Teardown

This is the game I always, always wanted. While I wasn't exactly a destructive kid, usually my favorite part of building something was watching it fall part. Things like earthquake simulations and (non-fatal) train wrecks just fascinated me a lot as a kid, but I always wanted more. Something more... specialized. Something I could play with. I used to think that at some point I grew up and stopped wanting something like that.
I'm extremely happy to report that I was wrong.
Teardown was born from Dennis Gustafsson's desire to build a more accurate and realistic physics engine without requiring NASA-grade hardware to use in real-time. What began as simple tech-demos showcased in short Twitter videos began to grow in scale. Soon it wasn't just a simulation to exercise his coding skills. It was now a platform, an engine. And then, it had its own name. Teardown.
Now around this time was when I discovered the project. Seeing those little clips of blocky trees collapsing and burning with incredible levels of detail was enough to re-awaken that piece of my childhood desire. And after drooling over the increasingly advanced and intricate teasers he posted, the reveal finally came that this was not just one man's hobby-project anymore. It was a game. It was for the public. And it was coming.
To be honest I didn't think much of the actual gameplay aspects being revealed. I was just excited to finally get my hands on the destruction engine built from my adolescent dreams. And after months of waiting. it was finally released onto Early Access.

The actual gameplay loop itself is fairly easy to describe. You are placed into a map with a goal to complete, and an extraction point to reach after you have satisfied the minimum mission requirements. The goals are either to level an area down to a certain maximum height, retrieve keycards from several locations, or move heavier physics objects to other points on the map. Most of the time, these objectives and your escape must be completed in a 60-second timeframe, or you will fail. The destruction engine is where things get interesting.
In most missions, the timer will not start until you begin collecting the required items. This means that you have almost totally free reign to transform the environment to fit your goals. Plan out the route that you will run to reach and collect all the mission items you think you can, and get out within the time limit. Then, using the tools at your disposal, make the map your own personal free-running course. Break though doors, blow open walls, place vehicles, and build bridges to get you from Point A to Points B, C, et cetera as quickly as possible. With quick-saving and loading you have a lot of room to experiment; if the path isn't fast enough (or if you accidentally trip an alarm too early, as will often be the case), you have all the chances you need to try again and improve your route. Finishing a mission with extra optional objectives will award you skill levels which unlock new tools. Exploring the maps and breaking into hidden/locked areas will reward you with pawnable loot, which can be used to upgrade various aspects of your arsenal. As the game progresses new challenges and obstacles are steadily introduced, keeping things fresh for the whole experience.
As of writing this review, only Act 1 of the campaign is available. But with the aforementioned challenges as well as recently-integrated Steam Workshop support for community-made maps and tools, the replayability factor is high even for this early stage in the game's life. New content is always in the works, and updates will likely continue even beyond the full 1.0 release.

As for my personal experience with the game, it's hard to overstate my satisfaction with Teardown. This was the first game I was actively excited for in many years, and although I tempered my expectations for things like performance and total quantity of content released in the first Early Access opening, I was still absolutely blown away and utterly infatuated. I only stopped playing when the clock struck 3 AM, and when Act 1's credits finished scrolling. I was completely invested and engaged 100% of the time I was playing. The only problems I have with the game in its current state are the lack of support for community-made custom campaigns and the driving engine feeling quite floaty. But given how early it still is in the game's development, I am totally confident that these issues will not exist by the time the game is complete.


Teardown is not the game I've always wanted. It's better than that, and growing bigger every day.