Recursive Ruin is one of the worst examples of mind-bending video game puzzelery I've played.
Granted, it's one of the smaller projects as well. I hoped it would be in the vein of something like Manifold Garden given its presentation. That wasn't one of my favorite games, but the puzzles were at least fun enough, and the whole Escherian premise tackled fairly well.
Recursive Ruin instead proposes puzzles that are always solved in the same boring way. There's just two main mechanics, and they don't gel in any meaningful way with the trippy world. I was already burnt out on them at level 2.
Maybe the most disposable thing of all is the story elements. They're littered throughout and take a lot of space for something that's eminently cliché and forgettable.
It feels like a game that was made with some heart put into it, but it falls flat on its face at every turn. A harsh disappointment.
Granted, it's one of the smaller projects as well. I hoped it would be in the vein of something like Manifold Garden given its presentation. That wasn't one of my favorite games, but the puzzles were at least fun enough, and the whole Escherian premise tackled fairly well.
Recursive Ruin instead proposes puzzles that are always solved in the same boring way. There's just two main mechanics, and they don't gel in any meaningful way with the trippy world. I was already burnt out on them at level 2.
Maybe the most disposable thing of all is the story elements. They're littered throughout and take a lot of space for something that's eminently cliché and forgettable.
It feels like a game that was made with some heart put into it, but it falls flat on its face at every turn. A harsh disappointment.