V1 Interactive’s squad shooter strands an interesting idea inside a game that keeps contradicting it

Disintegration wanted to be two games at once. V1 Interactive built a first-person shooter around a hovering craft called the Gravcycle, then bolted a squad-command layer underneath it. The result is a game that never quite settles on which half matters more, and that uncertainty runs through everything from the campaign to the nine crews you can pick in multiplayer.

Romer Shoal and the Gravcycle

You play as Romer Shoal, a Gravcycle pilot. The Gravcycle hovers above the ground, and from that position Romer issues commands to a four-person squad while laying down aerial fire. It is a clean idea: you are the eye in the sky and the gun in the sky at the same time.

The Gravcycle comes in three models, each with its own trade-offs. The Heavy hits hard but moves slow. That single sentence tells you most of what you need to know about how the game thinks about choice — every advantage costs you something, and the battlefield is small enough that the cost is real.

Romer can also use the Gravcycle to mark areas of interest and resources. Those resources get salvaged into upgrades for the Gravcycle, the ground units, and Romer’s own upgrade chip. The loop is legible. Fly, spot, salvage, improve, repeat.

A Future That Collapsed

Disintegration takes place 150 years into the future. Climate change, overpopulation, food shortages, and a global pandemic collapsed nations and pushed humankind to the brink. Scientists responded by removing the human brain and surgically encasing it in a robotic armature. They called it Integration.

It was meant to be temporary. For decades it worked, and humans survived. Then some of the Integrated decided the new form was not a stopgap but the future. They stratified, called themselves the Rayonne, and stopped wanting to reverse the process.

Global war followed. Rayonne forces now hunt remaining humans, force Integration on those they catch, and destroy anyone who disagrees. Romer is one of the Integrated who rebelled. He is now an outlaw, leading a small group of Outlaws who want to protect the people they care about and, one day, become human again.

That is a strong premise. It is also the part of Disintegration that holds up best, because the game states it plainly and lets the stakes sit there.

Nine Crews, Ten Players

Multiplayer supports up to 10 players. You command a crew made up of a Gravcycle and several ground units. At launch there were nine crews to choose from, each with its own gameplay characteristics and unique abilities.

The crew system is where the strategy half of Disintegration gets its clearest expression. Picking a crew is picking a plan, and the abilities attached to each one shape how a match unfolds.

Here is how the pieces stack up:

The table is tidy. The game is not always.

The Only Game V1 Interactive Shipped

Disintegration released in June 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It was developed by V1 Interactive and published by Private Division. It was the only game V1 Interactive released before the studio shut down in March 2021.

That fact hangs over the whole thing. A studio ships one game, and then it is gone. Whatever Disintegration was building toward — a sequel, a content roadmap, a balance pass on those nine crews — never arrived.

What shipped is a first-person shooter with real-time strategy elements that asks you to manage a squad from a hovering vehicle. That is a genuinely unusual combination, and the game deserves credit for attempting it rather than reskinning a standard shooter.

But the two halves pull against each other. When you are flying and shooting, the squad commands are a distraction. When you are issuing commands, the shooting demands your attention. The Gravcycle’s three models and the nine crews suggest depth, but the moment-to-moment play keeps splitting your focus rather than letting either layer breathe.

The story is the strongest piece. Integration as a temporary fix that became a permanent caste system is a clean science-fiction idea, and the Rayonne forcing it on holdouts gives Romer’s rebellion a clear reason to exist. The Outlaws want to become human again. That is a goal you can understand without a lore dump.

Where It Lands

Ranked against what Disintegration tries to be, its pieces fall in this order:

1. The setting — Integration, the Rayonne, and Romer’s outlaw crew.
2. The Gravcycle itself — a distinct silhouette for a shooter.
3. The crew roster — nine options at launch with unique abilities.
4. The squad-command layer — promising, but never given room.
5. The balance between the two halves — the weakest link.

Disintegration is a 6.4 out of 10. The premise is better than the game built on it. Integration, the Rayonne, and Romer’s outlaw crew form a setting worth caring about, and the Gravcycle gives the shooter a distinct silhouette.

The problem is that V1 Interactive never decided whether the strategy layer was the point or the garnish. Nine crews and three Gravcycle models imply a game about matchups and trade-offs. What you actually get is a shooter that keeps interrupting itself. The Heavy’s slow movement is a real cost, but too few fights make that cost feel like a decision rather than a nuisance.

The studio’s shutdown in March 2021 closes the book on any fix. There will be no balance patch that sharpens the crews, no sequel that separates the two halves. What exists is a game with a strong idea and a muddled middle, and the muddle is the part you spend the most time inside.

If you want the setting, the campaign delivers it. If you want the squad-command fantasy to pay off the way the nine-crew roster promises, Disintegration only gets partway there.

Disintegration · FPS · game review · Gravcycle · Sci-Fi Shooter · V1 Interactive