Recursive Ruin

I get it, it's right up my street. Graphics, music, puzzles, story. Enjoying it. Download the demo first, then you'll know whether to buy it. The imperfecion is just an honest part of it. Edit: just finished the game. Enjoyed the story, and atmosphere. It's definitely one of the strangest games I've played, some real WTF moments haha.

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.

+ Awesome experience that could only be realized as a video game. + Mind bending visuals and puzzles to match. - Slight "hitch" whenever you circle back on the same path. Possibly an error of doing non-euclidean geometry in the unreal engine, but would have been nice to iron out. - Screen space occlusion artifacts very noticeable because there are so many reflective surfaces.

75/100，更偏向于叙事的解谜游戏。游戏核心机制“嵌套/循环”开发的程度很一般，解谜方面亮点不突出。叙事方面十分晦涩但又耐人寻味，主视角通过记忆迷宫一点点地拼凑着童年以来的与亲友之间的故事。美术方面关于循环的场景做的十分漂亮，但是人物建模与动作只能说是技术力或者经费不足，十分生硬，场景的转换也很突兀，不够流畅。总的来说和Manifold Garden相比，牺牲了游戏性与画面但充实了叙事。还算可以玩。

muy flashero, para jugar re drogado

Awesome fractal puzzles, surreal world, very weird sad story. The story seems like a big emphasis of the game, so keep that mind. Play if you like surrealism, David Lynch, and mind-bending puzzles. But don't play if you just want Manifold Garden with minimal narrative.

quite a remarkable experience. i really liked this a lot. incredible vibes. cool puzzles and level designs. goooood stuff!

really dig the recursivness of it. But story did not apeal to me and i really did not like that you must start dialog several times instead of just once

Recommended, with caveats. First, the puzzles and mechanics of the game are excellent. Not the hardest puzzler I've ever played, but did really scratch an itch. The visuals were an interesting mix of hyper-complex and simple, which was a neat approach. On the down side, this game is DARK. Like, menacingly, unnecessarily DARK - across its various storylines. Trigger warning for domestic violence, self-ending ideation, implied body horror, and deep loss. The metaphysical concepts in the weirder story arc seem (to me) clearly inspired by "bad trip" psychedelic exploration, which, although it sounds odd to say, on its own might be triggering, if you've "been there" - seriously. Overall, a good play if you're into puzzles, and all of these caveats aren't of concern.

一个不断断裂、再生、自我引用的万华镜般的分形世界，不过是一个平凡人反复回顾往事挣扎破碎的心灵。 各关卡基本上是心灵图景的超现实图像化——主人公在挚友意外丧生的痛苦中努力反思往事以抵御负罪感的侵蚀。美术极其贴切，叙事简洁有深度，NPC形象也非常美丽独特有象征性。 玩法上还是传送门那一套，虽然解谜涉及了嵌套与自引用且有点难度也不重复，但对递归的探索不深，不如Cocoon、Patrick's Parabox。在一众和递归有关的游戏中这是美术与叙事最好的一个，应用的是概念而非手法，突出其表现而非玩乐。 “我不理解。因为越是明哲，痛就越真；越是渊博，伤就越深。” 作为故事的开始，主角为朋友制作了第一张专辑的封面，而海报上是古斯塔夫·多雷为《神曲·天堂XXXI》绘制的插图——但丁经历了漫长艰辛的旅程，在尘世中已经逝去的贝雅特利奇的引领下，终于抵达了至高天。二人一同仰望着Rosa celeste，如玫瑰般展开、层层嵌套的圆形天穹——正是源自故去友人善的陪伴、对故去父亲恶的告别，主角走完了炼狱、地狱、天堂的朝圣路，从内心无限循环的死胡同中解放，回归了现实的故土："Tu m'hai di servo tratto a libertate per tutte quelle vie, per tutt'i modi che di ciò fare avei la potestate..." 其实逝者已逝万物皆流，无论备受折磨还是走出沉沦的动机都来自于自身，来自主角自己，也来自玩家努力解决问题的力量——我亦是长河，我亦是猛虎，我看着一切而一切都在我之中。游戏与玩家的关系、经历与人格的关系同样也是一场递归。博尔赫斯是最好的递归作家，很高兴游戏最后提到了。 通过这个游戏，得以见证制作者、见证人类非凡的能力、情感、智慧与勇气。 -------------------------- 想到了顺便说一下，《天堂》canto 31、32里Dante Alighieri对至高天的描述完全符合爱因斯坦在1917年提出的“三维球面”设想，这个设想解决了横亘西方文明上千年的宇宙边界问题，就是递归中的“无限性”，而诗人的幻想比爱因斯坦早六百年就发现了——八十年代这个发现让天文物理数学文学家都为之疯狂。游戏里引用的Gustave Doré的这幅插图，描绘的就是这一场景。 我想说的是：这个游戏的作者真的对递归做出了非常跨领域的研究，而不仅仅是做一个视频游戏。 希望作者明白，尽管创作中那么多泥泞中的痛苦、云端上的欢欣、顿悟后的狂喜与年复一年的努力都在冰山之下看不见的地方，还会被空洞随意地评价“看不懂”“精神污染”，但是冥冥宇宙中，或早或晚、或多或少，总会有人看到你。这样的作品自然有它超越时间的价值。