Nine Sols has taken the spot as my favourite metroidvania I’ve ever played. The game is a Souls-like for the soul that oozes style and beauty.
With parry based combat inspired by Sekiro and inspirations clearly taken from Hollow Knight; Nine Sols is a journey I won’t soon forget.
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The gorgeous hand drawn 2D art style blends seamlessly with subtle 3D elements to create a rich colourful world that is a feast for the eyes. An enchanting, mystifying and adrenaline pumping soundtrack compliments the visual feast.
The “Taopunk” setting, as developers Red Candle Games describe it, is a perfect blend of taoism and sci-fi cyberpunk.
I cannot express enough how beautiful and well crafted this game world is.
Yi’s Quest for Vengeance
Nine Sols puts you in the shoes of Yi, a man of science who is struck down by a cloaked figure and cast to his death for unknown reasons.
After this event, Yi is absorbed by root-like tendrils and brought back to life centuries later. Upon his revival Yi is met by a small human child, Shuanshuan with whom he recovers with and bonds.
From here, Yi begins his quest of Vengeance against the 9 Sols, rulers of the island referred to as New Kunlun. The 9 Sols each preside over a different section of the island and Yi must face them one after the other to enact his plan of revenge.
That is the basis of the game and whilst I would LOVE to go into the story more, the discoveries along the way are part of the journey.
Presentation
Yi’s story presents through three main mediums: cutscenes, conversations, and manga style comic strips. All are lovingly hand-drawn, with the manga-style scenes in particular using color to enhance the visual experience.
It was beautiful yet disturbing, haunting yet heartwarming. Nine Sols is one of the more interesting stories in gaming from recent years.
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Such a well crafted lens presents a story about science vs spirituality and how these forces oppose and intertwine, and I want more, even if it’s not the first of its kind.
Normally, understanding the story of a soulslike requires a deep-dive lore video. However, Nine Sols offered a refreshing experience, where the pieces all fall into place over the course of the game.
There was more than one moment when I sat with my mouth wide open, ‘ready to catch flies,’ as my mother used to say.
The world of New Kunlun
New Kunlun comprises nine distinct districts, each with its own unique and varied feel.
Places such as the heavy sci-fi aesthetic of the power reservoir, with its towering battery columns and dark green hues, to the factory district systematically being purged with a red white-hot radiation; each zone is diverse.
My favourite area to traverse was the sol, Lady Etheral’s soulscape, a virtual paradise where not everything was as it seemed.
Then you have Yi’s base of operations, the four seasons pavilion. A large traditional temple structure surrounded by gardens that rotate through the seasons.
Off to one side is Yi’s AI companion Abacus, a large dome shaped computer who offers intel and assistance on Yi’s quest.
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It is here that Yi can upgrade equipment and purchase new perks. This is also where various NPCs gather offering a variety of tasks and conversations.
Each NPC that joined me had interesting back stories that you uncovered as the game progressed. By the time the end rolled around I was attached to them all. With each NPC’s personality developing alongside Yi’s.
Parry, deflect, parry, attack!
The gameplay of Nine Sols focuses primarily on combat and platforming. The combat heavily draws inspiration from Sekiro, where parrying and deflecting are key to success.
Each encounter with an enemy is, metaphorically, a new dance that you need to learn. The steps consist of attacking, parrying, deflecting, dashing and jumping. Learning the timing of each is key to success.
Yi earns a Qi charge with each parry, using it for his talismans attack. This ability causes Yi to dash through the enemy, placing a talisman that explodes after a charge. The talisman inflicts massive damage, with higher damage resulting from the use of more charges.
Yi unlocks abilities as you progress, such as air dashes, double jumps, and various parries for different attack types.
Flawlessly pulling off a dance leaves you feeling invincible, until the next unknown enemy or pitfall makes a fool of you. Nine Sols consistently introduces new foes, keeping you engaged from start to finish.
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The game is punishingly hard if you are not willing to learn the dance of death. I died a lot, yet at no point did I feel like the game was unfair. I just needed to learn the steps to victory.
When frustration started to set in, I had to remind myself to look into the Matrix, just like Neo, to see the patterns. This worked every time, patience is a virtue afterall.
Experience the Jin
Jin represents Nine Sol’s version of souls, the currency used to upgrade equipment and purchase perks. Players lose Jin upon death and must recover it from their corpse, as is the way.
Perks come in the form of Jade stones, all with varying degrees of usefulness. You can swap them in and out freely at Root Nodes, this game’s version of bonfires. Each stone is useful in a given situation.
Yi’s computing power limits perk selection, akin to notches from Hollow Knight. As Yi unlocks more power he can equip more perks.
Separate to Jin, Yi gains experience after encounters. This experience goes towards earning skill points and are used to unlock additional skills for Yi.
Like Jin, if you die before a skill point is earned you lose all progress.
One thing I found odd was that bosses did not reward any Jin upon death, just skill points and minor damage increases. I missed the massive influx of ‘souls’ I had become accustomed to after a hard fought victory.
Is Nine Sols worthy?
I think it is safe to say that you already know what I’m going to say… Yes, yes it is. Nine Sols was a fantastic experience from start to finish.
My only gripe with the game was the fast travel system needs some tweaking to be a bit more streamlined, other than that I loved my journey. The story, the setting, the combat, it is all top notch in my eyes.
Nine Sols is an indie game worthy of a place amongst the greats of its genre.
It’s now available on PC via Steam for $43.95 AUD, a fair price for this amazing journey.
Quest Daily scores Nine Sols:
9.5/10
A review copy of Nine Sols was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
