All fairly simple stuff, but as the game progresses, more abilities can be unlocked which means that more or less every single button on the DualShock could be mapped to do something, such as dropping an electric grenade to stun enemies or slowing down time to make the onslaughts slightly more manageable. You move with the left stick and move with the right, firearms are controlled with R2 and melee belong to R1. Ruiner’s combat is a sadistic joy from the first fight to the last as it feels seamless and intuitive, even if there are so many different ways of playing. You’re in for a rough ride with this isometric twin-stick shooter, but it’s a ride you’ll be glad you strapped in for. She, with a mixture of affection and scorn, nicknames you “Puppy” and shows her disdain each time you fail, and fail you will – you will almost definitely be able to repeat all of her lines by memory before your time with Ruiner is up. Your avatar into this miserable world is a faceless and nameless assassin whose only mission is one that will repeatedly be barked at you by a female hacker: find your brother. It’s a traditional cyberpunk tale told moreso through visual flourishes and small dialogue cues rather than massive exposition dumps, so there’s a lot to be discovered when you read between the lines. In short, the Heaven megacorporation’s stranglehold on Rengkok has ruined the city’s residents and left many broken or almost. To delve into it too much would ultimately be to spoil it – think of Ruiner’s plot as window dressing for its hypnotically vicious combat instead. Ruiner is a visual force, which helps to carry its somewhat barebones plot. Reikon Games, who consist of former The Witcher and Dying Light devs, have created an ugly yet beautiful world, lashed with as much bloody crimson as it is neon fury. Set in 2091, Ruiner looks like Blade Runner and plays like Hotline Miami a heady concoction that somebody really should have released sooner. Its gloomy misanthropy may turn away some players, but the rapidfire delivery of stylish action at the heart of Ruiner kept me coming back. It’s a masochistic experience peppered with some seriously dark moments that are treated as harmlessly by the game’s eclectic and sincerely fucked-up bunch of characters as chit-chat about weather.
Ruiner doesn’t really like you, or anyone, for that matter.
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