Rubinite Promo Shot
Image: Cup Dog Games

Before anyone pedantically complains, no, Princess Ruby - star of Rubinite, which launched today - is not literally Little Red Riding Hood. There is no grandma, although she was saved from a big bad witch-queen by a huntsman. She does have a little red hood, though, with floppy bunny ears. Oh, and what a big knife she has, all the better for stabbing giant monsters in a series of high-tension arena boss battles.

Recently lauded during the most recent Next Fest, Rubinite is a gory, gothic, fairytale-themed boss rush action game, similar to the likes of Titan Souls and Furi. There's no regular enemies here, and no levels to wade through. Just one tiny girl, one sharp knife and one-on-one fights with very big monsters. It also looks a treat, with some gorgeous, easily-followed sprite animation on all combatants. Which is good as you'll be wanting to dodge (or parry, if you're feeling sassy) everything coming your way. Ruby's only small, and healing is limited.

While you can hack away at at an opponent's health bar bit by bit, the big focus in Rubinite is holding off on attacking until you can fully lock on to a target's weak-point for a big hit. The locking on requires you to hold position, your view of the world narrowed down to just the ground between you and your target. it's really rather striking, and helps keep the action focused on what you should be reacting to and dodging. Every moment you can stand still and aura-farm while watching the boss flail around powers up your next big hit, and just looks cool besides.

Of course, every arcade game these days does need some kind of progression mechanics, and Rubinite has an assortment of trinkets and unlockable skills to keep you up to pace with the escalating fights, while gradually increasing the complexity of your own move-set. While reportedly not a HUGE game (it is mostly just boss fights), early user reviews suggest there's more to completing Rubinite than just rushing to the end Ruby's hit-list, with a good chunk of storytelling and dialogue between battles, too.

Rubinite is out now on Steam for £18/$20 with a 10% launch discount running until August 5th. You can shave that price a little lower if you own the excellent Titan Souls or the recent Nier Automata-inspired Homura Hime. It's also worth noting that this isn't the only stylish 2D boss-rush game dropping today. Those really fiending for one-on-one throwdowns might also want to check out Gurei.