Ronin: An Inferior Gunpoint

Ronin is the 2015 indie made, developer described Gunpoint ripoff. I thought they were both created by the same person, until I conducted research for this article. I bought Ronin because I enjoyed Gunpoint. But with afterknowledge, it is easy to see where they are different and qualities set them apart.

In Ronin, the player controls a young ninja, seeking vengeance upon her fraternity for unnamed sins committed against her father. The game is broken up into five sections with three missions, the final of each ending in the assassination of a leader of the organization. A brief, four line exposition at the beginning of every third mission provides sparse justification for the protagonist's actions. The player controls the ninja on a 2D platform, breaking into buildings and slaughtering everyone to reach the objective.

One of the crucial differences between Gunpoint and Ronin, is stealth. In Gunpoint, the protagonist has no weapon (even though it's called Gunpoint), and uses stealth to avoid enemies. It's a real-time stealth and puzzle game. In Ronin, stealth is only used sparing to eliminate a few enemies before the eventual fight begins. Stealth is not intended as a method by which to win, but to make the combat a bit easier. Ronin is a turn based, action platformer, and while the main goal is not to kill all enemies, it's encouraged. It's even included as a secondary objective, with a reward. At the end of every level, the player is judged on three criteria: eliminate all enemies, spare all civilians and avoid triggering a lockdown. Completing all three, rewards the player with special abilities.

While the type of game is different, Ronin takes two components from Gunpoint. The first: location. Both games require the player to infiltrate a series of buildings, use elevators, break windows, defeat guards, hack computers, and then escape (or in Ronin's case – saunter away - because everyone is dead). They also use the same jumping mechanic. The leaping is exactly the same, from application, the effects, and the graphical depiction. In both games, leaping is used to climb buildings, tackle foes, and hurtle through glass walls. Location and Leaping things may not sound like much, but they create the same feel and visual effect, especially when it's been a year since Gunpoint.

But while they may start sound similar there are many ways in which Ronin is insufficient for even an indie game.

The game is changes very little from beginning to end. The buildings have only doors, windows, elevators, and stairs. There is little variability between rooms, and nothing to distinguish them. Also, Ronin has only three enemy units; thugs, machine gunners, and ninjas. Once the enemy sees the player, the game becomes turn based. Thugs aim first, which appears as a red line. After the player moves, they fire, and if the player is still in the red line, the protagonist dies. Machine gunners do the same, except when they fire, it lasts two rounds. The player can't pass through the continuous stream of bullets. Both enemies can be tackled by leaping or diced at close range. The ninjas have a similar mechanic. They aim, then charge the player. But any attempt to tackle them will results in being cut in half. They must be attacked with sword.

These three enemies are introduced early, and instead of introducing more difficult enemies, it tries tp increase the difficulty by placing more of them in a room.

One of the aspects that does change, is the strength of the player. With the skills points unlocked by completing secondary objectives, the player gains the ability to throw their sword, teleport, and create decoys. Abilities allow the the player to defeat an increasing number of enemies without difficulty.

A few other problems. Unlike Gunpoint, the story is non-existent. There are five times over the course of the game when the protagonist expresses her thoughts in four sentences. Such a limited opportunity to develop the story is just as ineffective as it sounds. At the same time, the story is the obvious revenge of a girl against those who betrayed her father. The mere seconds the game spends describing the villains are clichéd and boring.

If there are two strange complaints, to make, it is these. As mentioned previously, the game has elevators. These are used to set up certain situations for the player to overcome, but they are incredibly long. It's not like the game needs to load as is often the use for long elevator trips, so it seems inexplicable why the developer did not speed up the movement of the elevator.

And the oddest complaint after all is this. Perhaps the greatest problem, aside from the entire game's lack of depth, is the finickiness of movement. During the turn based combat its possible to become stuck in an awkward position on a wall. Sometimes the line that describes the character's jump arc is wrong, and sometimes the red line signaling the path of a bullet hits the protagonist when it shouldn't, or fails to hit when it should (not that I'm complaining about the later).

Overall, Ronin is a fairly short game, with little development, and aesthetics that are simple. The beginning is nearly the same as the end. The story included is non-existent and the character descriptions are cliché. The gameplay can be finicky and frustrating. The whole thing is like if Gunpoint was stripped down in all aspects: visuals, gameplay, and story, and then only partially rebuilt as a different game.

And yet, it was quite fun. Dodging between the bullets, and bursting through windows. Slicing through rooms of enemies with the unlocked skills. It provided an excellent sense of power and tension. Yet, if the game had been even a bit longer it would have become boring, but it held my attention to the end.

A final note: I will say that I obtained Ronin cheaply on the Humble Bundle sale (That sale is over, but I am currently playing Human Resource Machine), and that certainly has colored whether I think it was worth it. If gotten cheaply, Ronin fun for its seven hours. If not.... I wouldn't bother.