If you’ve ever spent time in a level editor, boy, do I have a new game for you. Into the Restless Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder that has you create the level systematically throughout your run. This includes deciding power-up rooms, twists and turns, and everything in between. You will be weighing your options as you navigate how much time it will take to traverse from point A to B and back before you run out of light and lose a life. With a unique premise such as this, let’s see how Into the Restless Ruins works in execution!

Within Into the Restless Ruins, you’re tasked with forging a level up to the boss. Each night gives you a certain time limit before your torch runs out of light and you lose a life. Lose enough lives, and you’ll get a game over. Budgeting your time is essential, and thankfully, you’ll see a meter slowly but surely drop down to gauge how much time you have left, even though there isn’t a numerical timer. While this mechanic can be frustrating for those who are accustomed to scouring levels up and down, it’s a necessary evil to encourage the player to build their levels smartly.

If you’re hoping for diverse card builds in Into the Restless Ruins, that isn’t necessarily the case here. Each night, you’ll draw seven cards and be able to connect them to each adjacent door on the map, to link them into shrouded rooms that you can scope out. Ideally, your end goal each night is to reach a seal to unlock another portion of the level. On your way there, you’ll encounter tons of dungeon creatures and monsters dispatched with auto-attacks. There’s not much to the combat other than positioning yourself in the right radius and ensuring you time the swings equivalently with how many enemies are approaching, as hordes can overwhelm you.

With all the moving pieces in Into the Restless Ruins, the core gameplay loop works more often than it doesn’t. There’s certainly a lot more planning than actual dungeon-crawling, but strategists will thoroughly enjoy mapping out their runs and seeing the plan and execution turn out exactly how they wanted. When you finally reach the boss, it’s a rewarding feeling taking them down, even if they can be a pushover, should you know how to kite and attack at the right times.

As a whole, Into the Restless Ruins is a great time. It could do with some fine-tuning in regards to spicing up the combat and imagining up a higher quantity of room designs and encounters, but less can also be more in getting the player up-to-speed and able to master the game’s mechanics in a more timely fashion. Once it clicks, though, Into the Restless Ruins is a tense, thinking-man’s kind of roguelike deckbuilder that will delight fans of the genre and newcomers alike.

A PC review copy of Into the Restless Ruins was provided by Wales Interactive for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Into the Restless Ruins

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Massive amount of replayability
• Neat Soundtrack
• Charming Pixel Aesthetic

Cons

• Dissuades Exploration
• Easy Bosses