In Disintegration, you zoom around shooting things on a space motorcycle with guns—a "gravcycle"—while simultaneously commanding a squad of troops on the ground, RTS-style. It's an FPS first and foremost, but it was almost an RTS: Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto, who's heading up the game at his V1 Interactive studio, told us last year that the project began as a spiritual success to Myth, the 1997 RTS developed by Bungie.
But things took a different direction, it morphed into an FPS/RTS hybrid, and soon it will be ready for release: The studio announced today that Disintegration will be out on June 16.
The game will feature a full singleplayer campaign in which humanity, struggling to survive on a craptastic world riven by scarcity, decided that one way to solve its problems would be to transfer people's brains into robotic bodies, I guess since they don't have to eat or sleep or worry about expensive health care. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for someone to figure out that robotic bodies are also really good for fighting, at which point an aggressive militaristic force known as the Rayonne took over and starting forcing everyone to undergo the robotic "Integration" process.
Now you, as super-skilled gravcycle pilot Romer Shoal, must lead a ragtag band of outlaws against this overwhelming force "across a series of diverse missions packed with action, explosions, and plot twists." And once that's taken care of, PvP multiplayer awaits, with three modes, six maps, and nine unique "Crews" (those are the troops you order around) to choose from, and an array of cosmetics including skins, banners, and gravcycle customization options to purchase or earn in-game.
Hopefully Disintegration has come together since we last looked at it in February: Morgan found the FPS/RTS mashup "intriguing," but felt that they didn't quite come together as they should for multiplayer battles.
"For as much as I like the concept, splitting power between pilots and units feels like I’m only ever having half as much fun as I should," he wrote. "There’s not enough strategy to justify how much units bog down pilots and muddy the screen. Ten players and 20+ ground units all clashing at once looks like an unreadable slurry of lasers and explosions."
He held out hope for the singleplayer campaign, though, adding that "gravcycle combat could shine wrapped in a story and deliberately designed encounters."
Disintegration will be available on Steam "and other digital storefronts" for $50/£40/€50. Find out more at disintegrationgame.com.
