Ruin of the Reckless

Unfortunately, not very good - not enough to compel me to even play for a full hour. Between the bugs (dying with hit points remaining, freezing during loading screens) and the unreadable combat (damage cues getting lost in a sea of bouncing enemies and faux-jump attacks), it just doesn't seem worthwhile to continue playing.

The art and music are fantastic, but everything else is meh. Most disappointingly, the "melee" combat isn't really melee - this plays exactly like any other twin-stick shooter, and your "melee" attacks mostly are actually just close-range projectiles. There's a notable lack of polish and clunkiness to Ruin of the Reckless - spend your $10 elsewhere.

Unpolished. Clones of your characters come to fight you which is very confusing when you are playing co-op and expect another player running around. None of the combat is " interesting ". You kite monsters while they try to hit you. The game is not challenging, but it will kill you via attacking you from several directions that you will not be able to anticipate.

IE --> While facing an enemy, some enemies can jump into an invulnerable state and land on you. This is avoidable, as long as you're paying attention. Slime enemies can be a small imperceptible smudge that can move and hit you immediately when in range. Easy when there is nothing else on the screen, difficult when managing a dozen enemies.

After four hours, beat the first boss since the game crashed 5 times. I would watch this game on youtube. It seems like it has a neat narrative, but I wouldn't suffer the gameplay to watch it.

Edit 1:
Developer is very responsive and quick to patch issues. Will keep playing. There is a lot of dialogue and written into the game which does some interesting world building. Also with partners that do not play with pets/familiars the game is far less chaotic and easier to play. More later.

Edit 2:
I've finished one of the endings of the game. While it has a few flaws, the developer does seem like they want to fix them and seems to care about their community. Co-op has some issues with chaos, and they're interested in doing a little rebalancing for game experience.

Some takeaway is that the point of Ruin of the Reckless is to play with some Recklessness. This is off-putting for some players, especially when many roguelikes ask you to stop and think methodically about what you should be doing. What RotR does correctly is balance the game perfectly that Reckless gameplay is more effective than stopping and thinking. It does not take advantage of twitch based split second decision making either .. Just .. Reckless.

Solid game. I don't have many hours, so I don't know what the end game is like, but I really enjoy the combat in the early stages as well as all the different weapons you can use. The card system is interesting and a cool way of doing permanent progression.

Just getting started on wooping on this one.
Me and my Bro played it for 4 hours on the first go.
Very entertaining. Satisfying PUNCH face action,
Not easy.
Fun.
Not a gripe do i have.
Except that i need more time to woop on it.

My play time is not accurate. I play offline as my internet is............(sigh)........satelite.
GG.

The game has a great base but a lot of extremely bad design choices surrounding it.

The combat feels very good, there's a satisfying variety to player customization and all the general elements of the game save for the room appearances. But the games sense of difficulty is completely artificial, spawning massive amounts of enemies in small rooms often with the player surrounded; and expecting them to survive over and over through this.


The first thing that shows up that raises warning flags is that every floor is on a countdown timer, and when the timer expires; projectiles start being shot at the player from randomly spawning portals. And their frequency drastically increases very quickly as well. This encourages players to be fast. But fast isn't fun in a Rogue-like. Stopping to think about what choices you want to make for your build, stop and read the text on the things and actually make considerations, just taking your time to enjoy things at your pace. All of these things you can't really do much because of the pointless timer. It adds nothing to the game, it exclusively detracts from the experience by forcing players to rush. Furthermore, having the floor spam projectiles at the player when the timer expires is absurd. Some floors take longer to clear, players have no control over that, if the floor takes longer to clear then the timer then the player is just screwed. And activating the elevator to escape takes a second as well, which makes it even harder to escape when the projectiles are being spawned. The timer is pointless and exclusively makes the gameplay less enjoyable, the timer punishment is obnoxious and can straight up end a playthrough because the game generated a floor that cannot be cleared within the time limit. Or, the player will survive, but will have been damaged and thus be at a disadvantage from then on.

The early game enemies are great, completely balanced and interesting to fight. But the higher difficulty enemies are just not fun and generally ridiculous. Like the card magician that endlessly flings projectiles at you that also obstruct you from getting near him. The super tank beast which has a grapple which disables the player. The mechanic old man that spawns spinning blade traps which can can take up stupid amounts of the room if it's not a larger one. Each of these enemies on their own is fine, but the game likes to spam spawn. So you can have any of these powerful enemies who all have ranged capabilities, mixed in with massive hordes of regular enemies. And it just makes things an obnoxious spammy damage race. Before the mid tier of progression, the game sometimes spawns ridiculous amounts of enemies into single rooms and just expects you to put up with it. Sometimes it's fine, but if the wrong enemies are in that room dealing with it is just mandatory damage. But by the mid tier, the game starts doing this constantly. The stronger enemies from the early floors, become the common enemies, and the new higher tier enemies previously mentioned get mixed in. This is a melee game, yet players have to use melee to dispatch massive hordes of swarming enemies many of which have ranged attacks or extremely agile melee attacks. The enemy quantities are just not properly balanced in relation to the fact that this is a melee game. Even in ranged based games this many enemies borderlines on unfair.

The game also likes spawning enemies and hordes of enemies, ontop of the player, out of absolutely no where. Or spawning the player into a map already surrounded by enemies. The players dodge has no invincibility frames, so sometimes this literally means the player has to get hit to escape from the swarm if there are no gaps to dodge through.

The hit boxes in the game are questionable. Especially the blue cloaked enemy, whose attack is randomly twice as large as the visual effect. This is one of the games favourite enemies to spam, of course. The standard enemy that attacks by smashing down on the player also has inconsistent tracking. So sometimes the player can avoid them by just moving out of the way, sometimes they can't. So that enemy defies conventual human reaction by sometimes punishing players for not dodging by hitting them, and sometimes punishing players for dodging by hitting them. If the player dodges when the enemy is randomly accurate, they avoid the attack, if the player doesn't they get hit. If the player dodges when the enemy is randomly inaccurate, they may dodge into its attack and get hit. If they don't dodge at all, the attack misses. Inconsistent enemy design which artificially gets the player damaged based on random things that cannot be accounted for.

Enemies are also capable of knocking the players projectiles back at them, like the player can do to enemy projectiles. Which would be fine if a certain kind of ally follower wasn't a turret, which can end up shooting projectiles at enemies against the players command only for them to get bounced back at the player. Using the projectile spell also roots players in place briefly, so if their shot gets bounced back at them it's virtually impossible to evade it.

Most enemies only spawn into the map when the player enters that area, so players can't actually account for enemy positions at all. If players activate the elevator while standing on it, they have to step off and onto it again to trigger it to actually go up. Randomly the dodge activates twice even though the button was clicked only once. Most of the weapons in the game aren't worth using, because they just aren't balanced properly in comparison to dealing with this spastic game.

The orbs players use to get their special abilities and effect modifiers will be destroyed if they get hit by, anything. So, players can lose out on acquiring a good one or one they want because random chance dictated that an enemy hit it and destroyed it. It's complete chance if an enemy accidently hits one. And it's complete chance if the player accidently hits one amidst fighting spammy hordes of foes.

There's also a green slime thing that spawns out of nowhere and hurts the player then steals their weapon, forcing them to chase after it so they can get their fundamental equipment back. Kind of extremely pointless and annoying, and potentially run breaking if it happens in the middle of a fight or if the slime flees into a horde of enemies.

Cursed items, which players cannot unequip without using a special scroll on them, are interesting as a concept. But when you mix them in with a game that forces players to rush, you end up accidently picking up cursed items because there's no indicator that they are cursed other then the word being in their name. So it's extremely easy to see something you want, pick it up quickly because you're on a time limit and may be under attack at the moment; and realize now you can't unequip that thing.

The first boss in the game is room filling, unintelligable, spam.


This isn't a difficulty curve. Difficulty curve means a gradual appropriate increase in difficulty to challenge the player overtime. In this game, it's random difficulty spikes to impossible levels whenever the game ganks players with absurd amounts of enemies, spawns enemies onto the player, damages the player with a situation they cannot possibly account for, the hit boxes break and let enemies hit players from twice the distance away, spawns the more difficult enemies in quantities of fifteen or more all in one swarm . And, a permanent difficulty spike after the first few floors when the game perpetually mass spawns enemies in every single room.

This game is not fun. Because beyond all the bad design choices or just poor coding, it's still unenjoyable because the difficulty is completely artificial. Either getting hit because of broken or amatuer game design, or getting hit because you have to fight literally thirty or more individually strong enemies in a room smaller then your monitor.

super fun super difficult. It definitely is not easy ill tell you that, ive spent many hours playing this game (even though it only says 11 minutes on the counter) and im not any better, extremely fast paced and punishing, intensely addictive. i love it. if you like these kinds of fast paced brutal roguelike games you will definitely appreciate this one.

Great game if you want to pass your time with fun and a bit of challenge. The fighting and upgrading system is very well put together and I think you should buy this game if you are into this kind of play through where you gather items and powers to kill more powerfull enemies. 9/10 for now because some minor issues need work. Keep up the good work devs!

Ruin of the Reckless is a fast-paced combat roguelite game that can be brutally punishing, but never feels unfair. For those who liked similar top-down shooters, it's basically a melee version of it, with some power-ups that help you deal with overwhelming number of enemies.

*The good*

- VERY fast and responsive movement and attacks
- can be played with both controller and mouse. I've tried both and feels equally satisfying.
- a unique Chaos Card system where it mutates game mechanics and equipment to vary up the difficulty level.
- it's not just melee-focused. You're also chain-dashing, throwing magic spells, blowing up enemy corpses, along with other skills. You're OP because of the hordes of enemies that are thrown at you.
- the music is great!!



*The not too good*

- enemy variation is a bit limited
- things can go south really quickly without life steal and regeneration
- most melee weapons don't work very well.
- even though you can change starting gear with cards similar to a class system, there's no exclusivity from each. Basically, you can get all gear normally while in a playthrough.

It is a lot of fun. It has graphics and sound similar to Cave Story, only much more "realistic". The fighting is fun, and the screen shake feature is cool (You can adjust it down to nothing if you don't like it). I don't like that there are only 2 people to choose from, however. Also, the only other thing I don't like, is that each floor is timed. So you only have X amount of time to complete the floor before moving to the next.

With that said, it is very challenging, and there are "chaos cards" (which are basically modifiers) that allow you to adjust the game to fit your play style. The developers seem to be really invested in their game and they are very responsive (He answered everything I asked on reddit).

The graphics and sound are very charming. The story is meh, but good enough. The NPCs are likable. The enemies are cool looking. It is extremely challenging (at least to me).

It has multiplayer, couch coop, but unfortunately no online multiplayer, and as of now there is no plans for it. According to the dev they would need to rework the whole game for that, so that is disappointing. Do not get this expecting online MP because he says that won't happen unless it sells very well.

Overall it is a very enjoyable game, and certainly worth the 14.99. Not the greatest game ever, but certainly a lot of fun. I'd rate it an 8 out of 10.

Ruin of the Reckless is a good game, no question about it in my opinion. The game has satisfying combat that blends a mix of melee fighting and spellcasting with (if you prefer) movement abilities that gives you a very good amount of control and opportunity to take on enemies. In addition there are "orbs" floating around each level that you can use to upgrade your character as you level up, that have a good amount of variety ranging from pets, new attacks or passive upgrades. The way you play the first couple of hours will most likely not look the same after 10 hours, both in speed and efficiency. Graphics are serviceable, but nothing special, which I assume is to avoid the game being too cluttered. The game succeeds for the most part in that aspect, but it's just barely and there are at least a few moments where it becomes too much with swarms of enemies around you.

However where the game succeeds the most in my opinion is the music. It has one of the best chip tune soundtracks I've heard in years to the point where I decided to buy the soundtrack after about 5 minutes of gameplay. If you are a fan of that kind of music I would certainly recommend listening to a few tunes, because personally I will probably listen to the music long after I stop playing the game.

When it comes to replayability, something most people expect a lot from with roguelites, I think many people could be surprised in a negative sense. Technically this game goes into the same genre as Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon, but it's different enough that you could be left surprised if your expectations are to get exactly the same as those games in a different packaging. The game has procedural generated levels, but if you expect hundreds of items and weapons that completely change the experience of each run then think again. The game has enough of these items that you can change up the way you play in multiple ways, but they are too few to take away your choices in almost every run. For example if you prefer weapon X and spellbook Y, then in the vast majority of runs you will find them to make your favorite build. In other words, if what you are looking for is an instant classic of a game that will provide you with hundreds of hours of gameplay, then you very well may be disappointed.

However I still think you should consider giving Ruin of the Reckless a chance, because while it's not going to be able to compete with (in my opinion) indie classics like Isaac or Gungeon, there is a good game here that will keep you entertained for a good amount of hours if you like challenging games, and also has a very interesting system that lets you adjust the difficulty and change up the gameplay in a much more comprehensive way than the other games. You acquire items while playing or talking to NPCs in the hub world at times that are called "cards". These cards can be added before you start a run in the hub world that drastically changes the game. You use this system to change "classes" (which basically only means starting gear), but can make enemies stronger/easier, make more items drop, change the ratio of traps compared to enemies and much more. Even if you use all the cards you find that make the game easier (something I recommend in the start), it's still very challenging and will most likely kick your ass run after run for a while. I'm almost 10 hours in and still haven't beaten the game on as easy as possible modifiers even if I'm getting close. If you play on medium or harder modifiers then I imagine you will have a massive challenge on your hands.

In conclusion this game is worth the price in my opinion as I expect that I will get about 20 to 40 hours of gameplay from it. If you enjoy the challenging aspects of roguelites then I think this game will more than satisfy you. If you don't think you could enjoy a game like this without an almost infinte amount of wacky combinations of items and weapons for more than a few hours then probably wait for a sale.

PS! I have some framedrops at times in this game that are far from gamebreaking, but can be a bit annoying. These are typically when using devastating spells that kill a ton of enemies or in some later levels where there is a lot of enemies on the screen. The developer has acknowledged this and said they are working on an optimization patch. Personally I don't think it's bad enough to avoid purchase, but for those that have low tollerance for the occasional framedrop should probably wait until further patching.

If you like procedural dungeon games, you will probably like this one. Decent amount of content (great art!) and a card based progression mechanic to change the difficulty in more ways than a simple difficulty slider ever could. Very few bugs I've noticed other than the occasional animation error or slight hitching in overcrowded areas with many explosions. This was made in GameMaker, so that could possibly be why. There's plenty here to be worth your time for the price.

Ruin of the Reckless is great! There's plenty of nifty things to unlock to tweak the gameplay, lots of difficulty options (through cards) so anyone can get the right feel, and with procedurally generated floors an endless amount of content.

I find it really similar to Risk of Rain, except of course this is a top down brawler instead of side scrolling. If you liked that, then Ruin of the Reckless should be right up your alley!

Great 2D rogue-lite with very responsive melee combat and intetesting card based level modifier system.

Decent variety of weapons which are more aout atk style / maneuver than dmg.

Action intensive and fast paced like nuclear throne ..... but melee style :).

I was excited for the game after reading the Reddit post and watching some gameplay. The game just does not feel "right". Combat is boring and feels like you're not connecting blows. More like you're spitting out colliders that are registering with other colliders vs. a game like Castle Crashers where you feel like you're actually connecting blows/your weapons interact with enemies. Screen shake is not a substitute for a clean feeling combat system; I had to disable screen shake after my first fight as it gave me a huge headache (and props to the developers for allowing you to adjust that) but without it, combat just feels bland.

I've requested a refund.

I have played a lot of this game in the past day. Overall: The game feels clean.

Hitboxes are on point. I haven't had a, "well that was BS moment" when getting hit. EDIT: The slimes were a problem early on - hitting without warning - but the newest update seems to have nerfed them somewhat.

Character movement is fluid and totally controlled. And there are plenty of items that affect the way the character moves.

There are a lot. A lot. A lot of items. Weapons, trinkets, boots, spell books, and orbs. Different combinations of these basically create a new game experience each time.

The progression mechanic is cards. Finding the cards is fun because it feels like achievements. You almost know when you start trying to do something crazy that you have a chance of getting a card. The cards can make the game harder or easier or just different. The mechanic adds a lot to replayablilty.

It has the quick and slightly random feel that I like about rouge-likes. You don’t have to grind for hours to progress and even with your perfect item set you may randomly die if you do something risky.

Issues: I did notice FPS lag when playing with a friend while having a lot going on animation-wise. Might be my PC though (it runs perfectly well on my Surface Pro 4 otherwise).

All in all. It was well worth the price and I would recommend trying it out if you’re a fan of fast paced dungeon crawlers.

Ruin of the Reckless is a top down roguelite floor based dungeon crawler of sorts. You're a guy who's apparently dead climbing a tower, which is basically the maximum amount of the story the game needs to carry the gameplay format. RotR is almost solely melee based, using meaty a hell punching mechanics that work in favor of hitting things really hard into other things. The variety of possible equipment, as well as Chaos Cards, which modify the entire run itself in unique and helpful, or unhelpful ways. It's also pretty important to note that you will get trashed inevitably, considering the semi-unforgiving difficulty.

Now, let me just get the soundtrack out of the way. The soundtrack, mostly composed by chiptune artist, Slime Girls, is perfection. The music paves the way for the frinetic gameplay and really manages to pull its own weight in mixing with the simple yet heavy fighting. It's rare to hear extensively good chiptune soundtracks from games, akin to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World; but Ruin of the Reckless pulls this off with flashing, retro, flying colors.

So if you like games where you punch stuff with your hands while your ears hit climax permanently, then this game is probably worth your time.

I bought this on a whim after reading the reddit AMA. Super surprised how polished the game is. If you liked Nuclear Throne but wanted the ability to make it easier or harder this game is for you. The mecahnics are super tight and polished. The game would actually benefit from some DLC to add more visual content but for the price it is well worth the full amount.

This game is very well made. The combat is polished, fast and fair. Tons of powers to collect and cards to modify the gameplay. As a rogue lite it is of course tough as nails, but still very fun. The music is sublime as are the effects. The dialogue is funny and smart. Co-op mode is very much appreciated as well. Very much recommended if you like intense action games with challenging gameplay.

Little bit of gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-0tvuOyaQ&feature=youtu.be

Note: These are my initial impressions based on two hours of gameplay. Will most definitely update when I get further.

This is, first and foremost, a battle arena-style game. You defeat x number of enemies and move onto the next floor. What initially seems deceptively simple is in fact incredibly depthful and almost infinitely replayable.

When you launch the game you are treated to a nice 16-bit-esque cinematic and the option to either go for the tutorial or dive right in. I strongly recommend doing the tutorial, not only because the character within is hilarious, but because the game has an awful lot to explain to you, intuitive as it may seem after. From there you'll be whisked to the first floor, and you will quickly see that this is a game about learning by doing.

Many major facets of the game are procedurally generated, while the floor layout is selected at random from a premade set. The level design is pretty basic, though considering the combat and how it flows this is most certainly to the game's benefit- a simple level design with a few obstacles means combat flows relatively uninterrupted. As you defeat the literal horde of enemies each level throws at you, you'll level up and be able to pick up more orbs you'll find floating around the arenas. If you were expecting a description for anything, see my previous statement about learning through doing.

The core combat mechanic of this game is surprisingly satisfying, and while it initally seems simple it all mixes together into a very compelling package. Enemies are hardly just bufoons running about and attacking when in range- they have patterns to a degree but combat is designed to be both fluent and methodical, a combination that may initially jar players, and most certainly increses the difficutly. The AI of enemies is designed to throw you off just that little bit, and often you'll find groups of the same enemy coordinating attacks or behaving completely differnetly than when one of their kind isn't nearby. The result is that no two floors and no two encounters with a single enemy type will quite be alike, and you absolutely have to keep your perception at a hair-trigger level to survive.

The frenetic pacing combined with the tactics of your enemies creates an experience that isn't quite seen in any other game, and the clever way the enemies trip you up will be both your greatest source of satisfaction to overcome and your greatest source of agony when it defeats you. Combat is defined almost exclusively, however, on what you take with you into battle.

As mentioned before, there are random orbs as well as various other items such as wearables, weapons, and scrolls floating around the arena. There are also, however, diamond-shaped cards you'll occasionally run into on the battlefield. These are modifiers for the game and while I haven't gotten into messing around with them too much, I do know that they drastically change certain aspects of the game.

Every third floor, you'll be able to access a shop that will allow you to switch up your items by purchasing (but not selling) new ones. From my experience this will always be laid out the same way, though this could well change later in the game. At the start you have access to eleven items (and one constant hidden item), one of which is a random card you've not yet attained (typically prohibitively expensive for the early game). You spend the currency dropped by enemies here and more often than not you'll find yourself coming up short on funds. This is neither damning to gameplay nor a way to ensure your favorite build- it's the exact same items you'll find outside the shop, though it is a convenient way to top off a tiny bit of health at a time should you find yourself running low.

The sound design in this game is designed to invoke a 16-bit atmosphere and the soundtrack is best described as chiptune, with many songs sounding reminiscent of Anamanaguchi. The sounds of the action itself are largely retro-inspired and add to the already satisfying combat by changing depending on what you have equipped- a Rapier Soul will not sound the same as your default Bracer, and so on. Each sound is crisp and distinct and further amplifies the satisfaction of combat. At the moment there is the unfortunate problem, however, of all of it being muddled onto what sounds like a single track, so it doesn't achieve the sound clarity it could, and certainly diminishes from the experience from time to time. I certainly hope the developers fix this problem posthaste, and by the time you've read this it may have already been fixed, but it's worth mentioning nonetheless.

Sound issues aside, I've encountered no game-breaking glitches of any kind. The overall package is extremely satisfying to pick up and play, and I would not hesitate to recommend your purchase of this game. I can tell already I'll get a massive number of hours out of Ruin of the Reckless, and I'll certainly be enjoying every methodical second of play.

A great flowing roguelite. The gameplay has a very rythmic quality to it, and it is VERY difficult.

Good and responsive devs as well.

My first impressions of this game are great but I will update my review as I put more time into it.

Ruin of the Reckless has a very simple gameplay loop of trying to ascend a tower by finding the key and then the elevator on each floor until you die or succeed and then repeating. While doing this you attempt to acquire weapons and equipment to help you fend of attackers so you can gather currency and experience. Money allows you to purchase items at shops as well as cards that act as modifiers to your run equipable in the lobby. Experience allows you to gather more orbs that add passive upgrades or extra attacks to your character during the run. The combat is melee focused but also has a spell system with limited charges to add range or crowd control options. The dodge roll and secondary attacks are also affected by random pickups throughout each run.

The art style and animations on the characters is very nice but the backgrounds seem very minimal and plain aside from the hub area. The game could also use an option to return to the lobby after death so you can adjust which cards you have equipped rather than needing to select ‘return to lobby’ from the menu.

All in all really enjoyable rogue-lite so far with a decent challenge!

Edit 1
After 3 hours I'm really disappointed in the weapon and equipment selection. Combat is becoming very repetitive and builds rarely seem all that different from each other. The weapons in general are extremely similar and sparse. As far as the skill cards, which act as permanent modifiers to each run, I’ve only unlocked around 4 and none of them are particularly interesting. If these complaints continue further through the game I’d have a much harder time recommending it.

Edit 2
4 hours in and I have now made it past the first boss. I’ve encountered 7 different melee weapons, 6 different spells, and 3 different sub attacks. The main problem I continue to have is that nothing feels unique and all of the runs start to blend together. Since it only took me four hours to reach this point I can’t recommend Ruin of the Reckless. Everything feels too similar and the combat has almost no nuance. I really want to like this game but it’s not looking like I’ll be able to continue playing for much longer.