I never much cared for de_dust2, which left me slightly dismayed when it rapidly took over the entirety of Counter-Strike and became its most popular map ever. Thankfully now I can have my revenge. A modder has re-created de_dust2 in Teardown, the destructive heist sim, so I can blow the famous level apart brick by brick until all that’s left is… dust.
Teardown uses its destructible technology to power a series of heist missions, in which you must blow a path between objectives so you can steal or destroy a set of them and escape within sixty seconds. It’s wonderful, and I maintain a better and more interesting game than a simple first-person shooter that used this same destructibility would be.
And yet, being able to rush bomb site B by driving a car straight through the doors has a certain appeal. As does blowing holes in walls to create your own new angles of attack, or to destry cover. That’s what this mod by NooitAf lets you do, and it’s easily installed via the Steam Workshop.
The Steam Workshop page notes that the level is still a work in progress, but it’s handmade and took more than two months of full-time work to create.
To be clear, this is a visual recreation of de_dust2. There’s no combat or multiplayer – just the architectural space to walk around and explode. It’s still hella impressive – and for me, it’s more than enough. I’d relish the opportunity to revisit all kinds of classic levels with this toolset, and to re-make them in my own crumbled image.
The Teardown mod scene has been in full swing since Steam Workshop support was added two weeks ago. The base game remains worth your time, too – it was one of our favourites from last year, despite still being in early access.
Thanks for the tip, Patrick.