If you follow me in any capacity, you know how much I love the Destroy All Humans! franchise and how much it means to me. These games were my retreat after being bullied in school, a good laugh after a bad day, and they brought me together with some of the best friends I have ever had.


After watching the E3 gameplay once again for the umpteenth time, I got to thinking. The game is in very early pre alpha and is still a year away. In contact with many Black Forest Games employees, I have a very rare opportunity to offer constructive feedback to help make this remake the absolute best it can be. With that in mind, my intent with this article, as you may have guessed from the title, is to compose a wishlist of ideas and improvements I think could be made over the original game.

So consider this an open letter to Black Forest Games, an effort to provide constructive feedback early in development. As for whether or not any of the ideas and suggestions I have will make it into the game, I can’t say. I have a vague understanding of the way game development works, but I’m no programmer or graphics designer. Realistically, I expect our friends at BFG will consider what I have to say, but I suspect much of it won’t make it in due to various reasons; engine limitations, time constraints, lack of man power, the usual game development obstacles.


I am determined to give much feedback, however, and so I will. As for the way this article shall work, I’ll break it up into sections discussing various key features of the original. These sections will explain what was in the original, give suggestions on how it could be made better and comment on BFG’s existing plans for any of them with advice on what I believe will not only make the game the most fun to play, but also sell the most copies. So without further adieu, let’s get into it!

The Mothership




What was it?



The Furon Mothership, in the lore, was a giant space station and base of operations for the Furon invasion effort. From here, Pox would preform experiments in his labratory and issue mission orders to Crypto. In gameplay terms...


It was a series of menus that served as a hub in-between missions. If a mission was failed or Crypto died the player was returned here and needed to start the mission all over again. Yeah, it was pretty bad. Pretty, but bad.


How do I think it should be fixed?



Pandemic swore away with it completely in Destroy All Humans! 2. As epic as that was, it was also unnecessary.


For the remake:

Keep the mothership, but instead of a menu, make it an explorable space and fill it with gradually unlocking easter eggs.



Keep Pox’s upgrade shop here. In the background, show tubes with Martha Turnipseed, Miss Rockwell once Earth Women Are Delicious is complete, the captured agent from This Island Suburbia, Armquist’s damaged mech suit, Silhouette’s mask, etc. This would be a great way to show progression.

Give Crypto a bunk room where we can change costumes, enter cheat codes, view extras and behind the scenes documentaries and other such things. Have Gastro cameo in here cleaning up with retro-futuristic alien brooms and such.

Let us access the hangar by actually going to it, opening the hangar door and picking the location right on the Earth’s surface. This would also be a good place to select paint job customizations for the saucer. Alternatively let us access our destinations from a holo map in the command center and just make the hangar a place to customize the saucer.

The ability to replay any mission and watch any cutscene of our choosing. Add the mission title screens into an in-game gallery viewable at any time once their respective mission is complete.




HoloBob



The disguise mechanic that lets Crypto blend in to human society without raising suspicion. With concentration no longer a gameplay mechanic, HoloBob has already been changed to work more like body snatch in the sequel; you take a disguise and then that disguise has ‘health’ that slowly depletes over time, i.e. it’s on a timer.


Here are some suggestions to make it even better:

Let us jump while HoloBobbed.

Let us sprint and/or drive cars while HoloBobbed.

Allow Cortex Scan to replenish the timer. (CONFIRMED!)



Allow us to use a payphone or police call box to raise or lower the alert level while disguised as a cop, soldier or majestic agent.

Allow us to use a cop/soldier/majestic agent’s gun to assassinate tougher enemies while in disguise.

Make it opaque so we blend in realistically.

Allow us to HoloBob animals and power suit soldiers.



Multiplayer



Before you say anything, yes, I am indeed aware that BFG have stated they have no plans to include any kind of multiplayer. Yet. And I fully understand their reasoning in wanting to keep to the spirit of the original game, but let me argue this; they are already making drastic improvements to the gameplay including adding in features introduced in the sequels. My counter argument is, why can’t that at least include co-op?


It wasn’t in the first game is a perfect reason to include it in the remake, it is the perfect kind of game for co-op. That said, it doesn’t need to be in the game on day one, rather right now work on remaking the original and making it the best, most definititive way to play Destroy All Humans! After release, co-op can be added in as a free DLC, because let’s be honest; once all the story content is done, the game needs replayability to have staying power. We want gamers coming back, rather than moving on to a new game and DAH fading back into obscure cult classic status. Multiplayer is one good way to include replayability.

Consider the following:

Fully playable story co-op and free roam.

Co-op multiplayer modes like a ‘cat-and-mouse’ gametype where one player is a Furon and the other is a human, with the Furon having to hunt and destroy the human player, who must survive as long as possible or reach an extraction point.

A mode where both players are in HoloBob and need to find and destroy one another, first to three kills wins.

On-foot races.

PK volleyball with a human or cow as the ‘ball.’



General Gameplay Improvements



Make the anal probe upgradable so it will have a shorter charge time and yield more DNA.

Improve the difficulty and give us a choice of difficulty levels.

New Game +

Cheat Codes. I used to roleplay by HoloBobbing humans after setting all the buildings on fire and act like I was coming home to chaos. Would love to do that again, so infinite HoloBob cheat code please! (Maybe hide the codes in the world as easter eggs like Red Dead Redemption 2 did?)



Mission checkpoints (already confirmed to be in the game, YES!)

I want buildings to catch fire again. Like just hit it once with the D-Ray and watch it burst into flames and maybe even let it burn all the way down overtime. Persistent, lingering building damage. Have the sonic boom crack pavement and the quantum deconstructor leave a huge crater.

Let us abduct humans into the saucer with the abducto beam to get DNA.

More varied and fun challenges. Ideas include a saucer checkpoint race where we have to fly through rings, a PK minigame where we need to throw humans through target rings of varying colors and point values, PK bowling where we need to throw a giant ball at a group of humans and kill as many as possible, an obstacle course race that makes us need to use the jetpack and dash well to succeed, etc

Autosave and quicksave, as well as a manual save in the pause menu. More than 3 save slots.

An option to upgrade our PK so much that we can then use it to replace our jetpack and levitate/dash as high and as far as we want. Make it cost a lot of DNA to incentivize harvesting human brains.

Add an upgrade to allow Ion Detonator grenades to stick to things. Add in an expensive Ion Detonator upgrade to allow it to do significant damage to buildings.

Possible weapon customization options to do things like, say, change the color of the Zap-O-Matic’s lightning?

Perhaps give us the ability to call in an ’airstrike’ from the mothership to allow us to destroy buildings while on foot.

In addition to bonuses and extras, perhaps the collectible probes can unlock cheats, or weapons and abilities? Perhaps the DNA value of a probe could be higher the more difficult it is to find/reach?

More animal variety? Instead of just cows, maybe also dogs, horses, goats, pigs and other farm animals?

The ability to add modifiers and extra challenges to missions when replaying them.

Radiant AI for NPCs that allows them to have a daily routine, get up, go to work, have lunch, go home, etc.

Enterable buildings with destructable interiors.

A close range melee attack.

Have humans run out of buildings in panic as they’re destroyed.

The ability to play as Pox or even Gastro. Maybe as a cheat code or unlokable for 100% completion?




Story, Writing and Cinematography



Cutscenes



There are certain cutscenes in the game that I feel deserve a very special amount of attention.


The cutscene introducing the army robots definitely needs a good amount of attention.

Go all out on the scene where Crypto and Silhouette have a ‘fist fight,’ by, well, making it an actual fight and not half a second of sissy slapping.


Characters



Perhaps give the two majestic agents names? Especially if intending to give them a larger role.

Record new Cortex Scans to keep them from repeating as often and getting annoying.

Allow us to Cortex Scan Pox and Gastro on the Mothership.

Include clown NPCs at the Rockwell fair. Give them Cortex Scans where they’re all miserable drunk guys complaining about kids pissing themselves and stepping in chewing gum.




DLC Ideas



A ‘bridging DLC’ that sets up the events for DAH!2 where we play as Crypto disguised as Huffman and must perform several of the speeches to keep in power, all the while Pox is hard at work uncovering a plot by the KGB to kill President Huffman (Crypto).

A story DLC set during the Martian War with the Blisk.

A story DLC/short film that acts as a flashback that details how Pox and Crypto first met when Pox was orchestrating the mission to Earth.

New weapons/powers.



Requests from Other Fans



GLA Bramley Requests:



Holobob- Allow us to drive cars. It would allow you to travel disguised a little quicker and also allow the devs to include a racing minigames for fun (including races in co-op mode if they add it. Which they definitely should.)



Weapons- While the weapons were all GREAT, 4 is such a small number. I would love to see them add some of the better weapons from the future games. Maybe one from each. I think my favourites to see return would be the Dislocator from 2 in the early game, as it wasn’t the most powerful but so fun and stupid. The Zombie Gun from big willy unleashed and the Black Hole Gun from Path of the furon?


I also would love to be able to replay missions.



Finally, 2 minor change I saw on reddit-

1. ‘Brain extraction: In the original DAH! when you extracted a brain from a corpse, the corpse would twitch and convulsive for a moment before the head finally exploded letting out the brain stem. When Crypto extracts a brain out of the farmers corpse in the gameplay demo however, the body stays static and the head simply explodes. Just think this does not seem as satisfying to pull off as it was in the original. (Side note, he does in the demo extract a brain stem from a still living human and it looks awesome as the human grabs his head in pain and stuff. Just the corpse extraction doesn’t look too good)‘



2. ‘I feel that its toned down and resembles the extraction effects from Path of the Furon. It produces very cartoony “gore” which glows as opposed to the original which had a gross dark green mess that would come out. It looks as if alien blood is coming out of them rather than human matter. The sound was a lot more satisfying too in the original with a sort of squelch noise that sounded how I imagine a brain being extracted would sound like (couldn’t hear it in the demo because of the commentary). Also, the brains used to be darker and more realistic in colour and would hit the ground and bounce a little before staying in one place before pickup. In the demo it just floats as soon as it comes out.’




Someguy410 requests:



To add into the part on crypto’s bunker having access to costumes, i once mentioned on this sub that I’d like to see armors that give crypto perks, like a suit that gives a health boost with something like a kill or a brain stem, or a suit that can outstand majestic’s holobob jammer (which was such an anxiety inducing feature, lol). One other thing i mentioned is to give players a choice on weapon mods, similar to a feature players had in Ratchet & Clank (I think either A Crack In Time, or Into the Nexus, i can’t recall which game exactly) but some examples i could think of are like this


Zap-o-matic: Burst mod - that gives the zap-o-matic the ability to launch bursts of electricity at the cost of a significant chunk in the zap-o-matic’s charge meter. Extraction mod - electrifies humans to the point that their brain stem erupts out of their heads due to the voltage.

Anal Probe: Multiple Target mod - basically the same as the one from POTF; aim while holding the fire button at multiple targets. Probe Potency mod - Anal probe ammunition gathers more DNA than regular rounds.


Disintegrator Ray: Ray mod - makes the Disintegrator Ray rounds into an actual ray. Double shot mod - the classic upgrade we all know and love from the first two games.

Ion Detonator: Mini Bomb mod - basically the same as the upgrade in POTF in that each detonator explosion creates 3 more detonators upon exploding.


The ion detonator is kinda op so I can’t really think of another mod, but you get the idea lol but these are just a few suggestions, there might even be better ones that the devs could come up with, even though this may deviate from BFG’s loyalty to make this a complete rebuild of the game. Other minor things to possibly add are a camera mode (this game looks beautifully detailed, so why not?) And to unarm crypto at will.

Yorpie requests:



I do hope the abducto beam now can be activated by pressing a button like in the second game and does not need to be manually selected from the other weapons.


Btw SWJS, if the mothership becomes explorable like you mentioned on your article, I do hope the idle quotes remain though. “The name of the game is Destroy All Humans, not screw around on the mothership!”

I’d love to see the ability to go to an empty landing zone and call in the saucer like you could in the sequels. Second when you choose an invasion site from the mothership and go there, when you spawn it should be like in the sequels where your saucer appears on a landing zone with crypto underneath it. In the original game, you would spawn inside the saucer on a preset spawn, some of which were rather inconvenient and sometimes by the time you landed you either got shot at by anti aircraft guns (I’m looking at you Area 42) or you’d already have an alert level.




Going further on previous point, if this would get implemented, I’d love the ability to choose which landing zone to spawn at. And more landing zones could get unlocked by doing small challenges, similar to the Arkvoodle challenges from the other games.

I’m also wondering how people will respond to seeing the saucer landed. Will they ignore it like in the original game or will it become invisible from a small distance..




And another something which comes to mind, if missions are to be started from the mothership each time like they used to, at least add an option to select wether we want to play that mission or just go free roaming on that map. (Exceptions could be the initial mission for each zone, so it makes sense with the story)

Curvette requests:



procedurally generatied abduction missions would add alot lol....if they can make procedurally generated cow pats.....then why not lol. I wouldnt care if it was going into the same home but different npcs all the time lol, you know pking them carefully out of bed when sleeping ect


hypnoblasting them to the saucer taking them to the mothership and storing them or returning them lol you would have full control on the mission even just go in and blast them all



RingMaster suggests:



lol add more perk tree to crypto skill, like add new things on it. like make crypto be incredible hulk “ Rage DNA” reference to big willy.


customizable weapons that werent in original game that’s awesome if we can combined parts lazers and ballistic guns.

Cryptiod suggests:

My main suggestion would absolutely be a sprint button on top of the glide and dash we’ve seen, I really reckon together these 3 elements will add so much more fun.


Another suggestion actually like I said earlier about the trailers, if we could get future trailers in the style of the original trailers would be awesome

Concerns and Criticisms from Other Fans



Calswei says:



So I am VERY hyped about this game. But I’d do have a couple of concerns, nothing that cant be fixed ofcourse, this game has got ages left in its development, so I’m probably worrying for nothing.


Building damage: so in the gameplay demo they destroy some of the farm buildings with the saucers deathray. In the original DAH! game, when you damaged a building,l that building would then be set on fire and you would here its foundations creak and smash before it finally crumbled. This made it fun to go round a city with the death ray just during randomly and then looking back on the destruction you caused. However when they fired on buildings in the recent gameplay demo, the buildings just stood there static not really showing any kind of reaction before finally blowing up (the explosion part looks amazing btw) I’m worried that although the explosion looks good, that buildings wont show any sign of damage before hand and therefore random destruction will not be as satisfying. Brain extraction: In the original DAH! when you extracted a brain from a corpse, the corpse would twitch and convulsive for a moment before the head finally exploded letting out the brain stem. When Crypto extracts a brain out of the farmers corpse in the gameplay demo however, the body stays static and the head simply explodes. Just think this does not seem as satisfying to pull off as it was in the original. (Side note, he does in the demo extract a brain stem from a still living human and it looks awesome as the human grabs his head in pain and stuff. Just the corpse extraction doesnt look too good)


I’m a LONG time fan of this series, I remember my dad bought me a copy on the launch day when i was a child because I was sooo excited. I’m just a little worried by these points that the game just wont feel as satisfying. But like I said before it’s still very early and there is a lot of time left in development, so hopefully I’ll be completely wrong and when I do finally play this game it will be as satisfying as every to kill all of he pathetic humans!

EvilWiffles says:



Some of the character models are a little too cartoonish imo. The farmer and the two agents anyways. I think Crypto’s teeth look a little too human as well. I liked them being super sharp and abundant.


Inyrui says:



the way the buildings explode really does bother me. how do a grain silo and a barn explode? they should just collapse and fall apart. i’m hoping the destruction physics and animations will be different according to what building you’re destroying. but i’m sure after they work on it, the more nuanced details will be addressed


ImTemper says:



My main concerns will be the PK, we have far less control over the objects we are moving. I am afraid that we wont be able to have that fun and wacky control over objects and people with PK like we used to.


This is everything I could think of for right now. Should I think up anything else, I’ll be sure to add it in. Are you a fan who has their own ideas? Comment them down below and relay them to the team! Let’s bring DAH! back with a bang, fellow Furons!

Take care, and happy probing!

