13 Points on Ruiner - Reikon Games - 2017 [PC]

1. Ruiner is a game that is a game that combines the stylish ultra-violence of Hotline Miami w/ the stylish ultra-violence of 2016's Doom. More specifically, it takes the twin-stick combat and disposable weapons of Hotline Miami and throws in a chance to finish off a stunned enemy for some extra health from Doom. It's also got a good deal of DNA from old arena shooters like Smash TV. It is incredibly, extremely ultra-violent.

2.  Is set in a dystopian future and it is the dystopianest dystopian future you could imagine. Everyone seems to be physically held together w/ a patchwork of cybernetic parts and it is taken for granted that your actual thoughts are being spied upon by sinister organizations. Everything is in absolute ruins and even those in positions of power seem mostly decrepit. This lends some cool visuals but it's a bit much for my taste. I prefer a dystopian future where a thin veneer of democracy and economic prosperity barely conceals decaying infrastructure and the degradation of human life after the reigns of control have been seized by a celebrity man-child. This just seems more believable to me. Couldn't tell you why.

3. For a setup, your unnamed character--who has a video screen for a face, by the way--goes through a brief tutorial level. You are then told you're being manipulated by an unnamed woman who also seems to be manipulating you. She tells you you need to save your brother and thereafter you do her bidding. Nobody in their right mind would believe this woman but apparently her powers over you are quite strong so you have no choice but to do what she wishes. She seems to have similar sway over other characters as well.

4. The process of finding your brother consists of slashing and shooting your way through room after room full of enemies. It's high octane and very satisfying when you get in the groove, dodging projectiles and finding just the right window to attack. The combat system is simple and beautiful and then a bunch of other things as well.

5. You get a melee attack and a gun w/ unlimited ammo. You get more powerful weapons from fallen enemies that run out of ammunition or wear out eventually. You get a skill tree. You get to rearrange the skill tree whenever you want. You get a shield. You get the ability to control enemies. You get more health. You get to regenerate health. You get more ammo. You get to call in supply drops. You get an area of affect weapon.You get another kind of shield.You get the ability to dash, the ability to teleport and the ability to slow down time. That is not even all you get.

6. If this seems like a bit much, it's because it is. It creates the distinct impression that the dev team brainstormed every cool mechanic they could come up w/ and just chucked all of them in there. You don't really need or want any of this stuff most of the time. Getting to re-do your skill tree seems nice but it also takes away some of the satisfaction of building a skill-set that is truly yours. Options sound good on paper but sometimes you've just gotta let the player play.

7. The art-style fits the overall tone perfectly. It's grimy, dark and mechanical, w/ blood red highlights. It feels like a combination of man and machine, just like the game's characters. The actual quality of the graphics are outstanding and there's a few UI touches that keep gameplay from getting too confusing. You can always tell which way you are facing and what you need to kill. If I have a complaint it's that it doesn't really change up its style from level to level and it winds up looking a bit samey in the end.

8. There is an epilepsy warning when you start this game up due to the flashing. I feel like this is well needed. I don't have epilepsy but the flashing in this did evoke an actual physical reaction from me at times. I honestly can't think of another game where this has happened. Well, Super Mario Galaxy does make me nauseated for some reason.

9. Ruiner's story is presented almost entirely through cutscenes and dialog outside of gameplay. These are really cool but I do wish they'd tried a bit harder to incorporate some story into gameplay. As it is, the story just floats over the top. Really, once you get past the initial "find your brother" setup, there is no more story until a long cutscene at the end to explain everything and *spoilers* doesn't completely make sense.

10. Sonically, this delivers the dark techno you'd probably expect given its cyberpunk visual style. It was produced by a handful of artists but sticks together as a cohesive unit. It's a rather understated mix for the most part and ends up being the kind of thing you feel rather than really listen to while you are playing.

11. This whole thing looks and sounds like it could be a AAA game w/ only a few things indicating its humbler origins. Much of the cutscene content is still images and there's no voice acting anywhere. I kinda hate voice acting because I'm old so this is all good w/ me.

12. I just assume this game was at least partly inspired by the Nine Inch Nails song of the same name. I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow on the whole thing but it's a song about manipulation, abuse of power and violence. Kinda seems like a natural fit for a game about a cybernetic human who slaughters countless other cybernetic humans while put on a possible wild goose chase to find his brother by someone who may have completely taken away his agency. There's also just something particularly 90's inflected about Ruiner's general presentation. There's murk and grunge all over everything and there's just so much... angst.

13. My biggest takeaway from playing through Ruiner is that there are some very talented people behind its development. The graphics, the music and its style are all excellent. It lacks polish in some aspects, esp. in terms of pacing and its use of skill trees, but I can't help but recognize the potential of the team behind it. Ruiner was a fun game to play but it's predominant effect on me is to make me really excited for whatever Reikon Games does next.