Aliens: Dark Descent — How to Remove Facehuggers

Aliens: Dark Descent features every stage of the xenomorph life cycle, from the egg (also called the Ovomorph) to the dangerous Alien Queen. While you’ll mostly be fighting against the adult Xenos in combat, there will be a few times when you’ll need to deal with facehuggers. Here’s how to remove facehuggers from your Marines and avoid game over.

How to Remove Facehuggers in Aliens: Dark Descent

Facehuggers are first seen in the prologue, although they’ll become much more of a threat once you encounter them outside of the tutorial-guided sections. Though they’re weak and easy to kill, the real danger is when they swarm you. It only takes one to incapacitate a Marine. After a few encounters, I found the key to keeping your squad secure is the following process:

• Equip the Extraction Device Xenotech before deploying your squad.
• If one of your Marines is downed by a facehugger, approach them as soon as safely possible.
• Interact with them and choose the Embryo Extraction option.

If a Marine is incapacitated by a facehugger before you have the Extraction Device, interacting with them afterward will actually tell you that you don’t have the right tool yet. Thankfully, you won’t have to go on long without it, as the blueprints will be unlocked after beating your first Alien Queen in Dead Hills.

How to Unlock the Extraction Device

Once the blueprints have been taken from the queen’s corpse, you can research them at the Otago’s lab. It costs 10 Xenosamples to study the project and an additional two Xenosamples to equip this xenotech on any deployment. This will add the option for any active Marine to remove facehuggers from their squadmates in case the little monsters attack someone.

During my time playing the first couple of missions, I had already amassed more than enough Xenosamples to research this and more. For those who don’t have as much and need to choose between which blueprints on hand to research, the Extraction Device should be a priority.

Related: How to Rotate Turrets in Aliens: Dark Descent

I also recommend bringing this xenotech whenever you’re mostly exploring unknown areas. We have some tips for dealing with facehuggers quietly in our Dark Descent tips and tricks guide, but it really can’t be understated how disruptive these things can be if you’re unprepared. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Every type of xenomorph presents a challenge, but hopefully, you feel more at ease when it comes to removing facehuggers from your marines in Aliens: Dark Descent. If you’re looking for other tips to stay a step ahead of the violent alien bugs, make sure to check out our best weapons tier list and our guide on how to remove traumas from your Marines.