Into the Stressed Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder during which… no, wait, come again!
I get it, it may be exhausting to beat your cynicism when confronted with the conjunction of “roguelike” and “deckbuilder”, the 2 most pervasive buzzwords in indie gaming — particularly within the wake of such good expressions of the shape as Slay the Spire and Balatro. And it’s true that Into the Stressed Ruins, which is at present out there to play as a Steam Subsequent Fest demo, isn’t attempting too exhausting to distinguish itself with its pixel artwork and its dungeon-crawling premise. Nevertheless it has one new thought, and it’s a very good one.
On this recreation, the playing cards in your hand are the rooms of the dungeon, which you construct out a bit of additional every day earlier than exploring it at night time. You’re each architect and adventurer, and the sport is consequently cut up into distinct, but intently interlinked halves: a puzzle recreation during which you utilize the palms you’re dealt to construct a labyrinth that’s survivable and logical; and a touch by way of these ruins in a Vampire Survivors-influenced, auto-attacking dungeon crawl.
Developer Ant Workshop is from Edinburgh, and says it has rooted Into the Stressed Ruins in Scottish myths and legends. It actually has a folkloric really feel. Your adventurer is tasked by the Maiden with harvesting Glimour from spooky apparitions and besting the Warden of every damage. The extra Glimour you earn, the extra Favours she grants you. (The Favours, after all, are playing cards.) However Curses additionally accrue with every dying and with the passing of time, rising the hostility of the ruins.
Within the constructing part, you’re given a sure variety of Construct Factors to spend on taking part in playing cards out of your hand to position rooms within the dungeon. You’re constructing towards an endpoint, the Warden’s lair, but additionally attempting to hyperlink up preexisting, fog-shrouded rooms on the best way, which could comprise the Seals essential to open up new dungeon areas, or the Relics that improve your playing cards. Normal rooms — corners, hallways, and crossroads — don’t have any results, however are normally bigger and have extra helpful door placements. Different rooms might be tough to work right into a logical structure, however you’ll wish to, as a result of they will dispel fog or bestow buffs, well being, and time.
Time is symbolized by your torch, and it runs out quick, the pool of sunshine it casts round your warrior contracting on a regular basis. You have to make it again to the exit earlier than your torch runs out every night time and you’ll’t view the map whereas exploring. So the nightly Harvest takes the type of hasty, there-and-back forays that may go a lot better in the event you’ve managed to create an easy structure that’s straightforward to memorize. That’s simpler stated than completed when coping with the luck of the draw.
Into the Stressed Ruins exists within the pleasing pressure between the randomness of the draw, the cautious problem-solving of the structure part, and the swift desperation of the Harvest. Every feeds into the subsequent, and when a run comes collectively, this recreation actually hums. Possibly we’re not completed with deckbuilding roguelikes but.
