Lone Ruin

“Lone Ruin is a beautiful and addictive game where you can choose your path and power-ups as you progress through these abandoned ruins fighting off numerous enemies. Unfortunately, the game is quite short, especially if you aren't interested in getting a high score on the Leaderboard.”

“This roguelike twin-stick shooter has its own sense of style, but its somewhat vanilla arcade-like grind detracts from its long-term viability”

“Lone Ruin is a stylish good time while it lasts, but players will want more before too long.”

“A Rogue-like game that gives the sensation of shooting powerful bullets. The fast-paced gameplay provides a great experience when played on handheld consoles, but the overall playtime is unfortunately short.”

“It’s unfortunate that Lone Ruin came about two years after the jokes about every indie doing a pixel roguelike became exhausting. It’s well-made and undeniably entertaining, but there’s so much competition in this space and the developers didn’t seem overly concerned with doing something that would actually differentiate their game. So yes. This is a mechanically very solid production that I can recommend to people that like difficult action roguelikes. Unfortunately, I’ll also likely forget about it by the time the next one of these comes along, and that’s probably sometime next week.”

“Lone Ruin is a spell-based roguelike twin-stick shooter with a focus on replayability, but it doesn't always deliver on its promises.”

“If this review feels shorter than usual, that’s for a good reason. A talented roguelite enthusiast can see the end credits in around an hour. The initial weapon selection is refreshing, yes. I also love the color palette used throughout the game. But beyond that, this is a bog standard roguelite. Random assortments of enemies attack with increasing ferocity. The bosses require practice and experimentation to master. Your success is determined by repetition and fortuitous reward drops at the end of every stage. Honestly, the short runtime might be an upside, depending on what you’re looking for”

“There could definitely be some balancing with the weapons, and bosses, as the bosses can feel like way more of a challenge than any of the enemies depending on your setup. That said though, it’s a very okay game with a lot of potential so maybe in the future with a few balance patches, it could stand on its own two feet for Hades fans waiting for the second game.”

“Lone Ruin is a game all about replayability that I saw little reason to replay after the credits.”

“Lone Ruin is going to scratch an itch for those who love chasing high scores and trying to one-up friends.”

“A wise man once said that if you are going to do something, it should either be different or better than the competition. Whilst there are plenty of occasions where this isn’t always a fair statement, it couldn’t be truer when considering the development of a new roguelike or twin-stick shooter. Where once there was a clamouring for games of this ilk, eShops are now fit to burst with games that just haven’t done enough to avoid the cliched comparisons to Hades and The Binding of Isaac.”

“While I like the low poly X pixel graphics style and think that the pulsing (albeit limited) soundtrack is great, I didn’t fall in love with Lone Ruin. Despite marketing itself on replayability, the main problem is that it didn’t do enough to make me want to keep coming back for more. The rapid-fire spell slinging is pretty good fun and there’s plenty of variety, but the short run length and lack of plotline or overarching upgrade systems makes Lone Ruin feel more like an arcade game than a roguelike. I’ve no doubt that the pick-up-and-play style will appeal to coin-op fans who like short-burn”

“While it’s an absolute stunner of a game presentation wise, looks aren’t everything, and I really do hope they eventually nail that sweet arcade-style gameplay loop the devs clearly wanted to pull off, perhaps by making it a bit speedier and faster paced to get a better rhythm in. Sadly, it just didn’t quite nail it here, and that hook never showed up for me.”

“If you’re new to roguelikes, Lone Ruin’s brevity and simplicity might make it worth a look; if the price is right for you, that is. Unfortunately, its issues with variety and a lackluster arsenal of spells, items, and upgrades hamper the experience. Nevertheless, it tried its best to strike that balance of elements, and I think it’s a commendable effort from a small dev team. To me, though, this doesn’t excel or evolve the roguelike formula in any unique or engaging way and, overall, comes across as a bit hollow and unremarkable.”

“Lone Ruin takes a lot of what made Hades great, although it's level design misses a lot of marks and makes the flow of combat a little stale. If you're looking for a shot experience and you're a Hades fan, this is definitely a game you should check out.”

“Lone Ruin is a decent arcade roguelike, but it did leave me wanting a bit more. With only three main boss fights and nothing to really unlock during the game, it feels a little light on content. What does save it, though, is its solid gameplay, which made me come back, repeatedly, to try out new spells and jump into some instantly satisfying action. If you’re new to the action roguelike, this is a good place to start. If you’re well versed in the genre, consider this a solid pick-up and play arcade title, just maybe not the best compared to the competition.”