glass shell, a glass bauble, the size of Jupiter basically, which has been pumped full of atmosphere," he notes.

"The ships they have in it are made out of wood, sort of 18th-century sailing technology, because there are clouds in there and little globular lakes. So much life in there. It would take you more than a lifetime to sail across it and encounter who knows what in the deeps of it. I just love the idea of it. That you can literally have sailing ships in space."

Now enjoy this exclusive chapter excerpt from Peter F. Hamilton's "Exodus: The Helium Sea" (Random House Worlds)

The Jiyoratan family had furnished their tower with stylish opulence. No sign remained visible that the structure was aerolite; every wall was tiled. The aesthetic was clean, with geometric primary colors starting to warp together within soaring arches that highlighted the central atrium, where a lush hanging garden claimed the walls. Internal balconies were illuminated by faint blue lights in constellation displays, half-hidden among the foliage to create an illusion of the external edifice of some tropical villa. Spiral water features ran the full height, bringing a humidity to the scene that Neusch had practically forgotten.

His clothes activated, changing to a light layer of armor around his body and limbs, while the hood slipped over his head and curtained his face in a transparent shield. He’d never envisaged the bio-andy being involved in anything as crude as an actual fight, so he had no idea how much use the protective clothing was going to be against the Guillrameo team. Probably not much. Until now he’d only had a vague plan: get to the sisters and get them out. Quietly. The kind of mission his father would’ve executed superbly, where no one would even know he’d been there until hours after the event.

Well, that’s just taken a deep dive into a sea of shit.

The other Guillrameo operatives were efficiently eliminating the aireels he’d sent after them. Within thirty seconds they’d all been taken out. He didn’t know where the woman was—presumably making her way through the Dibyth tower to the first target. The others would be breaking through the walls any minute now.

The bio-andy picked up voices somewhere inside the atrium. He started running for one of the curving granite stairs that wound up between the atrium balconies. The sisters had their quarters two floors above, along with the rest of the family’s youngsters.

Three people came around the central trio of big fountains, stopped in surprise.

One of them who’d worked with Juliatra-Monoth gave him a startled look. “Halvin-Aneil?”

“Sound the alarm,” he shouted at her. “People have entered your home. They’re going to kill most of you and interrogate the surviving seniors.”

“Huh—”

One of her companions, a man, made a grab for the bio-andy. It pushed back hard, sending him spinning.

“Sorry! They’ll be armed. Get out of here.” Then he was around the fountains and heading for the base of the spiral staircase; people were walking down it. His lnc warned him an intruder alert had been issued within the tower. That’ll annoy the Guillrameo team.

“The Dibyth has been isolated from Husnak’s network,” the CI informed him. “No security forces know what’s going on.”

So, no help’s coming, then. Neusch barged past the couple on the stairs and released a flock of insect drones from his leg pouch. They zoomed up the inside of the atrium, heading for the balcony above, hunting the girls. Andys started to emerge from every doorway. Even without weapons, the slim silver figures would pose a problem.

But that suddenly didn’t matter. The tower network vanished. The andys lost all rigidity, fluttering to the ground like becalmed flags.

“Asteria’s arse.” Neusch drew the bio-andy’s guns—an enhanced-projectile mag carbine and a gamma laser. The bio-andy reached the top of the stairs, and Neusch cursed the way the verdant plants had been allowed to flourish, narrowing the balcony. Tactical display reported a scan locking onto the bio-andy. Neusch relinquished fire control to the bio-andy’s tactical routines. It raised both guns and assumed a crouched pose as it started to sprint along the narrow route.

A projectile hit the side of the balcony half a meter behind it. The bio-andy was flung off its feet, the light armor turning rigid. It landed, crashing into a big night-flowering jasmine bush, rolling with gymnastic precision, firing a burst of gamma rays at the origin of the attack on the floor of the atrium, then sprinted onward.

Neusch split his consciousness. One was with the bio-andy, observing and providing oversight guidance. The parallel Neusch was searching the home’s blueprints, combining with the CI to find an escape route for the sisters.

First realization, as another barrage of projectiles slammed into the balcony behind the bio-andy: this was going to require maximum firepower, because the Guillrameos would unleash nothing less. An X-ray laser slashed across the bio-andy. Its light armor managed to diffuse and deflect most of the energy so that it broiled the balcony’s surrounding vegetation. Leaves and twigs fried, bursting into swirls of ash and embers around him. Neusch was acutely aware of nerve-equivalent impulses reporting the beam penetrating the light armor, searing the bio-andy’s hip and thigh. Muscle damage parameters were incorporated into the body’s physiology routines; it changed its posture slightly to accommodate the now asymmetric strength of its leg muscles.

Three mouse-sized drop-drones flipped out of a leg pouch; they had a similar leg structure to the cutter-drone, but they were combat versions. The trio lunged over the balcony rail in full lemming mode. One released a chaff cascade—hell’s own monsoon manifesting as specks of light, sound, and EM pulses falling through the hanging garden. The other two went dark as they fell, unnoticed among the sensory overload. They hit the floor and did nothing.

A few seconds later, as the chaff attack faded, two of the Guillrameo operatives crept into the atrium, their protective cloaks lensing the light around them: event horizons made from fabric. Their movements created subtle motions in the air that the drop-drones identified.

The bio-andy had just reached the archway leading to the children’s bedrooms when the drop-drones detonated their proton-boosted explosive cores, eradicating the two intruders. A massive blastwave punched the bio-andy through the air, sending it crashing hard into a wall. This time, it took longer to get to its feet and totter forward. One hand slid along the wall for additional balance as it reached the door to the sisters’ bedroom. Which had been locked by the emergency intruder alert.

For fuck’s sake, I’m trying to save you!

Another cutter-drone let go of the bio-andy’s belt where it’d been clinging and hurried over to the door. Its proton incisor deployed, and it climbed up the edge of the door, slicing through the rim as it went.

Neusch sent six more drop-drones flipping away. They sped back down the corridor, taking up positions at three-meter intervals. Neusch saw a couple of the house’s fire-andys roll along the balcony, their extinguisher nozzles deployed over the railings, pumping clouds of viscous yellow retardant foam into the atrium. The part of his consciousness focusing on tactics directed two of the drop-drones into the blobs of foam that fizzed away on the balcony floor. He then dispatched a dozen more insect drones—not confident they’d be any use, but he needed some visuals on the remaining Guillrameo team even if they only lasted a second.

The cutter-drone finished its work. With a swift prayer to the Goddess that a kick would be enough, he raised the bio-andy’s good leg and booted the door. It flew open to a scene of fear and chaos. Five children in their nightclothes were clinging together in defiance, struggling not to scream and cry. He identified Kimiya and Marize, hugging their spawn brothers as they glared fearfully at him.

“It’s okay,” Neusch assured them, raising the bio-andy’s arms. Probably not the best gesture given it was still holding a gun in each hand. “I’m here to stop the attack.” Again, not helpful. His last three cutter-drones raced past the frightened spawn siblings to the wall.

The tactical display told him two weapon-drones were rising up the center of the atrium—hand-sized silver discs, moving fast. They took out his watching insect drones. The tactical display fell back on the drop-drones for information. The first of the weapon-drones came up level with the second floor. It darted forward.

Neusch detonated the two drop-drones on the balcony.

They must have triggered whatever explosives were in the weapon-drone, and the resulting explosion sent him reeling. The children screamed as they were slammed to the ground. The air in the bedroom instantly became a blizzard of trash.

Two drop-drones in the corridor outside survived. They righted themselves and scanned around. The tiles and artwork on the walls were smashed and smoldering, chunks still peeling away from the thankfully stubborn aerolite.

The bio-andy scrambled to its feet, its medical display showing several damaged areas, but it remained capable of locomotion. Neusch knew he only had seconds before the Guillrameo team hit him with something else. Kimiya was closest, sprawled across the floor weeping, debris swirling around her. He snatched her up and held her tight against his chest. She screamed in dread.

“I’m sorry, but it will be okay. You’ll see. I promise.”

She struggled. It was pointless, of course. Even if it’d been a real adult Imperial Celestial gripping her, she wouldn’t have been able to break free—and the bio-andy was considerably stronger.

The three cutter-drones finished slicing the bedroom’s window out of the wall. It fell soundlessly into the night beyond.

“No!” Kimiya wailed as the bio-andy moved toward the gaping hole. “No, no!” Her voice became a wordless shriek. Her spawn siblings cried out as she was carried past them.

“Follow me,” the bio-andy shouted at them. “It’s the only way you’ll live.”

He reached the window and jumped.

From Random House Worlds, "Exodus: The Helium Sea" is available in hardcover and paperback, as well as on Kindle and audiobook form.