History VideoGame / AliensFireteamElite

** The ''OCAP-91 Volcan'' Heavy Flamethrower. Also made by Hyperdyne, it was originally a crowd-sourced pesticide sprayer that was turned into a [[HomemadeFlamethrower flamethrower]] to combat AlienKudzu that [[ExplosiveBreeeder spread explosively]] after exposure to human agriculture including fertilizer. Hyperdyne licensed the design and refined it to address the lack of incinerators in the Union of Progressive People military.

* ChallengeRun: A core game feature, in the form of Challenge Cards. Each player can choose one at the start of a mission if they wish, and one of the cards is then picked at random. The Cards typically incur an additional challenge (such as "get 50 headshot kills") in exchange for increasing rewards at the end of the mission, though a rare few simply offer increased rewards with no challenge or some kind of buff with no other rewards.

** Docs have 2 unlockable perks (one universal, one exclusive) that lets you do it in half the time and then gives a +50 percent boost to the health recovered; both extends the Bleedout by 25 percent, giving you more time to revive teammates.

** The game is canon to the events of ''TabletopGame/AlienTheRoleplayingGame'', with the Frontier War campaign detailed in the Colonial Marines Operations Manual being an important part of the backstory, and characters like General Vaughn are namechecked. Between the time RPG is set and the timeframe of ''Fireteam'', greater knowledge about both the Xenomorphs and corporate malfeasance related to same has come to light, resulting in the Colonial Marines of ''Fireteam'' having the authorization -- and firepower -- to deal with out of control Company secret projects.

*** Justified in that most if not all of them were designed for use aboard ships and stations in space so they emphasize antipersonnel damage while minimizing structural damage that might result in a breach. Which means they're not that great at breaching the armor of more powerful Xenos.

* HandCannon: The term is used in-game to classify handguns that emphasize damage and stopping power over rate of fire and ammunition capacity.

** Irradiated Spitters: a variant of the spitter that shows up randomly in the second campaign. In addition to a slightly larger health pool, it also spits three globs of acid instead of just one.

''Aliens: Fireteam Elite'' is a Multiplayer ThirdPersonShooter developed by Creator/ColdIronStudio in collaboration with Disney's 20th Century Games, set in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' universe. The story is comprised of four campaigns, each containing three missions. It was released on August 24, 2021 on PC, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series X]] and [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series S]]. At least three 'seasons' of additional content have been released so far, with the first major expansion, ''Pathogen'', slated for August 2022.

* ChargedAttack: The [[EnergyWeapon P.649 High Energy Laser]] newly released in the Season 4 update has a Hold type that increases the damage done by the laser pulse.

* CombatResuscitation: If your health drops to zero, you are knocked down and only able to crawl until an ally revives you. Oh, and there is a limited number of times they can revive you. If all three members of your team go down, it's game over.
** Docs have an unlockable perk that lets them do it in half the time, and another that prevents them from being interrupted by an enemy attack.

** One of the Lancer's abilities is the [[Shoulder Cannon Particle Lance]] which in its default configuration fires a bolt of charged particles that cuts through enemies but is stopped by hard obstacles and structures.

** The [[PlasmaCannon EVI-87 "Zvezda" Plasma Rifle]] made by Hyperdyne. A rapid fire Auto Rifle said to be a breakthrough in plasma technology compared to the YA and 3WE, whose own plasma technology are still limited to large and bulky anti-armor weapons such as the Boyars PARS 150 phased plasma cannons mounted on the M577 APC or the man portable but still bulky M78 PIG.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Head accessories and gun decals are sometimes given as rewards for level progression or randomly spawn in hidden caches. One possible item is the classic smartgun eyepiece.

** The Demolisher kit has access to the Sidearm Expertise and Mastery Universal Perks which increases the damage by 20% and autoreloads whenever you reload your other weapons, then increases the Firing Rate by 25% and makes switching to the sidearm near-instantaneous.
** The ''Speak Loud, Carry A Small Stick'' Challenge Card increases sidearm damage by 200% which stacks with the Demolisher Sidearm Perks.

** The Demolisher kit has access to the Sidearm Expertise and Mastery Perks which increases the damage by 20% and autoreloads whenever you reload your other weapons, then increases the Firing Rate by 25% and makes switching to the sidearm near-instantaneous.

** The M42 Sniper Rifle: While it's damage is one of the highest in the game, its low rate of fire and a high zoom function make it highly impractical to use against most of the forces fought in the games, who are made up of numerous quick enemies. It fares much better against specialist xenomorphs and Wey-Yu synths.

* ChallengeRun: A core game feature, in the form of Challenge Cards. Each player can choose one at the start of a mission if they wish, and one of the cards is then picked at random. Challenge Cards can either be purely beneficial (such as giving every Marine twice as much Health), or they can increase difficulty (such as disabling main weapons and class abilities, so you only have your basic handgun) but grant increased Experience and/or Credits upon mission completion. They also range from deadly serious to quite silly, such as one which gives a small bonus to payouts in exchange for any collision with a teammate having a chance to knock them off their feet.

** [[BoringButPractical Gunner]]: The Gunner is a basic but versatile class with access to rifles and a CQW. [[JackOfAllTrades They are solid damage dealers with some utility to the team]], with their abilities "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Frag Grenade]]" and "Overclock", which deal substantial area damage and increase weapon rate of fire respectively. Their passive ability grants them a stacking damage bonus for every hit, up to a maximum of +20%. They might not have a lot of flashy toys or special abilities, but don't underestimate them.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The Phalanx class uses a collapsible shield, and it can stop almost anything short of pounce/grapple attacks from Prowlers and the bigger Xenomorphs. It makes the Phalanx very good at drawing the fire of Wey-Yu synths away from teammates. Containment Synths use them as well, but they (thankfully) don't offer magical bulletproof protection.

* StealthPun: The third campaign is called "Gift of Fire". In Greek Mythology, the gift of fire is what the Titan Film/{{Prometheus}} gave to humanity.

** [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Synth Sniper]]: an armored synthetic with a highly damaging sniper rifle. Very dangerous to ignore.

* PressXToNotDie: Unlike its [[Videogame/Left4Dead inspiration]], you can break free by yourself (aside from having an ally help you) if "elite" class xenomorphs managed to stun you by pressing the indicated buttons. Those "elite" class xenomorphs are: Prowlers, Facehuggers, Warriors, and Praetorians. [[spoiler: Then there's also Stalkers for the pathogen mutants]].

Approximately twenty-three years after the events of [[Film/{{Aliens}} Aliens]], Colonial Marines aboard the USS ''Endeavor'' receive a distress call from the Katanga, a missing refinery station in orbit over the planet LV-895. After boarding the station, they discover that the station has become the site of a xenomorph outbreak. After extracting the [[SoleSurvivor sole survivor]], the marines descend to the planet below, hoping to discover and eliminate the source of the outbreak.

* ActionBomb: The "Burster" xenomorphs violently explode when they die, showering anyone they're near with their acidic blood. Also, the [[spoiler: pathogen "Poppers"]]. There's also the Synth Detonators, and, to a lesser degree, ''most'' synths have a chance to go critical on death in a rather spectacular fashion.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The Pala Station AI [[spoiler:Cynthia Rodriguez ''aka'' SN/TH/YA]] sends an army of combat androids to kill the fireteam when they refuse to leave the surface of LV-895. It also attempted to activate "asset zero", which turns out to be [[spoiler: an Engineer ship loaded with pathogen]] and send it to Earth, forcing the Colonial Marines to shut it down in a violent confrontation. Somewhat more horrifyingly, Esther concludes that [[spoiler:many of the Pathogen-corrupted humans you encounter during your trip through the Engineer ship were exposed to Pathogen only a short time ago, meaning there ''were'' still human survivors.]]

** On higher difficulties, the synths are no replacement for a human teammate capable of communication. They are restricted to a single loadout, carrying only basic pulse rifles and grenades, and lack access to any skills allies may benefit from, such as "overclock". They are also not smart enough to take advantage when you use your abilities, such as running head-first into a prowler ambush even if it had been illuminated by a recon ability seconds ago, have abysmally poor reaction times even on good days, and often walk directly into your line of fire.

* ChallengeRun: A core game feature, in the form of Challenge Cards. Each player can choose one at the start of a mission if they wish, and one of them is picked at random. Challenge Cards can either be purely beneficial (such as giving every Marine twice as much Health), or they can increase difficulty (such as disabling main weapons and class abilities, so you only have your basic handgun) but grant increased Experience and/or Credits upon mission completion. They also range from deadly serious to quite silly, such as one which gives a small bonus to payouts in exchange for any collision with a teammate having a chance to knock them off their feet.
* CharacterClassSystem: There are four classes initially available to players, with a fifth unlocking after completing every campaign mission. The game developers have also said they intend to release an additional class every season. Each comes with two different weapon slots and unique set of abilities.

** [[TheBigGuy Demolisher]]: The Demolisher's kit is built around dealing as much damage as possible. They come armed with a rifle and a heavy weapon (smartgun, flamethrower etc.). Their abilities are the [[ShoulderCannon shoulder-mounted]] "Micro Rockets" and "[[BlownAcrossTheRoom Blastwave]]", and their passive causes their damage output to increase when they use make use of them. At higher ranks, they can modify their rockets for increased area denial/crowd control potential.

** Drones: The "classic", bipedal form of the xenomorph. They will duck in and out of air ducts and narrow cave passages to ambush you and retreat when they take too much damage.
** Synth Warden: an armored synthetic. A bit tougher than regular synth troopers, but not hugely so.

* EmergencyWeapon: Each player character has a small sidearm designed with this in mind. It holds ten rounds, does terrible damage compared to other sidearm-class weapons in this game... but it also has unlimited reserve ammo and virtually no recoil. It's useful for popping the alien eggs in later missions without expending main weapon ammo or using abilities, if nothing else.

* JumpScare: Prowler xenomorphs love to hide where you can't see them, then pounce as soon as you're in view. Even if you know they're there, it can still be come as a shock. An individual Runner will sometimes wait patiently behind a door your about to open, just so it can pull this on you, complete with ScareChord.

** Xenomorph Warriors: they resemble a large drone, but have an even larger health pool and an armored shell. Also, unlike drones, they do not retreat from battle after taking damage, giving you no reprieve from their attacks.

** Stalkers: [[spoiler: a pathogen-mutated form of life indigenous to LV-895.]] They can cloak to get close, then pounce on you, dealing significant damage.

* StarterGearStayingPower: Though ''Fireteam Elite'' has RPG elements, all of your starting gear (such as the iconic M41 Pulse Rifle) is entirely viable in most content with the right setups and good aim, and you'll never find weapons that are strictly superior to all others in their group - though there are some definite subpar choices in each tier.

* RandomEvents: Most missions have some minor randomization of elements to keep things from getting too samey given the small pool of missions. One room in the ''Giants'' campaign, for instance, has been fortified by Wey-Yu's synths and can either be full of hostile mines ''or'' sentries, whilst one of the missions itself can be full of radioactive barrels which means all the Xenomorph Spitters are replaced with beefed-up Irradiated Spitters.

* BodyHorror: Any living creature that is exposed to [[spoiler: [[MutagenicGoo the pathogen]]]]. If it doesn't kill them outright, it makes them stronger, faster, and absolutely murderously psychotic.

* MadeOfPlasticine: There's not much (if any) ''human'' gore, but expect to see the synths get absolutely shredded. [[YourHeadAsplode Their heads will asplode]] from precision shooting, and if they go into their critical failure state then everything above the waist will evaporate in a rapidly expanding cloud of white goo, [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe leaving naught but their lower half]] to flop to the ground. Bits of xenomorphs can also get blown off (usually those distinctive head crests) but it's not nearly as gratuitous.

* MissionControl: Staff sergeant Herrera and the android Esther share this role.

* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: Found an ammo crate, a pack of aid kits, and a crate or two of deployables? You're about to have a holdout sequence. No ifs, ands, or buts.
* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Zig-zagged. There are two flamethrowers available (as a heavy weapon and a CQW), and both are decent options in terms of damage, but have very short range. However, playing on higher difficulties, where friendly-fire is enabled, they can quickly become a liability unless the team has its act together. There are also 'fireball'-type flamethrowers, which lob globs of flaming fuel rather than projecting a constant stream.

** Colonial Marines (and by extension Armat) technology is [[OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture boxy]], with elements of (relatively) contemporary weaponry such as carry handles, rails, with lots of green plastic and dark gray polymer over the frame. Basically, it all looks related to the standard pulse rifle.

** Hyperdyne weaponry is much more angular, with trapezoidal cutouts and flat plastic planes.

** [[StoneWall Lancer]]: Added in Season 3, Lancers are a powerful defensive class. They wear armor equipped with a [[EnergyWeapon Particle Lance]] in the [[ShoulderCannon shoulder]], letting them fire a linear blast that will obliterate almost anything it hits, potentially clearing out an entire corridor. Their second ability, "Onslaught," immediately reloads their weapon and keeps it loaded for the duration, increasing damage output and damage resistance while slowing movement speed and fire rate. Their passive, "Overwatch," increases damage up to 15% if they are not moving or stay in cover. They equip a CQW and a heavy weapon. Unlocked abilities as the class levels up make them even better damage sponges.

* ShoulderCannon: The Demolisher class comes equipped with one that fires rockets, either explosive, concussive, or incendiary. The Lancer gets a beam shoulder-cannon which fires a precise enemy-piercing energy blast, but can be altered to fire a wide-dispersal cone or a point-blank wave.