''Destroy All Humans!'' is an
action-adventure video game developed by
Black Forest Games and published by
THQ Nordic. It is a remake of the
2005 original game and the fifth installment in the ''
Destroy All Humans!'' franchise. It is the first entry in the franchise since ''
Path of the Furon'' (2008).
''Destroy All Humans!'' was released for
PlayStation 4,
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
, and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
on 28 July 2020. It was made available for
Stadia on 8 December 2020. A
Nintendo Switch port was released on 29 June 2021. The game received mixed reviews from critics and had sold over 1 million units by May 2021. A sequel, ''
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed'', was released in 2022.
Gameplay
The game is played from a
third-person perspective
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to del ...
. The player controls Cryptosporidium 137 ("Crypto" for short), an alien who arrives on Earth in 1950s America to harvest human
DNA. Crypto is equipped with a vast arsenal of alien weapons, such as the Zap-O-Matic and Anal Probe, to defeat enemies. He also has superhuman skills, such as
psychokinetic powers and the ability to disguise himself as humans. Crypto can use a
jetpack to quickly navigate the environment. He can also command the
flying saucer, which is equipped with a death ray to kill opponents. Players can perform movements such as gliding and dashing, and they can chain actions together such as shooting enemies while levitating them. The game introduces the Focus Mode, which allows players to lock onto other enemies. Crypto is protected by a
shield, which informs players of the direction of hostile attacks. The game features six
sandbox
A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic.
Sandbox or sand box may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group
* Sandbox (Gu ...
locations which can be explored freely. Each location offers unique challenges for players to complete.
Development
A team of 60 people in
Black Forest Games served as the game's developer. The original game's dialogue and humor remained intact, though the team enhanced them by updating the character models and
cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s and introducing
motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
. Instead of re-recording the lines, the team used the audio from the original game and improved its quality for the remake. The game also includes a mission named "Lost Mission of Area 42" that was scrapped during the development of the original game. Black Forest considered developing the remake as a "natural continuation" of their work after finishing the development of ''Fade to Silence'' as they learned more about utilizing the technology and designing large, open areas.
THQ Nordic acquired the
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
rights from
THQ in 2013. In 2017, the firm reaffirmed that the company realized the demand for a new game in the series and added that they were exploring options to revitalize the franchise. The game was officially announced in June 2019. An extended gameplay demo was launched at
E3 2019. It was released for
PlayStation 4,
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
and
Stadia. A standalone multiplayer spin-off, titled ''Destroy All Humans! Clone Carnage'' was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows via
Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, on May 31, 2022.
Reception
''Destroy All Humans!'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
Sales
''Destroy All Humans!'' sales exceeded THQ Nordic's expectations. By May 2021, the game had sold over 1 million units.
References
;Notes
;References
External links
*
{{Destroy All Humans!
2020 video games
Action-adventure games
Video games about alien invasions
Black Forest Games games
Video games about cloning
Destroy All Humans
Fiction about holography
Open-world video games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
Science fiction video games
THQ Nordic games
Video games about extraterrestrial life
Video games developed in Germany
Video game remakes
Video games set in 1959
Video games set in California
Video games set in Nebraska
Video games set in New Mexico
Video games set in South Carolina
Video games set in Tennessee
Video games set in Washington, D.C.
Xbox One games
Windows games
Unreal Engine 4 games
Single-player video games
Stadia games
Video games set in the 1950s