Draft:Library of Ruina

Library of Ruina is an indie turn-based deck-building video game for Microsoft Windows developed and published by the South Korean studio Project Moon. The title is a direct sequel to 2018's Lobotomy Corporation. The game was first released in early access for Windows in May 2020, with an official release for PC and Xbox One in August 2021. The third installment, dungeon role-playing game Limbus Company, has been released in February 2023.

The game centers around Angela, the antagonist from the prequel Lobotomy Corporation, and Roland, a mysterious fixer, as they seek the One Perfect Book to make Angela human.

Gameplay
Library of Ruina is a turn-based deck-building game in which players manage the titular Library and control the librarians in combat. The gameplay is split into two major sections: battle and management.

In battle, players control up to five characters in a turn-based battle revolving around each character's deck of nine cards. Each card has dice showing a range of possible values, with clashing attacks being determined by the greater dice roll. Players are able to see enemy attacks and select cards to play against them before starting combat. When guests are defeated, they are turned into a book for the Library's collection. Narrative is told via visual novel sections at the beginning and end of plot-important combat, revealing more of the story and the nature of the City.

In the management portion of the game, gameplay revolves around using these dropped books and managing the player's various characters, known as Librarians. Books can be used in two ways: creating an invitation or burning. Creating an invitation allows the player to select up to three books to put up for a challenge, with these books being lost should the player be defeated. The books used for the invitation determine the guest invited, with specific combinations of books being used to continue the plot of the story. This is how a player is able to enter the combat portion of the game. Players are also given the option to select books to burn from their accumulated collection. This converts the book into combat cards, with each book having a pool of combat cards that can randomly drop during this process. Additionally, there is a random chance that the burned book will drop a character's page, which can be equipped by a Librarian to change their stats and abilities. Only one page can be equipped at a time.

Every combat section occurs on a floor of the Library, which is defended by up to five librarians. Players begin with one floor but can unlock more when certain objectives are completed throughout the game. Each floor has unique objectives which are completed by gathering specific books. When these conditions are met, players unlock a fight against an "abnormality", strange beings previously stored in containment by the Lobotomy Corporation, which must be completed on the floor they belong to. When these fights are completed, players unlock abnormality pages, which can be used on any future fights on the specific floor. Completing all abnormality fights unlocks the realization for the floor - a multi-phase boss fight centered around either a berserk Angela or Roland. These realizations include visual novel sections before and after the fight that reveal more of the backstory for their respective character, with Angela's flashbacks revealing more about the events following Lobotomy Corporation.

Setting
The story of Library of Ruina centers around two primary protagonists: Roland, a fixer with a mysterious past, and Angela, an AI and former assistant of the manager in Lobotomy Corporation. It is set in the City, a dystopian cityscape divided into 26 Wings - now 25 following the events of Lobotomy Corporation - under the jurisdiction of corporations. It is built on a structure of associations, which are organizations of hired mercenaries called fixers.

The Library is an ever-expanding location filled with countless books only accessible to people sent invitations, calling cards that requests a guest's presence in the Library with the offer of specific books. Once a guest has accepted, they must survive mortal combat with the librarians that guard the building. Should the guest prevail, they are allowed to return with the books presented in the invitation; if they lose, the guest will instead be turned into a book themselves. The books generated by the defeated guests can then be used in subsequent invitations. By following invitations which are mysteriously directed by the will of the Library itself, Angela believes she will eventually be led to the One Perfect Book - a book that could make her human.

The threat level of phenomena in the City are designated different levels according to the Hana Association, which all other associations report to.


 * Canard
 * Urban Myth
 * Urban Legend
 * Urban Nightmare
 * Star of the City
 * Impuritas Civitatis

Plot
Roland, a mysterious fixer, wakes up in the foyer of the mysterious titular Library. He is quickly confronted by Angela - the owner and head librarian of the facility - who questions him and attacks when he is unable to explain his presence. Angela reveals that she has chosen to spare him after he wakes up fully healed, requesting he serve as her servant and fight the guests invited to the Library in order to obtain their books. Beginning with offering a small book of "something", the Library slowly attracts the attention of low-level gangs and offices who end up falling to the Library. As more organizations begin to fall, the Library begins to expand and gather the attention of higher grade offices who attempt to stop the Library and a group of mysterious individuals called the Reverberation Ensemble who begin using the Library for their own ends. With the defeat of more and more important figures in the City, the Library becomes intertwined with an ongoing power struggle between the various factions and the individual stories of inhabitants dealing with the loss of friends and leaders to the Librarians.

In the shadow of the rise of the Library is the Distortion Phenomenon, which emerged as a result of the events of Lobotomy Corporation. The phenomenon is the process under which humans overcome by emotions turn into powerful, monstrous entities representing their host's inner desires called distortions. In the story, the most notable instance is the Pianist, which was slain prior to the events of the story but whose rampage ended up killing Roland's wife. Her death kickstarted Roland's rampage of grief, which caused the destruction of several organizations and the deaths of family and friends connected to the individuals that would later form the Reverberation Ensemble in search of revenge on Roland.

At the end of the game, the Reverberation Ensemble invades the Library directly as it has grown large enough to be visible without the need for the mysterious invitations. During the fight, it is revealed to an unaware Angela that her actions in Lobotomy Corporation caused the start of the distortion phenomenon and that Roland ultimately blames for The Pianist and consequently, the death of his wife. The organization is ultimately beaten back and, using their books, Angela is able to become fully human. Roland then turns on Angela, revealing that he was waiting this moment to exact his revenge. After Roland is defeated by the Library, the ending of the game depends on the player's choice: Angela may strike down Roland to win her freedom; Roland may strike down Angela to exact his revenge; or, should all realizations be completed prior to the decision, Angela and Roland are able to forgive each other. The last option is the true ending and the only one to continue gameplay, with Angela choosing to release all booked guests as atonement for her actions and complete the original plan from the events of Lobotomy Corporation to release the Seed of Light. Angela is then forced to confront a representation of herself from Lobotomy Corporation, who attempts to stop her. The Reverberation Ensemble is also freed as part of Angela's release and, empowered by the light, attempt to take over the Library one last time. The Library is once again able to beat them back, with Roland landing the killing blow on the leader. The complete release of the Seed of Light is also halted by Roland pulling Angela out, preventing her from disappearing, and he promises her to help her complete all the things she had planned to do when she became human.

With the Library depleted and almost all energy spent, Roland and Angela assess their next actions. They are interrupted by an Arbiter of the Head, Executioner of the Claw and Beholder of the Eye who serve as agents for the Head, the City's top organization. They aim to kill Angela, assessing her as a threat to the City due to her nature as a sentient machine. Roland keeps the three agents at bay with the help of Gebura and Binah, but are unable to stop teleportation of the Library to the outskirts of the City. In the aftermath, Angela decides to reopen the Library under the new goal of striking back against the Head of the City for its role in the cycle of misery. Roland tells Angela about his wish for creating a book about the City, a dream he abandoned due to being illiterate. Angela promises to help Roland and the duo walk into the Library, preparing for the future.

Librarians

 * Malkuth
 * Voiced by Lee Areum
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of History.
 * Yesod
 * Voiced by Lee In-seok
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Technological Science.
 * Hod
 * Voiced by Kim Haru
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Literature.
 * Netzach
 * Voiced by Lee Chang-Min
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Art
 * Tiphereth
 * Voiced by Son Sun-young
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Natural Sciences
 * Gebura
 * Voiced by Chung Yu-joung
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Language
 * Chesed
 * Voiced by Park Yo-han
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Social Sciences
 * Binah
 * Voiced by Kim Bona
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Philosophy
 * Hokma
 * Voiced by Lee Min-Kyu
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of Religion
 * Roland
 * Voiced by Son Soo-ho
 * Patron Librarian of the Floor of General Works
 * Angela
 * Voiced by Lee Daeun

Development
The first reveal trailer was released on Jan 19, 2019, with a projected release year of 2020.

Xbox announced that Library of Ruina would be coming to XBox Game Pass upon release on March 26, 2021. It left the service on August 15, 2022.

Delays
The full game was anticipated to be released on May 28, 2021. On May 26, 2021, Project Moon announced the delay of the final release of the game, citing the process for complying with a console release. On July 12, Project Moon announced that the release would be delayed to August 12 due to a request to reschedule the XBOX version.

Leviathan
Leviathan was a webcomic published by Project Moon, taking place between the events of the True Ending of Library of Ruina and the events of Limbus Company. It is centered around the Fixer known as Vergilius the Red Gaze.

Distortion Detective
Distortion Detective was a web novel written by Kim Jihoon, the Director of Project Moon, with its first chapter published on February 29, 2020. It tells the story of Moses, the eponymous Distortion Detective, and is set in the City prior to the events of Library of Ruina. It was written as practice for writing the world in a light atmosphere.

Jihoon announced the cancellation of Distortion Detective on July 27, 2021. In the wake of unexpected public interest, he decided to develop the story of 'Distortion Detective' into a game as a Project Moon project.

Audio
Library Of Ruina Soundtrack, an 80-track soundtrack featuring music from Mili and Studio EIM, was released as DLC to Steam on June 9, 2021.

Reception
Library of Ruina received "universal acclaim", according to Metacritic. Daniel Tack of Game Informer praised the game's music, mechanics, and narrative, but did not give the game an official rating. Alice Bell of Rock Paper Shotgun described the game as "extremely odd" and "extremely terrifying". Russell Troxel praised the game, stating that it is "worth every penny they’re asking". Richard Barker of TheXboxHub described the game as a "very deep and complex experience", praising the narrative, character designs, and deck-building mechanics, but criticising the user interface.