RUINER

Ruiner is a cyberpunk twinstick shooter that feels a bit experimental.

What I like about Ruiner: fast paced action, great visual style, a fitting but forgettable soundtrack, and a variety of skills, guns, and weapons that you can experiment with at will. The game is just short enough to avoid becoming stale before the end. Any longer, and it would've felt monotonous and repetitive.

That being said, I wish the game was longer and had more variety to the enemies and bosses. There really is poor variety, and it only gets away with it because it's a 5 hour game. It simply doesn't have enough content to justify $20. There is some amount of replayability in the form of collectibles and a "Speed Run" mode for a more arcadey feel, but you'll just be repeating what you've already done.

I'm neutral on the game's ranking system and difficulty. Each "fight" will end by showing you your stats and giving you a rank, from D- to S+. I'm unsure if this had any effect, but I still liked to try to get a high ranking on each level. I would've liked to see some sort of reward system, or even a way to track my rankings over time. Most of the time, the difficulty felt just right playing on Normal. There were a couple points where I thought that it felt too easy or too broken, but feeling overpowered towards the end of the game felt nice. On Hard, the game sometimes felt too punishing for the amount of visual feedback you could discern among the chaotic gunfights. When I played on hard, I'd often find myself suddenly dying and not knowing what killed me. Unfortunately, Arena Mode is only playable on Hard. The arena was more frustrating than fun, so I skipped it altogether.

Ruiner shines brightest when you're gunning, gunning, and slashing your way through chaotic gunfights and getting into the rhythm of battle. Would recommend for fans of twinstick shooters or more experimental titles. It doesn't have a whole lot to provide in terms of story or world, which mostly serve to give you more shit to kill. 

Update: If you want to make an Impression, you can check with me:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY1WwCA2Rr0&list=PLio4F_5RbmFzozzsa__uFQI7EFrYdg-ag&index=1 Update ²: Unfortunately, I can no longer recommend the Game, reasons are available below under cons! Absolute Top Class! For all Fans of Cyberpunk Settings a big must, because it is not only blunt no-there is a real Story and also Moments between the Fights, such as how, for example, a big City to explore with loving Details and responsive Persons at each Corner. Just that gives the Game the necessary Charisma to be more than just a Hack ' n ' Slay/Topdown shooter. Of course, I don't know yet where it all goes, but what I know is that I'm already incredibly excited! Pros-Super Control with Mouse and Keyboard (WSAD for the Movements, Mouse for the Spins)-Good Performance-Good German Translation, so far not only error-free but also really well written Texts! -Great Menu design. Everything is clear and simple and yet beautiful and characteristic-Difficulty level on "High" very demanding if you really want to have a Challenge (I'm until I get the first Boss done 60 times * hust *)-Combat System is huge Fun and plays Very dynamic and brisk, but above all technically absolutely exploit! -There are a Number of Skills to customize his Fighting Style without being too much, and you can snail around at any time, i.e. unnecessary "skilful and start afresh" falls away-super! -Extremely Soundtrack-Very beautiful Drawing Style (Character Portraits in Dialogues or Introductions)-There is a large City that seems to be the Base in which you return again and again or where you are between missions. That gives the whole Game a lot more Depth and Character than if you were just Clopping through level Cons-Sometimes bad Save points, for example, 7 normal Opponents in front of a Boss, when you die at the Boss you have to get those little opponents done all the time-Bosses are In the Beginning still great and varied, but then the Game with Bosses throws around only and relies more on quantity than On quality. They Don't really distinguish themselves from each other anymore, but it annoys all the more that you have to do some Bosses several times, because they are also recycled. -From half of the Game You have seen and tried all the Skills and the Fun of the game from the Combat System falls back a bit, especially because the Opponents do not become more varied. Here, it would have urgently needed new gameplay elements (Puzzles, etc.) to create Variety. -The Story turns out to be relatively meaningless in the End, unreasonable and is quite unsatisfactory. -The Game generally seems as if the Developers have lost the Muse from half and started to recycle various Elements. There's really big qualitative Difference between both Halves of the game. Therefore, after playing through the Game, I am unfortunately unable to recommend it. :/