The Aliens: Fireteam Elite Pathogen Expansion Is Available Now

The Pathogen expansion for Aliens: Fireteam Elite is now available!

Join the crew of the Endeavor as they explore a mysterious pathogen wreaking havoc on LV-895. Not even Xenomorphs are safe from the ravages of this new threat. You and your fireteam must venture into uncharted lands and face terrifying new enemies to discover the source of this mysterious new threat.

But that’s not all. If you want to make it out of the hive alive, you’ll have to face the toughest foe yet: a Pathogen Queen.

This is the first time in AFE history that players will have the opportunity to take down an enemy of this stature. For an inside look at the Pathogen Queen and what it was like bringing her to life, we’ve brought along two members of the Cold Iron Studios development team.

First up is Sr. Character Artist Ashley Stegon:

“With Pathogen, we wanted to give players a different experience with the Xenomorphs we know and love. What could we offer the players roaming this lost, yonder ruin? As our senior ‘sculpt gross stuff’ artist, I especially love putting details into some of our most fearsome creatures. The Pathogen Queen needed to look infected but not sickly, she needed to feel strong even with the Pathogen infecting her. The asymmetrical design gives her a feeling of being infected and pushes that narrative further. It creates more character. I experimented a lot with how to texture her skin as well. Pale skin can be very hard to make look natural and as an artist I don’t get to rely on patterns or color. I have to be more subtle when adding colors to her skin to make it more interesting and realistic.”

The look of the Pathogen Queen is only half the battle. Her mechanics were something that we knew had to feel both engaging and challenging. To talk more about that, we have Systems Designer Tony Marasco.

“Designing the Pathogen Queen fight was a really fun, challenging experience. We had a handful of early prototypes where the Queen was just obliterating people. Originally this seemed like it could be a problem, but we realized quickly that the more times people fought the Queen, the easier the fight became for them. This landed us in a really good spot for tuning the mechanics of the encounter and getting everything to feel just right. That being said, there’s some key mechanics players will need to keep in mind when facing the Queen. Watching her movements and being ready to dodge incoming attacks is crucial, as is identifying her weak points. However, you may find that the most useful technique is knowing when to just run for your life. And when you’re in the fight, you should always make sure to keep an eye on the Queen. You definitely don’t want to get caught off guard by her!”

Facing off against the Pathogen Queen is truly the most difficult encounter the crew of the Endeavor has faced yet. You’ll need cunning, strategy and plenty of firepower if you want to take her down. Luckily, you don’t need to wait another minute to jump back into the action. Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available now. Good luck out there, marines!