Dead Hills
Aliens: Dark Descent challenges players to command a squad of Marines through terrifying missions against a xenomorph infestation. The first proper mission you’ll be sent on is called Dead Hills, which turns out to be aptly named. This walkthrough will take you through the events of the Dead Hills mission step by step.
Dead Hills is one of many colonies that have been overrun with aliens, and it’s up to your Marines to save as many civilians as possible. You’ll learn a bit more about your kit along the way, just in time to engage an iconic boss at the end of the mission.
There are 14 Primary Objectives in the Dead Hills mission. They are as follows:
- Enter Dead Hills
- Reactivate the Colony’s SatCom
- Deactivate the Emergency Lockdown
- Save Engineer Macallan
- Save Engineer O’Neil
- Save Security Guard Torrance
- Save Veterinarian McNeil
- Save Technician Carmichael
- Find the Source of the Infestation
- Save Biologist Everly
- Investigate the Suspicious Container
- Find Materials for the Otago
- Find the Colonists in the Old Mine
- Save Veterinarian T. McNeil
What to Bring
Being the first proper mission of the game, you won’t have much at your disposal to bring along. That said, make sure to take along all the Tools and Medical Supplies you collected during the Prologue.
Before you get started, take a look at the following guides to get some helpful tips that will help you complete your mission:
Enter Dead Hills
When the mission begins, your squad will be let out in front of the entrance to Dead Hills. Your first task is to interact with the terminal next to the large bulkhead door. Select Perimeter Gate Contol from the list, and the door will open wide.
Make your way inside the colony, and the next Objective will begin.
Reactivate the Colony’s SatCom
Now that the door is open take your squad inside and head straight to the building on your right. When you’re at the door, you’ll get a tutorial message about how to use terminals to unlock doors. Use the terminal to open the door and then head inside the building.
Continue through the building to reach the SatCom room. You’ll get another tutorial message reminding you about the usefulness of the flashlight. Keep that in mind because there are many crates along the way with Tools, Medical Supplies, Ammo, and more.
When you reach the SatCom room, interact with the terminal there. Hayes will gain access to the station’s systems and inform the team that the whole place is under lockdown. You’ll need to find your way to the Township HQ in order to shut off the emergency status.
Deactivate the Emergency Lockdown
To get to Township HQ, you need to break down some doors. Head to the door on the north side of the room and break the weld holding it closed by interacting with it and selecting Break Weld.
Continue through the corridors until you reach a barricade barring the way. Interact with it and then select Demolition. A Marine will plant some C4 on it, and after a short countdown, it’ll blow.
Continue through the hallway until the squad encounters a pile of shed skin on the ground. Now thoroughly grossed out, they continue forward only to be blocked by another barricade. Blow this obstacle up too to reach another space that contains an elevator and hop in.
After the team has taken their one-way trip up to the second floor, there’ll be let out into the Township HQ. There are a few bodies here to loot, a Tools chest, and a Datapad in the northwest corner of the room. When you’re ready to continue, interact with the terminal and select Deactivate Emergency Protocol.
Next, Hayes needs to be connected to the Sector Map. Head to the east side of the room and interact with the Sector Map to select Recover PDT. You’ll be directed by a few tutorial messages to unlock maps for the 1st Floor and Mineshaft-1 floors. When that’s done, you’ll be treated to another moment in the story involving a chest-bursting alien. Then, the lockdown will be over, and the south door will unlock.
Save Engineer Macallan
Now that the lockdown is over, you’re free to open doors now rather than having to blow them up or cut them open. Hayes also has access to the PDT signals of survivors in the station, and she’s dropped some markers on your map so you can track them down.
Head to the southern door and through the small corridor until your squad encounters a xenomorph spawning point. You’ll be directed to set up a Motion Tracker here and move on. Now you need to make your way to Engineer Macallan. Take the following path to pick up a Xenotech along the way.
You’ll encounter some xenomorphs along the way that are patrolling the area. At this point, you’ll only be seeing Drones and Ambushers. Keep out of their way as much as you can, and you’ll reach Macallan without too much hassle. If you do engage in combat, Suppresive Fire and Shotgun are your best bets for dealing with them quickly.
When you get to Engineer Macallan, you’ll find him sealed into a small room. You’ll need to break the weld and calm him down. Afterward, you can interact with him and select Follow Us. He’ll stick with you while you pick up other survivors to lead back to the ARC.
Save Engineer O’Neil
Before you head back to the ARC with Macallan, take a stop by Engineer O’Neil. You’ll find him in a room on the north side of the floor. Take the following path to get to him:
When you get to O’Neil, you’ll see he’s on a bed with a facehugger on his face. You need to interact with him and select Help Engineer. Unfortunately, after a quick inspection, it’s clear there’s nothing you can do for O’Neil except put him out of his misery.
Now would be a good time to take a rest. Head into the room next to where you found Engineer O’Neil and weld the door shut. Order your squad to take a rest so their Stress level drops. They won’t have another easy opportunity to rest for a while.
Now you can head back to the ARC to secure Macallan. The following is the most direct route:
Take the elevator down to the first floor and head outside. You’ll be presented with a tutorial about calling the ARC. Call it to the nearby location and interact with it to select Extract Survivors. Macallan will board the ARC, and you’ll be free to move on to the next Objective.
Save Security Guard Torrance
Torrance is in a building near the center of the complex. If you just dropped off Macallan as detailed above, you should be close by.
Head into the office and look around. There are three Datapads to discover here: one in the main room and one each in the two rooms on the east side of the building. In the back of the building, you’ll find Torrance secured in a jail cell.
To free Torrance, you’ll need to head to the Sheriff’s office which is the room in the southeast corner of the building. Make your way there and acquire the key from Sheriff Souza’s body. Bring it back to Torrance’s cell, interact with the terminal, and select Open Cell. Terrance will come out of the cell, and you can escort him to the ARC. Again, interact with the ARC and select Extract Survivors to secure him.
Save Veterinarian McNeil
McNeil is in a building in the southwest area of the complex. There’s an ARC deployment point close by. Pile your squad into the ARC and send it to the southwesternmost point on the map. From there, head into the building northeast of you.
Head through the building until you encounter a locked door. Use the terminal next to it and select Open Airlock. A decontamination process will commence but be halted as McNeil catches on. She’ll talk to the squad through the door and, reassured, open the door for them. After a brief exchange, she gladly agrees to come along.
There’s a Sentry Gun and a Datapad in the room with McNeil. Go ahead and collect those, interact with McNeil, and then head back into the previous room. This is where you’ll learn a bit about sentry guns. Set it up to face the doorway that leads out of the room and then interact with the terminal again to select Open Airlock. A couple of waves of xenomorphs will come along to test the sentry gun for you. It works. Stay behind the sentry gun, and it’ll do most of your work for you.
Unfortunately, the Sentry Gun doesn’t help cover the vents in the room. McNeil is suddenly grabbed by a xenomorph and dragged down into the vent system. All is not lost though, as Hayes discovers that there’s a chance she’s still alive. This Objective is over for now. Pick up the sentry gun and head back to the ARC.
Save Technician Carmichael
Technician Carmichael is back on the northeastern side of the complex. Send the ARC to the closest redeployment point and head into the large building immediately to the east. After a short walk through the building, you’ll discover Carmichael in a cocoon on the wall behind a few facehugger eggs.
Facehuggers will crawl out of their eggs and come at your squad. You can blow them away with a single Shotgun blast or just let the squad handle them on their own. Either way, you’re free to head to Carmichael just in time to see an alien burst from his chest. It’s too late for Carmichael, but Hayes puts together an idea for how to eradicate the alien infestation.
Find the Source of the Infestation
After you find Carmichael, Hayes pins a nearby location on your map where you can tap into the surveillance camera feed. Head there now and interact with the terminal in the room to select Activate Camera.
Now that the cameras are activated, you have many new nodes on your Automap that represent camera systems you can access from anywhere. Take a look through all of them to locate supply crates and other resources you can grab if you have time. The cameras you’re looking for are the ones in the Slaughterhouse in the southwest corner of the complex. Open them up to see the source of the infestation firsthand. This Object will be complete, and you’ll get a new one called “Investigate the Suspicious Container.”
Before you leave this room, take a moment to weld both of the doors shut and take a rest. Your Marines are probably feeling the Stress right about now.
Save Biologist Everly
Before you head to the Slaughterhouse, stop by the large building on the north side of the complex to check on Biologist Everly. There’s an ARC redeployment point on the west side of the building that makes getting there easier.
Move through the building until the squad hears crying. Head in the direction of the noise to discover Everly in the back corner of a room. Despite how distraught she is, she’s actually not interested in coming with your squad. She expresses her desire to be a part of the infestation and soon after gets her wish.
Investigate the Suspicious Container
At this point, you’ve tracked down all the survivors you can find and explored quite a bit of the complex. Before you head to the Slaughterhouse, now would be a good time to go around and collect supplies and collectibles around Dead Hills. You’ll need all the supplies you can get for the upcoming fight.
If your squad is still in good shape after all that, head to the northern entrance to the Slaughterhouse. If not, head to the ARC and Extract your squad. You can bring back a fresh squad to finish up the rest of the mission.
Move into the Slaughterhouse and your Objective marker will move to a terminal in a nearby room. Interact with it and select Interact to open the Slaughterhouse doors. Your Objective marker will move again to the Main Processing Room. To make your way there without attracting attention to yourself, you’ll need to take the following route through the building.
When you’re in the Main Processing Room, it’s time to set up for a fight. Place a Sentry Gun facing the east side of the room and get some distance between your squad and the east door. A Crusher is about to bust through the door there.
The Crusher
A Crusher is a ferocious xenomorph with heavy attacks. It’s much larger than regular xenomorphs and boasts a significantly larger health bar.
The Crusher begins its attack with a wide area of effect swipe that deals significant damage and increases your squad’s Stress. It will then charge your squad and tear them to shreds if it isn’t stopped.
The Shotgun and Grenade Launcher are your best friends against the Crusher. They deal significant damage and will stagger the Crusher enough to give you a chance to get some distance. A Sentry Gun can be helpful too, but since the Crusher moves so fast, it’ll get past the gun quickly. Keep it in the firing line of your entire squad and their Sentry Gun to take it down.
With the Crusher down, Hayes will direct the team to head to the Colony Director’s Office where they can hopefully learn more about the infestation. If you haven’t already done so, now would be a great time to extract your squad and bring back a team of fresh Marines. There’s still a lot to do in Dead Hills.
Find Materials for the Otago
Before heading to the Colony Director’s Office, take a moment to stop by the warehouse for supplies. The warehouse is near the center of the complex. Interact with the terminal there to check the logs and discover that a smuggler stockpiled plenty of resources in the power complex.
The power complex is a building slightly to the northwest of your present location. Take a walk there and enter through the southern door.
As soon as you enter the building, three Objective markers will appear to point you to some places where you might find the smuggler. Just head into the room in the center, and you’ll find the smuggler’s corpse along with six crates of supplies. That’s not all though, as you’ll soon discover that there are more supplies in the Transformer Station up north. Head there next and open the container you find to complete the Objective.
Reach the Colony Director’s Office
The Colony Director’s Office is on the second floor of the complex. To get there, head to the building with an elevator near the center of Dead Hills and use it to go up to the second floor.
When you get out onto the catwalk on the second floor, it’s a good idea to drop a Motion Sensor down so you can keep an eye on the area near the elevator. It can also help you divert some aliens if there are too many nearby. After you drop that, head towards the office taking the following direct path:
In the office, you’ll find a terminal that needs inspecting near the south side of the room. Interact with it and select Inspect Director’s Terminal. The Marines will forward some data to Hayes who quickly discovers that it's encrypted. You’ll need to find the access codes carried by the director. Hayes is having trouble finding the director’s signal, so she needs some time. You’ll be instructed to complete any other Objectives you may have missed before continuing.
Find the Colonists in the Old Mine
Hayes will be ready to give you this Objective after you’ve completed every other Objective up to this point. If you’ve been following this walkthrough, you’ll have already completed all the other objectives Hayes will tell you that she found a potential location for more survivors in an old mine.
Take either of the elevators down to the first floor and get your squad to the following location.
Interact with the terminal there and select Perimeter Gate Control to open the gate in front of your squad. Then, take them inside where you’ll discover evidence of a firefight between civilians and xenomorphs. There’s a Datapad on the ground nearby, and you can collect a Genetic Sample from the xenomorph’s body.
Head into the building near the bodies and go into the first room on the right for a Datapad. Then, head east to get to the elevator. Before you go down to the old mine, make sure your squad is prepared. Take a moment to stock up on supplies and rest up to lower their stress. When you’re ready, hop in and select Mineshaft -1 from the menu.
The Old Mine
The old mine is a labyrinthine cavern that works its way through a vast area of the underground. There are many xenomorphs patrolling the area and no places to rest. Make sure your team is in good shape before pressing forward.
Take the above route through the old mine. Along the way, keep an eye out for crates with Supplies and any resources you’re running low on. Try to stay out of line of sight wherever possible, but when a fight is inevitable stand your ground and use Suppressive Fire to slow the aliens down. You’ll want your squad to be fully healed and at low stress levels by the time they get to the end.
When you get to the terminal at the end of the route, interact with it and select Open. You’ll get a warning about danger ahead. If you’re ready, accept the prompt and move on.
The Queen
The Queen breaks away from her egg sack and immediately charges your squad. She’ll pick out one of your Marines to target and knock them down. Meanwhile, Drones and facehuggers will rush in to support her.
Your best weapon against the Queen is the Grenade Launcher. Spend your Command Points on two of those as soon as the fight begins; if you’re lucky, you can get a few of the Drones in the blasts. Then, back off and try to keep some distance from her; remember that your Marines can shoot and run at the same time. Let her chase you around the room while your Command Points replenish and then use them on more Grenade Launcher blasts.
When the Queen is dead, you’ll be free to check the area for survivors and for the Colony Director’s access codes. Find the three cocooned bodies and interact with each one. The one in the center will be the Director’s body. He didn’t make it, but he has his codes on him. Hayes will use them to quickly decrypt the data you recovered earlier. While she does that, she instructs you to collect a sample from the Queen. The sample will also unlock a Xenotech device.
Save Veterinarian T. McNeil
After you’ve taken a sample from the Queen, the squad will discover the veterinarian that was abducted earlier. She’s unconscious but alive. Interact with her and select Carry to instruct one of your Marines to sling her over their shoulder. Now you’ll need to trek back to the elevator with one of your Marines moving at a snail’s pace.
Thankfully, the route back is much simpler than the route getting to the Queen. Take the above route back and interact with the terminal along the way to raise a bridge that’ll give you a shortcut.
When you get to the elevator, select the first floor to get back to the surface. Guide your squad back to the ARC to secure the veterinarian and extract themselves. The Dead Hills mission is complete.
When you're ready, check out our walkthrough on the next mission: Berkley's Docks.