Red Faction Guerrilla's lead tech designer reveals a smashing new destruction sandbox

One of the people behind Red Faction Guerrilla's endlessly delightful architectural carnage is bringing back his building-smashing expertise with the newly-announced Instruments of Destruction.

Announced earlier this week, Radiangames' latest is a vehicular destruction sim in the vein of games like Besiege. Build spectacular contraptions out of modular components, and then use them to absolutely ruin some poor fortified building.

The joy here is that all that destruction plays out with the same kind of structural mayhem that made Guerrilla such a joy. And so it should, considering Radiangames was founded by Luke Schneider, who was the lead tech artist on Volition's Martian shed-smasher.

In motion, Instruments of Destruction is beautiful. Most of the structures so far are built from simple concrete panels that shatter on impact, leaving mountains piles of dust and debris in their wake.

These machines look absolutely terrifying, too. The trailer starts us off with familiar construction vehicles, but quickly pivots into what I imagine you'd get if you asked JCB to make a Dark Souls boss—all sawblades and flailing limbs painted in sterile, workman yellow.

Instruments of Destruction plans to enter Steam Early Access by the end of the year. In that time, the developer hopes to bulk out the number of vehicle parts, levels and objectives, along with editors for creating new maps and structures.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.