Lone Ruin, review – Multiplayer.it

When a game is successful, it naturally produces a certain number of clones, which try to exploit the formula to attract the same potential audience. Whatever the case, in some cases the source of inspiration is so obvious that the process becomes almost stark, as we’ll see in Lone Ruin Reviewwhich looks down on Hades while failing to come close to Supergiant Games’ quality.

fighting

Lone Ruin is a very simple title to describe. Once the game starts, we have to choose the first game magic spell with which we encounter levels, which are mainly our projectiles. At each stage we have to do the same thing: kill all the waves of enemies, their number indicated by a clearly visible icon bar on the screen, using our strength and dodging their attacks by running. The creatures we will meet are of different types and are distinguished above all by their attack patterns. It must be said that a single enemy is not very dangerous, but things change when faced with several opponents, all with their own powers, which turns the screen into a controlled chaos as we are called upon to get out of the way, reducing the number of attackers at the same time. Once the carnage is over, you get a reward, and then you choose which one to be in the next one, between the two available.

The only significant differences are the presence of shops, areas where you can spend the money accumulated by killing enemies, and stages with more rewards, where waves are more numerous and more difficult and the creatures participating in them are stronger. Pass a certain number of training exercises that you have to face President In service (three in total), such as the giant tree (the first, we won’t tell you about the others because it’s actually one of the few surprises you’ll find while playing), which you can guess unique and especially dangerous attack patterns, which they draw largely from the underworld. Kill the monster, you can get to the next level. Note that choosing bonuses doesn’t change the stages, which remain simple arenas, with nothing interactive. There are stairs, walkways, and cracks where you have to avoid falling, but they are generally very small and don’t offer much in terms of variety.

spells

In short, Lone Ruin is pure combat system, meaning that apart from powering yourself up with new active or passive spells, there’s really nothing else. Even the narrative talk there is nothing. The protagonist is a witch who wants to get to the center of the ruins of an ancient city to find out what has corrupted it. Goal. On closer inspection, it’s just an excuse to exploit the twin-stick shooter mechanics, which as we said and as you understand, look pretty big on Hades. So each spell works differently from the other, so as to profoundly change the style of play that will be adopted. There are chain lightning that allow you to adopt a more conservative tactic, or classic fireballs that require a more direct approach. There are machetes that only allow attacks from short distances and favor greater speed, or there are timed shots that allow for greater tactics in terms of stages. In addition, other spells can be collected during games, creating completely multi-tiered formations, even if you never reach the level of what can be obtained from the Son of the King of the Underworld.

Their clashes aren’t bad and they’re also capable of exciting, especially when they start to get a little more difficult. It’s a pity that everything lasts so little and the system itself is already very limited to a short distance. By the way, Ruin color ends in the same. It took us less than three hours to reach the end of the ruins and defeat the last boss, so much so we couldn’t believe it. Of course, a chance is given to replay difficulty level Up there is the Survival mode, which allows you to play as long as you can survive and is linked to online point competitions, but there are very few reasons to repeat the experience, apart from an excessive passion for the game formula.

an end in itself

the drawing style On its own it is not bad, at least on first impression, because it consists of dark areas with a chromatic palette fading towards ethereal colors (celestine, purple), between the haze that surrounds the environment and the characteristic outlines of objects that go to form a coherent whole, always ensuring high clarity . The problem is that, lacking the solid mythology that underpins everything, the maps don’t have much to tell and limit themselves to being procedurally dark on battlefields, where you can massacre very generic enemies. Ultimately we are a character who descends into the depths of the ruins of a city to cleanse the evil that has blighted it for a thousand years, but where is this city? Why are we so interested? Didn’t we have anything else to do to pass the time?

Here, perhaps the main problem with Lone Ruin is that it focuses so much on its mechanics that it forgets everything else, even to give a reason other than its mere existence. The result is so functional To be almost dumbfounded at the speed with which it is forgotten, as if an Ikea wardrobe had been assembled rather than played. As a light experience it could be fine too, but given that Hades is out there, who is superior to him in every way, and that the world is full of roguelikes, we don’t really see a reason for you to descend into these ruins.