Jokes aside Ruiner is a very, very good "cyberpunk" twin stick shooter. The basic premise is you play as a sociopath in a corrupt high-tech metropolitan society, on a quest to find your missing brother. Navigating the various enemies and hazards of this world, you are kept virtual company of a hacker friend simply referenced as "her". Throughout the game the plot progresses as you kill various bosses and "hack" their mind for further clues on your brother's whereabouts.
If you played a twin stick shooter before you will not be too surprised by too many of the mechanics here. You can shoot, melee, and you have various other skills at your disposal such as shielding, dashing, using grenades, slowing down time etc. The game features a large variety of different enemy types and various weapons you can dispose of them with. The action in general can be pretty frantic as try to avoid various enemy attacks while trying to kill them. It should be also noted that every weapon but the notably weak "Ruiner" gun has limited ammo, so frequently it is in your advantage to constantly pick up new weapons. As you progress in this game, you earn more skill points that you can use to unlock new abilities and upgrade them.
There's not really much more you need to know pertaining to Ruiner. It's a very polished game, the artwork and sound is absolutely great and the game is a blast to play in general.
However, this doesn't go without a few relatively minor issues.
First off, I played this game on the Xbox One which I'm completely unsure what the target frame-rate is. It obviously isn't 60. Maybe it was 30? It seems to be kind of variable which makes me wonder if the developers just left it uncapped? But the stand-out problem with the frame-rate in Ruiner is some of the fights have the game running at about 10-20 fps for extended periods of time. (In my best estimation) Especially towards the end of the game. Also there is notable freezing during these high action scenes. Not good. Another minor issue is sometimes your character can get stuck in certain areas. And basically you have to reload the game or let an enemy kill you.
My play-through of Ruiner took about 6 hours and 30 minutes. Not bad, decent for an Indie game. What irked me a little bit though were some of the recycled bosses. Or bosses just being very similar in nature. It's not really a deal breaker for Ruiner but it seems like a missed opportunity for what should have been a very "boss" focused game.
Overall though it's a very cool game, it kind of gives you that Deus Ex, Phantom 2040 feeling but with a little more attitude. If you're looking for just some good old fashioned wreckage and chaos you won't be disappointed with this.
Final Verdict: 8/10.