Nine Sols [Review]
Nine Sols kicked my ass and I loved it.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
Nine Sols is an action-packed 2D soulslike metroidvania platformer from Red Candle Games. It has a unique “Taopunk” setting, combining elements of cyberpunk and Taoism, giving it a unique Eastern mythology flavor in its art and lore. Its story plays out like a kung fu Kill Bill style revenge saga, as hero Yi is out to eliminate the Nine Sols, his former colleagues that conspired to kill him and left him for dead.
The Solarians, a cat-like race from the planet Penglai, are infected with the Tianhuo virus—an always deadly pathogen. Their leaders, the Ten Sols, hatch a plan to launch the island of New Kunlun into space, where Solarian inhabitants could be put into hibernation while they develop a cure. Yi, one of the Sols, is killed by Eigong, his mentor and leader of the Sols. He awakens hundreds of years later in Peach-Blossom Village, where apemen—humans—are being bred as livestock and is nursed back to health by Shuanshaun, a young boy. Given this new chance at life, Yi vows to right his past wrongs and take the remaining nine Sols’ seals to take control of New Kunlun.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
As Yi, you’ll explore New Kunlun, discovering along the way warrior scientist Yi’s backstory and how the Sols’ preservation project has gone horribly wrong since his disappearance. In typical metroidvania fashion, you’ll open up new areas as you gain new abilities. New Kunlun’s map is large and full of secrets, divided into several distinctly themed regions, each controlled by a Sol. You’ll meet new allies that will move into your base and provide purchasable upgrades as well as develop the story.
Traversal feels great, especially as you gain new abilities such as double jump, air dash, and air parry. You can smoothly run on climbable walls and use a grappling hook on certain platforms. These skills carry over to the fast and fierce combat that demand lightning reflexes. Success against enemies will demand that you have total mastery over your movement through space.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
Your skill to parry attacks is the key to survival. Parries will energize your Qi, which you can use to punish enemies by sticking and detonating Foo Charm talismans on them. When you perfect parry, you don’t take damage; if your parry timing is off, you’ll still gain Qi but also take internal damage. Internal damage will heal over time, unless you take any hits, which will make it permanent.
Another tool at your disposal is the Azure Bow, an energy bow that will help you control space when assaulted by too many enemies at once. It’s powerful, but only has limited shots that you must recharge by picking them up or resting. Otherwise, your main weapon is a Qi blade with a three hit combo. As part of the skill tree, you’ll upgrade its power.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
While attack options may seem limited, you can equip Jade Computing Units into a limited but expandable number of slots that will allow you to tweak your build to fit your own combat style. For example, for most of the game I used the Breather Jade, which heals a small amount of your internal damage when you strike an enemy. There are plenty of Jades that you can mix and match for lots of options once you expand your available Jade slots.
The many multi-stage bosses in Nine Sols demand mastery over these techniques. They hit hard, and you won’t beat them unless you can learn their attacks and parry enough of them. I spent hours trying to beat some of the bosses. If you’re up the challenge, beating them is very satisfying; my final battle would always look like a chaotic ballet of traded hits and slashes.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
Along with the brutal difficulty, Nine Sols features more trappings of the soulslike genre. Yi heals by smoking a pipe with limited charges that will refill when resting. Resting will also cause enemies to respawn. Nine Sols keeps its currency and experience as separate resources, but you’ll still drop both on death and must recover them. Once you gain enough experience, you’ll convert it into a skill point. The developers were generous, letting you keep unspent skill points when you die.
Aside from the stellar gameplay, Nine Sols is visually mesmerizing. The game is 2D, with beautifully detailed hand-drawn environments with have a subtle sense of depth to them. All the characters and enemies are vibrantly hand-drawn and animated as well; the combat’s fluidity comes from the strength of the animation just as much as it does from the gameplay design. I love the detail of Yi’s parry animation and how he’ll position his hand at variable heights randomly. The game has the feeling of a living manga, a notion confirmed by the game’s excellent manga-style cutscenes. If Red Candle Games ever publishes a full length manga version of Nine Sols, I would definitely read it.
As far as visual direction, there’s a key moment of cinematic flair in the game where Yi must survive a gauntlet of enemies in an Oldboy style hallway fight. I loved the feel of it. It came late in the game and I wish Nine Sols had more moments like this one.
Nine Sols. Credit: Red Candle Games.
I spent around 40 hours playing Nine Sols from start to finish; a lot of that time was devoted to throwing myself repeatedly into the meat grinders that are the game’s unforgiving boss fights. At least two of the bosses took me over five hours each. Regardless of that, I loved every second. I played the game’s Normal mode; there’s an easier Story mode, but I can’t vouch for that mode’s difficulty level. Nine Sols is a must play for any lovers of metroidvanias that have an appreciation for the level of mastery that a soulslike demands.
Nine Sols is a departure for Red Candle Games, who previously brought us horror games Detention and Devotion. I can’t wait to see what this versatile group of developers does next.
Nine Sols is available now for PC and Mac on Steam.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: Steam Deck
