Destroy All Humans! (2020)

For a long time, most of us thought that Destroy All Humans! was a franchise that had had its time in the sun, but like many other defunct properties, THQ Nordic are bringing it back. A full remake of the first game, released back in 2005, is due out imminently, giving fans of the original the chance to revisit its ridiculous action, and those who never played it the chance to experience it for the first time. As we count down the days to its launch, in this feature, we’ll be talking about key details you should know about the game.

PREMISE

If you’re new to the Destroy All Humans! franchise, the premise is pretty simple- it’s all in the name, really. It flips the typical alien invasion script and lets you play as an alien wreaking havoc on Earth and its citizens. Destroy All Humans! puts players in the shoes of Crypto-137, a soldier of the Furon empire, who is sent on a mission to Earth to steal Furon DNA from human brains, and rescue fellow Furon soldier Crypto-136, who got captured by humans during an earlier mission. As Crypto wreaks havoc in the United states, he will be squaring off against citizens, law enforcement, the military, and the Majestic agency.

CRYPTO’S WEAPONS

Crypto will be equipped with an arsenal of ridiculously and gleefully silly weapons and abilities as he takes on the citizens of Earth. There’s the Zap-O-Matic, a gun that shocks victims with an electrical charge; the Disintegrator Ray, which, true to its name, completely disintegrates victims’ flesh and skin, leaving behind just a skeleton; the Ion Detonator, which is essentially a grenade launcher; and more.

JETPACK AND SHIELD

On top of his weapons, Crypto is also equipped with a few other tools that he can use for both combat and traversal. One particularly useful tool is Crypto’s jetpack, which plays a big role in traversal and navigation. Meanwhile, Crypto is also equipped with a shield, and during combat, the shield lets players know about incoming attacks and what direction they’re coming from.

CRYPTO’S SHIP

While Crypto has more than enough weapons in his arsenal to wreak havoc while he’s on foot, he can also hop into his ship, the flying saucer, to use its own weapons to do the same. The Death Ray burns anything it touches, from humans and animals to cars and buildings, and the Abducto Beam lifts people up into the air and hurls them away. The ship can also throw bombs at its targets, with some being relatively small-scale, and others being all-out radioactive detonations.

PSYCHOKINETIC POWERS

Crypto’s invasion of Earth is about more than just using cool weapons to rain down destruction on humans. He can also use his psychokinetic powers for various purposes. On top of being able to lift things (and people) with his mind, Crypto can also use these powers to disguise himself as a human and walk around completely unnoticed (though more powerful enemies can spot the disguise if they get close to Crypto).

FOCUS MODE

One new feature that the Destroy All Humans! remake is adding that wasn’t included in the original game is Focus Mode, which allows players to lock on to targets. This should come in particularly handy during combat, especially given how quick and chaotic some combat encounters in the game can be, and how you will often tend to take on quite a large number of enemies at the same time.

THE WORLD

Destroy All Humans! will, of course, have a fully open world setting, and as you might know if you’ve played the original, there’s plenty of variety in the world in terms of locations. The world is divided into six unique locations, each fully explorable and containing various activities. These areas are- the industrial city Union Town; a Southern farm community called Turnipseed Farm; a Nebrasks town called Rockwell; the Washington D.C. parody, Capitol City; the Santa Monica parody, Santa Modesta; and Area 42, a parody of Area 51.

HUB

When you’re not messing about on Earth and, you know, destroying all humans, you’ll be chilling out on the Furon mothership, which acts as a hub location in the game. From the ship, you can travel to and from any of the six districts of the game’s world. Meanwhile, here, players can also receive new weapons, or upgrade the ones they already have in their arsenal.

LOST MISSION OF AREA 42

Destroy All Humans! is looking like its going to be a very faithful remake – perhaps taking a page out of the extremely successful Crash and Spyro remakes – but it will still have some new content that wasn’t included in the original game. For instance, it’s been confirmed that the game will include a mission that was cut out of the original game during its development, called “Lost Mission of Area 42”. The name makes it obvious that the mission is set in Area 42, but other than that, there’s not much we know about it.

ORIGINAL DIALOG RETAINED

Here’s another example of how developers Black Forest Games are trying to remain as faithful to the original game as possible with their upcoming remake. While they’re touching up and polishing a lot of stuff, one thing they’re bringing over completely as is is the original game’s dialog, what with wanting to keep the 2005 game’s humour intact and unchanged. In fact, the game doesn’t feature re-recorded dialog either, with Black Forest instead choosing to bring over audio from the original and enhancing its quality.

CUTSCENES, ASSETS, AND MORE

Some things, however, are going to receive major facelifts. Of course, this being a ground-up remake, things such as the environments, the character models, and everything else that goes along with that have been remade entirely from scratch, and what we’ve seen of the game so far certainly seems to be promising impressive visual fidelity. Meanwhile, though audio and dialog from the original game have been brought over as is, cutscenes have been completely re-recorded, this time using motion capture.

WREAKING HAVOC

As the game’s name implies, wreaking havoc in the world and messing with the humans is your primary goal in Destroy All Humans! As you’re doing that, destroying the world’s destructible environments, and just being an all-around nuisance, you’ll attract the attention of Earth’s defenses, starting with the police, then the military, then finally the Majestic agency.

PRICE

Remakes launching at lower prices has been something of a standardized trend in the industry, and Destroy All Humans! will abide by that standard, launching at $40. There are two special editions that you can purchase as well, however. The DNA Collector’s Edition – which includes a premium box, a statue depicting Crypto messing with a cow, a stress toy, a keychain, six lithographs, and all in-game skins for Crypto – costs $149.99, while the Crypto-137 Edition – which replaces the aforementioned statue with another, bigger statue of Crypto, and also adds a backpack shaped like him – costs $399.99.