ellie on the ruins is a third-person shooter about a girl on the run in (I mean “on”) the ruins!
Adult Content?
(FxM) sexual content.
Censorship?
No. Woot! Woot!
Hours of Gameplay?
Thirty minutes.
Patch Available?
No, not necessary.
Foreword: published August 9th, 2021
I received a free copy of this game for review purposes — thanks alg!
Gameplay: published August 9th, 2021 (1/5★)
I’m not sure if there’s a way to “win” the game. The “open-world” is a desolate landscape with assorted baddies and what appear to be “boss fights”. There are collectable stars throughout the world, which restore your hit-points or (supposedly) “boost your stats.” You may either choose to use a sword or ranged attack. Melee seldom works, so it’s best to use the peashooter on your leg. The gun’s damage output is abysmal, but the penalty for death is restarting the game from the beginning — it’s best not to take any chances.
Sexual Content: published August 9th, 2021 (1/5★)
You may toggle nudity using the “M” key. Whenever you take damage, there’s a chance of being knocked-down. During the “knock-down state”, enemies have the chance you rape you. Whenever the rape animation is finished, you’ll have the option to get up and continue playing. I didn’t even realize there were rape animations until I got bored and tried to off myself to see what’d happen! The animations would be okay if they were correctly synced. Oftentimes, the protagonist’s mouth would fail to align with the enemies’ members. The enemies look like a grab-bag of stock assets, and the protagonist isn’t anything special either. I’m guessing it’s a bug, but the protagonist’s face is discolored when compared to the rest of her body (especially when she’s naked!) There are no climaxes, progression or incentive to view sexual content. If you end up seeing any of the sex animations, it means you’re sucking (heh).
Story: published August 9th 2021 (1/5★)
Going by the title, I figure the protagonist’s name is “ellie” (with a lowercase “e”). ellie is on the ruins — no, not in “the ruins” — she’s on the ruins. Kind of like how I’m on my house right now.
Sound: published August 9th 2021 (NA/5★)
I played this game muted (so I won’t be judging based on audio).
Visuals: published August 9th 2021 (2/5★)
The titlescreen is somewhat interactive; you may drag the camera about (but there’s nothing to see). All that I saw were clipping objects and missing textures. Overall, the titlescreen and remainder of the game seem to be comprised of premade assets. The enemies and scenery are seldom coherent. Many foes are comically out of place (leading me to believe this game isn’t meant to be taken “seriously”). But credit where it’s due, I enjoyed the health-tracking system; your “hit points” are recorded via colored symbols on the protagonist’s back. It’s a novel system, and if expanded upon could give players an excuse to toggle nudity (for uh, practical reasons). There is no “settings” menu, making it impossible to adjust basic user-preferences (such as audio or display).
Verdict: published August 9th 2021 (1/5★)
I’m sorry alg, but this game is awful. I want to call ellie on the ruins “memeware”, but the care put into the sexual animations suggests it’s meant to be taken at least a little seriously. The graphics aren’t great, but I’m willing to forgive them. What I’m not willing to forgive is the blank “open-world” and abysmal gameplay. Your weapons deal little damage, rendering combat a slow grind. It’d be cool if you could find new equipment throughout the world. Even the worst “memeware” offer assorted weapons to toy with. The best part of combat was watching foes glitch-out and shoot accross the map — honestly, I’d be okay with this “feature” sticking around. It’s one of the few entertaining things this game has to offer. Since there is no save/load system, you’re strongly encouraged to never take damage. However, all sexual content is locked behind taking damage! Now I understand why this game was not released when it was originally scheduled on Steam; alg has a long way to go to make this game worthwhile, and its sale would be an insult to players.
