Virtual Reality gaming continues to take off little by little. Although they are still quite scarce, we can find more and more offers on the market. The developers of CharacterBank inc were encouraged to venture into a JRPG for VR. Next, we tell you what impressions this game left us.
With my little knowledge in anime I already knew the whole story
My knowledge in the world of anime is quite scarce. However, the few products that I have consumed throughout my life were enough for me to realize that I was facing a completely gumball story.
In a nutshell, our quest begins when we join the Ruins Magus Adventurers Guild. Our goal will be to open the Door of Truth, which will allow us to discover the origin of these ancient ruins.
Anyone who has seen some other anime in his life will know how the story will progress and finally how it will end. Not only the development of it falls into common places, but the characters that accompany us throughout the adventure are guilty of the same. Every situation that comes our way is a cliché within a cliché.
I’ve never been so close to feeling like a magician
Before I dive into the gameplay, I want to make something clear: I’m new to the world of Virtual Reality. This leads to two key issues: the first one is that everything surprises me very (very) easily, the second is that I still haven’t gotten used to wearing headphones, so all the titles make me dizzy and nauseated. Few minutes.
Based on the last thing I mentioned (dizziness), I was pleasantly surprised that Ruins Magus It took much longer to generate this discomfort. While the nausea eventually set in, I was able to enjoy much more gameplay time than with other VR titles.
Now, regarding the gameplay itself, it should be noted that Ruins Magus is, in short, a dungeon crawler. Basically we must dive into these ruins, defeat the enemies in each area and, finally, face the final boss of the turn.
For combat we have two key elements: a glove, with which we will cast the spells, and a shield. As we advance in the plot we can improve these two elements. We can also equip complementary items such as potions, grenades and power-ups.
In addition to the main spell, the gauntlet will allow us to cast secondary spells and an ultimate ability. Throughout the adventure we will unlock different types of each of these.
Regarding the shield, it will detail on its back the items that we have equipped, the skills that we have selected and also our health.
It should be noted that the gameplay is completely intuitive. The short tutorial is enough to understand how absolutely everything works. Also, the action itself is impressively paced. The frenzy it generates is completely immersive and entertaining.
Any otaku’s dream
It may be due to the fact that I am new to this world of virtual reality, but the truth is that I never cease to be surprised every time I put on my headset and open a game. Although, obviously, they still do not have the quality of an AAA developed for PC or for a next-generation console –so measuring them with the same yardstick would be unfair–, the experience is, for the most part, completely immersive.
Ruins Magus, of course, is not far behind. As I said previously, if it had been a game developed for consoles or PC, possibly the graphic section would be different (more careful, more precise). However, immersing myself in this world was very pleasant in this aspect, especially in the details of the small objects that surrounded me.
Despite the care that was taken in the drawing of these small objects (and of the characters in general), the scenarios left me with a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth: were they well done? Yes, but they constantly repeated each other. The exploration ended up becoming somewhat repetitive.
One last little thing I want to point out regarding the graphics is that the characters weren’t sexualized (yes, I’m getting heavy on this again). Being able to play a title with anime aesthetics and that the characters do not wear few clothes and bodies completely unrelated to reality was a small caress to the soul.
Dear developers: please start giving the soundscape a ball
It never ceases to amaze me how little importance developers usually give to the sound setting, both to the soundtrack and to the ambient sound. On this occasion, we are once again facing a game that makes absolutely no use of these tools.
Again the music is completely generic. The ambient sound, meanwhile, is almost conspicuous by its absence. Although neither of the two points is badly done per se, the reality is that they do not puncture or cut: they do not generate anything at all.