Library of Ruina is one of my favorite games of all time. It managed to capture my interest and hold it for the length of the game's updates, and I looked forward to every one of these updates.

If you are reading this in the distant future, the game was updated with a new fight or two each friday pretty consistently. There were a few breaks, but otherwise it introduced more story and gameplay each week. This is something that you would expect to be the case with a tv show, but you don't see it with games. Ruina is the first game I know of that took this path through its early access, and it certainly hooked me in.

The story of Library of Ruina is exceptional. The game is a sequel to Lobotomy Corporation, which i recommend you play first, but it is no means required as one of the main characters, Roland, has little to no clue of the events of that game so you can get to learn it alongside him. Roland and several other fellow patron librarians are tasked with battling foes that were invited into the Library owned by Angela in order to gain their books in Angela's quest to find the One True Book.

Ruina takes a somewhat unique approach to its characters, and I won't get too much into it as that's part of the charm. The early game can be a bit bland storywise, but it picks up early on and keeps that momentum up until the very end. There are several battles that have a very strong impact and are some of the highlights of the game.

The gameplay is rather unique in some aspects. It plays out like your average card game, with card draw and energy management and the like, but it has the unique aspect of controlling several different characters with their own decks at the same time. This gives you a lot of room for customization, as there a lot of mechanics for special decks that you can mix and match in order to get a strong team composition. The difficulty is also never too high, unlike the game's predecessor.

The game is also split into two parts, the receptions and the abnormalities. The receptions are the main story, in which you receive some of the many guests who arrive at the library, while the abnormalities are monsters from Lobotomy Corporation who you can fight against in order to buff up your librarians and learn some info about them. Both of these parts are fun and feel separate from each other, being designed rather differently despite keeping the same mechanics.

The soundtrack for this game is also one of the best ones I have heard in a long time. Not only is the game's music great, there are also a variety of songs that were produced by Mili, which are also very good and fitting for when they play despite having vocals. The music covers a lot of varying genres, from stuff like rock music to classical.

The game is still in early access as of posting this review, but Project Moon has already talked about how they are planning on fixing several things that have been untouched in some time. Their work so far has already been very exceptional, so I don't doubt their ability to make changes. The ending, while being very good, still needs some tweaking story and gameplay wise, but that is something that the developers are working on right now.

In conclusion, buy Library of Ruina. This game is an incredibly unique and fun experience that handles things so differently from so many games. It's worth the $30, and it's no short game, with 115 hours being how long my full playthrough took. I hope this guide helps to convince you of getting the game, and if not, at least helped you to consider getting it.