Ruin Diver Series

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The Ruin Diver series is a series of dungeon exploration games by KKairos. They are almost completely unrelated in continuity, the only real connection being that they each involve dungeon exploration. However, the first game is essentially a top-down shooter, the second is a simple side-scroller, and the third is also a fairly simple side-scroller at heart but is considerably more difficult.

Ruin Diver

Ruin Diver
Ruin diver.png
Author KKairos
Company Aurorasoft
Release Date 2001
Genre Action
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Description

This was KKairos's attempt at making a dungeon-y action game. It plays like a sort of bastardized MZX Combat Trainer. You could do some cool stuff, like help build your town up, but the game was--in many, many ways--broken, and featured largely if not completely default enemies.

Ruin Diver 2

Ruin Diver 2
Ruin diver 2.png
Author KKairos
Company None
Release Date 2004
Genre Sidescroller
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Description

The second in the series follows the main minor character, Cord Elmin, in a quest for fame and riches. There is no mention of any of the events of the previous game. In this game there are four ruins to visit. Cord has a gun with which to shoot enemies and, in addition, can grab on to certain wheels of the ruin and 'ride' the wheel on its rope. The ultimate goal of the game is to kill all the enemies in each area, get all the gems in the game, and finish every level in under '500' by the in-game timer. Ruin Diver 2 is not much more advanced than the first but is more bug-free.

Ruin Diver III

Ruin Diver III
Rd3.png
Author KKairos
Company Aevaze
Release Date 2010 (original), 2011 (TS)
Genre Sidescroller
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Description

The third game in the series was a very different entry from the two before. It was originally made by KKairos as a prototype, then slowly expanded, with the main release and Silver Edition release following. The latest and last version, Turbo Silver Edition, was released in 2011. The main goal of Ruin Diver III is to reach the bottom of a randomly-generated platforming dungeon and retrieve the Book of the Meaning of Life, and then get back up in one piece. Along the way are special side-shafts the player can enter that have different elements from the main vertical corridor. Characters are killed/KO'ed in one hit unless they can manage to use the shields found in the dungeon for greater protection. Once a character is dead, the game run ends and a new dungeon is generated.

Silver and Turbo Silver Editions

Silver Edition notably increased the roster of characters available in RDIII from the original vault release of four, to the current cast of eight. It also added a new collectible item, silver, which was worth more than gold had been. Turbo Silver Edition, released in 2011, streamlined gameplay and shrunk the main play area in an attempt to make processing easier. It also allowed for a couple of new game modes including an "Easy Mode" and a "Ridiculous Mode." The soundtrack to the game included a few new or remixed songs, including (in addition to rehashes or reworkings by KKairos himself) remixes and original pieces by CJA, GreaseMonkey, Sai`ke, and Lachesis.

Reception

Ruin Diver III was received fairly well in the MegaZeux community, though it also gained a quick reputation for being a very difficult game. In part because of this, persons more outside of the MegaZeux community known as Porpentine and anna anthropy picked up the game and as a result it gained some exposure to the hardcore indie gamers outside of the MegaZeux community itself.