This year's Summerween season has a bit of a sci-fi flair to it, as the Aliens have once again landed and caused havoc in FX's Alien: Earth series (see "'Alien: Earth'"). The games industry has a long and storied history involving the Alien/Aliens IP, and it's worth taking a look at some of the more significant releases involving the Xenomorphs over time. There are few gems, from both the past and the present, that can provide retailers some ideas for in-store game sessions to thrill their customer base as they watch the new series over the next month.

The Alien/Aliens IP has been featured in several board games, CCGs, miniatures games, and RPGs over time. Like many movie properties for the late 70s and early 80s, the first Alien tabletop game came to market as movie merch to support a budding toy line. 20th Century Studios and Kenner had a good licensing relationship in the late 70s, thanks to Star Wars, so they teamed up to release 1979's Alien Game. This board game was an escape-style game, where players needed race to get their Astronauts to the space shuttle before getting wiped out by the Aliens on board. The most ironic thing about this game is that it is rated for ages 7 and up, whereas the actual Alien movie was rated R (so kids could play the game but not see the movie).  

After the first couple of movies released, the enthusiasm over the Alien IP died down for a while. Once again, someone in toy marketing must've finally figured out that the Aliens license wasn't exactly kid-friendly, so they stopped using the IP to sell toys via games. There was an Aliens scenario-based board game that came out in 1989, from Leading Edge Games, but other than all that, the IP remains fairly dormant until its next evolution occurs thanks to Dark Horse Comics. In 1990, in a stroke of pure genius, Dark Horse releases Dark Horse Presents #36, which includes the first battle between Aliens and the Predator. The concept of the two species becoming natural enemies of each other in the comics was a major hit with sci-fi fans.  

The various Dark Horse comic series that spawned out this mash-up of sci-fi IPs also revived interest in both IPs enough to start making games again. In the 90s, a new type of game emerged, the Customizable Card Game, and in 1997, Harper Prism and Precedence Entertainment produced the Aliens Predator CCG. The game lasted three sets, and was shelved in 1999 after its Cityscape set that was inspired by Predator 2.

The 2000s are fairly quiet for Alien games (mostly due to recession-related macro issues plaguing the industry), but into the 2010s, companies pick up the Alien/Aliens IPs and start making more games. In 2015, Prodos Games releases Alien vs. Predator: The Hunt Begins (see "'Alien vs. Predator: The Hunt Begins'"), which was a miniatures skirmish game. Further down the line, after Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019 (see "Disney Offer"), Gale Force Nine picks up the Aliens license and releases the Aliens cooperative strategy game (see "'Aliens'"). Upper Deck got in on the act and released a card and dice game called Aliens: Bug Hunt (see "'ALIENS: Bug Hunt'"). In 2021, Ravensburger picked up the Alien license and released Alien: Fate of the Nostromo board game (see "'ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo'"). 

The most significant and popular line of Alien tabletop games products was the release of the Alien: The Roleplaying Game, which was released by Free League Publishing in 2019 (see "'Alien' Stalks the Tabletop"). An RPG was kind of a Holy Grail for gamers, and Free League absolutely knocked it out of the park using their Year Zero Engine augmented with some excellent survival-themed mechanics. This is easily the most accessible line for retailers to get a hold of for the Summerween season, and a brand-new edition of the game is set to hit retail on November 25, 2025 (see "'ALIEN RPG: Evolved Edition'"). 

For more Horror Week 2025 coverage, click here.