It’s not often you get a game like Ruiner. Its influences are clear, with heavy dashes of Cyberpunk 2077, Hotline Miami, Deus Ex, and beloved anime movie Akira. But Ruiner is more than the sum of its parts. One of the best indie games of all time, it blends a neon-soaked, dystopian world, brutal twin-stick combat, and a blasting soundtrack to become something entirely unique and wonderful. And now, if you’ve never tried Ruiner before, you can get it for no more than the cost of lunch.
In a bleak, mega-industrialized future where corporations run everything, you play a killer for hire with a chip in their head, which can be used by various, sinister power players to influence your actions. After you’re sent to murder one of the world’s most powerful corpos, things go horribly awry, and you realize that your perception of reality might have been twisted by your mysterious benefactors. Let off the leash, you go looking for revenge.
But that’s just the setup. Moment to moment, Ruiner is a game about beating, smashing, and shooting waves of cybernetic goons, all to the pounding beat of industrial techno and melodic synthwave. Played from an isometric perspective, it takes the cyberpunk aesthetic to its darkest, most brutal depths, as you fight your way through factories and corporate headquarters drenched in neon and steam.
Between missions, you can explore the wider world of Ruiner, completing sidequests in its meticulously designed, Blade Runner-esque hub world. If you like great music, stunning visuals, pumping violence, and a smartly told story, Ruiner is an absolute must, and it’s available now on GOG for just $3.73 / £3, down 80% from $18.65 /£14.99.
Alternatively, try some of the best story games, you take a trip into the dark future with the best cyberpunk games available on PC.