It's all-devouring. It's all-consuming. It's getting stronger every day. And worst of all, it can think. This isn't your ordinary garden-variety alien enemy. This is the Swarm, the titular foe players must face in Bitfire Game's top-down tactical horror shooter DarkSwarm. In each of DarkSwarm's procedurally generated missions, players must work together to complete a wide variety of objectives while keeping the Swarm at bay. What can you, a mere bio-printed mercenary, do against the all-consuming might of the Dark Swarm? Well, not much, but one must do what one can.
Guided by Bitfire Games' Jonas Raagard and Hans Oxmond, I got to experience two different missions in DarkSwarm. I greatly enjoyed my time with the gritty, fast-paced shooter, although I definitely was more of a hindrance than a help to my team most of the time. DarkSwarm's strengths include its objective variety, collaborative elements, and, of course, the Swarm itself.
Your Mission Objectives Are Multiple And Varied
First things first, players in DarkSwarm can choose between one of four classes. I went with Assault, the heavy damage-dealer, because I liked that it had access to a wide range of weapons (including, once I'd leveled up a few ranks, a flamethrower). The other options are Infiltrator, which focuses on stealth, Engineer, which can use technologies with different effects, and Support, which provides healing and supplies. I really liked the class variety — Assault was straightforward and easy to learn, but Support, for example, has to carefully balance things like their more limited ammo and knowing when to deploy their health-restoring aura.
Once you get into a mission, you're presented with your primary objective and several optional objectives. Optional objectives can both reward more EXP at the end of the mission and provide you with mid-mission bonuses, such as a temporary shield. The first mission I played had the primary objective of reaching a certain room in the space station and repairing broken machinery, while the secondary objectives were turning on a reactor and destroying alien "Hivebrains." The second mission, which was on-planet, involved more complex objectives, like carrying objects across the map to a specific location and reaching an area that required activating and repairing several bridges.
I really liked the objective variety, as well as the varying difficulty that made considering whether to go for each optional objective a true "risk vs. Reward" decision. In our first mission, we immediately decided to go for the reactor because we were encountering huge swarms of low-level aliens and realized that the temporary shield it granted us would be invaluable. When we checked out the Hivebrains, though, we found them in a room patrolled by worm-like aliens that attacked instantly if they saw you, and decided "nope, not worth it" before proceeding on to our primary goal.
Collaboration Is Consistently Required
From the beginning, one thing I loved about DarkSwarm is how your team really cannot survive unless you work together. In some multiplayer games, you can go off on your own and play the hero and still win. Not so in DarkSwarm. Except for the Assault's short-range explosion, all class abilities — shields, scouting, healing — are designed to help the entire team. When you drop an ammo crate, you can only pick up one set of ammo yourself, so there's no benefit to doing it unless the whole party is there. Many mission objectives also require the entire party, such as needing one player to stand at four different buttons scattered around a room in order to activate machinery.
Your team really cannot survive unless you work together.
The cooperative nature of DarkSwarm truly shines when it comes to staying alive and helping teammates make it through the alien-infested ship or planet. Players need to keep an eye out for when they need to revive one another, or save a teammate from the horrifying fleshy spiderweb-like traps that will try to absorb anything human and make it part of the Swarm. Be careful, though, because friendly fire is a thing - I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but a few of my team members' deaths were the result of some less-than-advisable flamethrower aiming.
But, in the end, only one player needs to survive for a mission to be considered successful. At first, I was surprised by this twist on what had so far been a very collaboration-heavy game, but, ultimately, I found myself liking it. The lore of DarkSwarm explains that players are "bio-printed" (mass-produced) mercenaries sent out by a company called Death on Demand, so it makes sense that the company doesn't care who survives as long as the mission is completed.
The Terrifying, Gory, Brilliant Heart of DarkSwarm
The gameplay is great, the missions are fun, the different varieties of guns and other weapons (especially the flamethrower) are excellent, but the highlight of DarkSwarm is definitely the titular Swarm itself. While it's a horde of aliens, it's not a mindless one. The Swarm is smart, and it's evolving. As you progress through each mission, you're more likely to encounter more powerful aliens, such as the Elite, and even smaller aliens that you leave alive remain very aware of your presence and behavior. During my second mission, I attempted to outrun a small spider-like alien, thinking it would eventually tire and give up, only for the persistent little thing to chase me all the way back to the transporter, attempting to pounce on me if I stopped for even a second.
The design of the various DarkSwarm aliens is excellent. The Thing-esque body horror is everywhere, from human hand-shaped spiders to shambling humanoids to pulsing brains. Of course, there are also a few of your standard giant centipedes and enormous worms. The Swarm really feels like something you desperately want to get rid of as soon as possible. In different foe types, you can clearly see how all parts of the Swarm were once human before they were infected by this horrifying disease.
Defeating the Swarm is satisfying, with lots of blood, explosions, and limbs flying everywhere. Winning a mission, especially if you are one of the lucky ones who survive, is satisfyingly cathartic, and you rank up and unlock new goodies pretty quickly. There are multiple mission types, including an ice planet, a tropical jungle, and a desert planet reminiscent of Dune's Arrakis. Bitfire Games plans to actively support the game, potentially adding more missions and classes in the future, and I'm excited to see what's in store.
DarkSwarm is currently undergoing playtesting and is planned to enter Early Access sometime in early 2026. Interested players can wishlist DarkSwarm on Steam. I highly recommend anyone looking for a fast-paced, creepy tactical shooter with some inventive alien foes to give DarkSwarm a try when it launches.