A deckbuilder where you create the dungeon you fight through? Sign me up! It’s creative, enjoyable, and offers enough content and depth to keep you busy for hours.


🟩 Pros:

+ Mid run saving is a massive QOL feature
+ A simple UI, with 3 coloured bars (health, energy, and light)
+ Various sized tiles featuring differing perks, rarities, and upgrades
+ The risk reward mechanic of losing health once your torch dims is well thought out
+ Building ruins to explore is creative, enjoyable, and thanks to building points, strategic as well
+ I personally love that there’s no minimap, its omission adds to the challenge and fun, as frustrating as it can sometimes be
+ 116 upgradable cards, 38 cantrips, 40 charms, 6 ruins, 12 weapons, 22 echoes, 62 creatures, and 3 characters (there’s A LOT to keep you busy)

🟥 Cons:

- Boss fights (and combat in general) feels uninspiring
- Some may not like the lack of minimap (I view it as an intentional design choice which complements the gameplay, rather than detracting from it)

🏷️ Suggestions:

~ Add a directional (or distance) indicator for the exit
~ More room variety, think destructible objects, gore (from defeated enemies), or torches on the wall to aid in navigation


Build ruins, explore them, reach, defeat, and harvest The Warden, but be warned, time is against you. Once your torch fades, the darkness will begin to consume you. Into the Restless Ruins (RR) is as engaging as it is creative, serving as a refreshing take to the deck builder genre.

Each turn you’re given a selection of cards, and with your limited build points, you build into the mist, unlocking rooms hidden in the shroud. The goal is to hunt the seals, claim them, weaken the Warden, and eventually, create a path to defeat them. Doing so won’t please them, however, prepare to fight against a horde of every increasing enemies, both in numbers and levels.

Defeating enemies and feeding on their magical energies earns favours which can be exchanged for additional cards, adding both complexity and rewards to your ruins. Outside of the building and combat, you’ll also need to juggle your health and torch, both crucial for survival. Health is self-explanatory, but your torch, well that slowly dims – If it dims enough, not only can’t you see far, you begin losing health rapidly.

Finally, each night your skull bar will fill. Once reaching a skull, a curse will be added to your hand. Let the bar fill fully and you will fail – A simple system which does a good job at keeping you on your toes.

Overall, Into the Restless Ruins is a unique addition to the deck builder genre. While I don’t enjoy the combat, the building aspect is a treat, feeling like a game of Tetris at points. It’s a solid buy, both for fans and newcomers to the genre!

If you enjoyed my review and would like to support me, I would love if you followed BSR for more bite sized reviews.

Follow our curator page: IndieGems if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.

This game gives you the satisfaction of planning and building a dungeon that lets you get to your goals and stack buffs perfectly. Then you run out of light, panic and suddenly its an inescapable labyrinth in which you have no idea what the right way is. 10/10, I will be playing this one for a lot.

Love the idea of the game, the dungeon building aspect of it is cool, done by a few games before, but it's a mechanic I've always liked, and is implemented well here. The addition of the light mechanic, having a limited time to navigate the ruins adds a nice little twist too, so I appreciate that. And the pixel art, 8-bit music, with the nods to Scottish history, all create a nice atmosphere overall.

However, the combat side of things is where the game is a let down. There just isn't much going on with the weapons or the enemies, and it feels wholly unsatisfying. Even the bosses don't really have much to them, never feeling at risk in the encounters, and the whole game ultimately feels kind of easy if you play even a little cautiously. This game could have been great with a decent combat system, but without it gets boring a little too quickly, and that combined with a lack of difficulty ultimately means I can't recommend it.