Spike Chunsoft has announced that they will be publishing the strategic co-op shooter Research and Destroy on Switch on 25th April!

You may have read the headline and thought, "wait, how do you combine turn-based combat with action gameplay?" Well, developer Implausible Industries has said that you plan your attacks ahead of time before running through hordes of enemies and gunning them down. How it plays out, we've yet to see fully, but we're excited by the prospect.

This cel-shaded shooter also has online and couch co-op, meaning you and a friend can get together whenever. You can drop in and out of a game at any time too.

Spike Chunsoft shared even more details about the game with us:

All-new strategic shooting powered by Super Science. Research and Destroy (RAD) is a turn-based action game with simultaneous local or online co-op. Take control of three brilliant Super Scientists as you RESEARCH and develop strange new weapons and gadgets to DESTROY the Supernatural hordes that have all but crushed humanity.

1) Research: Gain fresh insight into the Supernatural threat via battlefield vivisections, then develop radical upgrades for each weird weapon and fascinating gadget.
2) Destroy: Plan ahead, then run-and-gun in a combination of turn-based strategy and real-time shooting--every second counts.
3) Co-Op: Tailor your scientists’ appearance, then drop in or out of online and local co-op with friends at any time.
4) Campaign: Adapt your guerilla science tactics to manage the campaign map and seek the Supernatural source--no two playthroughs are the same.

The game was originally shown at the 2017 BitSummit event in Japan and received the Popular Selection Award, which is a pretty special one to get since that's chosen by attendees!

Visually, it looks like it's fresh out of the late GameCube era or even early PS3. The cel-shaded visuals bring a degree of levity and brightness, which colourful explosions and quirky gadgets all enhanced by the cartoony and slightly jagged aesthetic.

Chris Willacy, Daniel Markiewicz, and Kees Gajentaan — who work for the Japan-based developer — have expressed their excitement about Research and Destroy's upcoming launch:

"We're incredibly excited for the upcoming release of Research and Destroy, and that the release will be on all major gaming platforms.

As a micro-studio, we have never had more than five in-house team members at any one time. Because of that, we all had to wear a lot of hats on the project, which kept things very fun, fresh, and exciting for us. We hope that sense of fun and playfulness translates into an enjoyable experience for players of Research and Destroy. Even until the end of development, there was a lot of laughter erupting in the office from some of the situations we'd find ourselves in while playing.

We drew inspiration from a wide variety of 20th-century comics and TV cartoons to create the look and feel of the game world. Bringing a cartoony art style to a game is something we've wanted to do for a long time. Creating a "weird science" setting for a Turn-based Action game allowed us to come up with all sorts of unique weapons and fascinating gadgets while adding a healthy dose of humor to the game. Keep your eye out for plenty of daft references, dumb dad jokes, and light-hearted Easter eggs while you're playing. We had a great time putting them in and trying to craft something that has something to say but isn't too serious about how it says it. We hope you'll join the fun with us on April 25th."

Research and Destroy will be available on the Switch eShop next week, on 25th April, for $19.99. Will you be downloading this to play with a friend? Let us know in the comments.

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