Alien Swarm vs The Cycle: Frontier
Alien Swarm is a strategy survival game from Valve (2010) while The Cycle: Frontier is an FPS mmorpg game from YAGER (2022).
What each one is
Steam files Alien Swarm under Strategy and Survival. In contrast, it files The Cycle: Frontier under FPS and Mmorpg.
Co-operative multiplayer game and complete code base available for free.
The Cycle: Frontier is a free-to-play PvPvE Extraction Shooter driven by suspense and danger. Prospect for resources and other riches on an abandoned alien world ravaged by a deadly storm, inhabited by monsters and other ambitious Prospectors.
At a glance
| Alien Swarm | The Cycle: Frontier | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 8.0/10 | 6.1/10 |
| Steam rating | Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 21,612) | Mixed (64%, 45,267) |
| Critic aggregate | 77/100 | No aggregate |
| Price | Free | Not listed |
| Install size | — | 37 GB |
| Steam Deck | playable | unsupported |
| Released | 2010 | 2022 |
| Developer | Valve | YAGER |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Alien Swarm vs The Cycle: Frontier, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Alien SwarmStrategy survival gameThe Cycle: FrontierFPS mmorpg gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Alien SwarmFree to Play, Co-op, ActionThe Cycle: FrontierExtraction Shooter, Survival, LootThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Alien Swarm ✓Score 8.0 · 95% on Steam · 77 criticThe Cycle: FrontierScore 6.1 · 64% on SteamThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Alien Swarm21,612 reviewsThe Cycle: Frontier45,267 reviews · 37 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Alien SwarmFreeThe Cycle: FrontierNot listedRead live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Alien Swarm ✓PlayableThe Cycle: FrontierUnsupportedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Alien Swarm takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueAlien Swarm and The Cycle: Frontier on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Alien Swarm (GamingPickz Score 8.0)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Alien Swarm (playable)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: The Cycle: Frontier (45,267 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Free to PlayMultiplayerOnline Co-OpAliensShooterSci-fiSurvivalPvE
Where they differ
Co-opActionTop-DownTop-Down ShooterClass-BasedThird Person
Extraction ShooterLootCraftingLooter ShooterTacticalPvP
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Alien Swarm is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Cycle: Frontier is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Alien Swarm | The Cycle: Frontier | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
| Minimum CPU | Pentium 4 3.0GHz | Intel i5-4590 |
| Minimum RAM | 1 GB | 6 GB |
| Install size | — | 37 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Alien Swarm · The Cycle: Frontier.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 6 accessibility features for Alien Swarm and 0 for The Cycle: Frontier. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Alien Swarm and The Cycle: Frontier in scope?
Alien Swarm has drawn 21,612 Steam reviews. The Cycle: Frontier has drawn 45,267 Steam reviews and installs in 37 GB.
Is Alien Swarm or The Cycle: Frontier better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Alien Swarm rates higher (8.0 to 6.1). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Alien Swarm or The Cycle: Frontier?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.