Teardown Review (alex)
I find that most of the negative reviews of this game focus on the campaign mode for the game.
I had originally bought Teardown in late 2020, interested in it for its physics/voxel based destruction, and was similarly disillusioned and overwhelmed by the campaign mode. I refunded it that same day. I didn't care about the campaign, I just wanted to destroy stuff.
Three years later I re-purchased Teardown, still with the intention of completely ignoring the campaign. I played tons of sandbox + workshop mods and it was a very fun and satisfying time waster. The game has a very active modding community with many high-effort mods. The workshop content is essentially endless.
I eventually decided to try the campaign and found that it wasn't as bad as most people think.
Many of the missions are indeed timed missions, but the fun is mainly in planning your heist, improving it, and watching it be successful. This can range from making holes in buildings, using your environment, using vehicles, planks, cables, etc. You can be as creative as you want, every level doesn't have one sole solution and can be completed in essentially infinite ways. It was fun exploring the maps and creating the best routes.
Of course, there are also a decent chunk of levels without any time constraints, but have different quirks to make it challenging. Without spoiling anything, the missions later on get a lot more...interesting. Also, as you beat more missions, you will unlock more tools that will make your life a LOT easier.
There are also various settings that make the campaign easier, such as adding more time to the alarms or giving you more ammo. You can also use overpowered mods from the workshop in the campaign if you so wish.
All in all,
The story is good.
The maps and levels are high-effort and detailed.
The OST is amazing.
The DLCs I can't comment on as I don't own them, but they seem overpriced to me.
So, if you are looking for a game to just destroy stuff, Teardown is a fine choice.
If you want a puzzle/heist game, play the campaign.
If you want both, then you get the best of both worlds.
Overall, a 10/10 game.