★★★★ | RedCandleGames | Out now
Nine Sols is the kind of game you describe through comparisons, yet still a distinct and unique creation. It is, in part, a lot like Sekiro. There is a lot of Metroid, Castlevania, and even Dead Cells to its name, too. The cutscenes are vividly manga inspired. It has a lot of Dark Souls in it, as well.
But that’s a part of how games are made. Everything inspires everything. Nine Sols may not reinvent the wheel, but it delivers an exhilarating and fun experience in every way that matters. It understands its audience; both those who will seek it out, and the next generation it wants to entice along. While difficult, it never feels unfair, and it dares to allow everyone in on the fun by introducing accessibility options that makes the combat — if not easier — less challenging.
Where Nine Sols shines is in its mixture of combat and exploration. Curiously, neither is perfect on their own, but in those moments where the two intersect, the game comes to life. For example, a single combat encounter is fine. You will encounter plenty of those throughout the quest. Similarly, an empty room with a chest at the top is equally entertaining, yet not earth-shattering. But a room with multiple enemy types that force the player to navigate a maze of traps and platforming, all of which require precision blocking, is a salivating opportunity. It’s here that Nine Sols turns into an acrobatic ballet of timing, pre-meditation, and immense satisfaction upon completion.
Granted, there are times when the amount of enemies and traps become too overwhelming. Each attack is signposted by a visual cue, and the game doesn’t always distinguish them enough when you’re swarmed by a pack of thugs. Crowd control weapons are available, but for me, they proved yet another input that was all too easy to forget in the heat of things.
But these stumbles are few and, for the most part, Nine Sols achieves that rare balance I usually reserved solely for Nintendo games. Meaning that platforming is precise, controls are tight, and there’s a sense that you’re genuinely learning as you go. By the time the story reaches its climax, you’re not just a stronger combatant because you’ve upgraded the robust skill-tree, you’re genuinely better because the mechanics have enabled growth as a player.
That kind of engineering is difficult to achieve, and even harder to maintain throughout an entire game. Yet Nine Sols manages it beautifully.
Where I will say that it doesn’t succeed as well is in economy and the Dark Souls -inspired elements, which often feel punishing and a detriment to exploration. Metroidvanias, after all, are all about finding new paths and seeing how previous inaccessible areas connect with one another. Nine Sols features moments of near-instant death in multiple areas, and each one punishes the player with a loss of gold and experience. A single misstep can sometimes mean the loss of progression for multiple hours, as stores are scarce, and their supplies are often very expensive.
Granted, it is possible to claw your way back by repeating areas and farming enemies for experience early on, but that’s the kind of grind that goes against how a game of this type should run. Instead, it feels like the only mix of influences that doesn’t fully work with the story that Nine Sols tells.
Ultimately, it is a smaller gripe compared to what Nine Sols gets right. At its best, it’s the kind of action adventure game that you can point to as a high point of the genre. The kind of game that in the future others will use as an influence for their own projects. A work of art that emerges from the shadow of its predecessors and takes its place alongside as if it always belonged there.