Lost Ruins
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Lost Ruins
Between multiple endings that can be unlocked depending on what quests you complete and more difficult game modes for those who like a punishing challenge, there is a lot to each playthrough of Lost Ruins that will keep players coming back. Though the overall combat can be a little repetitive, there is enough exploration and weapon variety to ensure that there will be a combat style to suit you. If you're a fan of Metroidvania or survival titles, or very attractive pixel art, there is a lot to enjoy here, but the challenge can be unbalanced at times.
Lost Ruins is a very simple, but still exciting game, which offers a complex magic system and exciting opponents. Probably, by the release on new consoles, it will become even more polished, and some animation flaws and sections with jumps on platforms will be corrected. But even now, Lost Ruins delivers a lot of nice emotions and fun.
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The visuals are strong and most of the elements are competent, but this is a middle-of-the-road game that squanders its potential with some baffling decisions.
In some ways Lost Ruins is a proper testament to the classics, they were just so much more nuanced than their visuals let on. This game has some great ideas and a concept that works on paper, and from time to time it works in the game too. But all too often it stumbles when it should have soared.
For those players who want a brutally difficult, violent action game with all the "kawaii" flavor of anime aesthetics. Lost Ruins places you in a mysterious realm, where a young girl with no memory suddenly appears. With no other option than violence, she will have to traverse this monster-filled location in hopes of solving the mystery behind her identity.
There are some unique sidequests that had me questioning my decisions as I made my way from the sewers, to the catacombs, and the castle gardens, and even all my prior preparation didn't stop the final area of the game from being a stout challenge. Lost Ruins' focus on being careful and adaptable rather than headstrong and immutable makes it a soft but welcome departure from other metroidvanias. With a story and map that don't force you to backtrack either, you can explore as much or as little as you want. For my money, I was glad to have picked up everything that wasn't tied down, and I can easily recommend you do the same with Lost Ruins on Switch.
Can cute/sexy anime girls be mixed with the dark fantasy world of Dark Souls and the like? Sure… but that's no promise of a fine product. Now, there are many indies out there that try to sell through fanservice alone, but Lost Ruins is actually not one of those. Yes, it has waifu bosses with big bouncy assets, and they drop swimsuits as the reward, but to be perfectly honest this isn't the main thing here. Actual effort has been made during this title's creation, with the fanservice (or whatever you want to call it) being just the cherry on top of it all. It's just that the end result isn't really a good, or finely polished game, with the slow, cumbersome combat definitely taking the biscuit.
When it comes to Metroidvanias, Lost Ruins presents a unique inventory-based formula that's packed with challenge and oodles of fun. If you enjoy the genre and want to play something off the beaten path, definitely give this indie gem a go.
