Developers Black Forest Games has joined forces with Pandemic Studios to bring back Destroy All Humans! in all of the modern glory that it deserves. The campy cult-classic parodied cold-war era media concerning about alien invasions, complete with mockeries of American archetypes, was a successful Summer title of 2005 that spawned multiple sequels in the following years.
The recent announcement of a remaster of the original (and arguably best) Destroy All Humans! has been met with unequivocal excitement from fans of yesteryear that continue to receive loads of fan-service; Final Fantasy 7 Remake has similarly just released a remaster to mostly praise from critics and fans alike.
Black Forest Games and THQ have released a brief demo that offers fans a quick look at the title as it’s forming up, set for release on July 28, 2020, on Steam and GOG. Emphasis on ‘brief look’; this will last you about fifteen minutes, although you could likely stretch it to reach the developer-estimated playtime of 30-40 minutes.
In the demo, players control Crypto landing in a rural farmstead with distinct farmer stereotypes being played to fruition; buck-toothed and having difficulty pronouncing anything beyond a second-grade education level, the stereotypes are played loudly and often to drum up the humor.
It’s undeniably faithful to the original, but the general lack of awareness as they poke fun at stereotypes jostles an eye-roll far more often than a chuckle.
As you control Crypto in his inevitable first contact with humanoids that begins his rampage of destruction and murder, the demo is more than serviceable in regards to what THQ was attempting to achieve, although it is difficult to shake the idea that is all feels a bit too dated for modern gameplay.
The levels are small, the enemies come and go quickly, and the abilities wear out their welcome in the short window of gameplay.
Again, it’s a fantastic reproduction where everything has been upscaled and prettified; it’s just difficult to commend THQ on that alone in the modern era.
Conversely, it’s not necessarily lauding accolades on Square Enix’s decision to cut a game into multiple parts and sell them all as a full-priced game for small parts of the story; there’s something to be said for staying true to the original with only small tunings.
Ultimately, however, the demo is available to play on GOG as of writing, allowing you to download the surprisingly large package of 7.7 GB. You can freely download the game and wager your two cents on what THQ has been cooking up in the backroom.
