You need to change these Aliens: Fireteam Elite settings ASAP, Marine

Aliens: Fireteam Elite marines face off against the xenomorph swarm
(Image credit: Cold Iron Studios)

Aliens: Fireteam Elite has now landed on consoles and PC, but before you go mowing down waves of xenomorphs with your squad mates, all guns blazing, there’s a few things you should know.

The default game settings for Aliens: Fireteam Elite are… kind of strange. Every time you notch up a kill, a comically-sized ‘X’ will appear over your now deceased foes, transforming what’s generally supposed to be a tense, gritty experience into something more akin to a cheap and cheerful arcade game. 

The scurrying masses of Aliens are also needlessly highlighted with a bold colorful outline, which kind of defeats the point of the game’s dark, atmospheric corridors if every threat is lit up like a Christmas tree.

In a game where the threat of being pounced on at any given opportunity is part of its appeal, you’ll want to turn these two settings off, unless you’re really struggling with visibility or knowing when you’ve achieved a kill. Here’s how to make Aliens: Fireteam Elite better, and a little bit scarier.

How to make Aliens: Fireteam Elite better 

(Image credit: Cold Iron Studios)

Go into Settings, and then navigate to Gameplay. In here, you’ll want to turn off ‘Kill Confirmation Floater’ to remove the huge ‘X’ mark that appears. To stop the game from highlighting enemies, you’ll want to turn off ‘Outline Targets on Casual’ and ‘Outline Targets on Standard’.

These two simple changes make Aliens: Fireteam Elite an infinitely more enjoyable experience, to the point where we’re surprised they’re left on by default.

If you’re on the fence about Aliens: Fireteam Elite, we believe that it “nails the adrenaline rush of facing an overwhelming xenomorph hive”. So, if you’re a fan of the film and have a couple of friends who are willing to help you cull a seemingly endless Alien threat, we’d recommend giving it a go. Just remember to adjust these settings before you do.

Adam Vjestica

Adam was formerly TRG's Hardware Editor. A law graduate with an exceptional track record in content creation and online engagement, Adam has penned scintillating copy for various technology sites and also established his very own award-nominated video games website. He’s previously worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor and once played Halo 5: Guardians for over 51 hours for charity. He is now an editor at The Shortcut.