Game 122 - Ruiner - Week X - Mar 24

uiner, a perfect game? 

There is not much about Ruiner at surface level that didn't attract me. A world clearly inspired by the vintage greats of anime Akira and Ghost in the Shell, while drawing from Hotline Miami for it's gameplay. Well playing it I can't see I was not wrong. The visuals ooze the gritty neon streets of Akira and the soundtrack has the divine chant of Ghost. The setting has the classic cyberpunk motif but an interesting twist. Focusing on a virtual reality conglomerate that's body snatching the poor, manipulating gangs and using its technology to exert power in the classic evil Cyberpunk corpo way. Some of the enemy designs are really unique, like zombies that have been in the virtual world so long that their bodies have turned into husks for Heaven, the virtual reality creator to do with as they please. Other enemy standouts are Creepers, a gang of orphans who are mostly "3rd Children", born into a system that only allows two children. Or Harpies, skeletons reinforced and augmented so much they're no longer human, puppeted by Mother aka the Sick Sisters, the heart of Heaven. Even the menus and loading screen ooze Akira, with the protagonist riding his bike to the mission location. Unlike the presentation and setting the gameplay had a few more surprises. It certainly is a kinetic twin stick shooter like Hotline Miami, but it also draws from Doom. Levels are more like connected arenas and you even regain health and energy by executing enemies in a weakened state, promoting an aggressive play style. The core formula of the gameplay is dash, dash, slash. And in between this unload a barrage of bullets from your Ruiner pistol. Sound familiar?  This is easier said then done as enemies are often as mobile as you. So lining up shots between your own dashes to avoid enemies and hit a moving target is no easy task. Often you'll let out a sigh of frustration, and just go in with your crowbar to get shit done. That's not a criticism, it's a cathartic risk reward. On top of these plenty of sci-fi weapons drop which you can pickup but have limited ammo. From shotguns to laser cannons to flame throwers, ice beams and miniguns. There are also melee weapons from the classic katana to the fire baton and more. Last are the abilities. These are wide, varying and can change your playstyle greatly. Like to play defensive? Well take the shield bubble and dash entire enemies with your turtle shell, while using the stun to lock them down and hack to bring them to your side. If you get low use the regen to convert energy into health. That's not my style however, I like my arena shooters with aggression. My style was all about overdrive. As the name suggests it increases your damage and speeds you up. Fully upgraded you have unlimited dashes, turning you into a ping pong machine neon samurai. Throw in some slow-mo and I quickly lost interest in all other abilities. 

So far so good right? Sounding like the perfect game? Well it's certainly a tight 6 hours weaving through arena's and a dozen different bosses. I would say that's all done masterfully, the game itself. The story on the other hand? Not so much. It's okay, serviceable. You were hacked to kill the boss of Heaven, but failed. They were going to blow up your brain but She saved you. As you work your way back up to Heaven again, it's pretty obvious she has sinister motivations. Trafficking, a 200 year old kingpin who she turns into your mobile door opener is about to tell you as much, but gets his neurons zapped before he can speak further. The final boss are the Twin Sisters, ironic after Outland as Guacamelee 2 leads into Outland leads into Ruiner. It's a pretty disappointing boss fight if I'm being honest, the same Mother fight you've down twice with no major differences. But you quickly find out they're not the final boss, your brother who I never really cared about turns out to be the actual boss. And he, little brother, created Her and she created "The Brother" program to make you care and rescue him. When in fact it was to get through the security and kill him. Yes double twist, she betrays him. So your brain begins to shut down as you're put in a time and to go to the boss and prevent it, you need to slaughter your way through the rest of the security detail. OVERDRIVE LETS GO. 

Intermission - The Journey So Far...

A lot has happened since I last posted a year ago. 2023 was possibly the most busy year of my entire life. I accomplished a lot and with great help and support from my loving partner. But despite how busy it was and the absence of posting, I reached another milestone. I played more than 30 games and in doing so I achieved my goal of finishing all my "must play on PC" games. This is a challenge I set myself when I separated my games into groups of Steam Deck and Not Steam Deck. As I result I bought the god machine, blessed by Gabe himself, the holy Steam Deck. This is easily the best piece of gaming hardware I've ever experienced. It might even be the best. When the Switch was announced it became a bastion of indie titles, an oasis in an oversaturated market. That appealed to me, even more so then the giants I'd always missed out on like Mario and Zelda. But there was one problem. I already had hundreds of indie games on Steam, and so I told myself if they ever made one I would buy it. Well, my prayers were answered and it was beyond my expectation. Every time I boot this up I feel a sense of glee, this indie machine that I willed into existence resting in my palms. But it's not just a simple Steam device, the Linux based Steam OS and Proton allows you to play any game without porting it. Literally anything. Proton essentially acts as an API between operating systems that would otherwise require a port. I'm constantly surprised at how well this runs older MSDOS like games, which even modern Windows often struggles with. This is the definitive OS for gaming, and what makes the Deck so cutting edge. Below is a short list of what I've done or plan to do with the Deck:

• Play any game on Steam, even if it isn't ported
• Use a script to download an emulator for every console that's every existed, and play it's games
• Install battle.net and play World of Warcraft on a console/handheld device for the first time ever
• Dido for Diablo 2 - with resurrected and native controller support, it runs even better on console
• Plug the device into your TV and play games from literally any console (emulated)
• Connect four PS4 controllers and play Halo split-screen or Game cube smash bros on your TV with four friends
• Plug it into a dock (monitor, keyboard, mouse), alt tab and mess around to your hearts content like a PC
• Use it as a portable PC and setup LAN nights (if only your buddies had the Deck)

Now despite all I have achieved in 2023 I have been very slack in posting. I have a backlog sitting there of about 28 games and no idea how or when I'll catch up on them and it just keeps growing. So instead, I just won't. I'll carry forward from this point and eventually I'll fill in the gaps from 91-120. To make this more achievable moving forward I feel a new ground rule is necessary. Aim for 500 words each blog with a hard limit of 1000 and in very rare circumstances (Elden Ring, God of War) can you go past this. Remember why you started this, not to write long-form op eds on your favourite games, but to catalogue thoughts and feels you had at the time regarding a game. Sometime this will explode into a flurry of words, but more often that not less will be more. And if even you would find it tedious to go back and read through your own words, then what's the point? If you ever forgot you way and need reminding, just go back to the first dozen or so posts you did. 

Game 121 - Outland - Week X - Mar 24

utland. I feel like the first image here perfectly conveys what attracted me to this game all the way back in 2011 when I played the demo on my PS3. A man cursed by his dreams seeks out a shaman for answers. Revealed to him is a journey he must take into the Outlands to save his soul and a world being torn apart. Long ago a hero primosened two sisters, one of the light and sun, and her twin of darkness and the moon. You are his incarnation and must journey into the Outlands to save his soul and a world being torn apart. The backdrop demonstrates what our tribal marked hero will experience in the Outlands. A setting and theme that has appealed to me since I first saw the jungle's of Abe's Odyssey. 

The story from here is simple. Seek out the sisters and end their corruption of the world. A long the way you'll experience many ancient guardians of the Outlands that have been corrupted and tormented by the Sister's presence, either by their imprisonment or anguish thereafter. As you explore the metroidvania like levels you'll find new abilities such as heavy attacks, slams, slides, an energy absorb and shockwave and my favourite, a kamehameha wave. The enemies of the Outlands are wide and various from your tribal draugr to your average spide, jelly fish, bugs or snakes. As you slay these foes you gain coins and can use them to upgrade your health and energy, which you use on power moves. But the bread and butter of the game is of course the light and dark system. Using RB or LB you can switch between light and dark. In light mode you're immune to light energy and can damage dark, and vice versa. The brilliance is how the game weaves both enemies and platforming to create a satisfying puzzle experience whenever you pass a stage or level. Ducking, weaving and double-jumping between line and dark is always a smooth experience as you flick between RB and LB between jumps. This was the perfect game to play after Guacamelee 2, continuing to scratch that itch. A game which also had a light and dark system although with different puzzles.

None of this is more evident then the boss fights. A milestone even at the end of each of the five areas which will stretch the abilities you've attainted at that point to their limit. The perfect example of what a boss fight should do. The bosses will change between dark and light, requiring you to be fluid in both offense and defence. The Mother of Eyes is the highlight, requiring you to dodge her energy web and spawn, so you can line up cannon shots and fire away. The Sisters had a massive difficulty spike and took me a good while to get through, I was two hits away from defeating them when I died. I realised I was unnecessarily handicapping myself by only having one energy so I went back and farmed energy and used the energy absorb and shockwave ability to take out all her laser beams on the last stage and make quick work of her. All in all they were very enjoyable. I love the mix of tribal, geek and Norse you see throughout the stages. From the golem that remind me of the giants from Norse mythology, to the cities that feel like what you'd seen on Ancient Greek pottery to the northern lights of the sky bound mountains where inevitably fight the serpent of the sky Jormungandr. Although I initially fell in love with the jungle region of the outlands, the other areas had their own charm in this dying and dark world in which you're errant quest is to return light and balance. 

         

The five boss from left; Golem, High Priestess, The Mother of Eyes, The (de)Winged Serpent and The Sisters

Lastly the story while nothing to write home about was appealing in their own way. In the end you rise into the sky, and fight the stars themselves the Gemini constellation. You don't kill them however, you instead help them quench their fury by slapping them around a bit and making them realise there 30,000 year tantrum is a waste of everyone's time. So the alien's return to their world and everyone begins to rebuild the almost extinct world. I was glad to find out my original instincts were correct, and these tribal inspired game was a joy.