REVIEW: Ruin of the Reckless

Ruin of the Reckless is a rogue-lite indie action game that is in some ways similar to Risk of Rain and The Binding of Isaac.

Steam: Released
Type: Single-player
Genre: Rogue-lite, Action
Developer: Faux-Operative Games
Release date: 26 Apr, 2017

What is the game about?

To be honest, there isn’t really a story. You are a guy who has to beat up monsters and go upwards towards the top of the tower. The only catch is that this is not as simple as it may sound at first.

Gameplay video:

Pros

• Exciting Gameplay | This game is really filled with action. You have to be on the move for the entire time and there are always new enemies waiting for you just around the corner. You have to be ready to be chased at all times at a very fast pace. You even have to be careful to not stay on one level for too long, or missile-launching enemies start to appear. This forces you to clear each area as fast as you possibly can or risk dying.
• Fun Tutorial | The tutorial included in this game is one of the best tutorials I’ve ever seen. It quickly introduces you to all controls, weapons, and abilities that you need to survive for as long as possible. Not only that, it also includes a healthy dose of humour, contributing to a more relaxed introduction to the game.
• Power Orbs | Every time you level up — approximately once every one or two floors — you gain a power orb slot, which can be used to store a power orb (duh). Power orbs are spawned randomly at the beginning of each floor and are available to collect by holding the E key. Orbs hold many different kinds of power ups, such as increased damage or speed, or a higher item spawn chance.
• Colour | This game uses a very pleasant colour palette and I really like the contrasts. The enemies are easily visible, mostly because they tend to be shown in more aggressive colours (black, dark blue, or red), while the environment is mostly light green and yellow.
• Chaos Cards | Chaos Cards provide another very important aspect to the game. During the game, you may have the chance to buy yourself a chaos card, or you might find one randomly for free. Collected chaos cards can be equipped from the lobby, making the game easier or more difficult, depending on which card you choose (the effect of the card is shown to you before you equip it). This is really important as it replaces the standard difficulty option in the settings menu.
• Local Co-op Support | If you have friends and they happen to be interested in playing video games with you, Ruin of the Reckless is another game you can play with them if you have a spare controller.
• Active Developer | The developer is very active when it comes to participation in the Steam Discussions for the game. Also, updates are very frequent. This shows that the developer cares about the game, which is always a good sign.

Cons

• Only Melee Weapons | The only way to kill an enemy using a regular weapon is to approach them and hit them in close combat. In my opinion, this game would really benefit from having some ranged weapons, as not all players like to use melee all the time.
• Repetitiveness | Although the game is difficult enough to keep your mind busy for most of the time, you may start to notice after a while that you have to repeat the same process over and over again. Go to the enemy, hit them, move forward. If needed, evade bullets or incoming enemies. I know this sounds like an accurate description for a lot of similar games, but it really becomes obvious in Ruin of the Reckless. There should be more variety; maybe they could include different weapons, or other gameplay elements.
• No Achievements | It’s a shame, but this game could have some really nice achievements, which would certainly contribute to the amount of fun people would get out of this game. So far, there’s really nothing additional luring people to play the game more except for wanting to complete the game.
• Windows Only | You can only play this game if you have Windows installed on your system. As far as I know, this game was made in Game Maker, which, again as far as I know, has an option to create versions for other operating systems as well.
• Pricing | I’m not sure if $15 is an appropriate price for this game. It’s not too bad, but it may not hurt to reduce it by a few dollars. Since I was comparing it to The Binding of Isaac in the very first sentence of this review, I will compare these two games here as well. Isaac costs exactly the same, but includes an enormous amount of content. In this aspect, the price of Ruin of the Reckless is definitely not something that would make potential buyers prefer it over other games.

The final verdict

The game is fun, no doubt about it. It’s quite difficult, but it’s not a problem to adapt it to your skill level by using Chaos Cards. The graphics look really nice and the gameplay will keep you busy for some time, but you may start to get bored after a while, depending on how much you enjoy such games.
Overall, I recommend Ruin of the Reckless, but maybe not at its full price, unless you’re sure you would enjoy it. The gameplay is most certainly enjoyable and I will play this game in the future again.

With love,
BirdCute