What happens when the world becomes too stupid to overflow with people who don’t trust science or educators? Well, according to the recently released ones Explore and destroy, once people stop trusting science and start believing in every wild theory they find online, the world will actually be taken over by supernatural monsters, brought to life by all the idiots who believe in them. Oops! But don’t panic. Three clever, deadly scientists are here to fight evil and save the world, turn by turn.
Released yesterday in Game Pass for Xbox and PC, Explore and destroy is partly turn-based XCOM-style strategy game and partly third-person action shooter. Each round, you are free to move all three of your scientists, explore, shoot, and traverse the world using controls similar to those you would find in Fourteen days. However, you only have about eight seconds before it is your turn. Stop moving and shooting and the clock will stop too, so you can carefully consider how to use your precious time, but eventually when that time is up your character will be in place until his next move and spot frozen, even in mid-air.
That makes every curve clean Explore and destroy exciting, especially when you’re being swarmed by ghouls and ghosts and you have to be careful not to miss important shots or expose yourself to supernatural attacks.
It reminded me a lot worms, with each round becoming a chance to make a badass and heroic move or screw it up and watch all your hopes crumble because you made a mistake. And since the game doesn’t use dice rolls to resolve fights, any success or failure is directly your fault. No pressure!
All the evil zombies, mummies, trolls and ghosts you encounter during each mission and everything else in this game are highly stylized. It looks like a game of torn pages EC Horror Comics Vault. In other words, it’s beautiful, and I was often distracted just by moving the free camera on different planes and looking at all the cool details in the art.
Don’t get too distracted (like me) by all the pretty art and spooky enemies, because Explore and destroy can get hard, very fast. All it takes are a few misses, a nasty ambush, or an explosive keg that goes off when you least expect it, and then suddenly you’re on your heels, trying to pick your way to the exit and victory . Luckily, you’ll unlock new weapons, upgrades and gadgets as you complete missions and reclaim the world from its evil invaders via a large in-game map, giving even the scariest and meanest monsters an edge. (Look at you sneaky vampire lady! Stop cheating on my people!)
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Explore and destroy, which is also available today on Switch, PS4, PS5 and Steam, is a game with a lot of style and charm. However, it also has a camera that can get annoying and is pleasing compared to similar games XCOM or Gears Tacticsit can feel a bit too easy at times.
However, if you are looking for a charming, beautiful, slightly spooky tactics game, I would suggest Explore and destroy. It even fully supports co-op play, either split screen or online, so you and some friends can save the world or fail and die together.
