Action · October 30, 2012
Natural Selection 2 (2012)
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
| Metric | This title | Genre position |
|---|---|---|
| Review volume | 13.1k Steam reviews | Top 33% in Action |
| Positive rating | 85% positive | Genre average: 83% — this title sits in top 55% |
| Metacritic | 80/100 | Genre average 77 — top 42% of Action titles |
| Engagement hours | 19 h average | Top 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
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 date | Oct 30, 2012 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
| Publisher | Unknown Worlds Entertainment, KRAFTON, Inc. |
| Base price | $0.99 -80% |
| DLC / Add-ons | 10 released |
| Platforms | Windows |
| Estimated owners | 1M–10M |
| External links | Official site · Metacritic page · Support |
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Editions & Packages
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