Spelling Matters: "Aliens: Colonial Marines" Was Released With a Disastrous Typo and It Ruined the Game

Aliens: Colonial Marines' approval rating shows why spelling really does matter.

In 2013, a video game based on the popular Aliens franchise was released to abysmal reviews.

The notices criticised the game for being riddled with glitches, its low-quality graphics and characters (both teammates and enemies) with terrible AI.

But it has been revealed by some members of a gaming forum, ResetERA, that this might've been the result of a simple spelling error. Yes, a spelling error.

The word in question was "tether" and an extra 'a' was added to the code, leaving it as "teather". This meant that your enemies didn't "tether" (instead, they "teathered") to a certain point within the game, making their actions erratic and, ultimately, dumb.

It really does change the whole game.

The revelation left people understandably dumbfounded as to how a high-profile game could be released with such a huge error.

But some just felt that the game was bad even with the spelling correction.

like obviously this isn't going to fix the script (and the human enemies) but this would solve a lot of Colonial Marines' problems.

— Doc (@ForgetAmnesia) July 13, 2018

So, remember the next time that someone tells you that spelling isn't important outside of spelling tests.

It. Is.

Header Image: Gearbox Software