Lost Ruins (2021)

I started up Lost Ruins the other night to satisfy my recent metroidvania cravings and was pleasantly surprised to find it a refreshing take on the genre that incorporates an RPG-like item and equipment system to great effect. The game bills itself as a survival action game but I think the way I ended up itemizing myself for enemies and bosses while using consumables to bolster defenses and combat status effects was much more like an RPG. This mix of genres actually works super well and I binged the game in a few sittings (though it isn't very long).

The game fed me consumables and new equipment at a good pace, allowing me to build around a heavy-weapons playstyle that fit in nicely with my typical setup in action games. I could easily switch up my approach whenever I wanted though if the situation called for it. This flexibility made progressing a ton of fun because of the variety of options I could play with at any given time.

After bouncing hard off Ender Lilies for a number of reasons, I was pleased to see this game actually has a solid map system. It's not quite perfect but I found it easy to check where I currently was, where objects and NPCs were, and what passageways I had yet to explore. It made it nice and easy to go out of my way and collect everything, which is really all I can ask for in terms of functionality.

While all of the above is fantastic, I was a bit put off by how uh... horny the character portrait art was, for lack of a better word. The art style itself has kind of an endearing DeviantArt look to it. I would say liked it but some of the designs are tough to stomach. On rare occasions it works well, like in the case of this fun side quest in reference to the Lusty Argonian Maid below, but often it works against everything else the game offers. Bit of a shame, because outside of those portraits the game looks really nice. The pixel art is detailed and there are some very well-implemented particle effects and reflections that fit in more naturally than I'd typically expect with pixel art.

As long as you're okay with some overly horny art, this is a super cool metroidvania. I'm glad I finally sat down to play it instead of letting it rot in my Steam backlog. It seamlessly incorporates an item and equipment system that reminds me of RPGs, which keeps the game feeling fresh and unique all through the ~6 hour playtime. Definitely worth a look for any fan of the genre.