![]() It also doesn’t help that the game world is so small and linear. There simply isn’t a good balance to any aspect of the combat. There’s a lot more variety to the magic attacks, but your mana capacity is so limited and spells consume so much MP that I mostly focused on using melee weapons. At least until you get the amulet that works just like the life one, which allows you to use magic more freely. Whenever you use spells, you’ll need to refill your MP with items. You can purchase or find spells throughout the game, but MP is just like HP, save for the fact that it never gets restored automatically. There’s a dearth of weapons available, meaning that you’ll be sticking with the same ones for almost the entire game. The stabbing weapons, on the other hand, are weak and also have poor range. The overhead slashing weapons are slow, have poor range, and are just overall tedious to use. Melee attacks come in two forms: stabbing weapons and overhead slashing ones. For one, the combat isn’t noteworthy at all. It’s a solid game, but it doesn’t have much to offer over any similar titles. With a complete focus on survival, Lost Ruins could have stood out more. It honestly feels like a missed opportunity to me. I constantly found food, and there was a stronger weapon to obtain later regardless. Honestly, the vast majority of Lost Ruins’ challenge comes down to “enemies do a ton of damage very quickly.” Even without those two aforementioned items, however, the game doesn’t take all that long to show that its so-called survival focus is misleading. There’s no invulnerability time after taking damage, so your character can be annihilated in the blink of an eye. Not that the rest of the game was a cakewalk, mind you - it’s certainly far from difficult. Plus, those aren’t the only boons the game throws you.Īfter that, I didn’t see any point in being careful. But the fact that they’re even here in addition to them being so easy to find shifts the balance. With just these two items, the danger evaporated. Once inside, I found an amulet that restored one hit point per second. Shortly afterward, I rolled into another obvious “hidden” room while moving down an elevator. It’s quite easy to see, and it shows up clearly on the map. The room contains a weapon that’s powerful enough to dispatch enemies in a hit or two. Early on, there’s an opening in a wall that can be reached while falling. However, it doesn’t take long for Lost Ruins to abandon this pretense. Traps abound, meaning that I was reloading my saves to get through with minimal damage, all the while carefully hoarding important resources. Enemies aren’t around in great numbers, but the almost survival horror-level emphasis on reducing damage and managing your supplies scratches a certain itch. ![]() You’ll need foes to drop healing orbs or eat food that you’ve picked up. Enemies do a lot of damage and save points don’t heal you. And that appears to be true for the first half hour or so. When you first start a game in Lost Ruins, it’s quick to tell you that this is a survival experience. But it’s also short, weighed down by poor combat, and surprisingly reliant on elements lifted from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The visuals are pleasing, plus I do appreciate some of what the game attempts. But there’s a problem: it’s simply too afraid to commit, which ends up making the game’s main unique feature more of a passing idea than an actual focus. Lost Ruins appears to want to try things differently, with a stronger emphasis on survival and careful play. Too much of the time they tend to regurgitate familiar ideas. I’m all for Metroid-likes trying something new.
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