Cybernetic fusion of RPG and visceral action
Most reviews will compare RUINER on its face to Hotline Miami: it's a tough, ultraviolent top down action game. But after you finish the tutorial, it becomes clear what it really is: a fast, stylish horde-based melee/shooter blend with ARPG-style leveling and talent trees. In its soul, it's Shadow Warrior.
And what it absolutely isn't is a normal twin stick shooter. Enemies are very fast (most after a certain point will outright teleport), very aggressive, and have quite a bit of health and even shields and armor. Your starter pistol and pipe are barely good enough to keep up, and the better weapons have to be picked up on the fly and have limited uses and ammo. If you try to pull your typical circlestrafe, you'll get cyber-murked. The only way to even the odds is through expertly using your multiple dashes and speccing yourself with the best abilities for the situation at hand.
The dashes are interesting enough - they regenerate quickly, so you can mostly mash as needed, but holding the button slows everything down and allows you to pre-plan a series of dashes that get executed on release. But it's the abilities that are the real stars of the show. You gain XP through killing enemies, performing a finisher on them, completing combat scenarios quickly and stylishly, and just picking them up around the world. Leveling up gives you a skill point, which can be invested into abilities ranging from AOE grenades and defense barriers to bullet time and even converting enemies to fight for you. Each one has its own upgrade tree that makes it more powerful, and you can have up to four hotkeyed at one time. But critically, you can uninvest points you've already committed and put them somewhere else at any time for no penalty at all. This means that there's no punishment for experimenting with builds on the fly; in fact, you need to adjust yourself to what the situation demands.
Thus, a typical combat scenario ends up playing out just like one of your Japanese animes: Enemies sprinting and teleporting around while you throw up a shield and dash at light speed to get your hands on a laser shotgun to fire off a few shots, switching to your sword while they're stunned to close the gap and finish them off. After a couple waves of dropping grenades and mind-controlling enemies, a dropship comes down and a hulking monstrosity comes out. You hop into your cyberware tab and in five seconds move all your points from mind-control and grenades to overdrive and bullet time, ready to turn into a cyberpunk Super Saiyan.
If you loved Flying Wild Hog's Shadow Warrior and thought SW2 had good ideas but just didn't feel right, RUINER is right up your alley. If you like tough, fast action games where you have to earn your cool, RUINER's for you. If you just want a beautiful, ♥♥♥♥ed-up cyberpunk world with rad music and a lot of emoticons, open your mindjack to RUINER.