Overall: While the core gameplay and Quem/Vise interactions are good, the game feels a bit truncated in places and the h-content isn't really integrated into the rest of it. It's still completely enjoyable if you ignore the h-aspect.
Before we start: the game may run fast if you have a monitor with a high (>60hz) refresh-rate, so it's best to grab one of the fixes from the game thread.
Good
- The gallery is available from early on, and new scenes are unlocked as you finish chapters so you never have to lose a fight or walk into a trap on purpose.
- The weapon system is quite good. There's a nice variety of weapon types (both short- and long-ranged) so you're likely to find something you like. Duplicates you find upgrade the copy you already have and max upgraded weapons sometimes get bonus skills, so you won't necessarily discard your old stuff when you find something new. You can, of course, ignore most weapons and just stick with the first thing which works if that's your speed.
- Quem and Vise's interactions are cute, though many of them don't come up naturally and instead need to be triggered by the player sleeping at the inn or talking to Vise in her shop.
- The ability to play areas in rougelite-mode or normal-mode can help shape the game to your playstyle. I particularly like how rougelite-mode forces you to try out different weapons, allowing you to find new favorites which you wouldn't normally have looked at since the stuff you've had longer is probably stronger.
- The main menu can change based on your story progress. It's a minor thing, but helps the story feel more poignant.
Bad
- Despite being "Lewd Curse" themed, said curse never really comes into play since Quem usually suppresses it through sheer willpower. I do find that aspect quite amusing but still: there's a brothel which you can neither work at nor patronize (no matter what the npcs say), and later in the game some NPCs are like "I get all hot and bothered when Quem comes around" but you can't perform a back-alley wristy or anything.
- Despite being "Lewd Curse" themed, 100% of the scenes are rape. There are different varieties of rape (date rape, mind control, interspecies, etc), but you'll be disappointed if you were hoping for prostitution or Quem/Vise action.
- Speaking of rape, Quem gets raped in the prologue. I know there's a "if there's no sex within the first 10 minutes I turn the game off and uninstall it" crowd, but these scenes always feel really cheap. There are far more elegant and engaging ways to get across that it's a lewd curse or crapsack world.
Medium
- Quem's standing art sort-of gets in the way and there are no resize or transparency options.
- There are a lot of casual conversations which take place when you rest at the inn... which you may never see since you heal when you come to town so there's no reason to spend money to rest at the inn.
- An early quest lets you choose whether to murder a guy who deserves it or let him live, however the vast majority other quests only have a single scripted outcome despite Quem going "let's wait until we get the full picture before we decide how to handle it." This is additionally irritating since some quests are basically the same so you think Quem would come prepared the second time around.
- As is unfortunately common in works featuring time-travel, I feel that Ruins Seeker doesn't stick the landing. It presents some interesting applications during the game, but the ending leans a bit more "we can do whatever because time travel."
Before we start: the game may run fast if you have a monitor with a high (>60hz) refresh-rate, so it's best to grab one of the fixes from the game thread.
Good
- The gallery is available from early on, and new scenes are unlocked as you finish chapters so you never have to lose a fight or walk into a trap on purpose.
- The weapon system is quite good. There's a nice variety of weapon types (both short- and long-ranged) so you're likely to find something you like. Duplicates you find upgrade the copy you already have and max upgraded weapons sometimes get bonus skills, so you won't necessarily discard your old stuff when you find something new. You can, of course, ignore most weapons and just stick with the first thing which works if that's your speed.
- Quem and Vise's interactions are cute, though many of them don't come up naturally and instead need to be triggered by the player sleeping at the inn or talking to Vise in her shop.
- The ability to play areas in rougelite-mode or normal-mode can help shape the game to your playstyle. I particularly like how rougelite-mode forces you to try out different weapons, allowing you to find new favorites which you wouldn't normally have looked at since the stuff you've had longer is probably stronger.
- The main menu can change based on your story progress. It's a minor thing, but helps the story feel more poignant.
Bad
- Despite being "Lewd Curse" themed, said curse never really comes into play since Quem usually suppresses it through sheer willpower. I do find that aspect quite amusing but still: there's a brothel which you can neither work at nor patronize (no matter what the npcs say), and later in the game some NPCs are like "I get all hot and bothered when Quem comes around" but you can't perform a back-alley wristy or anything.
- Despite being "Lewd Curse" themed, 100% of the scenes are rape. There are different varieties of rape (date rape, mind control, interspecies, etc), but you'll be disappointed if you were hoping for prostitution or Quem/Vise action.
- Speaking of rape, Quem gets raped in the prologue. I know there's a "if there's no sex within the first 10 minutes I turn the game off and uninstall it" crowd, but these scenes always feel really cheap. There are far more elegant and engaging ways to get across that it's a lewd curse or crapsack world.
Medium
- Quem's standing art sort-of gets in the way and there are no resize or transparency options.
- There are a lot of casual conversations which take place when you rest at the inn... which you may never see since you heal when you come to town so there's no reason to spend money to rest at the inn.
- An early quest lets you choose whether to murder a guy who deserves it or let him live, however the vast majority other quests only have a single scripted outcome despite Quem going "let's wait until we get the full picture before we decide how to handle it." This is additionally irritating since some quests are basically the same so you think Quem would come prepared the second time around.
- As is unfortunately common in works featuring time-travel, I feel that Ruins Seeker doesn't stick the landing. It presents some interesting applications during the game, but the ending leans a bit more "we can do whatever because time travel."