Solar Ash has style. This is what it distills from the first picture in which Rei, our protagonist and discoverer of the void, stares at the black hole that is devouring her planet. There are lots of nice games (like Solar Ash) out there, but few have as much flair as the natural sequel that Heart Machine Hyper Light Drifter gives. The red trails that float across the screen as you rid the world of corruption; the frozen black and white explosion that marks the defeat of one of the game’s superb bosses; or simply Rice’s way of gliding through the world with a Sonic-worthy grace and speed. Everything is important to Solar Ash. to manufacture one of the most beautiful games there isbut fortunately the maxim that form is more important than content is not fulfilled. In fact, this game, set in an impressive and unreal world, offers one of the most exciting approaches to platform games in recent years.
As you may have deduced from what we said, Solar Ash is the second Heart Machine game after the first, which was the excellent Hyper Light Drifter in 2016. The influence of the first game can be seen in the extravagant color palette that he aestheticizes the end of the world beyond what it deserves; Speed and precision in combat and in movement; and of course the ominous yet melancholy music of Disasterpiece. But in many ways, Solar is Ash seems very close to The Pathless, from last year. In both games, a masked protagonist comes alone to a mysterious and desolate place; both fast and fluid displacement are relevant; The structure revolves around eliminating corruption from the world to bring out a colossal boss that must be defeated in order to advance to the next area.
However, while The Pathless (aside from its obvious qualities) struggles to forge its own identity (a problem that Abzu, the first game by developer Giant Squid, suffered from), Solar Ash makes a good hole without being disheveled., among the multitude of indie games with artistic aspirations. He draws a lot from other titles, but this inspiration serves as a foundation rather than an ornament. In addition, it hides an ace up its sleeve with its beautiful graphics that impress and amaze us with every step. The adventure takes place in a black hole, the Ultra vacuum, but the color palette is dominated by varied and powerful tones. The Ultra Void devours entire planets and it appears that before reaching Reis, it had ingested others, the remains of which are scattered over six large open areas communicated only through a viscous and light pink substance through which the protagonist fortunately glides freely . The different civilizations give each area its own identity that goes beyond the somewhat hackneyed themes we usually see mostly in platform games, and the fact that the ultra-void has destroyed and put everything back together gives it a distinct aura of unreality to the world. An aura that is only enhanced by the dense purple and orange light that often floods the world.
The early areas of Solar Ash are relatively simple in geometry, but as Rei continues to penetrate the Ultra Void, the surrounding landscape becomes distorted and fragmented. In some places even small balls are formed that are reminiscent of the worlds of Super Mario Galaxy. If the floor you just slid suddenly spills over you it would be natural to get confused, but Heart Machine manages to ensure that you never feel lost through the levels. Like in Metroid Dread, in the final section of Solar Ash, they make you feel like this will never happen to you, even if you find yourself in an incomprehensible place where you will get lost. You could say that it is a cleverly constructed illusion.
In this sense, the visual part and the design of the levels go hand in hand. Solar Ash is basically a nice and quite simple game with a very simple structure, but these precise controls and the various challenges take it to another level. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the somewhat formulaic structure of clearing 3-5 corrupt zones to make a boss appear, defeat him, and then repeat the same steps in the next zone, but it didn’t bother me at all Here. For me it basically has to do with two things. The first is that the game is part of a group of games that are in full swing where the simple act of moving around the world is extremely satisfying.
By holding down L2 Rei starts skating As if wearing aerodynamic power boots, and with the ability to double jump, accelerate even more with that swing, and reach hard-to-reach places with his grappling hook, he can overcome most obstacles with speed and grace. This makes it a pleasure to explore, and luckily, this ruined world is a place worth exploring. Points of interest are easy to spot, but climbing the various buildings requires curiosity and perseverance. As a reward for your curiosity, you will come across the aforementioned areas of corruption, relics of ancient void explorers that not only offer interesting lore, but also elegant-looking alternative costumes that improve attack power or shorten the cooldown of your slow ability. There are also three closely related side quests that give a glimpse into the other tragic characters trapped in the Ultra Void. Secondary content prioritizes quality over quantity and actually gives more context to your primary goal.
The other thing that prevents the structure from repeating itself is: the layout of the damaged areas and the way Heart Machine manages to evolve and branch out its design. Each zone is a small orientation puzzle in which you have to commission a series of elements in the form of a syringe within a certain period of time in order to be able to literally bury your spear in the eye of corruption. At first, figuring out your path to success is easy, but the challenges require that you analyze your environment first, especially in the last two zones. As the game progresses, Heart Machine introduces new elements, such as mushrooms, which form organic rails that allow you to advance in different directions depending on the angle from which you meet them. In this way, you can reshape the world as you wish. It never goes out of style to find the solution to a difficult area and then execute the plan with precise jumps, runs, and punches, but even the best plans run the risk of being hampered by the game’s enemies.
There are few enemy types and combat appears to be a part of the displacement system rather than a core mechanic, but Rice’s unique attack is rewarding and the ability to slow down time, aim and hook the distance to an enemy decrease works perfectly. Sometimes the biggest challenge is surely getting into the same challenge zone. In one of the spheres above, inspired by Super Mario Galaxy, I literally bumped my head against the wall trying to climb a vertical rock wall on one side of the sphere before realizing it was possible. go through instead of around. At first glance it didn’t seem possible, but changing the direction of one of the mushroom rails resulted in a new and more useful route. In Solar Ash the little “Eureka” moments in which a seemingly small discovery leads to the solution of a problem or gives access to a completely new part of the world that gives the game much more value.
While most of the challenges involve navigation puzzles, the final boss fights are purely platform tests. Like in Shadow of the Colossus, you have to climb the giant beasts that stand in your way first, but that’s the easy part. The real challenge is how to hit the syringe-shaped objects littered throughout these creatures’ bodies fast enough to reach the beast’s eye in time to drive your spear into them. In this sense, you are not fighting in the traditional sense, but rather jumping, running and drifting over your enemy. Each boss has three phases and the path to the eye changes in each, so it is important to fully calibrate the muscle memory of the previous phase. As the highlight of your crossing of an area, they fulfill their function in spades. You can hunt several of them to complete each area. one is antenna of course, and my favorite is of course in a separate sphere, which leaves most of the flavor of Super Mario Galaxy that I’ve noticed in a game since … well, since Super Mario Galaxy 2. I’m going to be the surprise of some Don’t spoil encounter with too many details. Instead, I’ll just highlight those excellent soundtrack from Disasterpiece, which really stands out during these encounters, and the smile that is conjured up again and again on my face by the fast-paced and rewarding sequences.
But Solar Ash isn’t just a high-speed platformer set in unreal worlds inhabited by giant beasts. To top it off, Heart Machine fills you with a dose of in-depth storytelling. While Hyper Light Drifter relied on images and emotion to tell its story, Solar Ash is more explicit and contains dialogue to a surprising extent. In this way it loses some of its mysticism and a certain poetry; and sometimes the ‘Broken tradition’ by IA CYD, our companion of adventures, are not enjoying the best of presentation, but the focus also works in favor of a richer universe, largely thanks to the secondary content that focuses on the former explorers of the void and the lost creatures in the ultra-vacuum. The themes of the God Complex, sin and forgiveness, and climate change add weight to the narrative, and while not all fits perfectly, Heart Machine’s ambition needs to be recognized.
Solar Ash is one of those games that you have to play to really understand it. The feeling is so cool when you accelerate just before a bottomless cliff, take a leap of faith, save yourself from falling into the void by extending the jump with a grab point and landing on a rail that takes you very easily into the clouds . He’s hectic and fast, but he also understands the importance of getting thought about your trip and your surroundings. Unlike many games today, it doesn’t rely on a constant stream of new skills and mechanics to keep itself fresh, but instead relies on its own gameplay and ever-evolving level designs. A bold design decision that bears incredible fruit. Heart Machine hit the bull’s eye with two very different games and I really want to know what’s next.
