Preview: Red Ronin by Wired Dreams Studio

When I heard about Red Ronin, my first association was with Red Ronin from the American comic books published by Marvel Comics. I was suspecting a humanoid robotic appearance, with immense strength and speed. It is a character that went on to be a menace to The Avengers and Wolverine. What we get in this Steam game, is a bit similar. This Red Ronin slaughters people and is in no way heroic for it.

Genius Red Ronin gameplay

Just like the Marvel character you will go on a rampage. This character indeed shows great potential strength and speed. You fly with subsonic speed through levels and kill enemy after enemy within lightning speed. This real difference is that this Red Nonin is a vengeful human warrior instead of a humanoid robotic appearance. Red Ronin is a Tactical Turn-Based Dash and Slash PC game where the bloodthirsty Red Ronin and her companion bot searches for revenge. You do this by entering a building and by leaving a whole blood trail on almost every floor of that building.

During my playing session, I have already had a good taste of the gameplay. It is actually quite tight. The playing field consists of a grid. From your starting position, you will choose a direction and run in that direction until an obstacle blocks your way. I am very amused by the fast-paced puzzles that arise. Especially the enemies make it interesting. For example, you have to time well when you attack an enemy, because after attacking you will stop and can be defused by other enemies next to you. It quickly becomes a battlefield where you divert all enemies that keep you from taking revenge.

Challenging, yet enjoyable

The gameplay is well thought out. The concept is simple, but it challenges you to think about new solutions for this brutal murder puzzle. In addition, a new game element has been thrown into the mix well in advance so that everything feels fresh. For example, the game introduces the power to temporarily freeze enemies for one turn, which is sometimes necessary to take out enemies. It is also a welcome addition that you can place a direction tile on the grid yourself so that you can change the direction of your character before you come to a standstill against a further obstacle.

However, the game is not great in all areas. Praise may be given to the pixel art style. The style definitely suits the game. Yet the art style is also a point of frustration. It is very difficult to distinguish between enemies and obstacles in the area, precisely because of the art style. Enemies and deadly obstacles blend too much in the background, so you have to keep your head in the game all the time. It would be nice if there could still be a bit of a graphic distinction so that the enemies and obstacles stand out a little more. I would not immediately have a good suggestion on how this can be done better, but it may be possible to solve this in a creative way. Possibly by making them stand out more by color?

When can I play the final build?

Still, I enjoyed this game. I was not bored for even a second while playing Red Ronin. The only reason I stopped playing is that there are other important things on my to-do list. If that wouldn’t be the case I would have continued playing. Just to find out what else the gameplay will offer. If the final version keeps introducing new bits of gameplay elements like this demo did, it will be a success. I definitely want to play the final version someday! In the meanwhile, I can still keep playing te first chapter for free!