Teardown PC Review

It looks like more and more new game development studios are popping up and aiming to rebuild the genres as we know them. Tuxedo Labs is one of these, based in Malmo, Sweden, and comprised of a small team of seasoned developers; they’ve taken several concepts and genres to create something amazing. Tuxedo Labs released their first game, Teardown, on 21 April 2022 after spending quite some time in Early Access. What makes Teardown so unique is that the world is built with voxel design in mind (Think Minecraft or Trove) and combined it with the satisfying joy of destruction physics.

 

However, what really makes this game shine is that it’s also a heist simulator. Normally, heist simulators are - get in, steal the objective or do what needs to be done and get out, right? Well, Teardown takes a totally different approach to it with its fully destructible world, so you don’t need to use the door if you can just make one. The whole world is your playground, and you’ll need to use some serious creativity if you want to complete your objective.

Teardown does have a story of sorts, though it acts more as a starting point that leads to heists and shady jobs being necessary. It starts with you being dropped off at what looks to be an abandoned train station, which also doubles as your home or hideout. Though you’ll need to switch on the power, after that, you’re all set to explore and get a feel for everything until you’re ready to head to the computer to see what’s new and select your next heist. The computer is where it all happens, your current rank, inbox, missions, and tool upgrades.

Your first message is from Tracy, your mom. She’s the head of sales at Lockelle Teardown Services and your boss from the looks of it. Unfortunately, money has become an issue as the gas bill came and she’s not sure how you’re going to get through the month. She’ll also tell you that you’ll have to accept any request and get creative. This is where your spiral into crime and heists begins with the next message from Tracy containing a forwarded message from Gordon Woo and where you get your first mission.

 

Your first mission isn’t too crazy, just a building that needs to be torn down for Gordon Woo to build a new wing for the nearby mall. Don’t take the first mission too lightly; while Teardown is a heist simulator, you’ll only have the basic tools at first. Some creativity is a must, but you’d be surprised at what you can do with what’s around you. Cars, propane tanks, a few well-placed strikes with your sledgehammer, and so much more can easily bring down a building. Blowing up walls by throwing propane tanks is great and all but it can also start fires. Early on, this isn’t really an issue, but in later missions, you’ll need to use your trusty fire extinguisher to put out the fires or risk setting off the fire alarm.

Yes, there are alarms, and they are a massive pain if you were hoping for a quick and quiet heist. Unfortunately, while you have endless options on how to complete your objective, alarms will become the bane of your existence as they set off a limited timer. At that same time, you’ll need to steal or destroy what needs to be stolen or destroyed, then get back to your getaway vehicle before it runs out. Running out of time means failing the mission, as you’ll have been caught by the authorities.

Things become a lot more interesting on bigger maps, even more so if there are multiple objectives or targets that are wired up to alarms. You’ll need to plan your routes carefully to make the most of your limited time, and this is where the spray paint comes in handy. You can spray out paths, leave marks and use the world as your drawing board for planning. However, the alarms and sometimes the massive distances between targets can be a bit of a buzzkill as you’ll need to plan everything out so carefully that the joy of the game starts fading somewhat. Before more recent updates, there was a bug that could be exploited to use the blowtorch that will essentially turn off alarms. This was, however, patched out shortly after it was discovered. Being able to turn off the alarms in some way would have added a fun extra step.

 

Speaking of the blowtorch, your sledgehammer is great for destroying most things, but it can’t do much to bricks or metal. Your blowtorch is great for cutting through metal bars, cars, and anything else that can be melted through. Bricks and the like will require something a bit more explosive, like pipe bombs, nitroglycerin, propane tanks, or even the shotgun. Unfortunately, the game would become dreadfully boring right from the start if you had these available right away.

Teardown uses a score for a ranking system that will climb as you do missions. Finishing just the required objectives will give you the bare minimum on the score, but going for optional objectives will naturally give you a nice boost. As your score climbs, you’ll start getting more tools to use on future heists like the shotgun, planks, blowtorch and so many others that can fuel the destruction.

Naturally, things start going a little crazy with each area you do missions in and the security gets upgraded with each new mission. As you’ll soon see, security isn’t just a ton of alarms; it’ll eventually start fighting back and becoming more elaborate. You’ll need to keep your options open and strategize your moves to get the most out of the mission. However, some trial and error are almost always useful in a game like this, so you’ll need to rely on quick saving.

 

After all the chaos and acquiring some new tools by raising your score, you’ll probably need a few upgrades, but you’ll need money for upgrades since missions don’t pay at all. Yes, missions don’t pay… Worry not; money is around every corner in a mission. Since you’re out breaking and entering, or just breaking, you can also do some affirmative shopping for anything valuable. The values of each item you pinch can vary quite heavily, but every little helps, and it adds up very quickly to fund your next set of upgrades.

For those who just want some gratuitous destruction without limits and worries, Sandbox Mode is your best friend. You can choose between just about any location and destroy until you’re satisfied with optional access to all the unlockable tools in the game. There is also an option for those who want to build a scene in a voxel world with creative mode, it does take some getting used to, but there are nearly endless possibilities for what you can create after that.

Teardown features one extremely attractive feature that isn’t entirely applauded by game developers, but Tuxedo Labs is actually encouraging modding for their game. This in itself is a rarity, as most developers say it takes away from the overall experience of a game, but in a game like Teardown, mods just open a whole new world of chaos and destruction. Teardown comes with pre-built mods to choose from, but if those aren’t to your taste, you also have the option to make your own using a free program recommended by Tuxedo Labs called MagicaVoxel along with Lua Script to bring your mods to life.

 

To save the best for last. A game like Teardown might be a bit on the difficult side for players who are new to heist simulators or want more of a challenge. Luckily, there are options to increase or reduce the alarm times, unlock all the tools and locations, unlock creative mode, and increase or reduce ammo. All this makes the game incredibly approachable. Though a personal favorite, if some missions are damn near impossible is enabling the option to skip missions. When you’ve spent hours trying to pull off a simple heist but just can’t quite make it on that one mission, you can skip it instead of getting frustrated with it. This works quite well if you want to revisit a mission at a later stage.

On the visual side, as mentioned before, Teardown features a fully destructible world. Voxel designed games are a rarity, games like this that are actually good are even rare, but Teardown definitely falls into this category. When you start your rampage of destruction, you won’t get mountains of little blocks flying everywhere. At least, they instead actually get destroyed, so there’s no unnecessary clutter. The world design itself is actually brilliant and extremely detailed for voxel design, and there’s a clear attention to detail as you explore each location. You might not have the realistic detail in Teardown, but the satisfaction is still there and a lot of fun to plot out with explosives.

The sound engineering front is actually impressive for a voxel game. Instead of the typical layout consisting of a monotonous soundtrack and bland sounds, you’ll actually get a soundtrack that matches the theme of the game. When you’re out on a mission to plan your heist, the music leans more toward the calm side while not being overbearing… Until you trip the alarms, the music shifts to the opposite end of the spectrum to be more urgent and really drives the atmosphere of needing to hurry.

 

Overall, Teardown is an incredible heist simulator built in a very detailed voxel world that would put any other game like it to shame. With the nearly endless options to lower or raise the difficulty, Sandbox and Creative Modes, tons of tools to unlock and choose from, and the ability to mod the game, Teardown is definitely a game that can appeal to any type of gamer regardless of their skill level. Going on heists or just coming for rampant destruction, there’s always a good time to be had.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Editor, NoobFeed