Lone Ruin Review

To stand out these days, not just in the crowded games market, but even in the edgier indie section you need to have something about you. Pixel graphics and a retro soundtrack aren’t enough to cut it these days. All the kids are doing that.

You only have to trawl through Steam’s recently released and upcoming lists to see game after game after game that all look like they are offering the same thing. If, in another life, I had become a game developer, I’m not sure I could have been bothered, fearing I would be swamped out by the flotsam surrounding me.

Fortunately, some game developers took up the mission and are not as easily put off as myself. Carrying nothing more than the dream that quality will eventually win out over quantity, we continue to get games that are fun to play, difficult to beat and show genuine flashes of ingenuity and genius. Hopefully this is, then, enough to get them to stand out among the masses.

Lone Ruin from Cuddle Monster Games (the most indie dev studio name probably of all time) is one such effort. If anything, it starts off slightly burdened by a rather generic title. Not to be confused with Lost Ruin, Army of Ruin, Banner of Ruin, or the plethora of other games with Ruin in the title, as seen with a three-second search in Steam.

Now, if you will excuse the pun, you have to go searching through the Ruins to find the game you are looking for - and it is definitely this one. Billing itself a “spell-based roguelike twin-stick shooter with a focus on replayability” it could again be gently accused of trying to tick so many indie boxes your pen may run out of ink.

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Lone Ruin will throw up surprise loot as you travel deeper inside

But there is something different here for those prepared to scratch beneath the surface. The great news is that it is instantly apparent upon loading. Pixel graphics and an excellent retro soundtrack stand present and correct but, from the menu onwards, there is an air of polish so often missing from games’ attempt to enter this arena.

The fact that it has been picked up and published by Super Rare Originals would also highlight that this is not just your standard throwaway indie game. So often the heart and soul of a small team are poured into a game, that then manages to fall at the final hurdle. Nope, Super Rare has seen something different here, and with their help, it should help push Lone Ruin to a more deserved, bigger audience. It’s only the second release under the Originals banner following the equally fun Grapple Dog last year.

Cuddle Monster Games was also responsible for the excellent Hell is Other Demons which was also received very well at the time. There is a pedigree here and it shows quickly, but Lone Ruin also highlights that the team has learnt a few cool tricks along the way.

The Plot Thickens

Right, time for some plot to set the scene.

Lone Ruin begins with you at the entrance to a magical old ruin, about to enter its depths to seek an ancient power. That’s about as generic a setting as you can get, and you would be forgiven for putting your house on what is about to come next. Whatever you thought though, you would be wrong. What follows is a twin-stick blast of fun across many diverse levels and rooms with a mix of great weapons and spells that you can add to as you progress.

If part of the bet on your house included you expecting the game to be fiendishly difficult in places - okay you can have that one - you can keep the kitchen - but as you learn quickly what you are doing and how to maximize and setup up your magical combos - all while you are tearing through the Ruins like some sort of arcane Robotron, you quickly pick up what is required here - and it’s not just simple dexterity.

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Choice of weapon/spell can determine success or failure.

As you make your way through you are offered different spells to add to your armory. In effect, these are your powerful weapons and come with names such as Pulse and Barrage. Each has a different effect and may be better for long or closer ranged combat; either way you will quickly need to get comfortable with what you want to use as they all feel remarkably different. Weapons can bring order to the pixelated chaos occurring around you as the game really heats up. Being a roguelite you can choose your route through the maze, but there doesn’t seem to be any particular better way to go. Once you have cleared a room, doorways will open up giving you a choice of path and you will get a small map screen highlighting how far you still need to go to reach the end.

You will come under increasing pressure whichever way you head, and sometimes it will be down to the choice of spell that you are packing that will decide whether you survive or not.

Isometric Familiarity

Lone Ruin has an air of the massively successful Hades about it. The isometric playing field and large, epic explosions rekindle some memories of playing that, but if anything, I would say that is where the similarities end. The control system here makes this feel more arcade-like, and the fact that the devs have nailed it here is a big bonus. You rarely feel disconnected from the movements on screen as your thumbs frantically try to fire off spells in one direction while you head to safety in another. It takes a little getting used to - I have played a huge amount of shoot ’em-ups of all varieties in my time so probably had an advantage over somebody picking up a twin-stick shooter for the first time, but once you get into the groove of things and they start to become second nature you will be just fine.

Newbies to the genre might spend the first few minutes desperately trying to learn the control system but fortunately, the opening rooms aren’t too taxing and serve as a tutorial-esque starter for what is to come beyond, which at times is mayhem. And a lot of fun.

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The art style of Lone Ruin is suitably retro, yet creepy.

Beyond the regular game mode, we also get Survival which turns Lone Ruin into a timed, wave-based shooter, pitting you against the hordes to see how long you can last. It’s a fun distraction, and if you have some friends to compete with for the best time, it can be very enjoyable, but the meat here is in the adventure itself.

Moving on, it is worth mentioning the exceptional soundtrack. From the off, it’s feisty bleeps and beats set the scene beautifully - lending just enough menace in only the way ambient techno and drum & bass in this kind of game can.

Graphically, too, Lone Ruin is very pretty. It is colorful to watch as well, although the palette is generally restricted to reds, purples, and pinks in the main. With so much happening on the screen on occasion, any more hues would make it look like an explosion in a Skittles factory, so I think the devs have got it just right. Hell is Other Demons had a similarly muted palette effect and it worked there too, so it’s nice that they have stuck with a similar feel here.

Lone Ruin is a game that should do very well. Those who jump in feet first will likely know what they are in for and that is a very solid retro-style treat with a super stylistic take on the genre. It won’t be for everybody, that’s for sure, but if you like action that is fast and fun, and more importantly, more varied than a regular shoot then you will find a lot of joy here.

You can also dip in and out of it - Lone Ruin is likely not a game you will play for hours and hours on end but it does have a one-more-go feel about it, which is always a sign of good game design.

In short, if you like the retro feel of games like this, and still find you enjoy the reflex-based challenge of a good shoot ‘em-up with a little more variety than you may be used too, you can’t go far wrong here. It’s also available on the Nintendo Switch ($14.99) where the form factor fits the game perfectly and I am looking forward to playing it there too.