Aliens Dark Descent is an unforgiving game in many ways. Overseeing a squad of Colonial Marines sent to exterminate hostile Xenomorph forces is a grueling task for obvious reasons. The odds are stacked incredibly high when facing a terrifying threat that lurks around every corner on the abandoned Planet Lethe. So it is no surprise that these deep dives into alien realms of madness can often backfire.
One of the many problems player’s squadmates can encounter is Trauma, which manifests in varied debuffs. Like its real-life counterpart, it negatively affects the unit’s performance on the battlefield. This makes them a liability in combat, weakening the entire team overall.
So players must remove these debuffs as soon as possible in Aliens Dark Descent to get back into action.
How to remove Trauma from units in Aliens Dark Descent?
As players take their time to navigate the hostile landscape of Planet Lethe, they will encounter many horrors and challenges. As such, team members will gain trauma depending on how high their Stress Levels rise. There are four Stress Levels to consider in Aliens Dark Descent:
- Relaxed (White): No trauma gain
- Anxious (Yellow): Gain 1 Trauma point
- Panicked (Orange): Gain 2 Trauma points
- Terrified (Red): Gain 3 Trauma points, plus inflicts a debuff
Any one of the following Trauma debuffs can be caused by the Terrified Stress Level:
- Depressive: At the start of each mission, the unit gains additional Stress damage.
- Obsessive: The time taken to reload increases.
- Paranoid: The unit takes extra Stress damage if the squad has more than three members.
- Borderline: Uisng Naproleve or Resting relieves more Stress but at the same time also increases all Stress damage gained.
- Hypochondriac: Suffer Stress damage each second when the squad runs out of medical supplies.
- Pyrophobia: Seeing fire in action, like from a flamethrower or setting ablaze an oil puddle set ablaze, causes Stress damage to the unit each time.
- Claustrophobia: Prevents Stress from decreasing while resting inside shelters.
- Robophobia: Take Stress damage every second while a Synthetic foe or ally is in view.
- Hematophobia: Takes Stress damage every second when a team member suffers from Hemorrhage.
- Anthrophobia: Take Stress damage every second on encountering a Human Enemy.
- Xenomorphobia: Take Stress damage every second when encountering hostile Xenomorphs.
All of these are problematic in their own ways. They either prevent the unit from performing well or make the gameplay harder than it already is. Removing Trauma can only be done back in the Medbay on Aliens Dark Descent’s spaceship. This is done under the Psychiatric Care Unit (PCU) of the medical station. Unfortunately, the PCU is not available from the get-go.
It must be unlocked by completing Mission 2: Berkeley’s Docks. Players will take a few hours to arrive at this point, so they must tread carefully until then. Once that is achieved, however, eliminating these debuffs will be easy. Simply place the affected unit under the Psychiatrist’s care; they should heal back up in a few days.
Up to four units can be placed under therapy at a given time, and each day spent heals two Trauma points. It is in players’ best interest not to push their luck and immediately send their squadmates for recovery when traumatized, especially when it can be particularly debilitating, like Claustrophobia or Xenomorphobia.
However, there is another way to heal Trauma early in Aliens Dark Descent. Players can invest in the Mind of Steel attribute when leveling up and promoting the unit. This allows them to recover from the debuff and accumulated Trauma points after 3 days.
Aliens Dark Descent is currently out for most platforms, including PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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