Ruins (2024)

The reviewer highlights Ruins as a fascinating and unusual card-shedding game that successfully integrates transparent card-crafting mechanics, resulting in a fun, engaging, and mechanically solid experience despite some minor visual clarity quirks.

The reviewers found Ruins to be an engaging and clever card-shedding game, praising its innovative transparent card-upgrade system that creates satisfying, game-altering combos while exploring.

“In Ruins is a delightful thing, and if I have criticism it is that I found the booklet laid out in a pretty confusing way that made me flip back and forth a lot.”

The reviewer highlights Ruins as a streamlined, highly engaging card-crafting and card-shedding reimplementation of Custom Heroes, praising its clean presentation and fun tactical card upgrades despite a few minor chaotic end-game elements.

The reviewer found Ruins to be a surprisingly satisfying sleeper hit that evolves dynamically as players stack card upgrades into wild combos, though they noted it leans heavily into chaos and results in bulky card sleeves.

The reviewers highlight Ruins as a clever card-shedding game featuring transparent cards and upgrade mechanisms that allow for creative, game-altering combos, though the theme feels a bit tacked on.

Overall, Reef & Ruins is fun! I’m pretty partial to any roll-and-write, and I think this has its charms.

“I’d pass on this one unless you’re a big John D. Clair fan. If that’s you, then go explore these Ruins, but do so with caution.”

“Ruins gives you the chance to craft some cards to help you play your hand, but there is a bit more luck involved here as the majority of the crafted cards are re-dealt at random each hand. The game does run a bit long at the moment for me”

“The point being that Ruins began with a crackerjack idea, only Clair kept adding more and more stuff, some of it useful and interesting, but much of it ill-considered and sluggish. Eventually, its basic idea got buried.”