Play Alien Worlds Online

Game Overview

Alien Worlds is one of those MS-DOS games that makes you wonder how it slipped under the radar. You're blasting through these psychedelic alien landscapes in a ship that handles just right—not too floaty, not too stiff—while these weird, pulsing creatures come at you from every angle. The first level alone has these jellyfish-looking things that split into smaller enemies when you shoot them, which I definitely wasn't expecting.

The pixel art has this trippy, almost hand-painted quality to it, especially in the later levels where the backgrounds get seriously surreal. And the music? Pure late-80s synth goodness that somehow never gets old, even when you're replaying the same level for the tenth time because those spider-aliens keep cornering you.

It's not the hardest shooter out there, but there's something about the way everything moves and reacts that just feels satisfying. If you've got a soft spot for forgotten DOS gems, this one's a great excuse to fire up DOSBox.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".