The world of metroidvania is, more than ever in recent years, a real hotbed of possibilities: thanks to the incredible success of titles like Cave Story and Hollow Knight, this genre has gone from being a niche for very few fans to one of the most popular among passionate players, not only from independent studios, but also from large software houses. As proof of this, there is certainly the very high hype of the entire player community around the sequel to Hollow Knight, the highly anticipated Silksong.
Given this real explosion of the genre, we shouldn’t be surprised if more and more development studios have decided to take this path, perhaps bringing some innovations, changes or making some really interesting mixes of genres: the latter is the case of the most recent project by the guys at Red Candle Games, Nine Sols, which arrived on PC in May 2024 and is now also available for the PlayStation 5 console. During the review we take care of evaluating this latest version of the title.
Oriental charm, futuristic violence
A kingdom hidden from the world “above” through strange rituals hosts almost the entire adventure of our protagonist, the mysterious ancient hero Yi, awakened by a young human after years and years of his disappearance following a terrible duel. Yi’s task, as reported by the title of the game itself, will be to hunt down the Nine Sols who occupy this forgotten underground world.
Between various settings, placed side by side in contrast in an extremely interesting way, the adventure will continue for about 20 hours, with a good dose of dialogues (often excessive, but at least for a couple of days we have been able to take advantage of the Italian localization ) and backtracking.
The great calling card of Yi’s adventure is certainly its nature, the result of a massive mix of genres not only on the artistic side, with the simultaneous presence of cyberpunk and Taoist elements, but also and above all on the gameplay and game mechanics side .
Gameplay: simple in its originality
The second element of mixing of the game involves the unexpected but at the same time very understandable union of combining the typical Metroidvania gameplay with the combat choices of Soulslike. Can we define Nine Sols as a 2D Sekiro? It’s probably not the most exact definition there is, but it doesn’t stray too far from the reality of things.
In fact, we combine the typical Metroidvania modes and features (skill tree, movements in 2D environments populated by enemies with similar patterns, micro-arenas scattered throughout the game world) with the inevitable parry mechanic, the cornerstone of every self-respecting soulslike, and which leads to the mechanics of dodging and counterattacking.
This is a decidedly intriguing “mixed” gameplay that will win over players looking for a challenge based on quick reflexes: although the mechanics become more complex as the skill tree develops, they never become particularly complex, nor do they clearly depart from the starting point, which is decidedly simple in structure and satisfactory.
An enjoyable artistic soul
As for the artistic side, there’s no point in beating around the bush: Nine Sols is a marvel for the eyes. The guys at Red Candle Games have created a game world full of charm, characterized by the presence of well-kept settings, more or less inspired characters and extremely captivating enemies. From a purely visual point of view, the title is truly a jewel like you don’t see many.
The use of lights and colors within the various settings seemed particularly accurate and effective, as did the choices linked to the animations and movements of what surrounds our protagonist. In conclusion, we find ourselves faced with a project that has absolutely spared no effort in this respect, giving us an experience capable of remaining imprinted in the mind and eyes.
Nine Sols turns out to be an enterprising title in its gameplay choices, with a bet that turned out to be curious and successful: the union of Souls and Metroidvania gameplay must not make us forget that, beyond appearances, it is the Metroidvania soul that emerges , and the “innovative” gameplay element is above all a pleasant addition in terms of features rather than a real revolution.
We find ourselves faced with an ambitious project but aware of its limits: in 20 hours of play, we cannot say that we have not encountered unsatisfactory situations aimed at “stretching the plot”, such as long dialogues and moments of backtracking that we would have gladly avoided, but it is certainly an adventure that promises to captivate fans of the metroidvania genre, offering among other things a rather satisfying and guided library of PlayStation trophies in its completion.
