Team17 initially conceived of a three-dimensional Alien Breed game for DOS computers only, but ruled out the idea in the wake of id Software's new first-person shooter, Doom.

It was brought to fruition when Andy Clitheroe, a mathematics student from the University of York, demonstrated a demo of his 3D engine running on an Amiga computer.

The game was released to a generally favorable reception, with some reviewers regarding it as the best "Doom clone" for the Amiga, although reactions to its departure from the Alien Breed series' style of gameplay by fans were ambivalent.

Critics praised the game's atmosphere and level architecture, in particular the inclusion of layered storeys and underwater areas, although the graphics were criticised for appearing pixelated, as was the lack of automap.

Grant reporting how the secret Project Osiris has slipped out of scientists' hands: attempts have been made to cultivate the alien eggs found in Azirin by cloning them and combining with human DNA, leading to remarkable results, but due to system failures, the Breed has been unleashed and killed people at the research station.

[3] Team17, a British game developer and publisher known for its Alien Breed series, considered a follow-up that would be set in a 3D environment, as opposed to the top-down view of its predecessors.

The origins of Alien Breed 3D can be traced back to the University of York, where Andy Clitheroe, then a mathematics student, observed his peers being impressed by Doom running on the only DOS computer between them.

[11][12][13] A friend of Clitheroe reverse engineered a demo to create an algorithm that would emulate a number-per-pixel mode on Amiga 1200, which relied on planar graphics for display.

Number-per-pixel algorithms were favoured by other Doom clones for the Amiga for the convenience of changing the colour of each individual pixel, and Clitheroe used his friend's technique to create a first-person engine by himself.

[14] By chance, Team17's creative director, Martyn Brown, read a message on the Internet by the York student about his engine, which, at the latter's girlfriend's pressing, was then demonstrated in the company's offices on an Amiga computer.

[12][13] The game's producer, Kenny Grant, who in early 1995 had seen nearly all Doom clones yet released for Amiga, stated that Team17 sought to avoid mistakes made by developers of those shooters.

[21] Amiga Power believed that having a wholly different set of people develop Alien Breed 3D benefitted the game's quality, but the magazine criticised the lack of a map and the inability to look up and down, and the low level total of 16.

It metaphorically describing Alien Breed 3D as having had its wings clipped to limit its flight height, but favourably factored in the value of the game against the console's greatly lower price compared to the Macintosh, and praised the soundtrack.

[27] Despite its critical success, the game's departure from the Alien Breed series' formula of gameplay was met with mixed fan reactions.

While dismissing the screen size as "dreadfully annoying", it concluded that "the finely structured level design, stunning visuals and gruesome deaths delivered a Doom-like experience that many felt the Amiga could never achieve.

[39] Retro Gamer described how Alien Breed 3D inspired other developers to attempt their own Doom clone for the Amiga, including Breathless and Genetic Species, which benefitted from third-party peripherals such as external CD-ROM drives and expansion cards with additional RAM and more powerful processors that were retailed until around 1998, despite Commodore International's 1994 demise.