Ruins Reviews

Actually, this could be a really good puzzle game, for better or worse, it has some of the most complex and creative mechanical puzzles, just so many layers of different abilities and how you use them, but it finds a way to make everything harder than it needed to be. I have never been so frustrated with gameplay polish, I can't finish the story because the timing on some of the puzzles is just incredibly precise. For the first 90 minutes, I only run into a few small bugs, but it gets so much worse than that, I can't even begin to describe it, anything from softlocks to just an impossibly low margin for error, I am actually in shock, how did it go from a relaxing puzzle game to being nearly unplayable? I assumed the game was some kind of HLD-inspired action adventure, but the similarities end with the visuals, there is no combat in a traditional sense, and it's mostly a puzzle/platformer with an open world - on that note, I really feel like the devs need to drop the whole blanket thing because you just asking for those comparisons. But as far as I am concerned, this game is in a different genre. The gameplay is structured around using 3 different orbitals that interact with puzzles in different ways, it's kind of a cool idea, the game does a good job changing how you view your abilities, it's just that they tend to overlap easily and controlling them can require some muscle memory, plus it's not the most well-implemented system as it is. Surprisingly the game has a lot of exploration value, many hidden areas, some of which are very hard to find. I gave up at 3.5 hours, but it feels like I was only halfway through optional content, and for such a cheap game, it has a bit of a relaxing mood going for it, if the gameplay wasn't so frustrating sometimes, would be a nice chill experience. There are various platforming mechanics as well, I actually didn't expect much of that from a game with a top-down perspective, like bouncing on the mushrooms and using the orb to teleport, it's almost fun, but again, the game has many, many polish issues. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) I will say that once you have all of the tools, it's probably the most creative and complex mechanical puzzle game that I played, I have never seen so much effort just trying to approach the puzzles from different angles, even though I was very frustrated, whenever I solved a hard puzzle I was like ahhhh, I see what you did. It's good in theory, but I think the game can be extremely convoluted, and the actual mechanics and controls on the puzzles can be very unforgiving. (+) There is more content than you might think. The game has a ton of hidden areas, mostly for just finding orbs with a few silly characters here and there, but for how much I paid for it, more than I expected. I actually kinda like the platforming and navigation in this game, granted, the game is just not polished and there are so many things that get in a way of that. (+) I won't say the game has an amazing atmosphere going for it, but for the price, it's kinda chill, and does not look that bad, I can almost see myself enjoying the world, maybe if you put a bit more character into it. [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Clunky Mechanics [/u] - the platforms that you can move with directions are very junky, including all of the mini-arenas for the orbitals, I am talking about areas where you transform into the cube/triangle or the ball. For the areas where you have to bounce the ball of the walls, the consistency is terrible, I was stuck for like 20+ minutes just going from one platform to another. [u] Needs to be more forgiving on the timing [/u] - there are some puzzles that I feel are nearly impossible to do with the analog, you have to be so on point and do it so quickly, I simply can't do it. I know you have to eat those bonuses, but even when I do everything as well as I can, I feel like I have to be 100% perfect, and I can't be 100% perfect with a ______ analog or arrows. [u] Very glitchy [/u] - sometimes the game just freezes when you load, usually I have to reset the game and it fixes the section. Sometimes you can find yourself in the areas from which you can't backtrack, again forcing you to reset. I had a ton of small glitches like looping sound effects. [b] Overall Thoughts: 5/10 [/b] Look, I think the game can be good, what you doing with exploration and creative gameplay is all fine, but you need to go through all of your puzzles and make sure they are reasonable with the timing, I'm being as honest as I can when I say some of these puzzles are absolute 99% unplayable BS, maybe you can do them, I can't, I have never been so frustrated at any game - it gets that bad. Also, make sure the puzzles are not convoluted and provide better hints because I have no idea what you want for some of the bigger sections. First 90 minutes, I was having a good time, just a relaxing exploration game with nice platforming and creative puzzles, what happened, it gets so unreasonable. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]