Natural Selection II: Combat

Natural Selection II: Combat is a standalone, asymmetrical multiplayer shooter set in a sci-fi and futuristic universe, where players battle as human marines or one of seven controllable alien lifeforms in fast-paced, 15-minute matches across five original maps. Evolving from the modding community of Natural Selection 2, it features a deep arsenal of weapons, abilities, a stats system, and full modding support, allowing seamless joining and leaving without disrupting gameplay.

Natural Selection II: Combat: Review

Introduction

In the shadowy corridors of sci-fi multiplayer gaming, where humans clash with alien hordes in brutal, asymmetrical warfare, few titles capture the primal tension of survival like the Natural Selection series. Born from the modding scene of Half-Life and evolving into a standalone franchise, Natural Selection II: Combat emerges as a bold, if understated, evolution—a free-to-play spin-off that distills the core conflict into fast-paced, RPG-infused skirmishes. Released in 2014 amid a sea of battle royales and MOBAs, this game from indie roots promises accessible chaos without the sprawling strategy of its predecessor. As a historian of gaming’s underbelly, I argue that Natural Selection II: Combat, while mechanically innovative and thematically pure, ultimately falters as a fragmented experiment, shining brightest for dedicated modders but failing to escape the long shadow of Natural Selection 2.

Development History & Context

The story of Natural Selection II: Combat is one of grassroots passion transforming into digital reality, emblematic of early 2010s indie gaming where modding communities birthed legitimate titles. Developed by Faultline Games—a studio that originated as a modding collective within the Natural Selection 2 ecosystem—the game was published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc., itself a veteran of the mod scene dating back to the original Natural Selection mod for Half-Life in 2002. This lineage underscores a vision rooted in community-driven evolution: Faultline’s team, led by directors Alex Hayton and Thomas Loupe, sought to extract and expand the “combat” layer from Natural Selection 2, creating a standalone experience that didn’t require ownership of the base game.

Technological constraints of the era played a pivotal role. Built on the Spark engine (an iteration of the Source engine used in Natural Selection 2), the game navigated the limitations of mid-2010s PC hardware—think mid-range GPUs struggling with dynamic alien morphologies and particle-heavy effects. The small team of just eight credited individuals, including programmers like Tyler Mullins and Alex Hayton (who handled both engine and gameplay programming), 3D modelers James Hastings and Chris Redmon, and artists Rami Majid and Andreas Gau, emphasized efficiency over spectacle. Mapping by Gau and sound design/music by Loupe reflect a lean, focused approach, prioritizing moddability over AAA polish.

The 2014 gaming landscape was dominated by free-to-play multiplayer juggernauts like Dota 2 and League of Legends, alongside emerging asymmetrical hits like Evolve. Natural Selection II: Combat arrived as a niche counterpoint: a sci-fi shooter blending shooter mechanics with light RPG progression, released for free on Steam on October 31, 2014. It catered to the modding ethos of Unknown Worlds, which had sustained the series through community expansions like Combat, Kodiak, and Catalyst. Yet, in an era shifting toward battle passes and esports viability, this mod-evolved title struggled for visibility, highlighting the challenges indie teams faced against Valve’s Steam Greenlight floodgates.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Natural Selection II: Combat eschews traditional single-player storytelling for the emergent narratives of multiplayer asymmetry, a hallmark of the series that pits Frontier Science Frontier (FSF) humans against ravenous alien Kharaa in a desperate interstellar war. There’s no scripted plot or voiced characters—dialogue is limited to in-game comms and terse objective pings—but the thematic depth lies in the unspoken lore inherited from Natural Selection 2. Players embody archetypes in a perpetual conflict: marines as disciplined soldiers wielding rifles and grenade launchers, aliens as evolving horrors from skulking Skulks to towering Onos, each lifeform a vessel for the theme of adaptation versus technology.

At its core, the game explores themes of evolution and extinction, drawing from the series’ sci-fi roots inspired by films like Aliens and Starship Troopers. Humans represent rigid, tool-dependent imperialism, fortifying positions with welder-repaired structures, while aliens embody chaotic Darwinism, metamorphosing mid-match via resource cysts into deadlier forms. The seven controllable alien lifeforms—ranging from agile Lerk flyers to bile-spewing Lerks—serve as narrative proxies for biological horror, their abilities (like the Fade’s blink teleport or the Onos’ charge) evoking a primal invasion. Progression through a stats system adds a layer of personal lore, as players “level up” traits, turning abstract survival into a tale of individual resilience.

Flaws emerge in the lack of deeper integration: without cutscenes or lore dumps, themes feel surface-level, reliant on player imagination. The Russian critic review from Riot Pixels (45/100) laments this, noting skepticism toward promises of “deeper and more engaging” content when Natural Selection 2 already delivered a richer ecosystem. Nonetheless, in co-op skirmishes lasting 15 minutes, emergent stories of hive defenses crumbling under marine assaults or alien swarms overwhelming command posts create thematic potency— a microcosm of humanity’s hubris against nature’s fury.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its heart, Natural Selection II: Combat refines the asymmetrical shooter formula into bite-sized, drop-in/drop-out battles, diverging radically from Natural Selection 2’s resource-management macro-strategy. Core loops revolve around team-based objectives: marines capture points or eliminate hives, while aliens defend or infest territories, all within five original maps designed for verticality and chokepoints. Matches clock in at around 15 minutes, allowing seamless joining/leaving via Steam integration, which mitigates toxicity but can disrupt momentum in unbalanced lobbies.

Combat is a symphony of direct control and tactical depth. Humans equip a “vault” of weapons—assault rifles, shotguns, flamethrowers—paired with abilities like jetpacks or nanoshield grenades, demanding precise aiming in first-person view. Aliens shine here: seven lifeforms offer diverse playstyles, from the melee-focused Gorge’s healing bile to the ranged Bilebomb of the mature forms, each with upgradeable abilities via a persistent stats system. This RPG layer, a standout innovation, lets players allocate points to speed, health, or damage across sessions, fostering meta-progression without grindy unlocks— a nod to modding roots where balance (handled by Majid and Gau) evolves communally.

The UI is minimalist yet functional: a HUD tracks team resources, lifeform evolutions, and minimap hives, with modding support allowing custom overlays. Flaws abound—programming by Hayton and Mullins results in occasional hitreg issues and unbalanced maps, as noted in the sole critic review’s doubt over depth. Innovative systems like full modding (via Lua scripting inherited from NS2) empower creators, but the direct control interface feels dated against 2014’s Unreal Engine peers. Overall, it’s a tight loop for veterans: spawn, evolve, clash, repeat—rewarding coordination over solo heroics, though matchmaking sparsity dooms casual play.

Subsections reveal nuances:

Core Gameplay Loops

• Marine Side: Build-and-hold mechanics simplified from NS2; weld structures, coordinate fireteams. Progression emphasizes weapon mastery, with stats boosting reload speeds or accuracy.
• Alien Side: Hive-based evolution trees; harvest resources as a Harvester to unlock forms. The asymmetry peaks in mobility—aliens wall-crawl, marines strafe—creating cat-and-mouse thrill.

Character Progression and Balance

The stats system is a flawed gem: granular upgrades (e.g., +10% claw damage for Skulks) encourage specialization, but without matchmaking tiers, it amplifies skill gaps. Balance tweaks by the small team shine in lifeform parity, yet the review critiques unfulfilled “engaging” promises.

UI and Accessibility

Clean but clunky—direct control shines in combat, but menus lag. Drop-in support is revolutionary for 2014, enabling 4v4 to 8v8 chaos without penalties.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s world is a derelict sci-fi frontier, blending fantasy alien biology with futuristic human outposts across five custom maps by Andreas Gau—think claustrophobic vents in industrial complexes or open caverns teeming with bioluminescent cysts. This setting amplifies atmosphere: humans’ sterile metal corridors contrast aliens’ organic, pulsating hives, fostering immersion in a universe of infestation and reclamation. Visual direction, courtesy of 3D modelers Hastings and Redmon plus 2D artist Majid, is utilitarian—low-poly models with Spark engine effects like gooey alien bile and muzzle flares. It’s not photorealistic, constrained by era tech, but the asymmetry builds dread: a Skulk’s shadowy ambush feels visceral amid flickering emergency lights.

Sound design and music by Thomas Loupe elevate the experience, with guttural alien roars, metallic clangs of marine gunfire, and a tense ambient score of droning synths underscoring evolutionary horror. These elements contribute holistically: audio cues (hive alerts, evolution chimes) guide blind corners, while the soundscape reinforces themes—human orders barked over radios versus aliens’ wordless screeches—creating a sensory divide that heightens tension. In short bursts, it crafts a claustrophobic, lived-in warzone, though graphical jank (e.g., pop-in textures) occasionally breaks immersion.

Reception & Legacy

Upon launch, Natural Selection II: Combat garnered muted reception, epitomized by its sole critic score of 45% from Riot Pixels (November 24, 2014), which dismissed it as unnecessary alongside the superior Natural Selection 2: “Why bother when we already have NS2?” No player reviews on MobyGames or Grouvee reflect its obscurity—collected by just 17 players on MobyGames and 5 on Grouvee, with zero active play data. Commercially, as a free Steam title (App ID 310110), it saw modest downloads but no sales traction, overshadowed by NS2’s DLC ecosystem (e.g., Catalyst in 2018).

Over time, its reputation has stabilized as a cult curiosity. Evolving from mod roots, it influenced the series’ modding vitality—Unknown Worlds’ model inspired later indies like Barotrauma (2019), blending survival asymmetry with RPG stats. Industry-wide, it prefigured free-to-play expansions in shooters (e.g., Apex Legends’ modes), emphasizing drop-in multiplayer and lifeform variety. Yet, its legacy is niche: a testament to community persistence amid indie saturation, but lacking the breakout impact of contemporaries. Post-2014 patches are absent in records, suggesting abandonment, though mod support endures in NS2 circles.

Conclusion

Natural Selection II: Combat distills the series’ alien-human warfare into a modder’s dream of quick, stats-driven skirmishes, excelling in asymmetrical innovation and thematic purity while stumbling on depth, balance, and visibility. From Faultline’s humble origins to its free Steam release, it embodies 2010s indiedom’s spirit—passionate, experimental, unpolished. In video game history, it occupies a footnote as a bridge between mod eras and modern multiplayer, deserving rediscovery for asymmetry fans but not canon status. Verdict: A solid 6/10—worthy for NS2 diehards, but a combat curiosity lost in the hive.