This Blast Corps-channelling wrecking sim looks absolutely smashing

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Instruments of Destruction even has its own theme tune.

A thing smashing into a bridge.
(Image credit: Radiangames)

Radiangames has been around for a good while, and I'll always think of this outfit with great fondness: At a time in my life when I had to wade through the swamps of Xbox Live Indie Games (and what a service that was), Radiangames was one of the developers who consistently delivered great shooters and bitesized arcade-style experiences.

The developer's latest project has been in the works for two years, though doubtless some Teardown comparisons are inevitable. Instruments of Destruction is I guess a demolition simulator, except with these great Meccano-like contraptions at the core of it: You build a huge thing with flailing metal arms then launch it into a tall building, basically. The big vibe I got from it was Blast Corps, a cult N64 title developed by Rare which captured the simple joy of bashing into things and watching them crumble.

The best thing about this game's announcement, however, is that Luke Schneider (aka Mr Radiangames himself) has written an extraordinarily cheesy and good-natured song sung by one Pipo Fernandez. It somehow manages to squeeze the word 'isometric' into a semi-rap and gets away with it.

More games should come with their own theme songs. And it's called Instruments of Destruction: Too Perfect.

The game's blurb says "You can demolish every structure in the game piece-by-piece thanks to a fully interactive physics system, and every object in the world interacts with the destruction in some way. The game also features an advanced GPU-driven particle system and GPU-driven grass and surface rocks. Each element of the world complements the destruction system and interacts with each other and together they create a physical, visceral world to play with."

As for the vehicle building system, you accumulate pieces by playing the game and can customise down to how they control: 

"From simple splitters and joints to fully-simulated treads and ropes, a large variety of parts are available to start the game, while more advanced parts (like giant chainsaws and rocket thrusters) unlock by playing the game."

Giant chainsaw plus skyscraper equals good idea, I think. The game also comes with a range of pre-built Tonka toys if you don't fancy getting into the Nuts 'n Bolts of it.

Incidentally, Radiangames also shared a glimpse of the game's prototype from way back. It's come a long way. 

Instruments of Destruction is out on Steam March 2, will have a launch discount of 10%, and you can wishlist it here.

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."