We are in the year 2091 and the world doesn't seem like a nice place to live. At least, it sure isn't the Asian metropolis of Crouch, where crime and violence are rampant.
Immersed in atmospheres cyberpunk who clearly draw inspiration from works such as Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Blade Runner, we meet our anonymous protagonist. He has a mechanical arm and his face is completely covered by a LED mask, on which happy messages such as "hello darkness" or "kill you" always appear. He is mute and seems to be able to communicate only by nodding, shrugging or cracking his knuckles, furthermore he has inhuman movements and it is difficult to understand if he is more man or machine.
All we know in the beginning is that we have to "kill the Boss": it's a hacker having settled in our brains to order it, and as good puppies (they will often call us "puppy") we just have to obey.
Less words and more action
But a girl, another hacker, gets in touch with us by helping us free ourselves from our puppeteer and warning us of a danger: the bad guys have taken our brother hostage to make sure we get the job done, and now he risks being killed if we don't save him soon.
From this moment on we can say that ruiner it really begins. I must say that the plot failed to impress me particularly, I was hoping for something vaguely more interesting. While maintaining a certain charm, perhaps due more to the splendid atmospheres as well as the design of the characters, the title does not offer one of the best stories sci-fi and some of the alleged twists are over the phone. A necessary note to make regarding the narrative sector is that the game is completely in English.
Fortunately, a gameplay capable of entering is thought to counterbalance a plot that is not entirely exciting pure adrenaline in the veins.
50 shades of cyberpunk
ruiner it's a action/twin-stick shooter in isometric view with basic controls that are very reminiscent of those of Hotline Miami. With the left analog you move the character and with the right one you direct his view. This feature, being absent some automatic aiming function, on console proves to be more difficult than it would be with mouse and keyboard, but already in about half an hour of play you can get used to it.
Il challenge level is very tall. Removed the easy mode, which no gamer with a bit of self-love should ever consider, in the initial menu we can select the normal or hard one, the latter accompanied by the words "recommended by the developers". This leads me to think that those of Reikon Games they must be particularly sadistic, since already in normal difficulty the game is extremely punitive and you die an exorbitant number of times. Trying to complete it hard is a real nightmare.
The difficulty, however, is one of the greatest strengths of ruiner, because all of the gameplay it's calibrated so well that it never feels frustrating or boring, but is extremely fun and rewarding. It's one of those games where there is a lot of it trial & error, but of the healthier type: also given the multiple weapons and abilities available, after each death one is led to reorganize one's strategies and improve oneself a little more until reaching a satisfactory victory.
It is forbidden to turn off the brain
An important element of the gameplay is the quick dodge, which also offers the possibility of being performed in a tactical way by slowing down time and predetermining the points to move, thus adding a pinch of extra depth to the whole. There are also some nice but very simple sections of hacking, and the ability to often choose between two response options during the dialogues. This also leads to having two endings different even if almost identical, and in the rest of the game it serves more than anything else to return greater immersiveness.
Except for one bar (which will later be replaced by a sword) and one gun By default, all extra weapons have a rather limited durability. The Weapons they are not reloadable, but are simply thrown away once the available shots are exhausted. New ones can be found by exploring or appropriating those of slain enemies. The arsenal, however, is varied and full-bodied: the weapons from close encounter they all have quite different movesets, and especially those from distance manage to return a different feeling between them.
One of the coolest features of ruiner resides in ability unlockable. There is a fairly basic system of level-up, which is based on the acquisition of Karma points (practically XP) by means of combat or by exploring the maps. As we earn Karma and level up, we are given skill points to spend, but here's the fun: we can always take points away from one skill to assign them to another. This allows for a much more customizable and never too static gaming experience. In addition, advancing a level is also essential to increase the health massima and l'energia necessary to use the skills.
Undisturbed violence
The clashes with the enemies in the long run they tend to become a bit repetitive and the maximum satisfaction is received by facing them boss e mini-boss, present in a fair number, even if some are sometimes more banal than others. The final fight of the game then, while making me feel high upon its completion, made me turn up my nose for its lack of originality.
Anyway I found the design of the characters always inspired and fascinating, a little less that of settings, which at times turn out to be beautiful and rich in details, at others (the interiors of some structures in particular) a little anonymous.
From a purely technical point of view, the game turned out to be very solid: reactivity of the commands e frame rate they are excellent, net of some rare and irrelevant slowdowns, as well as some little bugs who see for example passers-by walking in front of the walls. Nothing that cannot be filed down by some patch. Simply perfect instead i uploads, whose speed, in a game with constant deaths like this, proves to be fundamental.
I models finally they are quite simple but well made and the animations they are not bad at all. There are also some cutscene from the cinematic cut that I really appreciated, as well as i drawings during the dialogues and the presentation of the bosses, and the soundtrack composed of electronic tracks.
ruiner is a title that initially captivates with its cyberpunk atmospheres and an apparently intriguing story, and then conquers with a surprisingly challenging, but always exciting and satisfying gameplay, which makes the happiness of all players able to appreciate the most difficult challenges.
Special thanks to Reikon Games
