Library of Ruina is a strategy RPG that blends deck-building mechanics with turn-based card battles set in a mysterious library. As the owner, you manage librarians who fight guests in theatrical combats, turning defeated foes into books to expand your collection and uncover the secrets of a vast, dystopian city.
Gameplay
In Library of Ruina, combat revolves around assembling decks of combat pages for your librarians. Each battle pits your team against guests, using dice rolls to resolve clashes. You select pages that feature different dice types, such as blunt, slash, pierce, block, or evasion, and manage resources like light to play them effectively.
Speed dice determine action order, allowing you to redirect attacks or set up clashes where opposing dice compete. Keypages act as equipment, altering stats like HP, stagger resistance, and passives for each librarian. As fights progress, emotion levels rise, triggering effects that can boost power or introduce penalties.
Status effects add layers to strategy, and you must adapt decks based on guest behaviors visible before combat. Winning turns guests into books, which serve as cards, bodies for librarians, or invitations for tougher opponents. Grinding through repeated battles helps optimize setups, though it can feel repetitive.
Game Modes
The game focuses on a single-player campaign structured around receptions, which are story-driven battles on different library floors. Each floor has a patron librarian with unique themes and abilities, progressing through chapters that introduce new guests and narratives.
General invitations allow farming specific books by setting conditions, useful for deck refinement without advancing the story. There are also abnormality encounters, special fights drawn from the game's lore, offering rare rewards. Progression is linear, with increasing difficulty across acts.
Story and Characters
The narrative follows Angela and Roland in a city filled with syndicates, fixers, and urban legends. You explore events tied to the library's growth, amassing books that reveal deeper lore. Characters like the sephirot add emotional depth, with dialogues enhancing battles.
Is It Worth Playing?
Library of Ruina suits players who enjoy complex deck-building and narrative-heavy strategy games. On PC, it holds a very positive rating on platforms like Steam, with 93% positive reviews from over 40,000 players, praising its depth and story. Critics note a steep learning curve and grinding, but mods can ease these.
The game is complete, with no ongoing seasons, though console versions received patches for improvements. If you prefer thoughtful tactics over fast action, and don't mind length around 100-200 hours for completion, it offers strong value, especially for fans of intricate worlds.
