Army of Ruin

[b][h1]Army Of Ruin[/h1][/b]Army of Ruin, for one of the earlier Bullet Heavens, has a surprising amount of content in it's challenges and unlockables and does enough to set itself apart from Vampire Survivors. But it takes way too long to get fun or even playable for that matter, when most lost runs are unavoidable that's on the game, not the player. [b][h2]Gameplay[/h2][/b]Here's a quick speedrun overview of the core features: Lots of characters but they are bland, weapons and passives are very unique, lots of unlockables and grindy meta-upgrades. It's a really slow ramp-up when you first start, barely anything unlocked and only a few weapon/passive slots, you unlock new features as you play, but it's only once all of these are unlocked that the game starts to feel playable, without extra projectiles, revives, weapon evolutions and extra slots you lose runs to no fault of your own. A new wave comes in and just obliterates you with no chance to escape, you have to rely on burning multiple revives to survive on higher difficulties. Certain weapons, while they have cool ideas, are useless because they don't aim at the closest enemy, so you are forced to pick close AOE weapons and those that target enemies which leads to most runs playing similar builds, it ends up feeling more like you have to take the path that makes you take the least damage, rather than other games in the genre where you become strong enough to push through waves or just weave through gaps in the hoard, this game doesn't have that. It doesn't help that certain maps have turret-like enemies that upgrade between waves that eventually become too overwhelming to actually kill, which goes against the games' gameplay loop of running between different points of interest, since you have to loop back to constantly kill them off, then on other maps there are waves of completely invulnerable enemies that surround you to burn your revives, the game literally forces you to take the passive item that gives you a revive per level if you actually wanna play a full run on higher difficulties. Runs are lost not because of a mistake, they are lost because you tried to play something new. The game doesn't respect it's own content, here's 100 weapons, here's 100 passives, but play with the 10 that work while you grind out your measly meta-upgrades that you need to try anything interesting. [b][h2]Achievements (221/221)[/h2][/b]Most achievements can be gotten within the same runs as other achievements allowing you to stack multiple challenges to get them in bulk. [b][h2]Music/sound[/h2][/b]The music isn't bad but there's only so many times I can hear the same few tracks and it not get repetitive. [b][h2]Settings/Accessibility/Misc[/h2][/b]The game runs well on steamdeck. The controls felt good and the twin-stick aiming feels smooth and reactive. The game has attack transparency settings but they don't make a noticeable difference making it hard to see in long runs. Multiple save slots. 14 languages supported. Keyboard, mouse and gamepad support with key rebinding available. [b][h2]TL;DR[/h2][/b]Really repetitive Bullet-Heaven with forced item choices and bad balance. Lots of content but you are punished for trying anything new. Enemies are unfun and unavoidable. Stackable achievements [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39729435-JHG-Reviews/?appid=2218750]Check out my Curator page[/url][/quote]

Its a mid tier vampirelike. It has all what makes these good but doesnt push any boundries with new innovative features. Its just more of the same with a different theme. Fun if youre looking for a survivors game but nothing groundbreaking.

还行，就是游戏进程的中期会比较难熬，一方面玩家的局外成长会陡然放缓导致战力不太够，一方面局内为了达成挑战解锁内容会为了满足挑战需求舍弃一部分战力。武器之间的dps差距非常大，是数量级的差距，打完记得看dps选出输出高的武器标记上。 有些成就要求玩家在非无尽关卡单局时长超过常规时长很多，这个设置非常难受，要求16分钟以上的关卡我10分钟左右就通关了，为了完成这个成就必须躲着boss，尽可能慢地击杀小怪，非常的反人性。通常这类挑战只会出现在无尽模式中，在非无尽模式我不理解这是在考验什么。

Way too much grinding for such little gold for upgrades. Making 1 upgrade has no real impact on your next run. Not clear like Vampire survivor what items upgrade or evolve to what items.

还行

Sometimes you play a game that just makes you go, “These people really understand game design.” Army of Ruin is one of those. The central premise of this game seems to have been, “What if Vampire Survivors had every single quality-of-life update you could possibly imagine?” Unlike almost every other VS clone I’ve played, this is a VS clone that’s better than the original pretty much across the board. The UI is better, the menus are clearer, everything is beautifully organized, there are tooltips everywhere, it’s great. But the real treasure here is just how deliberately and well-designed all the weapons and classes are. This game was clearly playtested to hell and back, and every single weapon was meaningfully different and interesting, every class had bespoke stat growth, an ult, and certain buffs and debuffs. Even the classes that were the same type were meaningfully different from each other, and they all played in unique ways. Every one of the five levels had unique enemies and mechanics, and they all felt meaningfully different. It was honestly so impressive. This is a developer that understands gameplay. I absolutely loved this game. I enjoyed it so much not only did I get all the achievements, I kept going and completed everything there was to complete in it, and then when there was nothing left to do I was so sad to put it down. It’s just a fun, well-made game, and a great entrypoint into the genre if you’re not sure if you’ll like it. My one single complaint was that it’s one of very few 3D games in the genre, and I kind of wish it hadn’t been — it caused the SteamDeck to run insanely hot and Mr Act said the Switch struggled with it. I never encountered any lag or stutters, but man the SteamDeck sounded like a rocket at times. I’m not sure the 3D added anything, and it would have been nice to have it be easier on the hardware. But this is a real nitpick.

[h1] Entrance here [/h1] The Survivors-Like genre finally has another entry, for new players to the genre, that serves as a benchmark, wether you like the genre, or not. [h3] The bare minimum [/h3] Milkstone Studios is one of the few developers in the genre, that actually understood the assignement with survivors-likes. The point of the genre is to give you the illusion that you are not playing an idle game, while being as complex as an idle game. This is achieved by the power fantasy of being the bullet hell for the enemies with choices that matter, but are not as taxing as a wrong specc in an Action-RPG for example. [h3] Bones need meat on them [/h3] Army of Ruin is an ideal entry into the genre because it teaches the player the fundamentals of the genre in such an easy and spoon-fed way, that it can't be simpler. You pick a character, pick weapons and trinkets and when you find out what trinkets upgrade which weapons you get stronger. After that you kill enemies and with every run you try to kill more enemies. If that sounds boring or mundane to you, this genre is not for you. In it's core, the genre is nothing more than this loop. What sets Army of Ruin apart from all the other surviors-likes is, that it has a reasonable price, looks good enough and is elegant in its simplicity. [h3] The vampires bite [/h3] You can't talk about a game in this genre without comparing it to the genres king. Vampire Survivors in it's present form still the best choice if you know what you are getting into. This review however serves as an offer to consider, that it's actually worthwhile to not start with Vampire Survivors, since it is so bloated. Army of Ruin has no DLC. If you buy the game, you have everything. It is not the best game in the genre, but it is among the best entries into the genre, which is better than most of the games in the genre.

The grind is real and not all that fun. Games require work and effort. This required too much for me for what I was getting in return. I put in my average five hours before making a review, but keep in mind it could be a player skill issue. I could be the problem in the relationship.

Wow what a nice game, how I managed to miss it. I love how well-crafted it is, kudos to developers. I like the variety of maps, like that every map has certain kind of enemies - it's very nice to see this kind of effort. Comfortable difficulty, adjustable pace, decent progression - what else do you need. Highly recommend for those who probably do not seek any extra challenge and just want to relax (note: I haven't even opened all characters, maybe there is a challenge later. Not a lot of game inspire me to write such a long review. Oh! And there is no dashing out of red circles.

Good mindless, challenging levels, some difficult achievements on this one. After you get all the upgrades, you can go make a sandwich and watch TV while your guy destroys ♥♥♥♥.