Ronin in an indie turn-based semi-stealth platformer game by Tomasz Wacławek. It admittedly borrows some features from the excellent Gunpoint (I guess the physics, somewhat modified and the jump-system) but otherwise it's combat system that makes it unique - as soon as an enemy notices you, the game changes from real-time roaming into turn based combat - you see where the enemies target, indicated by red lines, and basically you want to not to end your turn on one of those lines, but to knock the enemies up then finish wish a quick stab. Sounds easy, but more than 2-3 enemies can really make hard to pull off this feat.
At the start of the gameplay I was really optimistic about the game, but with time I had less and less enthusiasm. There are really obvious problems with the game and some less noticiable ones, that need time and attention to notice.
Positives:

• Unique turn based fight
  
• Skilltree
  
• Pulling off some great dodging then finishing enemies rewards the player with the real feel of success
  
• Well placed checkpoints during most of the game (!)
  
• Good level design, where accuracy pays off. For example if you jump in through a window, kill a guy (2 turns) you'll get 2 energy from the kill (good for a decoy, but not much) , and everyone else will aim at you. But if you land ON a guy, knock him out (1E) then kill him while he's in the air (2E) you'll have 3 energy that's enough for a teleport attack that helps you to stun at least one enemy while dodging all the bullets and sets up the rest of the fight nicely.

Negatives: Sadly a lot of thing. A LOT.

• Physics is broken. There are incredible amounts of clipping issues - grappling through walls, jumping through full building, including numerous walls, throwing sword out of the map, falling below the map, or kicking enemies inside the walls. Not to mention when you pass through enemies without stunning them and they just shoot you. (If you try to jump away and upwards from a vertical glass panel, you often slide down. There's no sliding in the game. For some reason that's a really common bug)
  
• AI makes no sense on the long run.
  -Sometimes enemies spawn from previously closed doors. The game supposed to be part-puzzler - but the spawned enemies are random! Your strategy against an agent (simple shot) means nothing if there's a guard armed with machine gun (burst), that means totally different firing pattern (especially in new game+)
  - Enemies spawning at said doors ocassionally require one turn to aim at you. Another time they aim instantly.
  -Sometimes enemies don't even fire at you, but above you, seemingly randomly. Besides it making no sense logic-wise, it can completely block your movements and lead to your death.
  -Clipping or AI, I don't know which category - but sometimes you can jump through the machine gun's burst, another times you die from it.
  
• The game can't figure out sometimes who should attack first. Basically you see the enemy aiming at you by his red indicator line, and you dodge it - so you move first. But if you're standing in the way of the fire close enough, you can attack him as well. Sometimes you kill him. Another time he kills you. Again another time both of you die!
  
• There's almost no explanation about game mechanics. We have hints about the game not being Gunpoint, or that the hints can't be turned off, but you don't know how much energy needed for a skill when you unlock it. No mention that you can not stun the samurai because he'll cut you in half. Nor that the machinegunner spray 'n prays your position for three (?) turns. Of course, you can learn these on the fly, as the game doesn't really punishes death. Or is it? See the next point.
  
• Not unbearably, but overly long dead animation. Plus way too long loaing screen to restart the level when sometimes I didn't even moved from the same screen. While games like Hotline Miami kills you waaaay more often, it can be restarded in the blink of the eye, while in Ronin it can take more than 10 seconds. It doesn't sound too much, but multiply it with the numerous death previously written "features" can cause.
  
• Mobility during fight. It's just terrible. You can only jump, even when you want to move a few steps. You have time to jump over 5 metres away but not for three steps. The grappling hook is almost useless during said fights - you don't know how much you'll swing - I think it may be affected by the lenght of the rope, but anyways, it's a highly uncalculable and unpredictable tool. Now combine the two faults! You can not move normally, neither use grapling hook in a trustworthy way - meaning you are almost incapable to get a guard who's above you, even in an arm's reach. You need to jump, grappling hook to the ceiling, pull yourself up then jump on him - FOUR TURNS minimum. The lockdown countdown starts from 9... In The Mark of the Ninja it would be a simple stab... So long story short, while the idea of turn based fight is good, the implementation is really, really lucking and crude.
  
• I've nearly forgot this: THERE IS NO STORY. All you know that you have a character in biker helmet with a sword, who has a picture with persons who she (Based on comments you need the Special Edition to even know your hero is actually a heroine, or anything more about the story) will kill - so it's a vendetta story, but that's all. No story, no explanation, no reasoning why is there a bleed-out mechanic at the last level instead of the usualy shot-dead.( At this level if you're damaged, you'll die in 9 turns. Each hit decreases your life by one additional turn, and kills restore it to 9, though it will still tick down)

I want to mention the feature level bugs - you can make the game almost stay in one place, meaning you can kill 4-5 enemies with sword throws before you even fall as much as one floor - or when you can climb up on a building faster than the elevator even starts :) Plus the sword throw quite funny - you can call the sword back *towards* you. If you jump and dodge it, it will fly further and can potentially kill someone. And you can repeat this.
One can have quite much fun with cheezing kills with this methods, but at the end the problems will cause the game to be more frustratingly hard, than enjoyable hard. A last positive aspect - all of the negatives are fixable by the developer, the base features of the game are working well (excluding the clipping), so there's still a possibility that this game can erradicate all the negatives I mentioned.

Ronin in an indie turn-based semi-stealth platformer game by Tomasz Wacławek. It admittedly borrows some features from the excellent Gunpoint (I guess the physics, somewhat modified and the jump-system) but otherwise it's combat system that makes it unique - as soon as an enemy notices you, the game changes from real-time roaming into turn based combat - you see where the enemies target, indicated by red lines, and basically you want to not to end your turn on one of those lines, but to knock the enemies up then finish wish a quick stab. Sounds easy, but more than 2-3 enemies can really make hard to pull off this feat. At the start of the gameplay I was really optimistic about the game, but with time I had less and less enthusiasm. There are really obvious problems with the game and some less noticiable ones, that need time and attention to notice. Positives: [list] [*]Unique turn based fight [*]Skilltree [*]Pulling off some great dodging then finishing enemies rewards the player with the real feel of success [*] Well placed checkpoints during most of the game (!) [*] Good level design, where accuracy pays off. For example if you jump in through a window, kill a guy (2 turns) you'll get 2 energy from the kill (good for a decoy, but not much) , and everyone else will aim at you. But if you land ON a guy, knock him out (1E) then kill him while he's in the air (2E) you'll have 3 energy that's enough for a teleport attack that helps you to stun at least one enemy while dodging all the bullets and sets up the rest of the fight nicely. [/list] Negatives: Sadly a lot of thing. A LOT. [list] [*]Physics is broken. There are incredible amounts of clipping issues - grappling through walls, jumping through full building, including numerous walls, throwing sword out of the map, falling below the map, or kicking enemies inside the walls. Not to mention when you pass through enemies without stunning them and they just shoot you. (If you try to jump away and upwards from a vertical glass panel, you often slide down. There's no sliding in the game. For some reason that's a really common bug) [*]AI makes no sense on the long run. -Sometimes enemies spawn from previously closed doors. The game supposed to be part-puzzler - but the spawned enemies are random! Your strategy against an agent (simple shot) means nothing if there's a guard armed with machine gun (burst), that means totally different firing pattern (especially in new game+) - Enemies spawning at said doors ocassionally require one turn to aim at you. Another time they aim instantly. -Sometimes enemies don't even fire at you, but above you, seemingly randomly. Besides it making no sense logic-wise, it can completely block your movements and lead to your death. -Clipping or AI, I don't know which category - but sometimes you can jump through the machine gun's burst, another times you die from it. [*]The game can't figure out sometimes who should attack first. Basically you see the enemy aiming at you by his red indicator line, and you dodge it - so you move first. But if you're standing in the way of the fire close enough, you can attack him as well. Sometimes you kill him. Another time he kills you. Again another time both of you die! [*]There's almost no explanation about game mechanics. We have hints about the game not being Gunpoint, or that the hints can't be turned off, but you don't know how much energy needed for a skill when you unlock it. No mention that you can not stun the samurai because he'll cut you in half. Nor that the machinegunner spray 'n prays your position for three (?) turns. Of course, you can learn these on the fly, as the game doesn't really punishes death. Or is it? See the next point. [*] Not unbearably, but overly long dead animation. Plus way too long loaing screen to restart the level when sometimes I didn't even moved from the same screen. While games like Hotline Miami kills you waaaay more often, it can be restarded in the blink of the eye, while in Ronin it can take more than 10 seconds. It doesn't sound too much, but multiply it with the numerous death previously written "features" can cause. [*] Mobility during fight. It's just terrible. You can only jump, even when you want to move a few steps. You have time to jump over 5 metres away but not for three steps. The grappling hook is almost useless during said fights - you don't know how much you'll swing - I think it may be affected by the lenght of the rope, but anyways, it's a highly uncalculable and unpredictable tool. Now combine the two faults! You can not move normally, neither use grapling hook in a trustworthy way - meaning you are almost incapable to get a guard who's above you, even in an arm's reach. You need to jump, grappling hook to the ceiling, pull yourself up then jump on him - FOUR TURNS minimum. The lockdown countdown starts from 9... In The Mark of the Ninja it would be a simple stab... So long story short, while the idea of turn based fight is good, the implementation is really, really lucking and crude. [*] I've nearly forgot this: THERE IS NO STORY. All you know that you have a character in biker helmet with a sword, who has a picture with persons who she (Based on comments you need the Special Edition to even know your hero is actually a heroine, or anything more about the story) will kill - so it's a vendetta story, but that's all. No story, no explanation, no reasoning why is there a bleed-out mechanic at the last level instead of the usualy shot-dead.( At this level if you're damaged, you'll die in 9 turns. Each hit decreases your life by one additional turn, and kills restore it to 9, though it will still tick down) [/list] I want to mention the feature level bugs - you can make the game almost stay in one place, meaning you can kill 4-5 enemies with sword throws before you even fall as much as one floor - or when you can climb up on a building faster than the elevator even starts :) Plus the sword throw quite funny - you can call the sword back *towards* you. If you jump and dodge it, it will fly further and can potentially kill someone. And you can repeat this. One can have quite much fun with cheezing kills with this methods, but at the end the problems will cause the game to be more frustratingly hard, than enjoyable hard. A last positive aspect - all of the negatives are fixable by the developer, the base features of the game are working well (excluding the clipping), so there's still a possibility that this game can erradicate all the negatives I mentioned.