Game details Developer: Reikon Games

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Platform: Windows (reviewed), Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PS4

Release Date: September 26, 2017

ESRB Rating: M for Mature

Price: $20

Links: Steam | Official website Reikon Games: Devolver Digital: Windows (reviewed), Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PS4September 26, 2017M for Mature: $20

I wish I could go back in time and experience the opening levels of Ruiner for the first time with a controller. The top-down cyberpunk shooter from Reikon Games pretty much demands the fluidity of twin-stick control, even at the cost of mouse-and-keyboard precision. And by "demands," I mean the game kicked my head in six ways 'til Sunday before I realized the optimal way to play.

The harshness of the action is telegraphed by the harshness of Ruiner's tone. The game's world is as red as Carrie on prom night and puts about as much value on human life. An opening crawl of text warns you that this dystopian future is as much about malice as mega-corporate profit—that hacking into people's brains and messing up their lives "has never been more fun."

That form actually gets in the way of function, at times. Mostly red bullets are guided by red laser lights to produce red blood over red metal floors from enemies and weapons highlighted in red. Throw in the odd explosion or glitchy screen static as your character's brain gets hacked and the action can sometimes get impossible to read. Thankfully, that action is smooth enough to compensate for these occasional problems (so long as you're playing with a controller).

KILL BOSS... and then some

All that action isn't muddied with plot, either. Ruiner drops your nameless, faceless avatar into a densely guarded corporate hideout. Your objective to "KILL BOSS" crackles harshly over the screen and airwaves on repeat. Things escalate when a miniboss fight forces you to juggle a timer, which extends every time you kill an enemy, along with dodging shotgun and assault rifle fire.

Dodging is your first and most essential ability, but it is by no means your last. You earn skill points by leveling up through combat, side quests, and finding XP in chests strewn about stages. You can spend those skill points on new abilities, like letting you dash more times in a row without resting or slowing down time at the continuous cost of energy.























What you might not guess is that skill points can be redistributed for free, on the fly, into any ability. This means you can not only tailor your own play style, but you can continue to tweak that style without fear of penalties. This flexibility lends a puzzle-game layer to the shooter, as you try to reason out the best skill mix to handle new enemies and bosses through trial and error.

Puzzling out how to best handle the constantly changing rhythms and lineups of enemies quickly became half the fun for me, as I theory-crafted my LED-masked avenger to my heart's content. The other half of the fun came from ducking and weaving, prioritizing which target in a given wave of enemies to blast, and deciding which of their dropped weapons to use for a few rounds.

Fast friends and harsh reality

A handful of fights, especially boss battles, require a hard set of skills to proceed. Ruiner nudges you in the right direction in these cases through "Her." This mysterious, totally-trustworthy-we-promise woman acts as guide and narrator between missions in the hubworld-ish city of Rengkok, where most of the story gets teased out through disembodied transmissions and indices in the main menu.

But Ruiner is more about style than exposition. The red decor bleeds into title cards introducing each new enemy. Industrially compressed Inception horns punctuate scene changes. Neon ads reflect over our 99-percent silent hero's mask before it breaks out in a message straight from Cyber City Oedo 808.

With all that harsh style, a driving techno soundtrack—not to mention the fact that it's published by Devolver Digital—it's hard not to compare Ruiner to Hotline Miami. But where the 2012 cult hit was about planning raids on rooms full of enemies, playing Ruiner is more reactive.

You can take a hit or two here, and you most definitely will. Gunfire moves faster than you do, naturally, so you end up tracing bullets back to their source and determining fluid paths through levels based on where those bullets aren't. Those narrow avenues then twist and warp depending on what ranged and melee weapons enemies drop. Fights are an overwhelming blend of twitch reactions to the battlefield that requires frequent rewriting of strategies on the fly, which makes it all immensely gratifying every time you overcome it.

Piece it together

Ruiner isn't quite bullet hell, a puzzle game, an RPG, or bog-standard shooter. It borrows from all these genres but binds them with commitment to style. For most of its 8 to 10 hours, that identity holds Ruiner together as something more than the sum of its parts.

There were a couple of moments when the game's commitment to crimson got in the way of that careful mix, but, like the levels themselves, I got better at reading it over time. Ruiner currently lacks any kind of colorblind mode or even just the ability to customize the UI, so make your buying decision accordingly based on whether those screenshots seem interpretable to you.

Another glaring omission is any kind of mode to put Ruiner's slick combat to infinite use. Your performance is graded at the end of every mission and every encounter therein, but the scores aren't displayed anywhere. I could take my skilled-up character back to previous levels to do better, but, without any obvious record of my accomplishments, there's little compulsion to do so. That means I probably won't be trying that first hour of the game with a controller any time soon.

Something like daily challenges or a boss rush mode might also fill the game's replay gap. "I just want more Ruiner to play" isn't the worst problem to have, though—for me or the game. As it is, this tight, linear package is still plenty of intense fun on its own.

The Good

Harsh cyberpunk aesthetic never lightens up, never gets old

Satisfying combat calculations come together and execute smoothly

Endless tinkering with skill builds lets you build your own play styles

The Bad

You definitely need a controller to play if you're buying on PC

A lack of repeat modes like time trials, a boss rush, or daily challenges

Too much red makes the action hard to read at times

The Ugly

Being constantly reminded of our corporate-run dystopia

Verdict: Ruiner has a lot in common with other top-down action games but blends bits of all of them into a uniquely demanding, satisfying shooter. Buy it.