Cliff Bleszinski – lead designer of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament – was close to developing an Alien FPS. The title would have featured Newt as the player character, seemingly disregarding the events of Alien 3 and onwards.

Bleszinski revealed this news himself via his Twitter, pinning the Disney purchasing of Fox as the cause for its demise. Bleszinski’s studio, Boss Key Productions, were in talks with 20th Century Fox before the title was “lost in the shuffle”.

Funfact: Before BKP shut down we were in talks to do a new game in the Aliens franchise with Fox.



Then Disney bought them and that got lost in the shuffle, darnit. — Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) February 10, 2020

Introduced in the 1986 film “Aliens”, Newt became a fan-favourite character that was controversially killed off in Alien 3. Neil Blomkamp’s cancelled “Alien: Awakening” film would have also resurrected Newt before being similarly axed in pre-production.

Unlike Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isololation, Bleszinski’s game would have taken place entirely on Earth. The franchise has rarely explored our home planet, aside from a brief appearance in the poorly received Alien: Resurrection. The story would have revolved around xenomorphs breaking out of a Weyland-Yutani facility that was trying to weaponize their species.

Ripley, the protagonist from the film series famously portrayed by Sigourney Weaver, would have served a Cortana like role, guiding the player through the game’s locations.

A robotic companion named Casey would have accompanied Newt, named after the creepy doll head that the 6-year-old held tightly throughout Aliens.

Ripley would be alive and be your "Cortana/Anya." You'd play as grown Newt. On Earth. Weyland-Yutani are weaponizing the aliens in a Black Mesa style facility and, of course, all hell breaks loose.



Your robotic pal i.e. Bishop? A new one named "Casey" after her doll in Aliens. — Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) February 10, 2020

Sadly, the chances of this project being resurrected seem extremely slim. Several 20th Century Fox projects were cancelled after the company was purchased by Disney. A similar fate fell upon Lucasarts after their purchase by Disney, including the infamous cancellation of Star Wars 1313.

The closure of Boss Key Productions in 2018 was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Bleszinski’s title. The commercial failure of BKP’s titles Lawbreakers, and Radical Heights led to the studio’s closure.

Although Bleszinski’s Alien title might never see the light of day, players can enjoy the recently released tabletop RPG Alien: The Roleplaying Game.

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