RUINER

Dystopian top-down shooter with plenty of action. I was surprised to see RUINER being compared to Hotline Miami since it plays a lot differently, but I guess after finishing it, looking back at it and ignoring the core gameplay, it kind of gives off the same vibe. It's an action-packed experience limited to battle rooms where you can attack with melee weapons or ranged ones, both of which you can pick up and switch as you wish. There are plenty of drops through enemies, random pickups and "gifts" from time to time throughout the battles, and their ammo is also extensive, making it very forgiving to spam your way out. Combat is limited to these rooms, so there's plenty of breathing room in between battles to recompose and prep for the next one. Although you're blasting your way through like in Hotline Miami, in RUINER there's health and energy to manage that can be recovered throughout battles and spent on powers like shields and slowdown timers that slowdown the gameplay and add another layer of strategy. There's also no impact when being hit and a dash ability with a really low recharge time that can be almost constantly spammed and used as a cop-out in many encounters. As you progress through the game, you can upgrade these powers, experiment with different combos and pick and choose which one you prefer or which one is most useful against a certain enemy. Where it really excels is in its atmosphere, especially in its art direction and soundtrack. It's able to create a beautiful, dark, dystopian and futuristic environment, but since the game is pretty short and there's only one main HUB with the rest of the action being on underground levels, it leaves you wanting for more. The 2D panels are great and incredibly detailed with lots of personality but don't translate well into 3D. Cutscenes are rare, short and forgettable. The soundtrack is probably the game's strongest feature. Aside from being fantastic, it fit perfectly with the rest of the game. I found myself from time to time just enjoying it on loop during some non-action sections. The story is pretty straightforward and predictable. You seem to have no control over your actions. Characters are pretty forgettable with not much development. There's really not much to be said, it left much to be desired compared to the rest of the game. All in all, it gave me a couple of hours of fun for 2€ on sale, so I would recommend it for that price.

Has a lot riding on the borrowed cyberpunk aesthetic, and is thematically pretty flat without it. Plot is uninspired and characters are vague slot-fillers. Overall control scheme is slightly flawed, even in early levels enemies will appear off screen and shoot at you before you can even see anything, since the zoom level can't be altered. Entire balance mechanic hinges on constantly slowing down time and 'dashing' everywhere to avoid attacks while spinning the mouse constantly and more or less spamming attacks. Has the feeling of a Diablo like ARPG without the saving grace of overpowered stat builds and spell combos to save it. 'Great Soundtrack' tag is a laugh, only if you're into ambient techno-drone.

Mouse and keyboard controls are ass with the isometric directions. Don't bother unless you prefer controller

> Be me > Beat game , absolute cinema > See the menu for "Speedrun Mode" > Brain says: "Seems EZ AF" > 140 hours of pure suffering later > Thousands of failed skips later > Finally break that sub-hour mark > Lost all sense of time and reality > Worth it.

i've played hotline miami and see the comparison, but this feels more like katana zero to me. i played through the entire game without a slow down (ghost break ability), so whoever says they just eat damage should get good. the visual style is coherent and very appealing to me. there are a few weapons you can pick up and a bunch of upgrades. enemies and levels feel varied enough to not make the levels feel cluttered, but still difficult enough to keep your attention. all in all a very good game

Poop

--There seems to be a 0 audience for this video game. My guess is that it is too obscure. --It, however, gets the vibes DAMN ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RIGHT. It's a top-down shooter that's very high-octane. The skill floor isn't too high, but the skill-ceiling feels like it might be pretty in-depth. Aaaaaaaaaand then EVERYTHING goes downhill. --The game explains itself very poorly. A lot of it is trial and error. And this could have easily been fixed with small, clearly displayed dialogue blurbs, which would have gone a very long way towards making it more satisfying and accessible, without reducing the difficulty. --The constant screen glitches and flashing are an INCREDIBLE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ EPILSEPSY HAZARD. I am at high risk for it, so playing this is honestly stupid of me. The video/grpahics options have ZERO options to adjust this. This creates a huge accesibility barrier, which has likely prevented many potential players from enjoying it, or even endangered some who do. I do like this part of the visual style, but it is overused, and the accessibility and danger it poses should NOT have been ignored. It should be toned down by default, AND there should be options to tone it down further. --So I played the game a while longer. It seemed to be built with optimization for gamepad in mind. What does this mean in practice? Your guy will randomly stop shooting. Your dash won't work. Your ability won't cast. Keyboard inputs are CONSISTENTLY NOT GOING THROUGH. At first I thought I just needed to *git gud*, but nah. This is a constant issue, and plagues the game severely. There is also a "point towards objective" button, but sometimes it works, other times it is simply disabled. --After trying very hard to make mouse and keyboard work, but constantly experiencing lost inputs, I tried my gamepad. At this point I discovered not only that it is not supported AT ALL, but also that the game is marked "CONTROLLER SUPPORT UNKNOWN." What was your plan on how the players would actually interact with your game then, devs? Shake their fist at the screen going "why I oughtta" until a Sea Otter swims out of the screen, straight into their eyeballs (a symptom of the epi attack you've given the player with your excessive, flashing, glitching), and then they magically start enjoying the terrible inputs for this game? --The sound and the visuals are REALLY good. Some decent character design. Bosses are often reused and quite boring. The visuals are often unclear, and the glitching is overused to the point where it is a health hazard. The gameplay WOULD have been good if the controls were responsive. Either fix mouse and keyboard support, or introduce gamepad support for your TWIN STICK SHOOTER. --God I think can still see the lights flashing. +1 For music. +1 For visual design. -2 For overuse of otherwise cool glitching. -1 For repetitive gameplay. -1 For unclear visuals. -1 For needlessly obtuse gameplay. -4 For the frequency at which control inputs simply do not work. Player control IS kind of important for an action game. --All in all 3/10. Consider this on a 90% discount, and take your anti-seizure meds before trying it out.

同一个BOSS同一个形态打三管血，设计真的很无聊

刷新过程中无敌只能看着你能奈我何的敌人，稀奇古怪像坨答辩的操作手感，花里胡哨但是没什么用的技能，全部清完漏掉收集被门挡着没法回头跑的地图，时不时来一下意义不明的慢动作，脆皮的被摸两下就死的自己，看起来很帅但是刮痧一样的伤害

Awesome top-town shooter cyberpunk game. I like the story and its whole vibe, the combat is entertaining and you can switch it in favor depending on your gameplay style, the dialogues are fun to read, the mechanics are fun, I recommend playing with a controller. Seems like the devs had fun designing the enemies, the world building details are cool and the music goes very well with it too.