RUINSMAGUS
- July 7, 2022
- CharacterBank inc
- 7h median play time
Get on Steam"RUINSMAGUS is a single-player Fantasy RPG VR game where you play as a novice magus investigating abandoned ruins beneath a prosperous town. With over 25 story-driven quests, face off against guardians, solve puzzles, and upgrade your equipment to uncover the town's secrets. The game takes about 6 hours to beat."
PC
Playstation 5
Virtual Reality
Windows
Oculus Quest
PlayStation
Reviews
- The game offers an immersive VR experience with a well-executed anime aesthetic and engaging story elements.
- Combat mechanics are fun and provide a variety of spells, making battles feel dynamic and exciting, especially during boss fights.
- Despite its flaws, the game is a promising start for VR JRPGs, showcasing potential for future improvements and expansions.
- The game suffers from repetitive gameplay, with linear dungeon designs and a lack of enemy variety, leading to a stale experience over time.
- There are significant technical issues, including problems with Steam Link compatibility and bugs that can hinder gameplay.
- The price point feels high for the content offered, with many players suggesting it would be better suited for a sale.
- story114 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its immersive qualities and engaging character interactions, particularly in a VR setting. However, some critiques highlight that the main narrative is relatively short and not particularly groundbreaking, with a mix of enjoyable moments and repetitive elements. Overall, it offers a satisfying experience for fans of anime-style storytelling, despite some limitations in depth and replayability.
“A satisfying immersive VR story-driven game.”
“An amazing story with great voice acting.”
“It is the first real JRPG in VR and the main story has fun twists and turns, making it a very enjoyable ride, pairing with amazing soundtracks and beautiful anime-style visuals that take the experience to another level.”
“Don't bother playing for the story; it's junk.”
“Story is nothing.”
“Repetitive combat, no character development choice (e.g., skill tree or itemization), extremely linear story, no 'treasure' (loot) at all, poor VR controls, no lefty/remapping options, and barely any interactable objects...”
- gameplay50 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a fun and action-packed combat system that resembles an FPS, featuring a variety of spells and attack mechanics, though it lacks depth in RPG elements and can feel repetitive. While the visuals and cutscenes are praised for their quality, the overall experience suffers from limited VR interactions and a somewhat unpolished dungeon-crawling loop. Despite these shortcomings, the combat remains enjoyable and fluid, making it a solid choice for fans of action-oriented games.
“The variety of spells are fun to use and the action-packed gameplay loop is comparable to an FPS game, which is to its merit.”
“The combat is fun and original, the player's character is cool, and the shield is a fun mechanic.”
“The game is content-complete with proper story development and a basic progression system; the action gameplay is also tight and fun.”
“It's labeled as an RPG but has no RPG mechanics to speak of besides damage numbers over the heads of enemies.”
“It is definitely rough around the edges, especially when it comes to the repetitive gameplay loop in the dungeons, the animation quality of some of the NPCs walking around town, the limited VR interactions, and the crude way the game teleports you around different areas without giving you the ability to physically go there yourself.”
“This game is great at almost everything, except the basic VR mechanics such as weird weapon slot locations, unpolished repetitive dungeons, problematic item ease of use, and the fact your left hand just exclusively stays there to deflect things (unless using ultimate moves) is such a waste of potential.”
- graphics28 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some users noting that they resemble those of an N64 title and criticize the bland art style. However, others appreciate the stylized world design, character aesthetics, and vibrant colors, which contribute to an immersive anime-like experience. Overall, while the graphical fidelity may be simple, the art style and presentation are considered polished and endearing, enhancing the game's appeal.
“Now finally, gameplay outside of combat (pretty much everything else that didn't fit into the previous two categories): the game is very pretty to look at, the art style is great, and the characters are well designed.”
“The art style, the lighting and colors, the character designs, and the voice acting are all very satisfying, and lend to the feeling of being inside an anime.”
“For such a small team, the game feels extremely polished, especially in terms of art style and presentation.”
“The story isn't too gripping, the outside characters feel rather dull, even odd because of the poor graphical quality, and combat doesn't really feel challenging.”
“That and the graphics and environments are about on level with an N64 game while having a really bland art style.”
“Graphical fidelity is not amazing but certainly passable for an action-driven game.”
- music12 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise, with many players highlighting the amazing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. Comparisons to iconic soundtracks like those from Undertale and Deltarune emphasize its quality, and players express a desire for the original soundtrack to be made available. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that complements the engaging story and beautiful visuals.
“It is the first real JRPG in VR, and the main story has fun twists and turns, making it a very enjoyable ride. Pairing with amazing soundtracks and beautiful anime-style visuals takes the experience to another level.”
“I don't make reviews often, but this game is amazing. The music is incredible; it's up there with the Undertale OST or Deltarune. I wish this game was an anime; I would 100% watch it.”
“But if you can accept all that issue, with all these breathtaking boss encounters and cool soundtracks.”
“I would love if the OST was available somewhere!”
“I would love if the OST was available somewhere!”
- optimization10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally praised, with smooth performance and stable 120fps at 4K resolution, even on lower-end VR hardware. However, some users note a lack of polish, including bugs, limited physical interactions, and poorly optimized UI/UX elements, which detracts from the overall experience. Concerns are also raised about the game's design being influenced by the need to accommodate the weaker performance of the Quest platform, potentially stifling the development of more ambitious PC VR titles.
“Also, it runs very smoothly and appears well optimized (GPU usage never went above 25%).”
“The game is well optimized and holds stable 120fps at 4K input resolution on my high-end system.”
“Most folks should still get great performance even with lower-end VR-ready hardware.”
“The game lacks polish with a few bugs here and there, and there are many things to nitpick as a VR game: there are barely any physical interactions (if there are any at all), there are many invisible walls (due to the huge collision boxes), and the UI & UX elements are not really optimized (e.g., button arrangement).”
“This is not a good sign; this will just keep pushing VR developers to the Quest mobile platform. This game also has a Quest version, and this may be the reason why the dungeon looks dull and similar, as you have to take care of Quest's relatively weak performance. That's maybe the reason we do not get good AAA PC VR games.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is well-executed, with cutscenes that add a unique and often funny twist to the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience. Players have noted that the balance between humor and story is effectively managed, with specific moments, such as a guildmaster's public announcement, eliciting genuine laughter. Overall, the humor contributes positively to the game's appeal, making it memorable and enjoyable.
“One final nice point I wanted to mention are the cutscenes; all of them look amazing and bring a unique and sometimes funny twist to the gameplay.”
“Some of the missions are wild; the balance between humor and story is well put together. Overall, I really like this game and will continue to put hours into it.”
“There was one scene where the guildmaster character was making a public announcement, and it actually made me laugh out loud towards the end, which is something that rarely happens when I'm playing a game.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players report a strong emotional connection to the characters and story, particularly towards the end, highlighting well-written narratives that evoke heartfelt feelings. Despite some criticism of the story's originality, the overall experience is described as immersive and touching.
“I found myself fully immersed in the world and its characters, feeling especially emotional towards the end as they are all pretty well written.”
“The game was really nice; the story was heartwarming, even though it had some repetitive elements.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
While the game has received updates aimed at enhancing replay value, the main story is relatively short, and the linear design of the dungeons limits overall replayability despite the variety of enemies.
“Enemies have a good variety, but the ruins (dungeon) are quite linear, making it a game that lacks replayability.”
“They also updated the game to have more replay value, but the main story is a bit short and sweet.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of Ruinsmagus is widely praised as its greatest strength, with players appreciating its unique style and immersive environment, even those who are not particularly invested in anime culture.
“The biggest strength of this game is its atmosphere.”
“I'm not a die-hard anime fan, but I can still appreciate the unique style and atmosphere of RuinsMagus.”
- character development2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The character development is enhanced by satisfying art style, lighting, colors, and voice acting, creating an immersive anime-like experience that resonates with players.
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy heavily relies on advertisements, which users have noted multiple times, indicating a significant presence of ads in the game.
“The game is flooded with advertisements, making it hard to enjoy the experience.”
“Constant interruptions from ads ruin the flow of gameplay.”
“The monetization strategy relies too heavily on ads, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.”
