Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed Review

Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is an upcoming remake from THQ Nordic featuring our anti-hero Crypto-138, returning from the well-received Destroy All Humans! that was released in 2020. This time around, the KGB have set their sights on acquiring the Furon’s tech to thwart the Americans. As Crypto learns of their plot, he does what he does best: invade.

Does Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed live up to the hype of the original? From the looks of it, I would say that it’s looking pretty awesome never having played any of the titles from the franchise.

Invade the World!

As mentioned above, I’ve never played any of the games from the Destroy All Humans! and jumping into this title fresh, I was sucked into the gameplay and the world right away. The restored graphics that adhere to modern sensibilities, the fun open world, and the preserved story content allow it to retain its charm while providing a fresh perspective to the modern gamer.

One thing I have to say about the visuals is that none of them look dated. Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed bears the charming cartoony take of games like Psychonauts and Ratchet and Clank, but also follows the irreverent take of other open world titles like Saint’s Row and Serious Sam. This time, instead of wasting aliens, you take on the role of Crypto—the alien warlord out to conquer Earth.

The world isn’t as sprawling as the locales seen in similar titles, and Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed follows a more linear pattern, where you explore five different locations such as Bay City in the US and Albion in the UK, providing a smaller scale city compared to its modern counterparts.

There are five cities in total in Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed, each with their own activities like unlocking landing spots, taking odd jobs, and collecting genetic material for blending. There’s enough busy work to be fun, but not too much to be a second job.

In terms of mission deployment, players start by accepting a mission from a handler and carrying it out. At the end of the mission, you will receive rewards based on how many of the objectives and side objectives you have completed. These rewards are used to purchase upgrades to power up your arsenal and psionic powers to turn you into the ultimate invader.

I would’ve appreciated a better difficulty curve between regular enemies and bosses in Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed. Bosses are generally bullet sponges with no real discernible strategy from regular enemies. It then becomes a slog to take them out, and for some reason, they’re equipped with such annoying high damage or debilitating attacks that there’s no other way to prepare for them but to grind away and get massive power bonuses to get through them.

There is an interesting mechanic here in Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed where players will have to adopt several disguises to remain undetected. For example, Crypto will have to snatch the bodies of humans by using such means as “Free Love” to get enemies to dance and party. It’s a common trope in games of its type, and it doesn’t get old.

Despite being an old game, the timing of this release makes it feel like a breath of fresh air compared to the hyper-bloated open world paradigm we’ve found ourselves trapped in. Certain game design tenets from 20 years ago really made games like these fun, accessible, and memorable.

It’s a good title to check out during the weekend and still have enough time to do something else. It’s not a second life like many of the open world games these days follow; filling every open world title with useless bloat.

Preserve the Future!

Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed has a shorter campaign compared to most, allowing players to complete the game over the course of one weekend. Players can continue to 100% the game or play it on a higher difficulty, but the best way to keep the game fresh is to invite a friend for co-op and invade the world together.

With regard to the story and dialogue, the current climate can get a bit testy with some titles that shoot straight, but I appreciate how THQ Nordic has preserved the sensibilities and humor seen in Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed.

This is a remake that keeps the charm and edge intact, but that being said, it may be cringe-worthy or off-putting to some because of its somewhat irreverent humor. Some of the jokes didn’t really stick the landing for me as it tried too hard to be funny, edgy, or both.

There are also some minor yet irritating bugs to iron out, like the lack of collision detection with some vehicles and NPCs. One major annoyance was the terrible audio mixing that cut out some sound effects, looped audio, and lowered speaking volume on the radio. They’re not game-breaking per se, but you’d think they’d be able to fix things like this for the remake.

What We Liked:

• Graphical update keeps it fresh for the modern audience
• Open world allows for fun exploration and single player adventure.
• Couch coop is a good time

What We Didn’t Like:

• Humor may be hit or miss.
• Boss battles have unfair difficulty spikes.
• Some glitches that could be patched on Day 1.

Verdict: Buy It!

Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is a fun romp now as it was back in the day. The charm of the game is easily felt, and going through its varied arsenal to explore its many different areas is certainly a highlight. THQ Nordic has preserved the content of the game while giving Crypto a facelift to modernize the series.

The humor may not work for everybody, but given the chance, it is a fun game that you can clear over the weekend by yourself or with a friend. Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is a breath of fresh air, and while it doesn’t attempt to do anything needlessly clever, it is an honest game doing what it does best: to entertain.

If you’re still unsure, we suggest giving it a try!

*Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed was reviewed on a PS5 with a review code provided by the publisher.