Teardown (PC: Early-Access) First Impressions

Oscar Henderson - 15/11/2020

There was once a game called ‘Minecraft’, which saw some level of mild success at the turn of the 2010’s. Now, as with any object of success in the games industry, the gutters of every gaming storefront will quickly become the final resting place of its countless, half-finished clones. Names like ‘Block-craft’ or ‘Dino-Craft’ come to mind, these may or may not be real games but I am referring to the sleazy cash-ins on the instantly recognizable blocky worlds and the hordes of children who were drawn to them. At a glance you could be forgiven for dismissing Teardown as just another extreme latecomer to that morbid cash party, however, look a moment longer and you’ll realise it is much, much more.

Now the first thing that catches you off guard when starting up Teardown is just how good everything looks; warm volumetric lighting effects and dancing shadows that imbue a sense of calm atmosphere. The attention to detail given to the angular, blocky environments is actually quite impressive as well; every shop, hotdog stand, kitchen and boathouse feel pristinely prepared, adorned with meticulously placed furniture. An abandoned Hollywood set waiting for the crew to come on set to call “ACTION!”. That is when the fun truly begins…

As the name suggests, Teardown sends you (an opportunistic demolitions expert) into these pristine, well rendered environments with one overriding purpose, to cause massive financial damage to overly wealthy businessmen and make off with as many valuables as you can in the process. The first tool you are handed to fight your noble cause is a simple mallet. You might begin looking at the tasks ahead, perplexed and humbled, yet upon swinging at a wall and watching it crumble and collapse into a gorgeous pile of rubble (thanks to the game’s deep physics and destruction simulation), you will learn to respect and love it. Playing through a few levels, visiting swanky compounds of jet setting millionaires, and backwater industrial facilities you’re teased with the possibilities as you’re introduced to the satisfying destruction mechanics. However, following a few routine demolitions and fetch quests the property owners will begin to install security systems that, when triggered, leave you with just 60 hot seconds to complete the various objectives scattered across the environment. This forces you to employ your newly found demolitions skills to creative and convoluted ends in order to escape before security forces come to foil your plot. Luckily, as the tasks become harder your arsenal becomes more versatile. Additionally, each level is scattered with fully functional construction vehicles; cranes, bulldozers, concrete mixers, dump trucks, you name it. With the clock ticking you quickly learn that tearing things down is only half the story, it’s how you do it that counts.

In one level you are tasked with conducting a heist at a luxury compound; the targets, a collection of prize sports cars. Investigating through the handy top down view, which outlines the various objectives, I saw a dauntingly dispersed smattering of icons. I was going to have to be meticulous if I was going to pull this off in 60 seconds. My mission

led me eventually to a rooftop patio, where one of the target vehicles was conspicuously parked. I began the careful task of rending a gaping hole directly through three floors of the once sparkling white condominium with the help of some pipe bombs I had handy (as you progress you get to play a little faster and looser with the tools on offer). The plan was to send the car leaping gracefully down through all three of the now scorch-marked floors, landing stylishly on the ground unscathed and then into the back of a removals van I had parked outside. This was sadly not how the plan went. Revving the engine with confidence I rolled forwards off into the finely crafted tunnel I had spent the last five minutes hacking away at. Immediately the car body hitched on a piece of rubble losing the driver side door in the process and proceeded on a wayward tumble through the structure like an oversized puck on a tombola board, finally crumpling bonnet first into itself as it impacted with the concrete below in a way that can only be described as unceremonious and cruel. The fact that I failed is not the point here, the point is that with the tools this sandbox offers I considered this a viable strategy in the first place. While not all your plans will be successful, when they are, you’ll feel all the more like an insane genius, leaping out of jeeps mid-flight and rushing across a patchwork system of plank walkways you’ve weaved efficiently through a structure.

At the centre of the experience there’s just something primal and compelling to be found within the refined act of systematic demolition. The same can be said for the smashing, burning and general obliteration of property belonging to cigar chomping industrialists and egomaniacs, who probably export their labour to third world countries. It’s a satisfaction that I’ve only experienced before in ‘Red Faction: Guerrilla’ and ‘Just Cause’ and I believe these games offer a healthy and socially acceptable outlet for this enjoyable pastime of illegal property destruction.

The flow of the gameplay feels almost like a ‘best of’, consisting of some of the best gameplay motifs in other games but encapsulated in a single title. For instance, each mission roughly follows a three-act structure of planning, preparation, and execution that is distinctly reminiscent of the meticulous process of assassination in IO Interactive’s Hitman games. Of course, there’s also the wealth of possibilities offered in the intuitive sandbox functionality of Minecraft. Teardown draws these inspirations together into a multi-layered experience that is wholly unique, at times slow and methodical, and at others a hectic race against the clock. It is, however, the strain between these elements which could prove to be the game’s greatest challenge in finding a larger audience. The stress of time limited dashes, for many, could be a turn-off, whilst the long swathes of preparation time ranging from 20 minutes to upwards of an hour if you’re really wanting to shave off seconds on your attempt, swing drastically in the other direction. These long prep times are heightened by a propensity for crashes when alt tabbing, which on two occasions led to a loss of painstakingly prepped escape plans.

Performance in general could do with some significant improvement; the game’s physics simulation is very intensive on your PC’s resources. When hammering through a wall this is not so much of an issue, however, when planting multiple explosives on larger structures framerate can drop into the single figures. In most gameplay scenarios this doesn’t pose a significant issue, but if you want to test the limits of what’s possible with the destruction you may find yourself watching a series of still images rather than playing a game while more modest machines may simply be unable to hack it.

Having been in early access for just a couple of weeks at the time of writing, the developers have already implemented some quality of life features, but more could be done in this regard. For instance, it’s impossible to save your progress mid-level so you’ll need to make sure you can see a mission through to the end or you’ll have to begin from scratch after exiting the game. There’s a healthy amount of content on offer, around 20 hours altogether; perhaps a bit longer if you spend time to complete all of the objectives in each scenario, with a second instalment of content promised along the pipeline. After completing the first helping I can say I’m keenly anticipating my return to the world of Teardown. The game is great to play and as you progress the challenges begin to steadily evolve, however, I’ll leave those surprises for you to discover. Ultimately, if there’s continued experimentation with level design extending what is possible within the sandbox, Teardown has all the makings of a cult classic.