3D dungeon crawling in Heroes of Ruin [Preview]

20 Jan 2012 at 09:30:00 by John Robertson

RPGs were hardly a rarity on the original Nintendo DS, so it’s no surprise to see Square Enix attempting to bring the genre to the handheld’s autostereoscopic successor. Where perhaps Heroes of Ruin is different is in the fact that, whereas most examples of RPG on the DS were of the J-RPG variety, this is a full-on dungeon crawler.

Heroes of Ruin is a whole-hearted attempt at a genre most commonly associated with the PC, albeit with a few additions and alterations to make the genre fit for on-the-move play. Everything you’d expect from a Baldur’s Gate, Diablo or Dungeon Siege is being attempted here.

The Tolkien-esque naming conventions, the fantasy-focused enemy design (including skeletal knights, giant spiders, decaying ghouls and ‘wolf mongrels’) and the isometric viewpoint all scream Western RPG of the 1990s. This, depending on your stance, is either going to be a wonderful or horrible concept for a handheld game.

However, despite the decaying ghouls, Heroes of Ruin’s most intriguing feature (and the one that could potentially set it apart from the crowd) is the inclusion of randomly generated dungeons. Over the course of our time with the game so far, multiple deaths at the hands/claws/bones of enemies meant that we were hardly left without experiencing how these work.

Upon returning or respawning in a dungeon the bulk of the layout will have changed; paths will lead to different areas, some areas will have been generated that weren’t there before and in others the locations of loot chests and enemies will have altered. Key quest areas/items will always reappear, and their specific locale will always look exactly the same – although the paths leading to it may have changed.

Having played two major dungeon sections (Forsaken Grove and Haunted Woods – accessed through the ‘Nexus’ hub world) it would be an exaggeration to say that the random element provides for an entirely new experience each time – the enemy types, rough number of items and general aesthetic never changes. What it does do is add an element of uncertainty though, in the form of previously safe pathways becoming potentially dangerous.

It’s impossible to say whether this will be exciting or annoying in the long run, but the potential is there (with the right balancing) to diversify what will otherwise be an exercise in simply retracing your steps.

That element of uncertainly makes the game more difficult, but it’s not the only thing that adds to the challenge. Considering this is a portable game, some of the standard enemies (let alone the bosses) were bastard hard. I constantly found myself knocking back the potions, to the extent where I was sure my character would develop a serious dependency issue that would lead to many broken relationships in the future.

Handily, the game checkpoints generously (even during boss battles) which prevents too much frustration and will surely prove handy during the short play sessions many are likely to have with a 3DS game.

I suspect that part of the reason I found the going so tough was because I was playing as the mage character. Playing on your own as a mage rarely works in today’s modern dungeon crawlers, and it’s no different here. As the enemies have only a single target, it’s easy for them to surround you and prevent you setting up the right distance needed to make the most out of many of your magic attacks.

The whole game is playable in up to 4-player co-op which should relive such issues (depending on the quality of your squad) and greatly heighten your ability to think tactically and make the most of your skill set. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to play in co-op and test the theory for ourselves.

Gameplay inputs are handled exclusive by the buttons, with the 3DS’ touch screen reserved for item menus, map navigation, levelling up and looking up quest information. The controls are simple enough – ‘R’ used to block/dodge, ‘L’ to interact with NPCs and loot, movement handled with the circle pad and each direction on the D-Pad assigned to a different type of potion.

Physical and elemental attacks are performed with the four face buttons, with three of them open for you to assign your preferred spells to. Only having played two dungeons, it’s clear that the magic system is fairly robust and in-depth. A wide range of spells could be learnt and deployed, including those for protection, instant hit damage, prolonged hit damage and status effects.

Sure, it’s nothing we’ve not seen before but it’s nice to know that the game isn’t being dumbed down too much for it to fit and work on a 3DS.

The presentation also looked fairly impressive. Scenes of animation are fully voice acted, the bottom screen managed to provide all of the info you’d need in an easy to read way and (for those of you with good enough eyesight) armour/costume changes were reflected in your character’s in-game design.

Still, like all 3DS games, Heroes of Ruin’s 3D effects did get tiring way before I’d stop playing – I think they probably stayed on for about 30 minutes this time, which may be a record for me and the 3DS.

Ultimately, Heroes of Ruin will live and die by exactly how much of the dungeon crawler genre it manages to cram onto Nintendo’s handheld. Of course, some compromise is necessary (indeed essential) for it to work in this format at all, but if it goes too far in that direction it will surely lose the entirety of the audience it’s trying to reach.

Comment