RUIN RAIDERS
My kingdom for entium!
The formula here is really classic – having recruited three tailed fighters from the available menagerie, we set off to clear the ruins and dungeons, where, in addition to assorted enemies, chests with new equipment, improvements and entium crystals (local currency), merchants and crafting stations are waiting for us. True, in order to craft an item, you must first find its blueprint.
Improvements, if you equip a fighter with them, increase his characteristics and resistances, new perks also come across, but entium cores are of particular value – they affect the progress of the character and allow you to use his signature abilities. That is, it is not enough to reach a certain level in order for these very abilities and bonuses to become available in principle – you still need to enable them by installing the entium core in the appropriate slot.
Not enough for all the cores.
As in the big XCOM, in this bestial version we have a headquarters and useful buildings in it – pumping them with the help of the same entium, we increase the maximum level of development of our fighters, increase the capacity of the crystal storage, and also open up the ability to recruit in squad new types of them (cats and dogs, for example, are not immediately available) and use rarer equipment and perks.
Crystals are not enough at first.
In general, entium in Ruin Raiders is our everything. Therefore, it is important to look under your feet. In some rooms, you can notice a special glow on the ground – there we can not only find crystals, but also keys to especially cool chests.
If anything, it will be possible to return to the chests with the key through the fast travel points.
Bulldog with a gun and a cat with a gun
The battles themselves take place in a turn-based mode and contain a standard set in such cases – action points (each can use two per turn), shelters, full or not, reloading, the ability to turn on observation mode, use consumables and abilities.
Each type (read: class) of animals has its own unique skills – for example, thick-skinned rhinos increase armor that blocks damage, cats can attack and turn on observation in one move, dogs (namely bulldogs) are able to make a special shot that always hits the target , and, for example, birds restore an action point to all allies in such and such a radius.
Grenades also have a damage radius.
Often you have to use first-aid kits – you can heal yourself and your allies, but you can’t lift comrades who have gone into a knockout. Only after the successful end of the fight, they will return to our ranks with a unit of health. If everyone dies, then we will be informed that communication with the detachment has been interrupted – we will have to return to the headquarters and recruit new tailed and mustachioed fighters.
The chances of hitting, as expected, are calculated as a percentage.
brutal boredom
And everything would be fine, but in Ruin Raiders there is one, but a very big problem – it’s boring to play. There are no surprises in the combat system, everything is too standard, lacking depth and subtleties like interactive environments and heights.
Locations are similar to each other, there are many completely empty – no enemies, no chests. Merchants and crafting machines are rare. I’m not talking about interesting random events. Well, at least, you can find excerpts from diaries, from which we learn, for example, about a touching romantic story that spun in one of the previous detachments of the same conquerors of the ruins.
Our fighters are already pretty battered, and they are located extremely unsuccessfully.
In addition, there is an acute lack of blooming complexity and diversity in equipment items and perks – so that they not only increase something there, but open up new opportunities, change the rules of the game, perhaps even accidentally strengthen not only us, but also enemies. It would make you wake up and cheer up somehow. And so the battles, as a rule, take place according to approximately the same scenario. Only fights with bosses bring at least some variety.
Bosses and armor are strong and able to heal.
The authors of Ruin Raiders had an interesting idea – to make a “bagel” with XCOM mechanics and with animals in the lead roles. But her implementation turned out to be too sterile, without a twinkle and an animal gleam in her eyes. Boring.
Pros: interesting game concept; cats and dogs with unique abilities can be recruited into the squad; good system of upgrades; simple but cute picture.
Cons: battles lack tactical frills; locations are small, often empty and non-interactive; few interesting situations.
