Aliens Dark Descent: Death Clock - campaign time limit Aliens Dark Descent guide, walkthrough

In Aliens Dark Descent you can lose the campaign and watch the game over screen. On this page of the guide we explain what the countdown to defeat is, how many days you can get to complete the game and how best to manage the time limit.

Last update: 28 June 2023

An important element of the campaign in Aliens Dark Descent is the time limit. In our guide, we explain when the time limit starts, how many days you get to complete the campaign, what will happen after the limit has been reached,how to manage the available number of days and what actions in the game cause you to move to the next day.

• When does the campaign time limit starts?
• When do I advance to the next day?
• How to continue the campaign?

When does the campaign time limit starts?

1. After completing mission 4, the heroes will learn that the Pioneer Station systems have activated the second phase of the Cerberus Protocol. It involves bombarding the surface of Lethe moon with nuclear bombs.
2. Mission 5 requires you to return to Pioneer Station to stop the protocol's phase 2. Unfortunately, it ends in failure, as the time to cancel the Cerberus Protocol is over.
3. After completing mission 5 and returning to the base, the time limit will begin. In the bottom right corner of the screen, you will find information on days remaining until planet bombardment (image above).

1. The amount of time it takes to complete the game varies depending on the difficulty level. One of its modifiers is the death clock campaign days.
2. Depending on the difficulty settings, you will receive from 20 (Nightmare difficulty) to 30 days (Story difficulty) to finish the campaign (missions 6-12). On the default normal difficulty level, it's 25 days.
3. If you don't finish the game within the time limit, the planet will be bombarded and you will lose the campaign. Then you need to load an older save or start playing from the beginning.

When do I advance to the next day?

1. You can advance to the next days manually, i.e. in the command deck of the USS Otago. This is due to the limitations in the number of deployments - you can only perform one per day. After returning to the base from a mission, you cannot immediately start the next one. Instead, you must choose to advance 1 day.
2. Some random events in the base may also be associated with advancing the days. In the example from the picture, the game suggests 1 new doctor, but at the cost of "wasting" 1 day by blocking the option to deploy.

How to continue the campaign?

1. From the moment the time limit is unlocked, you should have an average of about 3 days to complete one new mission. However, you must remember about random events and the fact that later missions can be very difficult and may require returning to the base multiple times to change the squad or send the marines to heal.
2. Try to complete the missions in two attempts. During the first deployment, complete about 60-70% of the mission (the progress bar is on the loading screen), and finish it during the second. The final parts of the mission are usually the most difficult and involve fighting large groups of xenomorphs or defeating a boss.
3. We advise to ignore events that take days to complete except for the best ones, for example, those where you can gain valuable crew members or rare supplies. Do not skip a day after every new event.
4. Complete missions by sneaking around a lot. It may prevent the Alien aggressiveness bar from increasing that often. This way, you won't experience a difficulty spike during a given mission (more monsters).