Ring of Pain
On first glance, Ring of Pain doesn’t seem to be our kind of game. Neither of us are fans of card-based video games in general. Hearthstone and Gwent have never really interested us, and yet card-based elements in some games have been enjoyable - so we definitely don’t hate them. There’s the whole collecting side of things, which is totally our jam, but I dunno… something just kept us away from them, so we never got to give them a chance. And then Ring of Pain came to Switch, with its creepy horror style and roguelike gameplay that instantly caught our attention - but is it enough to change our opinion on card games?
Upon starting the game, you meet the Owl - a yellow-feathered, haunting-eyed bird with long, gangly limbs. It’s the creepiest iteration of an owl I think I’ve ever seen. The Owl imparts some advice to you in the form of rhymes (a recurring theme), leaving a lot of mystery into just what is going on - and who you should trust. You can see the Owl is open to attack but has a huge advantage against you - so instead we’ll just talk to him for now. Going through the game, you can come across floors known as Reprieves, where you will meet with the Owl again - and are again given the option of chatting or attacking. Throughout the 16 floors, you’ll discover floors that crack and split apart, damaging you and enemies; floors that are nothing but a colourful acid-trip void that leads you to more rhyming statements that continue to confuse; and more.
Each dungeon level consists of a loop of cards - a Ring of Pain - which you must work your way through to get to the exit. You can opt to go left or right, picking which card to go for - whether that be to attack an enemy, or to take advantage of some stat increases or health potions. You can clearly see how much health each enemy has, as well as how much damage you will do to them if you opt to attack. Similarly, you can also see just how much impact they will have on you so that you can weigh up your options and decide if you truly want to take them on, or if you’d rather attempt to sneak past them. Sneaking is a really cool addition, allowing you to move round the ring without taking on an enemy. Within your stats, shown at the bottom left of your screen, you have numbers representing your strength in each area: Attack, Defence, Speed and Clarity, as well as a percentage meter to show how proficient you are in areas such as Stealth.
The art style of Ring of Pain is really well done, with an intriguing blend of beautiful and horrifying. Enemies have these twisted, demented bodies that are grotesque, with varying streaks of neon colour that really make their designs pop. Developer Simon Boxer explained how the art style was inspired by Aphantasia: the inability to voluntarily visualize mental imagery. Sound design is fantastic throughout, from the chilling soundtrack to the blood-curdling noises coming from the enemies.
Collecting good equipment as your progress through each dungeon is part of the fun, and weighing up the pros and cons to swapping out items for others makes you really pay attention to which stats work best for you when increased. Some enemies deal blast damage upon dying, so having an item to negate this even slightly can be useful. Likewise, you may have an item that grants a critical hit every 4 turns - so this might work hugely in your favour if you’re careful about how you play.
With 16 main dungeons to get through and over 180 items to unlock, as well as Daily Quests to complete there’s plenty to keep you going through multiple runs. And with each run having a nice fast-paced flow to it - you stay invested without getting bored. By the end of the 16 floors, Allan was so happy that he’d made it (since I couldn’t get anywhere near that far!) and was pleasantly surprised with what came next. And we can’t wait to unravel the rest of this mystery.
At £17.99 on the Nintendo eShop, it’s well priced for the hours upon hours of enjoyable content it offers. So even if you’re like we were, and don’t normally go for these kind of games, give it a go - it just might surprise you.
In the end, we decided to give Ring of Pain the Collecting Asylum rating of 10/10.
Have you played Ring of Pain yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Twice Different for the Ring of Pain Nintendo Switch review code!
