Lost Ruins

Lost Ruins received mixed reviews from critics, holding an average critic score of 59/100 on the review aggregator Metacritic. In a 7/10 review of the game, Trent Cannon of Nintendo Life wrote that "Between the pixel art style and punishingly difficult combat, this game is a retro love affair. Unfortunately, that isn't always a good thing". He called the game's combat "frustrating" and "a little repetitive", though added "there is enough exploration and weapon variety to ensure that there will be a combat style" to suit the player. Cannon also wrote that "the most appealing part of Lost Ruins is the retro-inspired pixel art, which looks great in both handheld and docked modes on the Switch", but conceded that darker areas were prone to blend together in the background. Graham Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun was critical of the game's genre-blending, writing "Is there a subgenre or a taxonomy that helps to categorise this separately from Dead Cells, or do we just call this an action-platformer/metroidvania and then start piling on the adjectives? Can we all agree that 'roguelike' has lost all meaning now?" Smith also criticized the game's anime art style, calling it "a bit uncomfortably horny". Alana Hagues of Nintendo Life gave a more positive review of the game's art, writing that its "gorgeously-lit environments" helped "to match the grandeur" of bosses in the game and showcased "the very best of indie pixel art prowess".