Recursive Ruin

The aesthetically pleasing graphics and trippy puzzles are probably the only things this game is worth playing for. The story is boring, I ended skipping pretty much all of it, I expected more from a narritive driven title.

I really enjoyed this game, but I'm aware that this is the kind of game that some will love and others will hate. I think this is the reason that the review score isn’t the highest, and giving it’s score, I did go into this with lower expectations, which definitely could have contributed to my enjoyment of the game. What drew me into this game was it’s whacky, kind of bizarre visuals and there being comparisons made to some of my favourite games of this genre. I read reviews that compared it to Manifold Garden, Antichamber and Superliminal and essentially that was me sold already. I love games that are more on the surreal side, and lean more on environmental/critical thinking puzzles opposed to pure logic puzzles. I was also getting the sense that this game, in a lack of better words, was arty and pretentious. Personally, I love arty, love the vast possibilities that comes with that and I think maybe I’m just a little bit of an art snob in my own way. I’m someone who loves going to art museums. Do I know what’s going on half the time? No! But I mean, look at all the stuff, isn’t that neat? I tend to not take arty stuff very seriously and just go with the flow of whatever is going on. I enjoy the idea that people choose to express themselves in bizarre and confusing ways and when something seems unique to me I'm more likely to want to engage with it. This brings me to the story and narration. To quickly mention the narration, I did consider this kind of bad in a very particular way. Have you ever listened to an audiobook and the voice actor is kind of purposely putting on voices to represent different characters? This game was very much giving audiobook level voice acting. Regarding the story, I don’t think this is the games strong point. I take notes as I go when playing games I plan on reviewing and most of my notes for this game regarding the story were just confused questions, then at the end just “ah, not as ambiguous as I was expecting”. The story was a little confusing, and waffled on a bit (which I didn’t really mind). I felt like there was perhaps a lot of symbolism, parallels or context that maybe just went completely over my head. A good example of this is at the end of the game being able to see a book called “Sioraiocht” (god in Irish) among your things. Did this game have things inspired by Irish culture? Who knows! Not me. I understand what the story culminated to, but I did not find it particularly impactful and didn’t feel like I pieced much together along the way. If many people who played this felt like this, I can 100% understand why people would just label this as “pretentious” and call it a day. Nonetheless, I found the imagery and set pieces in this game intriguing and visually interesting. The otherworldly, godly figures of incomprehensible realms you see in this game were just so interesting to me. There were times in which I resigned myself to just not fully understanding it, as at times it almost felt intentional. The way some characters speak to you it’s like there is a background precedence that they know you’re just a mortal of another realm, so obviously you wouldn’t understand them. I had flashes of remembering the characters in “The Good Place”, Angels in the afterlife, explaining something to a human and then being like “why am I even trying to explain this, it’s beyond you”, the way that show used language to make you [i]feel[/i] as if it was incomprehensible was something I really admired. Maybe in this instance, if that is what they were trying to do with this game, they kind of missed the mark a little? To talk more of the games stronger points, I will start with the puzzles. I wouldn’t say the puzzles in this game are particularly challenging, but rather that they are on the satisfying side. You have two mechanics, “shrink”, which is self explanatory, as you can shrink or grow your character on command, or “shift the world”, making the kaleidoscopic environment around you expand or retract, switching up the environment. The main shifting mechanic was extremely trippy at first, and honestly if you get motion sickness easy you may find this quite unsettling. Personally I really enjoyed this mechanic, I loved the way that you need to think about the space due to the repeating architecture. At first I found myself walking around, as if I was not just walking an infinitely repeating road. You need to think about how you exist in one instance of that environment, but it is copied over and over again on either side of you. When you have a goal, if it is currently inaccessible within the copy you stand in, you need to consider if you can interact with one of the other copies to reach your goal. This game had the kind of mind-bending critical thinking puzzles that I just really enjoyed. This game also has some really amazing environments. There were plenty of times in which I just stopped and stared, or walked mindlessly for a bit. Some of the landscapes were so cool and aesthetically pleasing that just taking it in for a bit made my brain happy. I would try and discern where the boundaries of the maps were, at what point they were starting to repeat and in what ways. There was a few I genuinely couldn’t comprehend how it worked as the environments are not always infinitely repeating. It was fun to wander and just stare at these wonderfully curated worlds. This went hand-in-hand nicely with the music being quite nice. It’s a kind of odd electronic type of music I'm too old to accurately fit into a genre, but I found it really added to the overall ambiance of the game. As far as first-person puzzle games go, this one was more relaxing than most. I played this on Steam deck, and ended up remapping the keys. It’s easy to do, but if you can’t be arsed I have shared the layout that I used when I played. Overall, I found this to be an immensely interesting game. It’s trippy, very surreal, and I'd honestly say that if you are a fan of the genre it should be something you at least try out for yourself. [quote][b]Achievements:[/b] Included Easy, complete the game and watch the credits. [/quote] [quote]For more reviews of this genre, check out my curator page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45518898-The-Best-First-Person-Puzzle-Games/] The Best: First-Person Puzzle Games[/url][/quote]

Ein eigenwilliges Kunstwerk und schwieriges Rätselspiel. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3612774951 [b]Gedanken zum Spiel[/b] Das wohl interessanteste und auffälligste ist wohl das Design einiger der Level, die wir im Laufe des Spieles betreten und betrachten dürfen. Diese sind in einem kaleidoskopähnlichen Stil, der Teile einerseits wie in 3D-Kacheln wiederholt und andererseits doch verändert. Einige dieser Level können schnell sehr komplex werden und haben mich teils auch schlicht überfordert. Die genaue Logik der Weltenmachanik war auch immer etwas anders und mir nicht immer wirklich klar. Vielfach muss man gewisse sehr ähnliche Handlungsabläufe wiederholen, um letztlich ans Ziel zu gelangen, oftmals sind die Wege fast die eines Irrgartens. Immerhin gibt es überall kleine Hinweise verstreut, die man bei Bedarf abrufen kann, die ein wenig Licht entlang des Weges liefern. Dennoch entweder bringt man wohl mehr Zeit oder mehr Grips mit, als ich da hatte oder man schaut mal in einer Lösung nach. Faszinierend war es jedenfalls und es gab auch einfachere Level, die gewöhnlicheres Erkunden und Tun erfordern. Wie beginnen in der Wohnung des Protagonisten, Künstler in einer schwierigen Situation mit verschiedenen belastenden Faktoren, begeben uns dann aber mittels Videospielleinand aber in jeweils andere Welten. Ein Trost und sicher das putzigste Element des Spieles ist ein Kater in unserer Wohnung mit einer speziellen Fähigkeit. Ansonsten ist alles ziemlich düster. Die Aufenthalte in der Wohnung waren das wohl realistischte an dem ganzen Spiel, alles wirkt sehr wie ein Traum, und die Figuren, denen wir begegnen wirken, als hätten wir einen Albtraum. Die Dialoge (es sind in gewisser Weise Monologe, weil wir unseren Anteil am Dialog nicht mitbekommen), sie mögen vom Entwickler des Spieles ebenso tiefsinnig gemeint gewesen sein, waren an mir bald verloren und klangen - Verzeihung - bald nur noch wie Quark. Ich meine, nur um mal ein Beispiel aufzugreifen, die Dialoge in Talos Principle waren verständlich und doch tiefsinnig. Man kann es schaffen, für mich hat dieses Spiel es hier eben nicht geschafft. Ähnlich die Filme, die wir ab und an anschauen dürfen. Verstörend ist noch ein gelindes Adjektiv für das Gebotene. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3612777608 Vielleicht kann man das alles als Gesamtkunstwerk betrachten. So eine Art Installations- oder Konzeptkunst für den Computerbereich. Was dabei aber m.E. weniger passt, ist die Thematik des Spieles, die sich mir in den Abschnitten, die in der Wohnung spielen, zu offenbaren schien: persönliche Krise, vielleicht Depression, Traumata. Für mich insgesamt der wirklich interessante Versuch etwas wirklich ungewöhnlich Eindrucksstarkes zu kreieren, das aber vielleicht zu komplex, zu abstrakt, zu verstörend geraten ist. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3612775849 [b]Technik[/b] Technisch beeindruckend. Gerade wie die Level aufgebaut sind, die Logik und die Umsetzung in eine 3D-Welt scheint mir außergewöhnlich. Grafisch entsprechend vielfach wirklich eindrucksvoll. Manche Passagen sind wieder etwas gewöhnlicher. Aber insgesamt bleibt bei mir der Eindruck, das ist kunstvoll. Der Ton ist gut. Viele der (mir oft inhaltlich nichtssagenden) Monologe sind vertont, auf Englisch mit deutschen Untertiteln. Die Steuerung per Tastatur und Maus ist OK. Mit Controller geht es auch, aber die Tastenbelegung ist etwas seltsam und nicht alle Funktionen habe ich am Controller gefunden. [b]Sonstiges[/b] Ich habe über 7h für einen Durchgang gebraucht. Einmal wollte ich schon aufgeben, weil ich mich ziemlich verfranzt habe und habe das Spiel nun doch noch zu Ende geführt. Die Errungenschaften sollten sich alle automatisch mit dem Fortschritt freischalten. [code][b]In Zahlen für mich persönlich ein Unterhaltungswert von 6/10.[/b][/code] Ein etwas strapaziöses Kunstwerk und Rätselspiel. [hr][/hr] [i]Dies ist mein subjektiver Spieleindruck. Für meine Wertung zählt, wie gut es mich unterhalten hat. Entsprechend der Daumen nach oben oder unten, abhängig davon, ob ich es einem ähnlich gesinnten Spieler weiterempfehle. Der Spieleindruck eines anderen Spielers kann aber durchaus stark davon abweichen.[/i]

I liked the puzzles, but everything else was obtuse and intentionally edgy. It made enjoying the puzzles much more difficult because the esoteric characters were interspersed throughout, frequently pulling me out of the thing I'd bought into. Maybe the fact I beat SOMA immediately before playing this has put an unfair comparison in my head, but I can't honestly say that any of the heavier themes in Recursive Ruin are handled with tact. Crack cocaine!!! This is one I'd rather have a "Not really" button for whether I'd recommend or not. No feels too negative, yes feels too positive, but I am overall more neg on the game. Even the a-ha moments were underwhelming. [Mild spoiler if you care] One of the final "dialogues" in the game has a character from earlier exclaim "I finally understand!" and my literal response was, out loud, "I'm glad one of us does!"

While the game does warn about sensitivity issues for some players, I managed to stomach other games just fine, some with even more motion sickness etc than the average person can handle. This however was just too much for my current sensitivity towards visual patterns. Then there's odd reflections and some z-fighting, so the game is not finished! But the devs are sadly done with their updates for over 3 years now, so this is it. I might watch a playthrough of it because the puzzles are mostly intriguing. I say mostly because at some point, the usual pattern to move forward was broken, maybe it was supposed to be an alternate path, who knows. But also a part of the reset/teleport floor did not act like the rest. And there were some other spots that magically teleported me and I did not understand why, but they did not feel like part of the usual puzzles. Visually, it's just not clear what is a... I wanna say portal? (idk what they are) And what is not a portal. But random surfaces, whether horizontal or vertical, cannot just transport you randomly. It needs to do a better job teaching the player. And story rich is indeed story rich. Not only there's a story for the recursive universe, there's a story outside that universe. I think just one of the 2 would have sufficed.

The game boasts stunning visuals, really elevated by its clever integration of fractal-inspired, reality-warping abilities that feel genuinely mind-bending. It plays like the weird offspring of The Talos Principle, Gone Home, and Blackshard—philosophical exploration mixed with quiet introspection and some darker, shard-like edges. I went in expecting to fall head over heels for it. I like it quite a bit, but I don't quite love it. The story occasionally gets a little too on-the-nose, particularly in the father-son moments. A lot of us have lived through strained or complicated "daddy issues" dynamics like that, but the writing in those scenes feels overly labored and predictable, even though the performances are solid. Back in the day, it was actually tough to stumble across games that drew from Lovecraft. These days it feels like every other title—even ones that don't seem overtly cosmic-horror at first—can't resist cramming in blatant nods to the Mythos (here, practically every in-game book, film, or bit of media has a name that's a clear wink at Lovecraft's works). I adore Lovecraft as much as the next person (probably more), but come on—there are so many other incredible voices in weird fiction worth pulling from for equal or even stronger atmosphere: Thomas Ligotti's bleak existential dread, William Hope Hodgson's sea-haunted cosmic terror, Jeff VanderMeer's slippery eco-horror, China Miéville's strange New Weird inventions, and plenty beyond. Sure, you could draw some loose parallels between this game's narrative and Lovecraft's Dreamlands cycle, but it's a real stretch. The game would have stood stronger on its own terms without leaning so hard on those familiar crutches.

Puzzles and Aesthetic are really cool, but the story and writing ruin it for me.

Interesting concept, but rapidly gets tedious.

Only have this because it came in a bundle and I can't refund it without losing the whole bundle. Thought the puzzle concepts might be interesting, but never got far into them because I was thoroughly turned off of the game by basically all of the art direction. I'm not one to harp on graphics most of the time, but the environments in this game are downright ugly. On top of this, there are gen ai assets, slapped-in npc's repeating the same animation that isn't designed to be looped, and that specific type of cringy writing where most of the dialogue is completely meaningless and the rest of it seems to think it carries emotional weight that simply isn't there. It feels like someone wanted to make an asset flip and then forgot what they were doing and made a bunch of actual puzzles, but never brought everything else up to snuff.

If you love mindbending puzzlers like Manifold Garden or Antechamber, you'll likely get a kick out of the puzzles in Recursive Ruin. They're psychedelic, eye-pleasing trials with intuitive solutions and a satisfying progression of knowledge for the most part. If the game was condensed to the puzzles, it would be pretty short but great and totally worth 5-10 dollars. However, it's packaged with a walking-sim style story that's confusing, long-winded and feels pseudophilosophical. I don't want to totally disparage it because there are interesting elements, but they don't come together cleanly. I liked the psychedelic entities, but their plot felt like a sci-fi without the exposition needed to grasp what was going on, and the protagonists internal turmoil is compelling on its own but didn't click with the psychedelic otherworld in a way that made it feel relevant or was satisfying in any way. The narrative being the only part I didn't like of a game isn't usually a big deal, but It's also no small part, probably taking up an hour or two of your playtime in total if you take the time to listen and read rather than skip. If you love psychedelic puzzlers like me, I think this game is worthwhile because the puzzles are so unique and compelling, but definitely get it on a sale and be prepared to skip through some dialogue to get to the good bits.