Ulasan

• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2021

  "Turn Based But Fast Paced" means, about 1/3 into the game you suddenly have real-time elements introduced so it can break its own rules. I played the demo, I read reviews. Everything seemed to indicate it was only "fast paced" in that executing combos and playing quicker got you a better score; that the game is strictly turn-based and can be played at any pace you want if you don't care for score. I've played and enjoyed games of this genre before and liked them well enough. I purchased this game specifically with that type of gameplay in mind, and then felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me. So I get to the point where I'm unable to beat the boss who introduces the real-time elements, smacks me upside the head, and demands very fast thinking and speedy execution (which again, I was not expecting to need for this game). It's late, so I take the "I'll be fresher tomorrow and be able to beat it with enough effort" approach...only to find the game had saved none of my progress for that chapter despite showing the autosave icon after each room. I saw there was a recent "bugfix" to resolve that, I guess my copy didn't get the memo. As for everything *before* that, it was fine but nothing spectacular and if I'm being honest I was getting a little tired of it. The demo is the first chapter. The second chapter is a "stealth" segment with enemies that kill you on sight and you aren't allowed to touch. The third chapter has more enemies that insta-kill if you dont leave enough space at the end of your movement. Half of the time, areas can be solved by moving back and forth until enemies walk into your path. The story is just kind of a background element up to the point I played, I can't speak for the rest. The music and sound design is great, so that's something I guess. You have the ability to slow time to get a double movement in before enemies can respond, and a button meant to be like you're pausing the action to analyze things (with another ability tied to it). Several enemies I had already encountered don't respect those abilities and will react regardless because ??? actually I couldn't tell you what the reasoning is. The real-time stuff pretends like you aren't using them at all (time stop? nah. strategy/tactics mode? haha, you thought), which again not only disrespects the abilities but makes little sense (I guess missiles can ignore time stop. RIP Dio). I should also mention that I've since watched several videos with examples of gameplay beyond the point where I quit out, thinking that maybe if it was JUST this boss that did that, I could maybe tough it out and then play the rest of the game the way I wanted to. Nope. The real-time elements continue to be sprinkled through the rest of this game just to induce headaches whenever possible. Unfortunately, I can't refund the game because I hit the 3 hour mark, and Steam won't take "misleading game description" as a valid refund reason. I have to wonder if the dev actually wanted to make an action game more in line with Hotline Miami. I suppose if you want a simplified version of Hotline Miami as a slide dash "puzzle" game, go ahead and try this on sale. I personally am too soured to continue playing.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 6, 2021

  I like the concept of the game, i just feel like the execution was slightly off. Game is basically a cross between "Katana Zero" and a game called "Keen" probably no one has heard of. Alot of the negative reviews are complaining about the real time elements of the game, and while I didn't make it super far, the few realtime elements I saw I didn't really mind and were actually pretty interesting. I only made it to chapter 5 before calling it quits, but the main issue I had was that the level design felt far too messy and chaotic to really feel like a puzzle. Every stage or "screen" was just filled with so many enemys with nearly impossible to predict pathing and random hazards/powerups all over the screen that "solving" them just felt like a combination of pure luck and brute force almost every single time. Failing repeatedly was frustrating, and clearing a room wasn't very satisfying because it just felt like I got lucky every time. I addition to the level design itself being messy, the graphics are also just a bit too muddy and make visibility of the stage a bit difficult. Theres no way they could change this now that the game is fully released, however I feel like 1 major change that would have simplified the game a bit and helped reduce the clutter is if they removed the consumable powerups from the stages and just had you start with a specific amount each screen, or you simply got them for performing combos or something similar. If you haven't checked out the game Keen, and you are interested in this gameplay concept, I would recommend that game instead. The aesthetic is kind of goofy and childish, but the gameplay and level design feels much "tighter" and less chaotic/lucky IMO. Though this makes the game a bit "easier" overall, I found it much more enjoyable.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 7, 2022

  I would like to say that the game offers mechanics which can help very adept players to simply overcome whatever problems I describe below, so take this as a review for those who consider themselves the "average" player. Please be aware, before reading this review, that Red Ronin IS a good game. It is put together beautifully, the narrative is quite compelling even though it's short, it's aesthetically pleasing and the gameplay can feel rewarding. So, although there are some localization issues (at least in the English translation), I would say overall Red Ronin is a GOOD game. However, the game, or at least the tags on Steam, market it as a sokoban puzzle game, but this is quite disingenuous. For those unaware sokoban is a genre in which you usually move in the X and Y axis colliding on the levels' obstacles and objects in order to complete a goal. Red Ronin mixes this formula with combat, and in some levels it feels tight knit and it works really well. But, from expecting a game which leaves the player the time to think through how to make each move, the game has some instances of constant real time threats to the player, forcing them to bypass the planning and tactical aspect for a more "move quick, die, repeat until the level is completed" approach. This would not necessarily be a bad thing, but considering the game introduces the player on the more slow, planning based levels, and ups the difficulty on that format itself, introducing real time threats can make for a quite aberrant experience if one's not ready for it. The game also offers mechanics based on allowing the player to break the usual sokoban formula, such as allowing them to change direction mid-movement or move twice in one turn, which feel extremely good once how enemies and the map operates are understood. However, these turn into a huge reason for cognitive overload once the game starts adding real time threats to the player. Since the game doesn't really allow the player to input buffer, I found myself spamming the keys for this powers before movements ended just so I could have access to them as fast as possible in my next turn. The following section will explain more in detail this problem, but will also contain spoilers for quite a few sections of the game, so read at you own discretion. The first instance of problems appear at the second boss in the game (found in Level 3), which is actually the first boss in which the players encounter comfrontation. This boss marks certain areas within the map in which bombs will explode, killing the player if they are on a tile marked when they explode. The problem comes in when you realise the explosion is on a timer, instead on a turn counter. This makes the player have to find a secure location before the time explodes, instead of allowing them the possibility of thinking a way out, and then the next move against the boss themselves. If I had to say, this is the least agregious of the cases, since it's usually easy to find places to take refuge in. The next instance appears in the third boss (found in Level 5). This boss is a sniper which requires to be hit three times to be defeated, and can only be hit once the enemies in it's arena are killed and he has run out of bullets, of which he has five if I remember properly. The problem here is that the boss, when he has rounds to fire, will constantly cast a mark on the map which will follow the player in a relatively close manner. This mark will turn from yellow to red as he is ready to fire. The totality of this mechanic works outside of player movements, so you could be thinking your next move, and, if you're too slow, you would simply be killed. This by itself would not pose much of a problem, since in the last boss we had a similar mechanic, but the problem comes in when you add other enemies to the mix. These other enemies function by turns, meaning they will only move when you do. The problem is that, by mixing real time with turn based threats, the player is forced to put themselves in positions which are undesired, and will make them die in ways which feel frustrating or undeserved, only because trying to avoid the boss' shots will shift the position of enemies into unfavorable ones. It is also worth noting that, in the rooms building up to this boss, some rooms have a constant laser which pans from side to side and will instantly kill the player if hit. This puts the player in situations where sometimes they have to act fast, but this is a minor offender since, similar to the first boss mentioned, cover is easy to find, and once you figure out how to move as the laser is covered it becomes quite fun. There are still instances however where the player is given no time to breathe so I thought this would be an important mention. Next comes level 6, and to me this was the most grave offender of all the instances. I have no shame in saying that the totality of this review was inspired by that level alone, and how frustrated I felt in some instances as I played it. Level 6 follows level 5 in that, rooms showcase a laser which the player has to avoid in order to not die. Once again, said laser pans the room horizontally and kills the player on impact. However, this level offers no cover to the player where the laser doesn't hit, taking from them the capacity to take a respite, see where the laser is positioned and when they should move, or assess how many enemies they have to kill before being able to progress. Instead, the laser is on a timer, which gives the player some time to complete each room before activating. The laser activating usually means certain death, unless the player has already killed all enemies and is on route to the exit. This completely enhances that idea of dying and repeating which we mentioned before, which completely kills any tactical aspect the game could offer only because the player is forced to move fast each time. In fact, the laser activates before the player has even moved so you can't even take your time when you respawn to think on your course of action. There are some other instances, mainly at the end of Level 8 with the reappareance of the enemy sniper archetype we first saw in the third boss, but to be fair what's described above is almost the totality of my gripes with the game. Maybe it's also worth mentioning how the last boss (found in Level 7), can feel quite frustrating due to how, after every hit they take from the player, they are allowed extra moves. This means that, while the player moves once, the boss can move multiple times, leading to sometimes dying in ways which feel undeserving. Please remember, this game is not necessarily what you might think at first, and that is what made me want to write this review, but I also believe it is quite a good game. Hope this review proves useful to some.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 7, 2023

  Neat idea, standard turn based puzzler with some novel elements. Faintly reminiscent of Katana Zero with the time freeze and, well, katana. Somewhat frustrating not being able to see the complete pathing of sentry robots. Making frequent use of tactical mode mitigates this somewhat. However, some levels will still be more trial than error, which feels antithetical to the purpose of a puzzle game. I'm not yet to the levels with real time elements thrown in, which may increase that feeling. Controls are a little strange by default - movement is by keyboard, time freeze power is by keyboard, tactical mode and redirection power is by mouse. Options exist for keyboard only play. However, you cannot play mouse only, which strikes me as odd. If it sounds interesting, its probably worth the 3 bucks on sale.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 6, 2023

  This went from easy to hard in a single screen transition.
• Hrodric

  Oct 3, 2023

  The game has nice visuals in art style and animations, serviceble story, buy man it feels amateurish. The game feels fairly janky and poorly designed, specially the "innovative" real time threats mechanics. It just feels like it was easier to make it real time instead of actually designing them in turn base combat mechanics. It's not innovative, it's just lazy, and i hope they ditch it in the sequel entirely. I wouldn't downvote the game if that were a middle ground option, but the flaws are to prevalent to me to recomend this game, but i hope they learned a lot for their future games. I hope they do some serious game testing with audiences before releasing the sequel.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 23, 2021

  Really nice puzzly action game. Great soundtrack.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 23, 2021

  A beautifully designed puzzle game disguised as a bloody hack and slash revenge tale. Definitely worth picking up, especially considering the stupidly low price.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 28, 2021

  This game. Wow what a great game and a great concept. The problem is with boss 3. Boss 3 thinks its clever. It breaks the system by adding a real time component into a turn based game. Its buggy, its horrible, it goes against the style of the game. I really enjoyed this game but I have uninstalled after trying to beat the 3rd boss for 5 hours. Im sure you can beat boss 3 first try with a bit of luck and know-how but I picked this game up because it was tactical and turn based. The fact that the real time portion disregards the turn based portion of the game makes the fight annoying as all hell. Its also bugged. EXTREMELY Bugged. Fire times are inconsistent. Sometimes the shot only occupies one space, other times it occupies the surrounding 9 spaces as well. Sometimes you can dash through the shot as its turning red, other times you can not. I can not stress enough how miserable this fight is. Its not even a fight you can "plan" like every other fight, Since enemies spawn in at certain time intervals and not on certain TURN intervals it makes every single instance of the fight random. If you press the same button sequence at the same time interval, you can plan for spawns but then the BUGGY SNIPER SHOTS will ruin that strategy as well. One boss fight is enough for me to tell you to not buy this game. I like challenging boss fights as well, I really dig them but this one is just a buggy frustrating pile of garbage. Hope you heed my advice. DO NOT BUY.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 14, 2021

  Yeah, no, game concept is fine, but as other reviews said: including time based trials on a turn based game is a big no-no. I like DS, and this is just difficult for its own sake.