Social Gaming, Just Not How You’d Imagine

PS Vita, the stunning ‘Playstation controller with a screen’ handheld console. With its slightly surprising but also wildly praised announcement came, as is usual when a new console is released, the reveal of its launch titles. One of the more interesting new titles amongst the wealth of sequels was this quaint little game titled Ruin.

Ruin is essentially Idol Minds and Sony’s attempt at a Diablo 3 style fast paced action RPG. With the release of Torchlight and the hugely anticipated Diablo 3 on the horizon is there really room for another game to step up to the podium in an attempt to knock Blizzard’s prize pony off the top spot? When looking at Ruin, I’d say it might just be Diablo’s closest console competitor.

@JeffDaPwnr – Just got a level 69 Tin Foil Groin Guard. Sweet!

You see, Ruin is unique in a way that it’s more farmville for Diablo fans without the micro-transactions and, unfortunately, the ability to micromanage a pig farm. Essentially one of the major points about Ruin is the fact that it is marketed as a mainly Social action RPG. What this means is that Ruin integrates with various social networking sites, with the assumption being that they will either be sites in existence like Twitter and Facebook or specially designed Ruin sites.

In essence it just makes it easier for your friends to play ‘Spot-the-nerd’, with the promise that the ability to ‘talk, trade, and compete allows your dungeon-crawling exploits to be seen by everyone. Building a lair as well as a character will be a welcome addition. Rivalries will also factor heavily in [I]Ruin[/I] […]. It’s not just about winning it’s about making others KNOW it.’ according to the official Playstation blog.

A Dungeon Crawler on the go

While the social networking is all very bog standard these days what is really interesting is the talk about lair building. It is a sort of Dungeon Keeper meets Dungeon Crawler with one player creating a lair which other players can find, download and attempt to beat for loot, fame and everything else that comes with the usual dungeon crawl. No firm details yet but it is hinted that as you quest and gain levels you will unlock various creatures, traps and so on that you can fill your dungeon with to your heart’s desire.

Developers promise all multiplayer interactions in Ruin will be mutually beneficial, so death and failure isn’t as condemning as it would be if you sucked at Call of Duty. The more they die while trying to conquer your dungeon, the larger the bonus you get and the smaller the bonus they get upon completion. You are both winners when your friend beats your dungeon, one of you is just more of a winner than the other. Because of this, investing in strengthening your dungeon will also yield more benefits for your character in other ways. This isn’t going to be your average walk in the park where you can make a super dungeon that lasts forever. Goblin builders tend to be cowboys when it comes to construction so your lair and dungeon will deteriorate if you don’t keep them regularly maintained. Think of Animal Crossing meets Diablo, except in this you don’t have to work as a slave for an evil sadistic raccoon…

With Ruin set to be one of PS Vita’s main launch titles, boasting a wide range of your average Dungeon crawl basics like multiple character classes, stabbing various monsters in their equally various appendages then defiling their bodies for sweet sweet loot, it is surprising to find out that Ruin will also launch on PS3. What does this mean exactly? Well with the integration of a cloud save system you can instantly shift your save games from PS3 to Vita and vice-versa. So if your eyes aren’t already bleeding from watching your Vita screen all day when you should have been doing work, you can go home and play Ruin on your massive flat screen in your living room. That is, assuming you have a flat screen, or a living room for that matter.

More Crawling than a Toddler on Crack

Ruin is already shaping up to be one of the more heavy-weight launch titles of Vita and one that definitely seems to be able to hold it’s own amongst even the AAA titles of bigger consoles, especially with the PS3 support. There is no news yet on whether the singleplayer will be free-form or story driven, or if there will be any true multiplayer components past the social aspects but rest assured, you can count on HookedGamers to bring you the latest news as and when it’s revealed. For now Ruin is definitely on my radar as one of Vita’s most interesting launch titles so far.