I picked this up and I'm really looking forward to playing it. A nice alternative to Call of Cthulhu in terms of a horror RPG. The way it's written, edited and presented makes it very easy to comprehend. It isn't overburdened by fluff writing with rules buried somewhere in superfluous text. The dark artwork evokes the deathly stillness and emptiness of space. It's a very grim look at humanities future so there are many avenues for conflict besides just chest-busting aliens and face-hugging horrors.
Characters here don't have Divine Strike and Eldritch Blast to save them. In Alien RPG, the heroes are mere truckers and grunts with perhaps nothing but a bit of human compassion (or androids with altruistic programming) to separate them from sociopathic CEOs and remorseless creatures spawned in the freezing depths of infinite space.
Long term survival for players is not expected and that makes for exciting play and an interesting game.
Even though the lite rules are redundant, the Starter Set looks like a worthwhile buy. I'd get it for the scenario: "Chariots of the Gods", the big map, game markers, cards and dice. The other published adventures look good and I hope to pick them up as well.
We have a few other games going right now, so it may be a bit before we actually get to play Alien RPG, but it looks great. Really well done with no agendas derailing the theme. I've traded in or sold off some newer games I've bought in the past few years, but Alien RPG is a keeper.
