Game2022

Recursive Ruin

ActionAdventureCasualIndie

Developer Bit Rot

A story rich narrative puzzle game in which an artist comes to terms with their grief. Explore an infinitely recursive world of strange fractal beauty and solve mind-bending puzzles. Confront the ineffable and chat with your cat in a search for meaning and hope. From the Steam store page

199 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Sep 30, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works

Audience score

71
Fresh

137 positive · 55 negative
95% range 65–77%

Source+−=
Steam reviews137550
Bluesky *000
Lemmy *000
Mastodon *000

* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).

7 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.

Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
259 of 327 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)

What people are saying

Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.

Reactions

60 of 199 · most liked first
  • Steam user Steam user …2618Steam reviews · Jun 28, 2022 · 5 h played

    Incredibly self indulgent and pretentious. Insightful and rewarding. I'm a big fan of art games, but this one falls into the pitfall of being so desperate to have a meaningful and emotional narrative, that it stumbles over itself trying to stuff a dramatic story into a vehicle that could stand on its own. As a puzzle game, it is creative and beautiful. The visuals are stunning, the mechanics are interesting and rewarding. The "game inside the game" of Recursive Ruin is a wonderful game that…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6792Steam reviews · Jun 3, 2026 · 2 h played

    The aesthetically pleasing graphics and trippy puzzles are probably the only things this game is worth playing for. The story is boring, I ended skipping pretty much all of it, I expected more from a narritive driven title.

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8444Steam reviews · Dec 16, 2023 · 6 h played

    I brought this thinking I would have lovely puzzles, and I did... for about half the game anyway. The rest was an uninteresting walking simulator that wanted to be so mysterious it becomes impossible to follow. It doesn't help that the game is split into interwoven puzzle stages, one-room exposition-dump stages, and horror-wannabe walking simulator narration stages. This results in a gigantic pacing problem. People here for the puzzle will get bored during the narration-focused levels. People…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2528Steam reviews · Sep 24, 2024 · 5 h played

    A very interesting puzzle game, unfortunately brought down by a story that attempts to be overly tragic on every conceivable axis. I enjoyed exploring the strange realms but the narrative would have benefited greatly from some "less is more" (including less loud and obnoxious sounds during some memories). Real life can be messy and falls under no obligation to tell a cohesive story, certainly, but fictional stories that lack focus just don't do it for me. In my opinion, the story would have…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …4366Steam reviews · Aug 26, 2022 · 10 h played

    Another game where I wish steam had a mixed option, because although I don't necessarily regret buying and finishing it, I could never see myself recommending it to anyone. The story wasn't bad, but it just wasn't insightful, exciting, or satisfying enough to justify how much of the overall playtime it took up. The "walking simulator" levels that others have pointed out are such an unapologetic, flagrant waste of your time, and are inexcusable imo. On top of that, the game just has an…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …1183Steam reviews · Nov 29, 2023 · 7 h played

    I am a sucker for games that utilize impossible geometry. This game does fall into that category along with games like Manifold Garden, and Antichamber. Unlike those games, and do my chagrin, this game also makes an attempt at being a walking sim. dedicating half of the levels to a generic story about depression and whatnot. it was very much a story you need to be in the mood for. if this was a different game i probably would have enjoyed it, but here i just kept wishing it would speed up so i…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6291Steam reviews · Aug 3, 2023 · 6 h played

    In short, Recursive Ruin is a narrative puzzle game that really tries to be a metaphysical dramatic art piece, but just fails to put the pieces together. If you squint you can definitely make out what they wanted to do, but it's difficult to get past the incredibly tropey story and dreadful voice acting. There were several points that I genuinely thought it was a parody. If you are looking for a geometrically complex puzzler like Antichamber, Manifold Garden, or even Maquette, this will not…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • KORNdoggychub @korndoggychub.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 15, 2026

    Also finished A game called Recursive Ruin. A surreal and abstract fractal puzzle game. It alternates between the puzzle world and narrative development sections. It's very trippy and handles some dark themes, But I enjoyed my 8 hours with it. Nothing too difficult puzzle wise.

    unlabelledView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6815Steam reviews · Sep 9, 2023 · 3 h played

    Interesting puzzles that require some spatial awareness. If the game was primarily focused in that, it would be a thumbs up for sure. However the puzzles make for about 40% of the game, the other 60% being a story that tries too hard to be emotional but just gets in the way of the fun. Luckily you can press T to skip the dialogue, and even then it felt too long. Next time, make a puzzle game with the interesting ideas, and a separate walking simulator for the story parts. In my opinion, these…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8997Steam reviews · May 30, 2022 · 5 h played

    The first half of this game is great. When you reach the 2nd half of the game it abandons all puzzle mechanics and turns into a walking simulator. If you are looking for a better version of this game without all of the pomp and pretense, play Manifold Garden

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …3138Steam reviews · Jan 4, 2025 · 3 h played

    Recursive Ruin was, what I thought was going to be, an interesting kaleidoscopic fractal puzzle platfromer akin to that of Manifold Garden, Viewfinder, or some other trippy puzzle game- and it would of been a really good puzzler, but the game is >60% story dialog that’s agonizingly dull and completely irrelevant to the enjoyable part of the game. So much that I would say that the narrative aspect of Recursive Ruin is detrimental to the quality of the game. This game had the potential to be a…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …1977Steam reviews · Dec 19, 2022 · 5 h played

    (Обзор на русском тут: [url=https://kknights.com/posts/2226-vospominanie-v-vospominanii-v-vospominanii-v]> тыц <) Nice first-person puzzles that use the idea of repeating space + story-related interludes made as walking simulator. PUZZLES: + Unusual fractal worlds where going forward moves you back, and objects are lesser and bigger than you at the same time. + After the tutorial world, there are 5 worlds with unique mechanics. + Two active skills: the first one contorts a world by changing…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9657Steam reviews · Jun 17, 2022 · 5 h played

    I'm torn about this game. Overall, I recommend it because I think the recursive element is so cool looking and done really well in the game that it is worth playing, but there are some parts of the game I really didn't like. First and foremost is that Recursive Ruin is primarily not a puzzle game by any means. It is a narrative story game. While this is cool, I also found that it really took away from the main thing the game had going for it, which is extremely unique puzzles and cool visuals.…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • TheeMaskedMango @theemaskedmango.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 30, 2026

    We are so back! Prevent-A-Thon is bringing me back on with yet another brain-melty puzzle experience! (Recursive Ruin) Here’s one of my favorite screenshots from the game to give y’all a little taste of what we’ll be getting into during my run ;)

    unlabelledView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …5574Steam reviews · Feb 17, 2026 · 8 h played

    I really enjoyed this game, but I'm aware that this is the kind of game that some will love and others will hate. I think this is the reason that the review score isn’t the highest, and giving it’s score, I did go into this with lower expectations, which definitely could have contributed to my enjoyment of the game. What drew me into this game was it’s whacky, kind of bizarre visuals and there being comparisons made to some of my favourite games of this genre. I read reviews that compared it…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …4869Steam reviews · Jul 7, 2025 · 4 h played

    The description didn't lie, it is indeed story rich. So rich in fact, that more than half of the time spent playing is spent in the walking-simulator story portions of the game. The story was uhh... alright? That's one way to put it. At one point I thought to myself "jeez, what did get myself into". I'm sorry, but the main reason I bought it were the fractal puzzles, and the main issue with the game is that there's not enough of them. They also don't feel connected to the story at all?? The…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …5555Steam reviews · Mar 22, 2024 · 6 h played

    Let me start I by saying that I don't hate the game but it's also very difficult to love, especially the latter parts because it tries so hard to impart meaning and nuance that it fails at both. I honestly think it should've stuck to exploring the Eldritch meta-narrative through the Realm of Aeons Torn and left the fallible and tragic story of the protagonist to the wayside because the way they currently coincide isn't fun or intriguing. More to the point if you do play the game I recommend…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9911Steam reviews · Apr 3, 2023 · 3 h played

    As a puzzle game alone it is serviceable. But as the complete package that it is, it is infuriating. some of the puzzles are kinda good, but often i found that i accidentally stumbled into solutions by happenstance because they were so trivial. Im not sure if id say this game even does more with the concept of recursion than Maquette, which itself did very little with it. But inbetween the puzzles is some awful glacial paced story that really tests your patience, both with mandatory audio logs…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …7903Steam reviews · Jun 26, 2022 · 1 h played

    Puzzles are cool, but the story seems pretentious and boring

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8786Steam reviews · Jun 11, 2022 · 1 h played

    Super janky physics, an boring story that is presented in a way that feels weirdly self important and dull puzzles overall make for a rather disappointing time. Can't personally recommend this one, if you want a much better puzzle game that utilizes fractals and recursion like this then you should go look at Manifold Garden.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2702Steam reviews · Jan 20, 2024 · 9 h played

    Some of the puzzle part are good, but Art and SFX are making me very uncomfortable, i manage to clear the game, but i won't recommend my friend to try it... don't get me wrong, the game is ok, it just not my type...

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …7558Steam reviews · Oct 22, 2022 · 4 h played

    The puzzles and music are good. The art style is unique and cool. I also enjoyed the little bit of horror elements that are in the game. I only have one big negative and that's the story. I wouldn't overall recommend this game just because of the story. It is awful and seems forced. I feel like it would've been better if the apartment sections weren't there. They are just exposition dumps and "look at how depressed this guy is." Its just too in your face about it. Those sections should have…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8569Steam reviews · Dec 8, 2024 · 4 h played

    While the main game mechanic (the "recursive") is interesting and some puzzle are nice, all the rest (and it's a big part of the game, if not the main part) is just non sense dialogue with top weird NPC cut with wierder walking level with no interest. All of this with a depressive back story sprinkel on top, with no sense/interest whatsoever. It's the kind of game "I had a good idea but could could not go trought with it".

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …7995Steam reviews · May 5, 2023 · 1 h played

    Thought it was gonna be one of great optical illusion visual experience games but ended up very disappointed. The gameplay mechanics are interesting but how it was implemented feels janky buggy at times. The story was a major turnoff and made me quit though. Instead of being witty or eye-catching in any way, it turned into trying too hard to be deep or dramatic which made these "story sections" way too long and boring. I would estimate about half my play time was just trying to skip the dialog…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2894Steam reviews · Jul 19, 2025 · 4 h played

    Great puzzles, terrible story My feelings about this game are split. On one hand, the gameplay is incredibly unique, and the game provides an interesting take on non-Euclidean geometry. On the other hand, this may be the most confusing game I have ever played. If Steam had an option between thumbs-up and thumbs-down, that would be what I choose for this game. If you are debating purchasing this game but lack the time/interest to read my entire review, scroll to the last paragraph. The Good…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Ghoelian @[email protected]Lemmy · Jan 30, 2026

    - The Dark Queen of Mortholme - My Little Life - MOTHERED – A ROLE-PLAYING HORROR GAME - CLeM - Recursive Ruin - Outlanders - Ambition: A Minuet in Power - Paper Trail - Spin Hero - Dread Templar

    unlabelledView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …0725Steam reviews · Aug 11, 2025 · 5 h played

    I liked the puzzles, but everything else was obtuse and intentionally edgy. It made enjoying the puzzles much more difficult because the esoteric characters were interspersed throughout, frequently pulling me out of the thing I'd bought into. Maybe the fact I beat SOMA immediately before playing this has put an unfair comparison in my head, but I can't honestly say that any of the heavier themes in Recursive Ruin are handled with tact. Crack cocaine!!! This is one I'd rather have a "Not…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Shaun - Daily Game Bytes @dailygamebytes.bsky.socialBluesky · Jul 30, 2025

    Heya folks, here's a videograph featuring an indie game called Recursive Ruin by Bit Rot and Iceberg Interactive. This game was one of my favorites that I beat in 2022, largely because of how unique it is when it comes to puzzle design. #recursiveruin #videogames #indiegames #videography

    unlabelledView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …5653Steam reviews · Jun 8, 2025 · 6 h played

    Visually very interesting, but more of a walking simulator with puzzle-like elements. Ultimately a forgettable story, but would recommend if on sale.

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6450Steam reviews · May 8, 2025 · 3 h played

    This is a meld of two things - a decent puzzle game about recursive 3D geometry, and a GODAWFUL narrative walking simulator. I've never seen a more bipolar game. I beg anybody who is playing this game to just mash the conveniently placed "Continue" button whenever it appears to skip the dialogue because it is some of the worst drivel you will ever hear. It is as if somebody told ChatGPT to write "the most pretentious artsy masturbatory garbage you can think of" and then put it inside a word…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9473Steam reviews · Feb 9, 2025 · 11 h played

    In some ways, this is a hidden gem, and I think it deserves better ratings than it gets. I absolutely LOVE the visuals -- all the fractals and psychedelic surrealism, pulsating liquids and phantom geometries that bend impossibly beneath your feet as you walk -- it's all very trippy and fun to look at. If you're the kind of person who can appreciate that sort of thing, this game is worth picking up just for that alone. LOTS of eye-candy. The puzzles are pretty good too! They're not super…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9848Steam reviews · Sep 1, 2024 · 4 h played

    Complicated psycheledic adventure. Pretty boring. Puzzles are super easy.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9017Steam reviews · Oct 9, 2022 · 4 h played

    In summary: I loved this game, but found myself wishing it leaned harder into the recursive/loop/fractal on every possible level; but it's important to remember creating a video game is difficult, there's only so much time, only so many resources, and you're always going to fall short of your best case scenario. I'm super happy with what we have, and can't wait for a potential sequel or expansion because I'm dying for more. Recursive Ruin is a first-person narrative-driven puzzle game where…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …3418Steam reviews · Aug 21, 2026 · 2 h played

    ⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6833Steam reviews · Mar 8, 2026 · 6 h played

    Interesting concept, but rapidly gets tedious.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …0940Steam reviews · Jan 7, 2026 · 2 h played

    Puzzles and Aesthetic are really cool, but the story and writing ruin it for me.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …0058Steam reviews · May 17, 2025 · 3 h played

    Very dull. Puzzles are too simple and with very basic usage of the mechanics. Second half of the game is just plain bad and boring.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …7893Steam reviews · Apr 18, 2025 · 6 h played

    Originally posted on [url=https://www.dragon-quill.net/chistmas-steam-games-2024-pans/]Dragon Quill. Comments are enabled there. If there was a "neither recommend nor disrecommend" I'd pick that, but I lean towards disrecommendation. This is a puzzle game where the game world recurses infinitely, and you must exploit this to solve puzzles by e.g. throwing cubes between layers of recursion. It is also an introspective narrative about an artist struggling with depression, and never the two…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2410Steam reviews · Jun 24, 2023

    This is horrendous. The "story" is a paint by the numbers attempt on trying to be artsy. Have you ever played any of those games people call "artsy"? You have seen everything this game is going to throw at you. It feels insincere. The visuals are interesting... in screenshoots. In gameplay it feels like you are constantly nocliping through walls or do the thing with the taskmanager on your desktop on Windows XP. Gameplay is put box on button. Since the level geometry doesn't make sense…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2148Steam reviews · Jun 12, 2022 · 9 h played

    "Such a strange game. It's probably one of those games with an incredibly ambiguous ending. Has some nice arts, but I'm not sure what it all means." Recursive ruin (RR) was quite a strange and very intriguing game to play. I was very impressed by its design which seemed to have taken its inspiration from various literature works and by combining many game genres. It reminded me of Manifold Garden and Portal among others. And I was just amazed by the game visuals. I really like beautiful…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8159Steam reviews · Aug 1, 2026 · 5 h played

    the puzzles were pretty good but i felt a few levels were lacking just a bit, the story was ok but it was portrayed in the most boring way ever, some of the levels felt like i was placed inside a walking sim, if you like puzzle games you will like this as long as you have a little bit of patience to sit through the boring bits which there are quite a lot of. I Rate it 6.7/10

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …1159Steam reviews · Jun 26, 2026 · 7 h played

    The puzzles are excellent and fun, I could have reeeeally done without all the slow walking story sections though.

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …1753Steam reviews · Feb 13, 2026 · 1 h played

    While the game does warn about sensitivity issues for some players, I managed to stomach other games just fine, some with even more motion sickness etc than the average person can handle. This however was just too much for my current sensitivity towards visual patterns. Then there's odd reflections and some z-fighting, so the game is not finished! But the devs are sadly done with their updates for over 3 years now, so this is it. I might watch a playthrough of it because the puzzles are mostly…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …3157Steam reviews · Feb 13, 2026

    The game boasts stunning visuals, really elevated by its clever integration of fractal-inspired, reality-warping abilities that feel genuinely mind-bending. It plays like the weird offspring of The Talos Principle, Gone Home, and Blackshard—philosophical exploration mixed with quiet introspection and some darker, shard-like edges. I went in expecting to fall head over heels for it. I like it quite a bit, but I don't quite love it. The story occasionally gets a little too on-the-nose,…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …7618Steam reviews · Dec 20, 2025

    Only have this because it came in a bundle and I can't refund it without losing the whole bundle. Thought the puzzle concepts might be interesting, but never got far into them because I was thoroughly turned off of the game by basically all of the art direction. I'm not one to harp on graphics most of the time, but the environments in this game are downright ugly. On top of this, there are gen ai assets, slapped-in npc's repeating the same animation that isn't designed to be looped, and that…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …3274Steam reviews · Nov 30, 2024 · 3 h played

    A decent and clever puzzle game brought down by one of the worst stories I've ever had the misfortune of suffering through.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6058Steam reviews · Dec 18, 2022 · 6 h played

    This is one of those out-of-the-box first person puzzlers that are quietly pushing gaming forward. New mechanics here really are new and not just a rehash of the old stuff. Difficulty is perfect. Quite fluid progression, once you get the grip of things, but new twists get introduced all the time and some levels definitely have the potential to force you into modelling the solutions in your head before falling asleep, which is great, imho. In terms of similarities, I’d say this plays like a mix…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …8983Steam reviews · Jul 14, 2022 · 2 h played

    This is the worst puzzle game I've played in a long time. The story, level design, mechanics, and art direction are completely incoherent the entire way through. The dialogue is slow, drawn out, and far too vague and wordy for its own good.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6455Steam reviews · Jul 5, 2022 · 2 h played

    The puzzles are cool and all that, but the story, I have absolutely no clue what is going on. I just think the guy is on a giant acid trip or something. The story is like "you drive off a cliff and end up inside of a dead iceberg with koolaid trying to kill everything. We are real but not real beings and you are the savior of the mansion that is about to be consumed by electronic chip boards." I have zero clue on whats happening with the story except that the ********SPOILER BELOW CONTINUING…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6063Steam reviews · Jun 1, 2022 · 4 h played

    An array of mechanics that barely synthesizes into a game. The recursion visual is great, but most of the time it has no effect on gameplay aside from being something you occasionally toggle to unblock yourself in the most trivial cases. I'd say the same about most of the mechanics. Most of the time you only encounter them in each form only once and they never get combined into an actual puzzle. Some of the "puzzles" are also incredibly tedious or finnicky to execute. Not to mention how long…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …1906Steam reviews · Jul 21, 2026 · 5 h played

    I am afraid i can't get through the game. THe game story is just not fun. I do not understand a word the game is trying say. I just wanna play some puzzles.

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …5915Steam reviews · Feb 8, 2026 · 7 h played

    If you love mindbending puzzlers like Manifold Garden or Antechamber, you'll likely get a kick out of the puzzles in Recursive Ruin. They're psychedelic, eye-pleasing trials with intuitive solutions and a satisfying progression of knowledge for the most part. If the game was condensed to the puzzles, it would be pretty short but great and totally worth 5-10 dollars. However, it's packaged with a walking-sim style story that's confusing, long-winded and feels pseudophilosophical. I don't want to…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2045Steam reviews · Feb 5, 2026 · 9 h played

    I get it, it's right up my street. Graphics, music, puzzles, story. Enjoying it. Download the demo first, then you'll know whether to buy it. The imperfecion is just an honest part of it. Edit: just finished the game. Enjoyed the story, and atmosphere. It's definitely one of the strangest games I've played, some real WTF moments haha.

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …6097Steam reviews · Jan 16, 2026 · 11 h played

    Recursive Ruin is the best first-person puzzler I've played. Three things make this game special. First, it's the only first-person puzzler whose art and aesthetics I find enthralling. In The Talos Principle, you have competent nature scenery and ruins. In Manifold Garden, you have cold, sterile fractal shapes. The aesthetics of those games simply do not compare with the disorienting, kaleidoscopic, alien demoscene cyber-Kandinsky landscapes of Recursive Ruin. The corecursively unfolding…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …2741Steam reviews · Jan 4, 2026 · 6 h played

    + Awesome experience that could only be realized as a video game. + Mind bending visuals and puzzles to match. - Slight "hitch" whenever you circle back on the same path. Possibly an error of doing non-euclidean geometry in the unreal engine, but would have been nice to iron out. - Screen space occlusion artifacts very noticeable because there are so many reflective surfaces.

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …4622Steam reviews · Apr 5, 2025 · 5 h played

    Pros: - The puzzles - they are the highlight and are very fun to figure out - The Mechanics - super cool trippy world shifting - The Music during the puzzles - provides amazing atmosphere while you explore and think - The art style - fractal goodness Cons: - The non puzzle levels - 50% of the game - The shear quantity of dialogue - The story - subjective, it wasn't for me but others may enjoy. - Not enough cat I would recommend the game based on the pros alone, and if you enjoy the rest then…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …0052Steam reviews · Dec 15, 2024 · 4 h played

    I saw a funny fractal game, touting itself a puzzle game i didn't know what i was in for best in one sitting PS: i let myself get invested in the story, so mileage may vary i also found myself relating to the story - sure, didn't live the exact story, but something similar. Wish I had someone like Tal, or knew who Tal was in my life and, a good reminder to keep going, at the end PPS: "Behemoth! You're back!" *through tears*

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …5356Steam reviews · Feb 23, 2023 · 6 h played

    A beautiful game and a work of art. A rare thing in my experience is that a puzzle game has a consistent plot, and in Recursive Ruin it is very engaging. I really wanted to hug the protagonist in the end of the game. All the characters in the game are amazing, their appearance is designed masterfully, their voiceover suits their personality very well. Furnace person is 10/10 Puzzles are not very hard, but entertaining (my favorite level is the one with bridge and lamps). All the levels are…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9284Steam reviews · Dec 30, 2022 · 7 h played

    Recursive Ruin is a game of outstanding visuals, incredible puzzles, and mind-boggling mechanics, but a tragically underwhelming plot. That isn't to say that the plot was bad, or even that I would change anything about it, but it just wasn't a particularly compelling story, and, if I'm honest, the dialogue dragged on to exceed even my patience. The story was good, I'm not saying otherwise, but the player has to understand their own insignificance, and that's the point. It applies to a greater…

    positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
  • Steam user Steam user …9740Steam reviews · Jun 28, 2022 · 1 h played

    This was pitched as a puzzle game with some plot you explore. It's not. It's a pretentious dialogue simulator with occasional "puzzles" where you right click to move the world between two states. They knew their dialogue was so pretentious people would want to skip it, so they added a "skip to next dialogue" button so you can accelerate the mandatory 3 minute video about being abused by your father. I gave this until the first "use your acquired skills" puzzle, which was...fine. The…

    negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →

Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.

You Might Also Like

similar titles