guys im getting really worried.
the library battle simulator genre is dying, they haven't made one since library of ruina. how are we supposed to get our fix?

hold on let me add to this genius review a bit.
this is no longer a joke about the way they describe the game on storefronts. this is serious. everything i said in this review is completely sincere. it's a bit of a thing right, fans of project moon shilling to as many people as possible, but i feel i have gained an appreciation for the immense effort put in to create that kind of fan reverence and loyalty. i hope this developers future is even more bright. library of ruina and lobotomy corporation, lack of polish included, have so thoroughly captivated me.

The last battles are kicking my ass so I'm not completely done but I think I've seen enough to say:

This is probably one of the best video games out there? Ever? A triumph in gameplay for RPGs, with incredible art and sound design with some of the most intelligent writing I've see to back it up. The game ruminates on too many topics to name in a single review, but it never once feels bloated; every single theme and idea, through gameplay and writing, is wrapped in the perfect little package that is probably one of my favorite stories ever created. Just the perfect game all around. please play it

angela my beloved

Hands down the best game that came out in 2021 and one of the best game I've ever played, it takes all the interesting premises of its predecessor, Lobotomy Corp, and put them in a far more polished game, with an extremely unique combat system and one of the most interesting world building I've ever seen in a videogame.

It's the first time that after playing a single-player game for 250 hours straight not only I don't feel burned out, but I want MORE OF IT.

I might check some of the mods while I wait for Limbus Company.

What a masterpiece, It's such a shame that It probably has one of the worst possible entry barriers, being it required to play Lobotomy Corporation for hundreds of hours to understand some of the characters and all the references and details left by the developers.

I hope that Limbus Company keeps the level high enough, the story is too interesting at this point. Project Moon has created something really special.

I had a really good time playing this game. It was a really enjoyable journey that went on for way longer than I was expecting it to. As much fun as I had, however, I honestly felt pretty worn out during the last stretch of the game because of how long and tedious the final section gets.

Other than that, its a game with cool characters, a really interesting setting, really nice art & aesthetic, an amazing soundtrack, and a great story. Not to mention the game feels really damn satisfying to play once you finally understand what the hell you're actually doing.

I finished Library of Ruina exactly 3 weeks ago but only now decided to write a review because, frankly, I was so overwhelmed with the finale and the entire experience that I couldn't formulate coherent thoughts on it. This is my attempt at doing so (without spoiling as much as I can):

Library of Ruina is many things: a card game, a deckbuilder, an RPG, a psuedo-visual novel, etc. But I think at its core, it's an experience about struggling, living in a merciless world where hopes, dreams, wishes and everything in between go to die. It touches upon subjects as profound and thought-provoking as free-will, vengeance and forgiveness of self and others with an incredible amount of depth, nuance and emotion, often times showing multiple perspectives on a single topic such that it never patronizes the player.

Both the gameplay and story contribute to this idea of living in such a cruel world, fighting against systems established beyond one's control, dictating virtually every aspect of life. The setting of the world, simply dubbed "The City," is a cruel and unjust place, yet people live in it, building lives and families. The gameplay can seem difficult and random, yet players have thrived within its systems, creating powerful builds and tricks to beat the game's most difficult challenges.

This mesh of both gameplay and story funnels down from this grandiose theme all the way to minor battles and story beats and is unlike anything I've ever seen. The level select for the main story is itself a flow chart of various groups and peoples, showing the sonder that exists within The City. The mechanics of every battle, down to individual passives that enemies have, especially the Abnormalities, accentuate the richness of the lives and stories behind the battles.

Every character in Ruina struggles with breaking free from these systems, these cycles of almost unsurmountable proportions. And the player gets to witness how they fail, live with and persevere through this world. It makes for what feels like a complete and fulfilling experience, even when realistically Project Moon has shown a fraction of the City and its potential as a fictional setting.

Library of Ruina is a truly special piece of media that I could go on ad nauseam. But I think I've covered all the major points I wanted to and I hope I've compelled you, at least a little bit, to play this game. Maybe I'll update this in the future with more in-depth and spoiler-y topics or maybe I'll write something else entirely. For now though, I'm happy with what I've put on paper.

I sorta feel like I owe Ruina a proper review because there has never been another game where I was just so happy to be playing it every second.

Lobotomy Corporation was an incredibly confident game in spite of the fact that it looked very homemade (to put it lightly). Its follow up here in Ruina is what happens when you give a studio with this level of talent and creative vision a proper budget and the resulting combination is terrifying. There isn't any compromises here with regards to the narrative and experience, something that holds back even some of my other favorite games of all time. The game, no pun intended, has fully realized Project Moon's talent and they're now one of my all time favorite devs.

Do you love artsy fartsy narrative told through gameplay? There's basically no better game on the market outside of its own predecessor. The game tells a gripping tale of people trying to survive and dream in a world where dreams go to die. It's about understanding humanity through small vignettes of everyday people's lives. Apathy, grudges, and resignation are beautifully contrasted by its messages of faith, change, and freedom. And so much of all this is learned as if it was an element of the gameplay. Entire characterization is told through the various system mechanics and wrinkles each fight brings to the table. Especially when you get to the higher realization levels no reception feels the same as each one is dripping with its respective character's idiosyncrasies. There's basically no dissonance here between gameplay and narrative, and it's wonderful.

Do you like a massive ensemble cast that each have only few degrees of separation and build on each other? Once again, only a few, if any, games reach this level (Disco Elysium comes to mind). No other game captures the idea of escalating danger and conflict as well as Ruina does. Every single guest received at the library leads to the next one, and may even foreshadows the involvement of people you won't see but will be hearing about hours or even tens of hours later. Trying to map out how each and every character is related to all the other characters would be a herculean effort yet it all feels like a steady and logical progression while playing. The way the city and its denizens are connected astound me to be frank.

Do you love games with mile deep strategies and encompass every aspect people love about possibility space games like Deus Ex? I assure you, as someone who wasn't and still isn't too excited about deck builder games, Ruina's strategic depth and intuitiveness makes it one of the most fun and rewarding combat experiences ever for me. Every major boss or abnormality fight breaks the rules of the game in a way that's unique to it, and makes the planning phase of each reception feel like a breath of fresh air.

If I had any qualms about the gameplay, it would be that there is very little incentive for the player to not just completely steamroll SOTC with one or two floors and 5 key pages. At least that's what I would have said until a certain bossrush in the lategame. Fighting this ensemble was my favorite boss experience in a game period. It forces you to use every single character up till now and run setups that you would normally completely dismiss as not 100% optimal. And nearly every fight in this section is completely balanced. Essentially I have few to no real complaints about the gameplay either.

Basically what I'm trying to say with all this is that Project Moon games are some of the best i've seen in the medium and something I hope everyone gets a chance to play. They set the bar in so many aspects and demonstrate an understanding of games as a way to tell stories better than any dev i've seen. With LoboCorp they told an amazing story behind a great yet somewhat unapproachable gameplay loop. That isn't the case here. Nothing is dragging this game down from doing what it seeks out to do and I can't recommend it enough. Play Library of Ruina

What a game.

ProjectMoon is a peculiar developer. Ruina is not the impenetrable wall that Lobotomy is, but it does share a lot of the same flavors. Such as an incredibly awkward and clumsy UX and terrible tutorial, made worse in Ruina by just many more mechanics there are in Ruina, as opposed to the simple but nuanced gameplay loop of Lobotomy. You just have to accept it as the ProjectMoon flavor at this point.

However, ProjectMoon has strengths, from their incredibly fascinating and fantastical urban hellscape in the city, their inspired SCP-likes in abnormalities, and gameplay ideas. While other popular cardgames try to replicate a draft format via roguelike elements, Ruina is more like replicating a constructing format.

Except this time, there's no bad developers ignoring terrible metas for months on end.

Ruina tests your deckbuilding skills, both in how to make a swiss army knife pile of extremely strong cards, and more nuanced singular counters to specific mechanics in their abnormalities. As the library gains more notoriety, the more powerful and influential figures of The City will show up and seek what it can offer. And you'll take their cards and pages, too.

A notable flaw in this system, however, is the fact that you lose your books upon loss. This can be circumvented with an Alt+f4 before you actually lose, mind, but still it's an unnecessary addition to an already very long game to force backtracking, when there's already plenty of incentive to go back. It's a pretty severe problem the game didn't need.

Nevertheless, the game succeeds in replicating a constructed format vs many different figures and people. Some monsters, some humans pretending to be monsters, and all they command.

One of the things I really enjoyed was how, narratively, despite the plot ostensibly taking place in one area, you get to see just how much the library effects the world at large. You cause so much change in the city, whether good or bad nobody can say. And while the characters initially shrug their shoulders at how the library lures people into its maw to turn them into books, the player themselves may not. You'll hope for characters to not come to the library knowing you'll be forced to cut them down. It's an interesting method of storytelling you won't see much similar to.

Ruina is not a game for everyone. The UX will definitely be too infuriating for some, and the necessity to understand its mechanics with how badly tutorialized they are likewise. Not even counting the barrier of the deckbuilding/cardgame aspect of it. But if you can get into it, odds are you'll be VERY into it.

A game with a very interesting story and setting, coupled with one of my favourite card systems that I have played
Pros:
Interesting story
Fun gameplay (deckbuilding is fun but it can be a bit annoying grinding cards)
Good art/music
Cons:
Multiple difficulty spikes, some of which are pretty severe
A very long game, even if you try to rush through it, at least 60 hours assuming you are new to card games
A lot of restarts to complete some battles depending on skill level, the game also punishes you for these losses so the solution is either dealing with it or finding some way to avoid it ;)