![]() Both of these felt rather undercooked to me. The game has two different collectible items plasma and suits. So what was the point in having them be set in the same world? At least in the Fumito Ueda games (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian) there were clear hints that they existed in the same universe, which I expected more from Solar Ash. I also read back when the first trailer came out that Solar Ash, according to the devs, is supposed to be set in the same universe as Hyper Light Drifter, but so far there seems to be no references or connecting tissue between those two worlds at all. Overall the score is still great, but it left me wanting a little bit more. ![]() After the game came out and I started playing I was then a little disappointed to find out that Disasterpeace had stepped away and was only behind a small part of the music, with another person taking on the role as the main composer. So naturally, I was excited when this game was announced alongside the news that Disasterpeace, the composer of Heart Machine's first game, was returning to score their new one. Not just among OSTs, but albums in general. The outstanding music in Hyper Light Drifter is a huge part of why I loved that game, since that soundtrack probably is the best musical album I have ever heard. The script in Solar Ash can sometimes rely on the typical video game exposition too much, and it doesn't help that part of the dialogue and voice acting feels a little bland, but mostly it's good. The story is pretty good so far, where I am around the start of Luminous Peak, but at the same time I kinda miss the mystery and ambiguity of the completely word-less storytelling in Hyper Light, where the story also felt more emotional to me, even though I barely could understand what was happening in it. Other games that Solar Ash made me think of while playing include Jet Set Radio, The Pathless and Journey, which made me wonder how original this game really is, since it seems to have borrowed a lot. It was awesome the first time, but as the game went on it slowly became a little more boring with each level and corresponding boss fight. Meanwhile, the bosses in Solar Ash, while visually dazzling, feel more like a rollercoaster spectacle, where the only thing you need to do to defeat them is get from point A to B to C etc, and you do it the exact same way every time. Sometimes that could be frustrating, but it also felt rewarding and made the boss fights more challenging and memorable. The big difference though between the bosses in these games is that in Colossus you had to use your head to solve a unique puzzle just to get up on the giant creatures. ![]() The game takes a lot of inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus with the visual design of these "Remnants", as they are called, to the point where they almost feel like re-skins of some specific Colossi from SotC, especially the ones in Mirrorsea (Gaius) and Luminous Peaks (Avion). The bosses look very cool, but towards the end their battle encounters became very predictable and on-rails, since you use the same method to take down all of them. It almost feels like the game should have been a pure platformer instead of an action-platformer. The combat also feels way more simplified, with only one weapon and way to attack enemies, and no upgrades to give you more alternatives in how you approach battles. While Solar Ash has beatiful graphics, a fully realized 3D world, nice atmospheric music, an exciting story premise and navigation/controls that are fast and buttery smooth, it still feels lacking in a few parts.Įven though both Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash run about the same length, HLD had way more enemies spread out over the course of the game, while Solar Ash only have a few that repeats across multiple levels. HLD is a favorite game of mine, so it's hard for me to not compare the two. Solar Ash is the second game by Heart Machine, the studio that made Hyper Light Drifter in 2016. I saw that the average time-to-beat was about 7 hours, so the reason it took me this long is because I've explored thorougly and made sure to get all the suits and complete the side-quests before moving on to the next level.Īmateur review-in-progress (thoughts might be subject to change): ![]() I'm about 9 and 1/2 hours in and just got to Luminous Peak, so I'm guessing I will reach the end pretty soon. Hi everybody! Here are my thoughts about the game that I wrote down on a whim today while playing.
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