Long before the emergence of Spider-Man, Ratchet and Clank, or even Spyro the Dragon into mainstream pop culture, the thing called Disruptor had arrived. That’s true, you heard me right. Rather than going all big with webslinging superheroes and lombax adventures, Insomniac Games got real grungy and hardcore with a first-person shooter way back in 1996. No, this is not even an alternate reality fanfic-it literally happened.
So, the studio dropped this little bombshell-it’s nostalgic about PS1-era games as Disruptor, whose unfortunate fate possibly lay somewhere in the history of gaming.
Wild weapons and psychic powers (because why the hell not) encompassed Insomnia’s first title-far removed from the family-friendliness they would later come to be known for.
Why so few people even know about Disruptor is clear; among other things, the most important one is-this was such a great year for gaming: a Lara Croft was just introduced by Tomb Raider, Resident Evil grew up to become the horror red-letter day, and Super Mario 64 literally changed movement in 3D space.
Meanwhile, Disruptor was . . . there. Solid but undistinguished FPS, when Doom and Quake had already completely taken over.
But then again, it was far from the end of the story. No, it didn’t stink. For people to rave about it, critics had to be out of their minds at that point because of the silky controls, which were rare-with early PS1 shooters-and about the powers of psychics, which added, well, a strangely pleasant twist to otherwise mundane run-and-gun action. It just failed to blow up-somehow.
Perhaps they just didn’t manage to hook anyone with the very generic story decked with sci-fi elements, or perhaps Insomniac was yet to discover their magic recipe. Either way, they would go into full spin after this and not look back until Spyro came there about two years later.
So, the big question then: ever again would disruptor turn up? Probably not. Insomniac itself is pretty much over without such shinier things as ”Wolverine.” But hey, if they ever wanted to create some sneaky Easter egg in Ratchet & Clank or Spider-Man 2? That would be a deep-cut reference only to catch for real OGs.
Disruptor now stands wrung out as the one odd footnote in the house of Insomniac; evidence that even the largest studios had to start off somewhere. And, honestly? Kind of cool. Not all debuts are masterpieces, and if it weren’t for Disruptor, we might never have had the Insomniac we know today. Here’s to the odd, forgotten FPS that got it all started.
And by the way, if any Insomniacs happen to be reading this, just put Disruptor on PS Plus Classics already. We have to be having this fever dream for ourselves.
