Aliens: Fireteam Elite Season 2 - Release date, Game Pass, Point Defense, new weapons, more

Third-person co-op shooter, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, is about to get its biggest content drop yet this month, which will arrive as a free update in Season 2 Point Defense. 

Aliens: Fireteam Elite was received rather well at launch when tens of thousands of players played it on Steam, but the game's popularity plummeted suddenly just a few weeks after its release, despite it having great reviews on Steam.

The community around the game love its frenetic action, exciting level design, alien variety, and unique challenges provided by the Challenge Cards system, but the drastic loss of active players can be accounted for by the fact that it simply had nothing to offer once the player base experienced everything available during the first few weeks.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is in dire need of new content, and Season 2 is here to provide exactly that, so let's take a look at what the developers have prepared.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite Season 2 - Release date

Season 2 Point Defense is set to launch on 14th December 2021, for players on all platforms simultaneously, with the exact time yet to be announced 

Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite on Xbox Game Pass?

It's not yet, but that's about to change. With the launch of Season 2, Aliens: Fireteam Elite will become available on Xbox Game Pass for both PC and Xbox consoles (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One).

In addition, cross-play will also be available between all Xbox and PC players who install the game via the Microsoft Store.

New Point Defense game mode

One of the biggest new features of Season 2 is a brand new game mode, called Point Defense.

Point Defense is essentially a pseudo-Tower Defense game, with increasingly stronger waves of xenomorphs rushing towards the central location, where you and your squad will be tasked to defend three strategic points called "Objects" - which are three mysterious Engineer devices that are attracting the aforementioned aliens.

As you progress through the waves you will need to protect, repair, and hold these "Objects" and use earned Fabrication Points to buy consumables that can help you survive the imminent threat of xenomorph onslaught.

Successfully defeating various challenges and difficulty levels in this mode will earn you a slew of free rewards and unlock new attachments.

Speaking of challenges, Season 2 will add eight new Challenge Cards.

New weapons, attachments, and cosmetics

Successfully defeating all difficulty levels in Point Defense will unlock you 13 new attachments which will be added in Season 2.

Furthermore, Season 2 is bringing four new (and free) weapons into the game, one for each weapon class.

The EVI-87 Zvezda Plasma Rifle is an "experimental" gun that boasts the fastest fire rate in its class, excellent accuracy, and negligible recoil, but it doesn't have great stopping power at distance.

The Microburst RPG provides powerful but focused anti-personnel explosions capable of desolating any area they hit.

The PPZ-49 Vol is a submachine gun that provides firepower on a level of assault rifles while still being compact and easier to control. Paired with a huge magazine that comes by default, it becomes one of the best weapons for when things become heated.

Finally, the Frontier Revolver is a new handgun that can inflict massive damage, but single-chamber reload and strong kick are making this weapon hard to control.

In addition, the new season comes with a "multitude of new cosmetics", which you can earn and unlock by playing the game, including the "Come at me", "Noodle Arms", and "Cower" emotes, the "Dragon" decal in 3 colours (Vermillion, Azure, and White), and the "Exoskeletal Laminate" colourway.

When it comes to purchasable items, the update brings the "Endeavor Wings Cap" and "Festive Hat" head accessories, the "Camo Tiger Orange" and "Pineapple" colourways, the "UPP Flag" and "895 Speedway" decals, and the "Quotes" and "Pose Weapon - Up" emotes, which will all be available for purchase via SSgt Park’s shop.

Lifetime Stats feature

Finally, the Season 2 update will also bring a brand new feature for all of you stat fanatics. Starting from 14th December, you will be able to track everything you have ever done in Aliens: Fireteam Elite via the new Lifetime Stats feature.

You can track your progress towards rewards and achievements, get deep-dive reports on the missions you've played, learn what are your best results on various levels and challenges, and more.

And the best thing? The feature is retroactive, which means that everything you've already done in the game since launch will appear once the feature becomes available.

And that's it! Everything that's set to come in Season 2. It looks like Cold Iron Studios developers have put a lot of effort into new content, but it remains to be seen if that's enough to bring players back.

• Read more: How to unlock Horde mode in Aliens Fireteam Elite

For more on Aliens Fireteam Elite, as well as other games, check out our general video games section, filled with industry news, guides and much more.

Featured image courtesy of Cold Iron Studios.