Ronin (video game)
| Ronin | |
|---|---|
 Logo of Ronin | |
| Developer(s) | Tomasz Wacławek |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Designer(s) | Tomasz Wacławek |
| Programmer(s) | Tomasz Wacławek |
| Artist(s) | Łukasz Piskorz |
| Writer(s) | Tomasz Wacławek |
| Composer(s) | Patryk Karwat |
| Engine | GameMaker: Studio |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita |
| Release date(s) |
Microsoft Windows
OS X, Linux
PlayStation 4, Vita
|
| Genre(s) | Action, platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Ronin (stylized as RONIN) is a 2015 turn-based action platform video game developed by Polish indie developer Tomasz Wacławek, designer at polish indie studio Flying Wild Hog, and published by Devolver Digital. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 27 May 2015 into Steam Early Access and left it on 30 June 2015. A later update introduced builds for OS X and Linux on 14 October 2015.
Gameplay
Ronin has a stealth-based business complex level design, which the designer Tomasz Wacławek descried as a rip-off from Tom Francis' Gunpoint.[1] The player needs to avoid being seen by the guards and use the surprise moment for silent kills. Once in a fight situation, the player has to dodge the guards' attacks and get the right angle to defeat them.
Plot
Ronin is about a young girl, known as the "Rōnin", which has lost her father for unknown reasons and the only thing she has left is a photo of five former associates of her father, responsible for his death. The Rōnin is now in charge of self-justice by taking revenge upon those five persons, one at a time.[2]
Development and release
Ronin was originally created for the itch.io "Cyberpunk" Game Jam, it was submitted under the user name teedoubleu in March 2014.[3] Although it didn't get any high ratings, the highest being place #88 in the category "Relevance", it won the Developer's Showcase and Jury Award at the World of Gamedev Knowledge Conference 2014 (WGK) in Gdańsk, Poland.[4][5] After having gained a new artist, Łukasz Piskorz, the game's graphics were polished up from pixel art to high-quality 2D art. This change was done not only to make it look better, but also to distinguish it from Gunpoint. Piotr Iwanicki, creative director of Superhot and part of the WGK award jury, gave Wacławek then the idea of handing Ronin over to Devolver Digital, and so he did.[6] Their first public collaborative announcement was the release of Ronin's reveal trailer.[7]
After a longer silent development phase, Wacławek released an updated version of the original Ronin game jam entry, using the new graphics, soundtrack and functions of the full game, to its itch.io page on 20 April 2015, therefore recalling the page from "RONIN" to "RONIN Demo".[8] The game was initially released onto Steam Early Access on 24 May 2015 for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux, however, the OS X and Linux versions were taken down due to their instability. The game left Early Access on 30 June 2015 for Microsoft Windows only.[9] Though, a later update introduced builds for OS X and Linux, which release on 14 October 2015.
Reception
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Ronin generally received positive reviews. The review aggregator Metacritic gave Ronin a score of 69/100 based on 15 reviews, while GameRankings handed in a slightly better score of 75.61%, based on nine reviews.[11][10] Reviers praised the game's overall design concept and the alikeness with Gunpoint. Though, people still differnciated them, where Phil Savage from PC Gamer stated that Ronin is "the schlocky B-movie to Gunpoint's more cerebral stealth-puzzling".[12] Something that was not as well received was the repetitivity of some levels, as Matt Porter from Hooked Gamers wrote: "Each of the five people you have to kill are in the same type of boring office building".[13] Ronin's lowest review rating, was given by Steven Bogos from The Escapist, who gave the very low score of a 2/5 and stating that "Ronin is a remarkably average game. When it works, it's kind of fun, but there just isn't enough here to maintain interest, and it has nothing that we haven't seen before".[14]
References
- ↑ Francis, Tom (12 August 2014). "It’s Time I Did Something About This ‘Gunpoint Ripoff’". Pentadact.com. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ "RONIN on Steam". Steam. Valve Corporation. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ Wacławek, Tomasz. "RONIN Demo by teedoubleu for Cyberpunk Jam". itch.io. moon coop. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ SUPERHOT Team (9 September 2014). "SUPERHOT on Twitter: "Ronin won Developers Showcase on @KonferencjaWGK. It's the same place we started last year!"". Twitter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ World of Gamedev Knowledge (17 September 2014). "WGK on Twitter: "Ronin won Jury Award and Warlocks Audience Award at WGK this year. Support the game here:"". Twitter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ Devolver Digital (22 January 2015). "Devolver Digital on Twitter: "Introducing RONIN, a turn-based action platformer coming to PC in 2015. Watch the trailer and follow @RONINGame!"". Twitter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ Devolver Digital (22 January 2015). RONIN: Turn-Based Action Platformer. YouTube. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ Wacławek, Tomasz. "RONIN Demo by teedoubleu". itch.io. moon coop. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ Nunneley, Shephany (30 June 2015). "Ronin slices and dices her way out of Early Access onto PC, Linux and Mac". VG247. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- 1 2 "RONIN for PC". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- 1 2 "RONIN for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- 1 2 Savage, Phil (30 June 2015). "Ronin review". PC Gamer. Future US. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- 1 2 Porter, Matt (30 June 2015). "RONIN review for PC". Hooked Gamers. Cutlass Isle. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- 1 2 Bogos, Steven (3 July 2015). "Ronin Review - Lacking in Ninja-like Precision". The Escapist. Defy Media. Retrieved 3 July 2015.