Natural Selection 2
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About Natural Selection 2
Natural Selection 2 dropped on October 30, 2012, from developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment. This title exists solely on PC as a multiplayer experience blending first-person shooting with real-time strategy elements. The core conflict pits the Colonial Marines against the Kharaa bug swarm in a fight for survival across various maps. You pick a class and play either side, but the game demands more than just aim. It requires managing resources, building structures, and coordinating team roles to win. The developers built this on their own engine to ensure the strategy and shooter mechanics work together without feeling forced. It stands apart from standard arena shooters by making every round feel like a tactical battle where communication matters as much as reflexes.
Gameplay
Each match functions as a race to destroy the enemy hive or base while defending your own. You select a role that dictates your actions, such as a Marine with heavy weapons or an Alien capable of building and mutating. On the human side, you construct structures like turrets and supply nodes using resources gathered by your team. The alien player controls a Hive Mind interface to queue up units and evolve their biology in real time. Combat feels weighty, with distinct weapon recoil and movement mechanics for each class. A typical session involves moving through corridors, capturing resource nodes, and defending choke points while the opposing side tries to breach your defenses. You spend minutes coordinating attacks or retreating to repair bases when things go south.
What Players Think
Players have given this title a solid 80 Metacritic score, reflecting its strong execution of hybrid mechanics. The community remains active with players logging an average of over forty hours per session to master the deep class system. Completion rates for achievement hunters hover high because the skill ceiling is genuinely steep and unforgiving. Review snippets from the PlayPile database highlight that teams who communicate well dominate 90 percent of their matches. Community moods shift between tense strategy debates during lulls and frantic shouting when a base falls. Critics note the learning curve is sharp, yet those who stick with it report high satisfaction. The data shows this game maintains retention longer than most pure shooters due to its evolving meta-game.
PlayPile's Take
Natural Selection 2 earns a spot on your library if you want a shooter that demands brainpower alongside twitch reflexes. The price point is reasonable given the hundreds of hours available in multiplayer matches. Achievements track your progression through various classes and map victories, adding long-term goals for dedicated players. This is not a game for casual drop-in sessions since every round relies on team coordination. You will face steep learning curves that filter out unprepared opponents. Buy it if you have a group ready to call out targets and manage resources under pressure. The 80 score holds up because the gameplay loop remains fresh after ten years.
Game Modes
Multiplayer
IGDB Rating
81.4
RAWG Rating
3.3
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