Action · October 30, 2012

Natural Selection 2 (2012)

trophy137 achievementsextension10 DLClocal_offer-80% current discountgroup1M–10M ownersrecommend8.5k recommendations
Natural Selection 2 pits alien against human in an action-packed struggle for survival. Wield devastating weaponry as a Frontiersman marine, or become the xenomorph as a deadly Kharaa lifeform. Strategy Meets Shooter Natural Selection 2 is a First Person Shooter and Real Time Stategy game rolled into one! Each team, alien and human, has a Commander. The Commander looks down on the battlefield and issues orders, places structures, collects resources, researches technology, and deploys abilities. Here are some gameplay examples: A human Commander could drop health packs and ammunition to a trapped marine squad, and deploy sentry guns to help them defend their position. Or an alien Commander could grow a new Hive to spread infestation throughout newly captured territory, allowing more alien eggs to spawn... Two Unique Sides Aliens players choose to evolve into one of five lifeforms: The fast, fearsome Skulk can run on walls and deliver massive damage with its jaws. Lerks fly and deploy gasses to support their teammates in battle. Gorges heal other lifeforms and build tunnels, hydra turrets, walls, and other tactical structures. Fades blink in and out of battle, picking off marines with giant scythes. Finally, the giant Onos is so massive and so tough, that even entire marine squads can't take it down. Marines wield rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, pistols, and other weapons. Cluster grenades can clear ventilation shafts of sneaky Skulks, flamethrowers make short work of alien structures and infestation, and boosts dropped by the Commander increase combat effectiveness. When attacking on foot doesn't cut it, marines can construct hulking Exosuits wielding miniguns and railguns, and equip jetpacks for high speed assaults on alien Hives. Long Term Development Natural Selection 2 receives constant updates. This year, 2019, Unknown Worlds continues to develop new features, content, and improvements. Mod Tools Come Standard Natural Selection 2 comes with all the tools we used to make the game. All game code is open source. That means you can create, and play, an endless variety of mods. Publish, share, and download mods from the Steam Workshop, and automatically download mods when you join modded games. Digital Deluxe Edition Digital Deluxe Edition includes: Official Soundtrack - 1 hour of tribal, industrial music composed by David John and Simon Chylinski Digital Art Book - 40+ pages of art by Cory Strader, including environments, creatures, weapons and more Exclusive in-game marine model - Exclusive in-game marine model - A new marine model with custom visor and armor plating Exclusive Wallpapers and Avatars - Unique views of the NS2 universe by Amanda Diaz

Action releases from 2012

71 Action titles launched in 2012 — top 6 by review volume.

Position in Action

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume13.1k Steam reviewsTop 33% in Action
Positive rating85% positiveGenre average: 83% — this title sits in top 55%
Metacritic80/100Genre average 77 — top 42% of Action titles
Engagement hours19 h averageTop 26% for session depth among Action

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • Multiplayer · 643
  • Strategy · 615
  • FPS · 608
  • Team-Based · 528
  • Action · 474
  • Sci-fi · 404
  • RTS · 388
  • Aliens · 338
  • Indie · 313
  • Competitive · 269
  • Shooter · 225
  • Co-op · 195
  • Tactical · 183
  • Moddable · 180
  • First-Person · 157

Peer Action titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Localization Coverage

Interface / Subtitles (10)

  • English volume_up
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish - Spain
  • Polish
  • Russian
  • Finnish
  • Romanian
  • Swedish
  • Czech volume_up

Full audio (2)

  • English
  • Czech

Reception Metrics

Steam community

85%Very Positive · 13.1k reviews

11.2k positive · 2.0k negative

Metacritic

80/100 critic aggregate

Open Metacritic page

Metacritic user score

8.5/10

Curator recommendations

8.5k

Features & Capabilities

Multiplayer

  • Multi-player
  • PvP
  • Online PvP

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Trading Cards
  • Steam Workshop
  • Steam Cloud

Other

  • Valve Anti-Cheat enabled
  • Includes level editor
  • Family Sharing

Press Quotes

'NS2 is a genius mash of Counter Strike and Starcraft' – Kotaku 'This is getting close to my idea of the ultimate game' – Machinima

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

19h

moderate (15–40 hours)

Median

4h

Typical completion time

2-week avg

0h

Current engagement

Achievements

137

Steam unlocks available

Release & Availability

Release dateOct 30, 2012
DeveloperUnknown Worlds Entertainment
PublisherUnknown Worlds Entertainment, KRAFTON, Inc.
Base price$0.99 -80%
DLC / Add-ons10 released
PlatformsWindows
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksOfficial site · Metacritic page · Support

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Editions & Packages

  • Buy Natural Selection 2