Spent over a hundred hours in co-op mode, smashing down all the houses and forests across this huge world, so you know that I got my money's worth. For twenty bucks, you get a wonderful exploration game that has a huge open world. However, the game does gets repetitive quickly, with many areas feeling unnecessary even while looking great.

There is something so satisfying about breaking down game assets in any video game, and 10Tons used this idea as the foundational gameplay of DYSMANTLE. We struggled to resist breaking down all the iron fences and army jeeps, even after we realized that they would yield no necessary resources. They made the animations and sound effects so soothing and enjoyable, whether it is the ka-thunk of the forestry axe or the clang of the sledgehammer.

The combat mechanics are very solid as well, although I had wished for maybe more variety. The weapons all have different speeds and it is easy to change between weapon types - even auxillery equipment - in the middle of a fight. The roll-dodge is well implemented, and each enemy requires different techniques. There is an interesting boss monster that offered some excitement at the checkpoints, too. And difficulty scales based on the amount of time spent finding and cooking recipes. You have more upgrades when you meticulously search out every kitchen than when you speed through to the quest goals.

Later in the game, there are many aspects that are very unfortunately underused: The mana portals, the building construction, the rifle, befriending animals, and "The Ark" all come to mind as parts of the game that initially seem exciting but are not used for much. We spent so many hours collecting resources for the Ark Quest, only to find out that it is not used for anything in the main story line. The game teases mana portals and building construction, right from the beginning, but it never gets used for anything interesting. It feels like they ran out of development time to fully implement these features.

Those negatives aside, the amount of content cannot be overlooked. The game map is huge and the player can choose which direction to go, most of the time. After finishing an area, the game encourages re-doing the area again with extra difficultly. After finishing the game main story, the game encourages re-doing the entire game again - again with increased difficulty. The question must be asked: is it worth your time to do it again? You will have a lot of time to think on that question.

Really looking forward to 10Tons' next game with this same gameplay. I think they will have ironed out some ideas that were not expanded fully in this one. Even with my obvious disappointments, it is impossible not to recommend this game despite those complaints. This game got my wife asking for video game time together, which has never happened with action games before. Bravo to that! We played on a Steam Deck with a "deck dock" using two xbox-style gamepad controllers. We had no technical issues either with the game or Steam's Proton compatibility software.

Pretty good and addictive. It reminds me to those old school games like Justice League Heroes or Marvel Ultimate Aliance when everything used to going well playing with a friend in coop <3 10/10 love it :3

So after about 50 hours of gameplay, I 100% the game, and I have to say, this is quite interesting. It captivated me in a strange way that I did not expect.

Dysmantle drops you in the middle of an island where everything is destructible... provided you found the right tool and upgraded it enough. The gameplay loop makes you explore an area, find points of interest, get ressources to upgrade and slowly light up the map, all the while fighting zombies. It's a "checklist" kind of game, where I found a lot of enjoyment exploring new areas and seeing the completion go up and upgrades pouring in. It was, for me, very relaxing.

The overall quality of the game is very high. The art direction is very interesting, there were almost no bugs, everything was hand-crafted and running smoothly. The combat was not very difficult, serving more as a backdrop than the center stage.

This game is, however, quite bereft of story. There is a main plot, but it's really shallow and essentially consists of a couple of journals. For me, it was in line with the rest of the game and didn't feel like there should have been more, just not the focus.

All in all, not a lot of games make me complete every achievement and this little gem is well worth the time I spent with it.