How to Reduce Stress and Remove Traumas in Aliens: Dark Descent

Breathe in, breathe out, and let go of your worries and intrusive thoughts… This might be a good approach when you’re dealing with stress in everyday situations, but, somehow, I don’t think it’s going to cut it if the cause of your stress is a xenomorph outbreak.

Ok, you’re not alone—you have your team of Colonial Marines to help you deal with all the madness and death on Planet Lethe, but all that responsibility just feels like more stress to me, to be honest. If you want to survive (because death is permanent in this game), it is essential to learn how to reduce stress and remove traumas in Aliens: Dark Descent. This guide will help you do exactly that.

Related: How to Heal in Darkest Dungeon 2

How to Reduce Stress in Aliens: Dark Descent

If you don’t take care of your stress levels in Aliens: Dark Descent, you’re going to have to deal with debuffs that carry over from your previous levels—and trust me, you don’t want that. More stress leads to even more dangerous trauma, and I can’t recommend enough avoiding that at all costs.

Luckily, to reduce stress in Aliens: Dark Descent, you can just make a shelter by escaping into a room and welding the doors shut. However, you will need to meet a few requirements there. The room can’t be right next to the alien infestation, and you will need to have one tool on you for welding the door. Once you’re done with securing the room, you will be able to recuperate from stress-related damage.

Alternatively, you can also use these methods to reduce stress levels in Aliens: Dark Descent:

• Take pills (Naproleve)
• Have a Sargent use their Reprimand skill on a stressed-out Marine (available at level 6; stops all stress for 30 seconds; costs one Command Point)
• Increase a Marine’s Bravery to 15% at least

How to Remove Traumas in Aliens: Dark Descent

If you thought stress was bad for your team, wait until you hear about trauma. However insensitive it may sound, you don’t want a traumatized Marine helping you fight off waves of blood-thirsty xenomorphs. Moreover, healing your Marines from trauma will require a bit more than making a shelter behind some welded doors.

To remove traumas in Aliens: Dark Descent, you will need to finish Mission 2: Berkley’s Docks and get access to the Psychiatric Care Unit in the Medical Quarters. If you have any traumatized team members, you will need to leave them there to heal, but you should know that the process takes time—especially if they need to recover from physical wounds first.

The only alternative to this method would be to get the Mind of Steel attribute as it removes any trauma after three days.

We certainly hope this advice helps you take better care of your team’s mental health—you will need every little piece of sanity to get through this nightmare of a mission. For more useful guides, check out the rest of our dedicated Aliens: Dark Descent section here on TouchTapPlay.