RUINER is a cyberpunk top-down shooter video game released on September 26, 2017 by Reikon Games. It is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.

Ruiner Launch Trailer:

Overview:
Ruiner is a top-down, dual-stick shooter set in the year 2091 in a cyberpunk / manga inspired city called Rengkok.  The player takes control of a mind-hacked citizen who becomes charged with a simple task: KILL BOSS.  The “Boss” ends up being the CEO of “Heaven,” a megacorporation that – wouldn’t you know it – is bent on exploiting citizens and robots to produce more of whatever they produce.

You don’t know any of your own backstory and you don’t know who BOSS is, you just know you are to take out anyone that gets between you and the completion of  your mission. The anonymity of the player is protected by a digital mask you wear that displays messages periodically, the most predominate of which happens to be your mandate to “KILL BOSS.”

The game spans 14 missions and took us about 6-7 hours to complete. Created by the newly formed Reikon Studios, Ruiner is a truly beautiful game with some inspired art and lighting design.

  

Gameplay:
The gameplay consists of running down corridors until you reach a “killroom” where enemies pour in to stop you. There are loads of weapons, including everything from exploding projectiles to samurai swords, along with multiple pistols and even flamethrowers. The weapon variety adds to the fun, and you can pick up anything that your enemies drop and use it on their buddies as they converge on our position.  You can use an energy shield,”dash” and “karma” to power-up your player as the levels progress, but more about that later . . .

For all the weapon variety, there is far less variety among enemies. The appearance of your fodder changes, but for the most part they behave exactly the same.  There are just more of them. And more. And more.

Bosses:
There are Boss battles as you fight your way up to the Big Boss, and the bosses have a decent amount of variety to keep them interesting. On the normal difficulty, the bosses were real “bullet sponges” taking so much damage that it seemed like some of them would never go down.  Thank goodness for some of the gameplay elements added in to give the player a fighting chance.

Environment:
This game is DARK. Exactly what you would expect from a proper cyberpunk universe, I immediately thought of scenes from Bladerunner where torrential rains gutter down dirty streets and shifty characters huddle in darkened doorways.  The streets of Rengkok are shiny with new-fallen rain which reflects the always-on neon blasting from every corner of shops and bars. Lighting and shading are masterfully employed to keep the edges of the screen almost totally dark, and the designers used vibrant color as a major ambient tool to create contrast between the dark areas and the center of the screen, where all the action takes place.

As beautiful as this game is, one thing, for me was equally enjoyable, if not more so – the music.  The soundtrack drives the action with heavy, electronic beats that build tension and really pull you in to the game. As a big fan of 80’s synth and the new modern “Synthwave” artists like Scandroid and Sunset Neon, the score, which includes tracks from Zamilska and Sidewalks and Skeletons was an absolutely perfect fit for the frenetic gameplay of Ruiner.

A few gameplay observations:
Although this game is top-down, the controls aren’t quite like other top-down shooters. The up-down-left-right controls are actually locked in to a more diagonal movement rather than N-S-E-W arrangement typical of this genre.  That took a short time to get used to, but did not detract from playability.

As with all dual stick games, one stick controls your players position on the screen and the other aims, so it it completely possible to be running in circles while still accurately taking out baddies.

Framerate seemed to vary a bit, with more populated battles slowing down a bit on both xbox one and PC.  This was noticeable and at one point the game froze up long enough for me to die and start over from a savepoint. Saves are automatic and pretty close together.  This is great, because you should plan to die A LOT before you finish Ruiner 🙂

The pace was a major element in Ruiner.  The presence of flashing lights, blackout areas, driving soundtrack and even the speed at which the player respawns after dying keep this game moving along at a frantic pace.  One gameplay element – “dashing” – was probably the only way many of the battles could be survived. Dashing allows the player to “dash” quickly away from or toward an opponent, to avoid attacks or sneak in swiftly to land a melee blow. You can even mark dash points, and then execute them all at once, in realtime. That’s pretty cool to see, and feels great when you dash around in a preset pattern to do damage as you enemies slash at you a moment too late.

Another unique element is the character progression system. Players earn “karma” to upgrade skills and reach higher levels, which benefits the player with passive and active abilities that you can assign on the fly. Unique to Ruiner is the ability to re-assign your karma in the middle of a battle. Can’t seem to beat that Boss with the flamethrower? Just reassign some of your karma points to power up your shield so you can take a bit more “heat” while you dish out some pain!

 

Conclusion:
Ruiner scores big on graphics and music, and does as good a job as I have ever seen in a game creating the cyberpunk environment, dialog, and cinematics.  The fast pace fits well with the environments and gives the player a sense of urgency. It incites a bit of panic for the player as he tries desperately to keep up.

The number of weapons and the player development system help round out the gameplay. Without this variety of play, Ruiner could have become repetitive and caused some to lose interest before they got to the big boss and were treated to the final cliffhanger ending. Indeed, some I have spoken with did grow tired of the seemingly endless busloads of enemies that come out of the woodwork, but I enjoyed the ambience so much that the game kept my interest all the way through.

Ruiner is worth a playthrough if you are a fan of the “Escape from New York” type narrative.  It’s fast, pretty and the soundtrack will get you moving in your seat even before the tutorial is done with you.  Some players felt that the overall gameplay (shoot pile of enemies, move on to new area, repeat) was repetitive enough that they lost interest before they finished the game. As for me, I was constantly hoping for another mission so I could spend a bit longer in the color-saturated futuristic cyber world that is Ruiner.

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.:ATG:. DMikeyL

 

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