Disintegration single-player preview: Fighting for humanity

Disintegration is a few months removed from its closed beta weekend. It offered a chance for players to get a first look at the game's multiplayer and how it would blend together squad-based strategy and first-person shooting. While it proved to be an enjoyable experience, there are still some question marks surrounding Disintegration. Namely, what is Disintegration? Why is it called Disintegration? What is the game even about? Is there a story to it?

Developer V1 Interactive recently took some time to address this, giving members of the press a brief look at some of Disintegration's single-player campaign. Shacknews was among those who got a first look at the single-player component of Disintegration and here's what we've learned.

Disintegration's story takes players 150 years into Earth's future. The world has endured an extinction-level disaster, but humanity has managed to endure through the process of integration. This involves placing the human brain inside an armored robotic shell. The idea is not to live in this state forever, eventually returning to a state of normalcy. However, there's a group who has decided that they like being integrated and refuse to ever become human again. This group is collectively known as the Rayonne and is led by one of the first to be integrated, a warrior named Black Shuck. The situation has since escalated into an all-out war between integrated factions, with the player and their squad fighting against Black Shuck and his forces.

The single-player for Disintegration takes players across linear levels as an integrated soldier with a squad of teammates in tow. Players will engage in direct combat themselves, but this is not a pure first-person shooter. They'll be issuing orders to their teammates as they go, strategically positioning themselves through the map, something more akin to XCOM. On top of keeping themselves standing, the player must also look out for their teammates. If a teammate falls, the mission is a failure. And just because soldiers are in robotic shells doesn't mean they're immortal or enhanced by any means. Human brains are in those shells and brains are frail and squishy, so players will have to work to keep them in one piece.

Squads are armed to the teeth with heavy firearms and items like concussion grenades. Their robotic mechs also have the ability to hover or shift around quickly, something that should be familiar to anybody who took part in the open technical beta. However, Black Shuck's forces are plentiful. They'll look to overwhelm players in giant numbers, while working in tandem to protect one another with shields or take cover behind walls. Players will look to complete objectives, such as shutting down generators or meeting up with allies, but will also have to roll with the punches if a giant enemy mech shows up looking for a fight.

There is one significant addition to Disintegration's campaign that players won't find in multiplayer and that's time dilation. Yes, players can slow down time, which will help with multitasking. It means getting a few extra moments to scan the environment for helpful items, buff your units, recover their health, or set their abilities.

Another piece of the formula for Disintegration is upgrading the player's ship. The ship acts as a player hub, where players can level up their ground units and their airborne grav cycles. Upgrading involves finding salvaged parts within each stage. It also serves as an opportunity to get to know your ground units. The ground units are not seasoned soldiers by any means, as V1's Marcus Lehto will attest to. (Lehto will have more to say on this subject in an exclusive interview later this week.) You'll want to learn more about them and you'll get that chance throughout the story.

The journey through Earth's desolate future looks to be an interesting one, as Disintegration's solo campaign looks to be as substantial to the experience as its multiplayer. Disintegration is coming soon to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?