Dragon Ruins

There’s something most reviews are missing: this is a perfect entry point for the blobber and dungeon crawler genre. I used to have a hard time grasping what games like Wizardry or Might and Magic were going for. It took me forever to understand that the core game loop is actually quite simple: advance in the dungeon, return to town to heal and upgrade, then push further—rinse and repeat until the final boss. It sounds obvious, but modern RPG expectations can make traditional dungeon crawlers feel confusing. Had I played Dragon Ruins earlier, I would have clicked with this genre (which is now my favorite) much faster. It’s essentially a two-hour genre tutorial that stands on its own as an excellent game. Also... All the other praise is spot on: amazing vibes, incredible art, crunchy audio... easily one of the best surprises I’ve had all year.

Pros: +reasonably good controller support which is much appreciated. +it's a DRPG! +I like the title and portrait art a lot +I like the 3D view despite the minimalist nature. It reminds me of the AD&D Tarmin game on the Intellivision Cons: -Automatic combat. I don't feel like I'm doing anything. Little info about classes. There's a cleric and priest for example. What's the difference? I took one of them and didn't see any evidence during the auto combat (which proceeds very quickly and there's no way to adjust the speed) that any healing was happening. Ultimately, I just don't like the lack of agency here. -You can't see enemies in the first person view and apparently nothing but walls and doors appear in this view. It kind of kills the excitement of exploration when you can't even see anything. So instead, enemies appear when you're on the same square as them. This makes them like a random encounter more or less, but you can retreat if you think you're outmatched and that enemy stays in that spot... but there's nothing on the interface or map to indicate that an enemy is sitting in that spot. You just have to remember. It's a very, very odd design choice. Maybe this is how some ancient game I'm unaware of worked and the author is paying homage. -There's a CRT filter and it can't be disabled or modified/adjusted in the game's interface. The upside is that it's a decent one and not too hard on the eyes, but I always disable these when I can and usually don't play the game when I can't... which is where I basically am now since I'm not enjoying myself anyway.

YouTubeでプレイ動画を見かけてめちゃくちゃ気になったので、久しぶりにsteamに帰ってきた。 2時間ほどでクリアできるとのことで、ホントか？と思いつつプレイしたらちょうど2時間でホントにクリアできてびっくり。 ダンジョンRPGをやりたくて、なんか面白いのないかなーと色々と探してみたり、プレイ動画を見たりはするけど、なんだかんだで腰が重いし時間も無いしで手を出さず、欲求だけが溜まっていっていた中年にジャストフィットすぎる作品だった。 めちゃくちゃシンプルで余計なこと考えずに楽しめて、ダンジョンRPG成分だけを充分に摂取できたので、また欲求不満になってきたら続編もやってみようと思う。

I beat Dragon Ruins. Twice. It took just over 3 hours. Dragon Ruins is described as "A dungeon crawling microgame for tired people.". This is accurate - you make a party, explore a dungeon, level and upgrade the characters, and kill a dragon. Battles auto-resolve in real time without your input, so it's effectively a semi-idle game where you're focused on navigating the dungeon and deciding when it's time to dip, versus selecting attacks/spells for each individual encounter, worrying about specific gear choices, etc. It's low effort fun and the presentation's nice for what it's going for. There is a "remix" mode which is the same general gameplay structure and loop but a different dungeon layout. It's a good pickup on sale if you like occasionally mapping out and exploring a dungeon but don't have the energy to really deal with more intensive party building or combat.

A simples dungeon crawler that gets a lot of inspiration from the more old school dungeon crawlers, which makes this game a great entry point for those kind of games. The combat is like an idle game, so I cannot consider it a RPG, you defeat enemies automatically and upgrade your party to become stronger and delve deeper on the dungeon, but it is really simple with next to no customization, but works. With that in mind, the meat of the game is the dungeon crawling itself and the vibes, which this games does really well. I was very fun to explore, it gets some used to with the movement, but doesn't take long. My completionist self forced me to explore every inch of the dungeon, but nothing prevents you from going straight into where the dragon is (except your party might die on the way there without leveling up lmao). The graphics are very reminiscent of those old school dungeon crawlers, the playable characters and enemy portraits have good sprite work with just the right vibes. However, the dungeon itself is dull, just pitch black with white bars to enforce what walls and doors are. There's nothing wrong with it, but I wish there was some texture to the walls since the focus of this game is the dungeon exploration itself. Finally, I really like that this game explores dungeon exploration in a way no modern game does, which is really refreshing. If you are looking for an old school vibes, but without the jank from that are, look no further.

A game that is so simple, rudimentary and streamlined that it's perfectly pointless. You have a party of four. Each character is just a picture attached to four stats - HP, Attack, Defense and Speed. There is not skills, no planning, no stats, no bestiary, no specific equipment (just generic which you can abstractly upgrade, improving those stats in turn). Combat auto-happens - there is no involvement, no strategy nor tactics. The gameplay consists of constant backtracking for healing and resurrection, management of gold (loot) flow into upgrades (you can level up and upgrade equipment. Do the former first, if you cannot afford it, do the latter). Your objective is to paint the map with the "explored" color - the monsters do not respawn. It's a perfect game for a bot to play - or after a stroke, if you can barely move your fingers and have only vague notion of who and where you are. It would have been and absolute banger in 1985. Otherwise, in 2026, if you are sane and cognizant, your time is much better spent on more involved titles.

Very interesting concept and gameplay, it truly is a game for "tired people", as you don't have to worry about equipment, character stats, inventory management and you can even walk while the auto-battles go on.

Continuing to navigate the dungeon while combat unfolds in the background is a neat idea. The art is also pretty evocative. Game you can complete pretty quick.

Acho que esse jogo pode ser uma boa entrada para o gênero de dungeon crawler, já que possui todas as mecânicas simplificadas e não é difícil. É curtinho e fica bem barato em promoção.

Short, simple, strangely compelling. It's mostly an "imagination game", i.e. one which needs a good imagination to enjoy, but it has a lot that helps get the imagination stirring. The wireframe corridors with faces of black void, eerie music and ambient tracks and iconic dark-fantasy portrait art all make it a lot more enjoyable than the sum of its (mechanical) parts.