I like the concept of the game, i just feel like the execution was slightly off.

Game is basically a cross between "Katana Zero" and a game called "Keen" probably no one has heard of.

Alot of the negative reviews are complaining about the real time elements of the game, and while I didn't make it super far, the few realtime elements I saw I didn't really mind and were actually pretty interesting.

I only made it to chapter 5 before calling it quits, but the main issue I had was that the level design felt far too messy and chaotic to really feel like a puzzle. Every stage or "screen" was just filled with so many enemys with nearly impossible to predict pathing and random hazards/powerups all over the screen that "solving" them just felt like a combination of pure luck and brute force almost every single time. Failing repeatedly was frustrating, and clearing a room wasn't very satisfying because it just felt like I got lucky every time.

I addition to the level design itself being messy, the graphics are also just a bit too muddy and make visibility of the stage a bit difficult.

Theres no way they could change this now that the game is fully released, however I feel like 1 major change that would have simplified the game a bit and helped reduce the clutter is if they removed the consumable powerups from the stages and just had you start with a specific amount each screen, or you simply got them for performing combos or something similar.

If you haven't checked out the game Keen, and you are interested in this gameplay concept, I would recommend that game instead. The aesthetic is kind of goofy and childish, but the gameplay and level design feels much "tighter" and less chaotic/lucky IMO. Though this makes the game a bit "easier" overall, I found it much more enjoyable.

red ronin is a sliding game with a mean streak, lots of juicy violence, and sadly way too many issues.

the story's about red and her revenge over her wrongdoers. many characters, twists, lots of dialog, would be fine, but we already have our first major issue that should actually be an easy fix: annoying text display sounds . not the usual gibberish, but all sorts of noises, a different one for every character , making things as many times worse as there are characters. no way to make text show instantly either, can only speed it up. should be another easy fix.

it's supposed to be a tactical turn-based game that's also fast-paced , which had me worried initially (the fast-paced part, I mean). then my concerns were laid to rest as I found out that while enemies do try to apprehend you instead of staying still, waiting to be slashed (with a sword, not urinated on, in case somebody from the uk is reading), they do it in a turn-based fashion , as per the tagline.

the fast-paced element comes from combos if you're going for a higher score and a better rating, killing things in quick succession, otherwise take all the time you need. that is, until boss fights with real-time elements show up. in a turn-based game based on turns. quick action for a meaningless higher score is one thing, throwing away the core gameplay mechanic is another. instant dealbreaker, of course, but it could be an easy fix as well. there's already some hints popping up after dying a few times, just gotta take the next step and offer a 'skip this nonsense' button.

the rest of the game is mostly fine. mostly. you go room by room, trying to outwit various enemy types, some of which take multiple hits or can't be killed, careful not to land next to them, as they'll kill you at the end of your turn. traps are also a thing, changing state after every turn and rarely going back to their safe version after fully blooming, but they also kill enemies, which is nice. current movement options are always shown , didn't have a problem with that, but I'm sure some would prefer to turn it off for added difficulty.

what distinguishes this game from countless others (in a good way) is the use of power-ups , or whatever you wanna call them. one freezes the so-called but non-existant clock for a turn , meaning enemies will stop moving. the other is tactic mode , which shows where everybody will be next turn and lets you place arrows almost anywhere to change direction without hitting a wall.

tactic mode can be used at any time and moving your bot buddy around lights up dark corners too, but the actual power-ups are single-use consumables that have to be picked up. they can be combined to create wonderful bloodbath situations and also carried over to the next room, so it's worth being creative and frugal. every killable enemy has to be dealt with before moving on though.

unfortunately, even the turn-based part isn't without its faults, as there's no undo . supposedly because of the scoring ele

"Turn Based But Fast Paced" means, about 1/3 into the game you suddenly have real-time elements introduced so it can break its own rules.

I played the demo, I read reviews. Everything seemed to indicate it was only "fast paced" in that executing combos and playing quicker got you a better score; that the game is strictly turn-based and can be played at any pace you want if you don't care for score. I've played and enjoyed games of this genre before and liked them well enough. I purchased this game specifically with that type of gameplay in mind, and then felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me.

So I get to the point where I'm unable to beat the boss who introduces the real-time elements, smacks me upside the head, and demands very fast thinking and speedy execution (which again, I was not expecting to need for this game). It's late, so I take the "I'll be fresher tomorrow and be able to beat it with enough effort" approach...only to find the game had saved none of my progress for that chapter despite showing the autosave icon after each room. I saw there was a recent "bugfix" to resolve that, I guess my copy didn't get the memo.

As for everything *before* that, it was fine but nothing spectacular and if I'm being honest I was getting a little tired of it. The demo is the first chapter. The second chapter is a "stealth" segment with enemies that kill you on sight and you aren't allowed to touch. The third chapter has more enemies that insta-kill if you dont leave enough space at the end of your movement. Half of the time, areas can be solved by moving back and forth until enemies walk into your path. The story is just kind of a background element up to the point I played, I can't speak for the rest. The music and sound design is great, so that's something I guess.

You have the ability to slow time to get a double movement in before enemies can respond, and a button meant to be like you're pausing the action to analyze things (with another ability tied to it). Several enemies I had already encountered don't respect those abilities and will react regardless because ??? actually I couldn't tell you what the reasoning is. The real-time stuff pretends like you aren't using them at all (time stop? nah. strategy/tactics mode? haha, you thought), which again not only disrespects the abilities but makes little sense (I guess missiles can ignore time stop. RIP Dio).

I should also mention that I've since watched several videos with examples of gameplay beyond the point where I quit out, thinking that maybe if it was JUST this boss that did that, I could maybe tough it out and then play the rest of the game the way I wanted to. Nope. The real-time elements continue to be sprinkled through the rest of this game just to induce headaches whenever possible.

Unfortunately, I can't refund the game because I hit the 3 hour mark, and Steam won't take "misleading game description" as a valid refund reason. I have to wonder if the dev actually wanted to

This game. Wow what a great game and a great concept.

The problem is with boss 3. Boss 3 thinks its clever. It breaks the system by adding a real time component into a turn based game. Its buggy, its horrible, it goes against the style of the game. I really enjoyed this game but I have uninstalled after trying to beat the 3rd boss for 5 hours.

Im sure you can beat boss 3 first try with a bit of luck and know-how but I picked this game up because it was tactical and turn based. The fact that the real time portion disregards the turn based portion of the game makes the fight annoying as all hell. Its also bugged. EXTREMELY Bugged.

Fire times are inconsistent. Sometimes the shot only occupies one space, other times it occupies the surrounding 9 spaces as well. Sometimes you can dash through the shot as its turning red, other times you can not.

I can not stress enough how miserable this fight is. Its not even a fight you can "plan" like every other fight, Since enemies spawn in at certain time intervals and not on certain TURN intervals it makes every single instance of the fight random. If you press the same button sequence at the same time interval, you can plan for spawns but then the BUGGY SNIPER SHOTS will ruin that strategy as well.

One boss fight is enough for me to tell you to not buy this game. I like challenging boss fights as well, I really dig them but this one is just a buggy frustrating pile of garbage. Hope you heed my advice. DO NOT BUY.

Game is neat. At times, game is even good. Game is also flawed and doesn't respect your time.

There are several rooms/levels to a chapter. Throughout a chapter you accumulate single use power ups which you can stash for later use. Some rooms necessitate the player having a power up stored away to circumvent the first hazard. When exiting the game, it saves your progress and you'll continue on the latest room you've reached but you'll have 0 power ups. This can force you to forfeit your progress and restart the chapter. Same scenario applies if you've spent them all prior.