After 40 years, Aliens is still shaping the way video games are made

Forty years after its release, James Cameron's Aliens continues to shape video game design, according to the Adafruit Blog. The film's colonial marines—characters like Hicks and Vasquez—established an archetype of quick-witted soldiers armed with futuristic weapons that echoes across games from Doom to Halo to Gears of War. Whether it's the lone marine fighting demons or a squad of armored soldiers battling alien hive-minds aboard militarized starships, the visual and narrative template set by Aliens remains one of the most enduring influences in gaming.

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