www.rockpapershotgun.com/nine-sols-review
Nine Sols review: A 2D Sekiro-like so good it converted me to an entire genre
ReviewIt's gonna get super popular, a sequel will be announced, and the sequel will come out before Silksong.
Mark my words.
Silksong doomerism reaching new heights
I'm on the record that BG&E2 comes out before Silksong. I am sticking to that.
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16d
This is simply the only real answer in this thread
Side note: Loving nine sols, boss difficulty feels perfect
I'd say it's pretty much the same quality as Hollow Knight and I even enjoyed it a bit more.
HK has better exploration with some nicer, less streamlined secrets to discover but Nine Sols blows it out of the water combat and story-wise. That final boss was probably the best 2D boss I've ever fought and the last boss in general was probably my favourite boss in general since Isshin.
I found Hollow Knights combat much more memorable. I guess Nine Sol's parry-based combat didn't click for me, even though I love Sekiro.
I didn’t click for me until pretty much the last boss.
Combat is tighter in Hollow Knight. Nine Sols has/had a lot of issues with hitboxes.
The last boss is probably my favourite fight in any game ever though.
does it have interesting world lore mystery like Hollow Knight? its the only reason i tried that game (ended up loving it)
The story is more direct than the standard Souls-type lore. It will start out obfuscated but it is quite directly explained through many & lore entries you find.
The story's good and there's quite a bit of dialogue with the companions you find that end up staying in the hub.
How is it in terms of difficulty? I tend to struggle with parry heavy systems, or ignore them altogether if I can get away with it.
Very Sekiro-ish. The parry is generous, but you’ll have to use it. The tracking is strong and the hitboxes are really wonky if you try to just dash through to dodge.
It's pretty difficult on standard mode. There is a story difficulty that has damage and attack sliders.
The last boss is difficult and I eventually went to story mode just so that I could finish the game before Elden Ring DLC.
I've beaten Sekiro NG+7, charmless and the last boss here had me pretty stumped.
You should give it a go again later on standard difficulty! It took me an hour or two to get the rhythm down but once you do it's so incredibly fun and memorable.
I most likely will, but when it's time to put Elden Ring down again.
The last boss is definitely a jump in difficulty. I think my only real complaint about the game is that the last boss has a few attacks you have to react to differently, but they're pretty hard to distinguish. It took me a while to figure out how to handle those reliably.
Really solid game though, regardless.
I'm bad with parry focused games too. Most demand you really pay attention to the signs of when an attack is coming, but I found Nine Sols to be far more reactive and forgiving with the timing.
Except for the unbounded parry - never could get that down enough to be effective with it in a fight.
You cannot get away with ignoring the parry to get past multiple bosses in this game. Not "it will be easier". Without parry multiple bosses in this game are impossible.
The parry has 2 "parts" to it. Partial parry if your timing is not awful but not great, that gives you "internal" damage that heals over time (or with jades can be healed on hitting the enemy etc). This health is lost if you take a hit that is not a perfect or imperfect parry. Perfect parries do no damage to you. The game makes which you got very clear by sound (with a third, awful to hear sound if you just get hit outright).
There is a bonus mechanic you unlock close to halfway through that is a charged parry with a larger window, but requires you to read the move ahead of time and hold the parry button down. On top of said larger parry window it also does internal damage to the opponent which is wildly helpful on bosses.
I hope the game gets more exposure like this because it is damn good, but I feel like it came out and nobody noticed. It feels in many ways even more like Dark Souls (or Sekiro, obviously) than Hollow Knight did.
E: Hey since this comment is getting a lot of attention, here's a question for my fellow gamers who have played both: Which do you think was the better game this year, Nine Sols or Animal Well?
It's a real shame, I don't think any big outlets have even reviewed it.
There were no reviews at launch, which suggests they didn't send out review codes in advance. I feel like Red Candle may have been overwhelmed with launch. I'm not mad at all, but I backed their crowdfunder and had a hard time getting my key from them.
Yeah, as a backer (and long time fan of Red Candle), the past year had quite a few delays that I don't think they fully anticipated. Which, for a game that was announced just over 2 years ago, that's nothing to complain about at all, but I do think the jump to a completely different style of game they're known for was a bigger challenge than they may have realized.
I'm (impatiently) waiting for the Switch port to redeem my copy, but I cannot stress enough how much I want this studio to continue winning after the Devotion debacle.
Bought it on steam a day after it came out and beat it in 30h. Game was hard but i feel it did a good job of teaching you the mechanics. Was a blast to play also. easy 9/10 for me.
I want this studio to continue winning after the Devotion debacle.
What happened with Devotion? I loved Detention, but I haven’t gotten to play Devotion yet.
They're a Taiwanese studio. The game had a Xi Jinping = winnie the pooh meme reference on a poster, and even after this was patched out, there was massive review bombing from China, death threats, the game being pulled off steam, social media accounts being shut down, etc. Over a year after this, Gog said they'd sell it then immediately changed their mind after having the same sort of reaction targeted at them.
You can still buy Devotion directly from Red Candle's website.
u/Karzons explained it, but the biggest kicker with the Devotion delisting is that it completely killed any momentum the game would have (rightfully) received at launch. Early reviews had been lauding it as one of the few post-P.T. horror games to actually do something compelling and not shamelessly derivative like 99% of the "haunted house" games that appeared in P.T.'s wake.
I fully believe that Red Candle would've shot into the stratosphere amongst horror game streamers if the delisting didn't happen.
I've never even heard of it aka seen it on here, but I only have an Xbox so I'm not going to be able to play it anyway.
I just think there have been a lot of big AAA games that have come out in the last year that many people are still working through. So it will take some time for new AA indie games to get noticed by the general gaming market.
The price point could also be a factor - $30 is on the high end for a game like this. Waiting for a sale personally.
yeah no matter how good the game is, 30 is pretty steep for such a niche title, especially when hollow knight's base price is 15
Could you explain that logic? Surely a good niche title deserves your money more.
People have been saying that there are too many games for a while, but actually there are too many amazing games - so even the ones that are also great just fall trough the cracks right now
I've never understood how two contradictory narratives the first being 'there are so many good games, 2023 was the greatest year of gaming, I'll never work through my backlog etc' and the other 'gaming is dead, everything sucks now' can simultaneously exist in the gaming community, but they do.
Personally I'm with you - there has never been more good games of a wide variety. They're also cheaper than they've ever been. I have relatives in third world countries that can basically play the same games I do because there are so many sales and discounts.
I've never understood how two contradictory narratives the first being 'there are so many good games, 2023 was the greatest year of gaming, I'll never work through my backlog etc' and the other 'gaming is dead, everything sucks now' can simultaneously exist in the gaming community, but they do.
Different preferences and measuring sticks
gaming is dead, everything sucks now
A lot of people just focus on the bad games that come out. Like, I don't know why Gollum and Skull Island got so much attention last year. There were so many threads and comments bringing them up. No idea why people allow games like those to occupy more than 5 seconds in their brain. Just move on and find something you like (of which there were a billion amazing games last year).
Because social media is all about being outraged. People would rather see the stuff that makes them angry (in this case bad games) than hearing about all the cool success stories.
Because those games are hilarious to think about
"Gaming is dead, everything sucks now" is absolutely silly, yeah.
There are some real issues to criticize in the AAA industry, and we are definitely losing some serious talent; it's good to remember that. But we have so many projects and creativity out there in all kinds of games of different sizes, I honestly think we're just getting started.
In my experience the second type of person you described doesn't actually like playing games, they just miss being 10 years old with no responsibilities.
I've never understood how two contradictory narratives can simultaneously exist in the gaming community,
Sp that the narrative matches what you're trying to say. It's like how every season/month/time of year is simultaneously the best time for player counts/sales or the worst time for player counts/sales, Depending on what you're trying to say about a particular number. Thing you like has bad numbers? Duh, everyone's on vacation because it's summer, no time for games. Thing you dislike has good numbers? Duh, everyone's on summer break and has tons of time for games.
gaming is dead, everything sucks now
I think it's more that these people are just morons.
It's not really mutually exclusive. The gaming industry is in crisis partly because the supply of good games outpaces demand. Why should I buy a $70 AAA game when there are more fantastic indie releases than I can ever hope to experience?
Did Hollow Knight feel like Dark Souls, though? Besides the atmosphere and the lose-your-resources when dead/return to place of death to get them back mechanic? It feels more like they both drank from the same well (Metroid and Zelda) than HK drank from DS’s.
dark souls is just a 3d metroidvania
and as a person that played both games religiously, yes hollow knight is very much 2d dark souls, from the drip feed lore, boss encounters, secrets and atmosphere of being a badass in a dying land
??? Dark souls isn’t a metroidvania at all. Not even a little bit
The term Metroidvania is so vaguely defined that there is a yearly survey in r/metroidvania in an attempt to define it 😄
The game "Castlevania" is named that, because it's a metroidvania, that takes place inside a castle!
Castlevania is the name of the castle actually
No that's Alucard's nickname. Alucard Fahrenheit "Castlevania" Tepes.
actually, alucard is castlevania backwards
I don't need to know which dracula I am to be a dracula
DS1's map design (world shortcuts, interconnectedness, layout etc.) feel very peak Metroidvania.
But IMHO that's almost all of where it lines up.
Not technically but its design very much feels like a 3d metroidvania, I think that frequently while playing it myself. There's a lot of seeing items and things that you can't quite access until you figure something out.
The one inarguable element of a metroidvania though is getting new abilities that open up new paths. That's like the one thing everyone can agree on.
Definition of "metroidvania" on Wikipedia:
Metroidvania[a] is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression. [...] These games usually feature a large interconnected world map the player can explore, although parts of the world will be inaccessible to the player until they acquire special items, tools, weapons, abilities, or knowledge within the game. Acquiring such improvements can also aid the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and often includes retracing one's steps across the map.
Dark Souls 1 is an action game full of adventure in an interconnected non-linear world full of shortcuts. Parts of the world are inaccessible until you acquire certain things, the main ones being the Lordvessel to access late-game areas, and the Covenant of Artorias ring that is required to fight the Four Kings boss. DS1 involves backtracking, for example after ringing the two bells to unlock Sen's Fortress. There's other tools that improve exploration, such as lanterns for the very dark Tomb of the Giant (which also reveal hidden walls in Oolacile town), items that boost fire defense so you can grab items in lava, and the Rusted Iron Ring so you don't get slowed while walking through swamps and lakes. There are secret areas such as Ash Lake, Gwyndolyn and the painted world.
utility-gated exploration
This is the key thing that makes Dark Souls not a Metroidvania. Gating in Dark Souls is 99.9% bosses, quest progression, and literal keys. Needing a light source for the Tomb of the Giants is arguably the one exception, but that one exception does not a Metroidvania make.
If you follow this guy's Wikipedia definition (lol), then Super Mario 64 is a metroidvania.
Ehh, 64 is not exactly interconnected, it's very clearly a hub-and-levels system.
Utility-based unlocks are a thing with the 3 caps though, so I guess that part checks out.
Metroid games have had hub and level systems, Metroid fusion is literally that
People think metroidvania when it's actually old school dungeon crawlers.
I don't think returning to a hub area such as Firelink qualifies as backtracking. You're not experiencing new content or unlockables in old areas the way you would in a metroidvania, you're just travelling through the area, often via a loop around and shortcuts, to get to the next new zone.
Think of it like a 3D castlevania and it might start to make more sense.
Keep speaking the truth, brother
People are so weirdly allergic to letting their favs be compared to things. And people love to downplay obvious Dark Souls comparisons, with many "Not everything is inspired by Dark Souls!" type comments popping up whenever the comparison is made. It's okay to admit that things are inspired by other things, especially when it's as in your face as Hollow Knight is about it.
The only thing in Hollow Knight that's clearly reminiscent of Souls games is the corpse runs. I think the creators stated outright that they hadn't played much Souls games when they made it, and it was mostly inspired by Zelda and Metroid. Dark Souls was also heavily inspired by Zelda, which largely accounts for why they have design similarities.
How hard is it?
I'm around 2/3ds the way through it and I'd say its on par with Sekiro for difficulty.
Its not unlike Sekiro if you played that. Can't comment on the Nine sols final boss yet, just got there. She killed me thrice, i feel this one is going to take a bit
I die like 8-12 times or so on most bosses. Occasionally i die to trash mobs but that's generally inattention.
You have a parry, you can perfect parry, which blocks all damage, or partial parry which deals internal damage, which slowly heals until you take an actual hit. Then its converted to actual damage. Later in the game you get 2 different special parries for special attacks.
A few bosses did have me go "This is fucking bullshit" while learning them.
Do note, there's a Story mode option which lets you tinker with the difficulty setting. The only stupid thing is you can't activate it during a play through. so you need to restart if you want to. (They should let you activate it during a play, or maybe let you copy an existing save but activate story mode in that)
[Edit] apparantly you can now activate story mode during the run.
You can activate it during a playthrough. I turned mine on after Yanlao's bossfight.
You can activate Story Mode at any time during a playthrough. I know because I did it.
My friend (who is a Souls veteran) and I are both playing through it. The only Souls game I played was Elden Ring but I have played and beaten other Souls-likes such as Hollow Knight and Tunic. We needed 30 minutes to an hour to beat the first boss, and a similar amount of time for the second. The game is very challenging but in that realm of "challenging but doable" for me that provides a very addictive quality. I have a baby and a lot of responsibilities outside of gaming though so eventually I had to switch to Story Mode, which lets you manually adjust the amount of damage you deal or take (helped me speed up some boss fights).
I have not played Sekiro, so I cannot really compare it to that. But my friend did play Sekiro and says it is in a similar ballpark. I think a big deciding factor is if you can time your parries well. The game expects you to parry most attacks and if you can learn the timing the game is doable but the longer it takes you to learn the timing the harder the game will be!
I agree, it's not quite at Hollow Knight level of quality but it's a damn good time. I think it's one of the better new games out there right now.
I prefer it to Hollow Knight personally. I prefer the map design of Nine Sols even if backtracking is a dick ache.
Apart from going back to your body after you die and the way the lore is presented there's not much Soulslike in Hollow Knight. It's just a straight metroidvania.
Salt and Sanctuary is the real 2D Dark Souls.
Agree, I am having more fun in this than hollow knight(but maybe hollow knight is more objectively better?)
Hollow Knight's exploration aspect is its strong suit in my opinion, plus it definitely has Nine Sols beat in the sheer amount of content the game has after all the post-release additions.
That said I think Nine Sols has it beat in both combat and narrative, but those both are sort of very subjective elements and I believe not everyone is gonna appreciate them to the same degree.
If you've played the game, how much backtracking etc does this game have and by 2d, are we talking a traditional left/right/jump/crouch type of side scroller or something more complex? I'm asking as I'm curious as to how this might work as a gamer without sight, any adaptations needed notwithstanding.
If you're familiar with Hollow Knight then it has a similar level of traversal to that: there's wall climbing, grappling, double jumping, dashing and air dashing, there's also at least 2 instances that require parrying an enemy to propel yourself upwards.
Not counting optional areas the game doesn't require that much platforming skills except for maybe one area with moving containers
Aside from that the game has 3 different types of parries for attacks with different visual cues. Being able to identify the attack being performed is very essential to the combat in this game.
Thanks for the explanation. I wonder if the audio for each type is different as well? As for the traversal, it could potentially be made accessible as long as you know where you need to go etc which could also be accommodated for.
I suppose I just want an accessible souls-like experience on my own terms, no assistance needed. :)
There's different sound cues as well but honestly I didn't pay as much attention to those so I can't guarantee there aren't different attacks with identical sound cues.
At least there are different cues. Different attacks with the same cue has been an unfortunate problem for years, but I can't wait until the industry realises it needs to change. :) Fromsoft games are especially known for this, which is a shame as learning patterns them becomes much harder.
If it helps, there's a Story mode that allows you to modify how much damage you do/take and has zero impact on anything else. So you can regulate the level of challenge until you're comfortable with it.
Agree, I will think platforming also better in hollow knight. I like story way way more in nine sols, and characters leave stronger impact. Every souls game story is way too cryptic and requires lore video watching on youtube. For some that's more exciting
Hollow Knight is packed with more enemy variety, content, bosses, and it's exploration aspect is what sets it apart from other metroidvanias.
I found Nine Sols lacking in the exploration department and I've seen the same enemies copy pasted pretty often already despite being a few hours in already.
Explorations Def better in hollow knight. I liked combat, story and bosses more in nine sols
Hollow Knight is one of the best metroidvanias but imo it's not the pinnacle of the genre that many act like it is. It's certainly the most content dense and the best of the "soulslike" metroidvanias but I'd argue there's a handful that's on the same level in terms of enjoyment for me.
As someone who grew up on Super Metroid being in my top 3 and pretty much plays every metroidvania possible. Hollow Knight is the only game to every dethrone it (Super Metroid) as the best metroidvania of all time in my eyes. I put 200 hours into that game, it was incredible.
Honestly I'd put it up there with the other juggernauts of their genre's like Chrono Trigger, Portal 2, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Elden Ring, Super Mario World, Mass Effect 2 etc.
To each their own though.
Yeah in the end, it's subjective experience. Which ones do you think are on the same level?
Metroid Dread, Prince of Persia the Lost Crown, SOTN, both Soma Cruz Castlevanias (though in the case of Dawn of Sorrow, it's only truly great if you play with the definitive edition mod), Animal Well, and Metroid Zero Mission
None of them are on the same level as Hollow Knight in terms of pure content/enemy variety/combat, but they all excel in their own ways.
That's a good list:
Metroid Dread has absolutely crazy character progression and the best boss fights in the genre. The lava system snake thing with the pink lasers is my favourite boss of all time. Best replay value of any game for me personally.
Prince of Persia the Lost Crown: Probably the most debatable title on that list. It has a little jank, the story tries too hard and making nearly every boss attack unblockable was just a dick move. But it has the best platforming in the genre and for that alone one should play it.
Symphony of the Night: Just the rightful classic and still great today. Though I never did enjoy the upside down castle.
Handheld Castlevanias: Love 'em all! I have particularly great memories of Order of Ecclesia.
Animal Well: I guess I need to play this when I'm done with Nine Sols.
Metroid Zero Mission: Why Zero Mission over Super?
All of these have something over Hollow Knight in some regard but Hollow Knight is the most complete package ever. The game is just thoroughly impressive in every regard.
Nine Sols so far seems to be the best looking Metroidvania with the most engaging story. I am not very far in and very bad at the combat but I hope it will end up among my favourites.
It snuck a little under the radar but MIO looks like it has the potential to be incredible! I personally found Animal Well somewhat disappointing but a lot of people really liked it!
Since it isn't mentioned I'd add Ori and the Blind Forest to one of the best metroidvanias but it's more focused on platforming.
Personally, I had more fun with Blasphemous 2. The boss fights in that game are so fucking good. And I also just generally like actual Metroid more. Dread was top tier.
Blasphemous 2 is def on my list to play, do you think it's necessary to play the first one?
No. The first one is fine, but 2 is insanely better. It's not even close IMO. It's not a story heavy series, so you won't be missing much there. I didn't even understand the first game's story TBH.
Has combat or traversal changed much in 2? I loved the art and atmosphere in the original but didn't enjoy the combat or movement.
Both are significantly better. My big problem with 1 is that it often feels like you can't avoid damage in fights. The optional serpent boss is a big offender, because even knowing all of his moves there were certain attacks I could not avoid no matter what I tried. So it was easier to exchange blows and brute force fights than try to play with any finesse in most cases.
There's also just a lot to nitpick about 1 in general, like the "upgrades" being items you have to equip to one of 3 available slots. If you're traversing across the map, sometimes you need to pointlessly go into the menu to swap out these items for something as trivial as "ignore poison damage", or the very silly "avoid instant death on falling" (which is extremely annoying if you forget to equip before jumping into a chasm).
B2 fixed pretty much every issue I had with the first game. Upgrades are permanent. There are three combat weapons to switch between, with each feeling very different, having their own upgrade trees, and lending a rock-paper-scissors sort of trinity to the various encounters. There's an engravings system that allows you to equip various modifiers to augment your playstyle, and I found it much more impactful and fun to play around with than the system in B1.
But most importantly, in B2, the bosses are challenging but fair. I never once felt like I was getting killed by cheap shit or that attacks were unavoidable. And since you have more ways to approach any fight, it was just way more fun to experiment and find good counters.
Thanks for the writeup. I'll put it back on my list.
I have never really understood the comparisons with Hollow Knight and the Souls series other than the setting being post-apocalyptic
It's a Silksong we never got! And I'm thankful for this at least.
I noticed and I want to play it and I'm big into games like this usually, it's just that there's a bunch of other stuff I am already playing and want to get through from last year and this year, unfortunately it's at the back of the line behind the elden ring dlc now.
I've had the game on my wishlist for 2 years, but didn't even know it had released until now
I didn’t hear about it until it came out. Completely went under my radar. Maybe I’ll go back to it after Shadow of the Erdtree
Is combat more souls like or Sekiro parry based? If parry based it probably isn't for me.
Parry-based!
I'm excited to check this out soon. I've been dumping hours in to my replay of Elden Ring in preparation for the DLC, but once I'm finished with that, Nine Sols is high up on my list.
yeah I can the general population playing the Elden ring DLC first. Def try this out later, boss battles here are spectacular
It really feels like a Metroidvania made by Red Candle Games, which it is obviously, but there was always the chance something would be lost by them swapping over to a new genre and doing this whole new thing. But I found the story as gripping as their their stories always have been and I found the gameplay fun on top of that. The world they've created is as interesting and deep as I'd expect from them. It really is a fantastic work.
It's a good game, it's really hard for me though. It's gotten easier though as you get used to the mechanics and timing, but it took me a while. I am I think 3 or 4 big bosses in, and I actually had more trouble on the first boss than any other afterward (so far).
Yep bosses after first are a bit easier, then one boss Fk you up lol
Just beat it last night with the true ending. Game is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes metroidvania games with a good difficulty. Can even play storymode if your skills are not up to par.
Nine Sols is amazing. I finished it a few days ago and even now I keep thinking about it. The final battle is the best, most exciting thing I've experienced in a game in a long time.
The final boss is just so incredible
Best since Isshin
Nine Sols really is exception. The boss fights will seriously test you, but they are fair. The only thing that truly sucks about it is how much of a pain it is to get the true ending to fight the true final boss. It takes hours and hours of meticulously scouring the map. They really should have left that out.
I'd never played Sekiro, but absolutely loved this game. I'd love for more people to play it, so forgive me for doing some brief evangelizing.
Yes, it's difficult, but I found that learning to use the game's systems effectively was equally rewarding. While there's a lot to love about Nine Sols, the bosses were what made the game a stand out experience for me. The level and consistency of boss quality was among the highest I've encountered in a game. The experience of overcoming the final boss, in particular, is going to stay with me for a long time.
Yep boss battles are incredible. But I'm only half way there. I heard the final one is up there with isshin
Final boss is awesome because she has a very similar moveset to your character. It's a very one-one-one no bullahit fight, only skill.
Other stansout fights are Lady Etheral and Jiequan. Both are skill checks like Genichiiro from Sekiro.
You should give sekiro a try. It is incredibly well made. If you were able to beat nine sols then you should do ok with sekiro. The health/damage system is different but the "spirit" of the combat is very close.
Thanks for the recommendation! I put it on my steam wish list after I beat Nine Sols, haha. So I'll pick it up eventually, but I've got the Elden Ring DLC to get through first.
Nine sols was pretty great. The gameplay doesn't quite reach the snappiness of hollow knight or sekiro, but it gets close. The game is carried by the art direction though, with incredible (if disturbing) visuals and some very memorable music tracks.
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16d
No. It's more like Hollow Knight.
Really? I would say the combat is very similar to Sekiro. Parrying is like the biggest part of gameplay.
Depends what you hated in HK. Nine sols has less exploration and is more focused on combat. But you are still exploring a 2d world.
The run backs are reasonably short if that matters.
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16d
Nine Sols is way less backtracking heavy and it's usually very clear where you have to go.
I disliked Hollow Knight because exploring a bland black and X color (pick between teal, yellow, blue, etc) world was not very interesting to me. I found runbacks in Ori 2 way more enjoyable because every background slice could be a wallpaper with how beautiful that game was
There's not a huge amount of backtracking in nine sols (so far, I've done ~4 bosses), but there is a little bit. There is some exploration as well, but for the most part it's actually been fairly linear to me because it's seemingly designed in a way where the wrong way is typically inaccessible right away (like a locked door, or a mechanic you don't have the tools for yet). There are better shortcuts than HK, lots of elevators, and I recently just got fast travel (like in elden ring where you can portal to any bonfire). There are also maps available you can buy that indicate whether there are any lore items, pickups or minibosses left in a zone, so there's no real "exploring every inch to find a secret" kind of situation going on.
It's hard to say if you'd like it or not. Unfortunately it seems they took down the demo, and it's not really likely that you'd get to any potentially frustrating exploration or backtracking within steam's 2hr refund window.
Is this going to be coming to consoles? It looks fantastic. Sekiro is one of my favorite games ever and the art in this looks very charming.
Yes it's definitely coming out for consoles but date not confirmed yet
Really hoping for a PS5 date soon for it. Playing metroidvanias on the couch is peak
It has climbed the ladder as one of my favourite games so fast. I knew from the demo the game will be great but it has exceeded all my expectations. Sales had a moderate start but I definitely see the game blowing up in the future
Hot damn. Hollow Knight and Sekiro are two of my all time favorite games. Guess I’ll need to hop in after Animal Well and the Elden Ring DLC.
I am glad that the game is getting more review, but I think this review is more quirky than informative.
Like most people, I got into the game because it has a lot of Hollow Knight DNA, but the game is quite different from HK. It is def more Sekiro inspired (even compare to Soul games).
The biggest difference is that Nine Sols has a very strong focus on story, more so than any metroidvania. I would say it is Hollow Knight inspired but lean more toward Ori or Cave Story regards its narrative.
I have seen few people got turned off by having to read text bubbles for the story. Sorry but this is a huge mismatch in expectation, like playing a story focused game like Mass Effect and ended up getting Kingdoms of Amalur instead; or if you go to theater expecting a fun marvel style action but ended up watching Logan. So if you plan to play the game, do consider engage with its story as all other mechanics (exploration, combat, etc.) are there to support the narrative, not the other way around like most metroidvania.
Overall, the game really surprised me. It has a really compelling story for a metroidvania, which is extremely rare in that genre. Perhaps it is not surprising given the previous games the developers made.
The game has a Story Mode with adjustable difficulty setting, and the game length is not too long but not too short. I feel that the focus on story is important to the design and narration (unlike many metroidvania after HK lean hard into the Soullike drip feeding secrets).
Many people would know the burnout after playing HK or Elden Ring. On the other hand, Nine Sols respects player time, and the ending is so good it makes me feel sad that it is all over.
The biggest difference is that Nine Sols has a very strong focus on story, more so than any metroidvania.
More so than iconoclasts? That game be yapping.
lol well iconoclast does a lot of yapping, as in a lot of the time I really do feel like the dialogue are just people just keep talking and talking and does not stop (which is very one sided)
Nine Sols writing is better imo. It does have a bit of mystery at first, but the exchanges tend to be more about belief conflict or point of view of the characters (which do have pay off), or world building explanation (most are optional and at the hub). Unlike iconoclast, when there are moments that people are being vague about the story, but people here actually talk to each other and directly question the motive or directly ask to not talk about such topic again, etc. The MC has quite a bit of personality instead of being a dry wallpaper.
e: I should mention that, unlike Iconoclasts, the MC engages quite often in dialogue which make it more of a proper story than just "story" info dump
I quit iconoclast because of the verbosity. Nine sols is terser and the writing is way better. The first 20 minutes are a bit slow but then you are in control 99% of the time.
Nine Sols has a tonally consistent, and well delivered story that takes itself seriously, unlike Iconoclasts which tries and fails miserably to be both dark and funny/quirky.
Edit: though I have to say, I didn't like where the story went in Nine Sols. I found certain plot beats and themes... questionable. I still have a lot of respect for both the presentation and the fact that it is a sincere story.
I've never heard of this game which is a shame! Just bought on steam and will be playing on my SteamDeck after work!
Works great on deck
I haven't been able to put this game down!! A++ for sure! Thanks for posting this, I would never have heard of the game otherwise
Agreed. The game has some unsettling vibes, similar to Shigurui Death Frenzy or even Aeon Flux, and the combat is definitely Sekiro-esque. If you enjoy those then this is right up your alley. I also agree with those who said the exploration isn't quite up top Hollow Knight. I don't think there's going to be any sequence breaking, and I've not seen any breakable walls yet either. And the JADE system does seem very restrictive in the early game. But the story is great, and the combat is pure zen mode combat. You just get into the zone with the bosses and each standard enemy is a challenge if you don't learn their movesets. Probably my top 3 for releases this year, right there with Hades 2 and Elden Ring DLC.
People have found at least a few minor short cuts if not outright sequence breaks thanks to stuff like the talisman and charge attack giving you extra forward movement in the air. I won't be surprised if there are non-trivial sequence breaks in the next month if there aren't already.
I'll need to check those out, but after I've beaten it. It's good enough that I actually want to avoid story spoilers. But that's neat to know. It didn't seem like it was really possible given the level design so far. But I'm only 2 major bosses in at the moment.
Just to warn you, 2 bosses is not as informative as you might think as the second and third bosses can be done in either order.
Gotcha. I went from our fat friend to Goumang. Wrapped that area up and explored some more there, and then a lab.
Be curious how long it takes you to find the next area. The early parts of the game I got lost a LOT lol (I actually beat Goumang third because I didn't figure out right away that so I went exploring the rest of the map.
Just beat the old man. But the hardest enemy by far was just a "mini" boss holding a jade in a cave you had to cut the lights on. Good Lord that took me like 40 attempts, lol.
There are mini bosses that I feel like they let you access far earlier than you are ready to beat them in a normal play through lol.
After beating it, this is my GOTY and it's by a very large margin at that. Amazing game if you like parry heavy combat
I had never heard of this game until this thread, so thanks for posting. Judging from the comments it sounds right up my alley (metroidvania, sekiro, narrative-based). I look forward to playing it after Elden Ring DLC.
Worth it
I plan on playing this right after Shadow of the Erdtree. I backed this based on their previous work and am looking forward to finally digging in!
They really need to patch in cutscene and dialogue skipping option. Unskippable cutscenes and dialogue are not acceptable in 2024 come on man
Agree, they need to add this
Finished it a few days ago and yeah the hype is REAL. Incredible world, emotional story, terrific art and music, and the boss battles hooo BOY the boss battles are incredible. They are tough as nails - the last one took me hours - but are so interesting and unique.
Easily one of the best games I’ve played this year and one of the Metroidvania greats
Echoing all the positive sentiments to say that this is easily one of the best games released this year, but I'd bet it'll be entirely ignored by most outlets during end-of-year GOTY discussions and I am going to sob when it does.
The fight against is better than any boss in Elden Ring and one of my favorite boss fights of the decade IMO.
Just bought it because of this article, its incredible. If you enjoyed Hollow Knight you'll love this.
Personally liked this more than Hollow Knight - The combat is snappy and much more mechanically interesting than that game, even if it is fairly linear (especially comparatively). Go play it, it's great and probably my game of the year so far.
I feel the same
I only saw a 30 second trailer for this and I knew it was gonna be a very good Metroidvania. Eager to try it myself
Just finished Blasphemous while procrastinating replaying Elden Ring (don't think it's happening tbh) and this looks like the perfect game to follow it up with!
Thanks to this post I started playing the game. Half hour in and I have already been amazed, can’t wait to see what’s next.
Some of the boss fights are really next level. Lady ethereal was one of the best ever
How does the release compare to the demo? In the demo, the combat was snappy and fun, but there were some small distastes of mine that marred the experience: Dialogue was bad, for a story focused game I just wasn't hooked by the characters. I could have been shown everything each cutscene and dialogue box (in the demo) told me without any real loss.
Then, the environment didn't feel very responsive, making things feel quite hollow. I noticed a distinct lack of things like rustling grass when you walk through it, ropes swaying as you climb them, little things like that which simply exist to add body and weight to things.
The game is much better than the demo. Tbh I did not know about the demo until the game is already released and I was a bit shocked how worse the demo is compares to the base game. Mostly since the background and UI changed a lot, and a lot more platforming was added to even the early game.
Though the story is still a major focus of the game, so if you don't want to engage with it, you might find yourself fighting against the pacing of the game. The game really does not deal its full hand when it comes to the story until it gets pretty deep in though. All of the characters have their personality and motives slowly unveiled through exchanging dialogue.
It's hard to say much about the story and dialogue without know what problem you had with it though. The demo dialogue is quite rough though, having quite poor translation, almost machine-translation tier bad. The base game dialogue is really good imo. I heard that people who can read chinese say that the chinese dialogue is extremely good, as chinese language can be very flowery and poem-like - unfortunately cannot be translated to English. A lot of the dialogue is written in specific way to refer to the way people would talk in that era too (as the game has a lot of mythology references). It is common in chinese writing and speak to conceal meaning behind words so it can be either very direct or too indirect. It is more of a language/culture barrier rather than bad writing imo, which you can also see in other asian made media like in Japanese.
You've touched on my concerns enough that I'll definitely give it another try. I absolutely understand how my complaints would take a backseat for a demo showcase, and they cooked it for plenty of time after the demo first came out. Thanks for your thoughtful response!
So I looked at a video playing through the demo again and haha it is really bad. I can get why the demo turned off some people, like it is 5-6/10 bad compare to the base game. The story flow is also improved with different dialogue and cut scenes.
It is funny that in the demo the kid call the MC "big bro", which is a very common endearing way of calling a non-blood-related person in chinese writing, but it sounds so weird in English. Look like in the base game the translation team worked hard to rewrite a lot of dialogue to work better.
The 1st area of the game feels like the dev still figuring out the flow of the game when designing it, then it gets a lot better as you keep going. Normally, these kinds of games can feel a bit tedious at time but this is one of the few games that I feel more engaged the further I get.
story is a bit slow. Lot of dialogue . But you will be rewarded with great boss battles even if you dont like the story
Nine Sols needs the brightest spotlights. It is a precise, efficient, complex, and rewarding combat system that results in some of best boss fights in recent years.
The production is great, the characters are so likable, with perfect gameplay and exporation. My main gripe is only the soundtrack, it's generic at best, and sometimes bad (purely subjective of course).
Hollow Knight sits at the top, this is the close second game. The third one is much lower.
I don’t even see it on the PS Store? Seems right up my alley.
Only on PC right now, they are working on console ports as their next major milestone.
Ohh okay. Google said it was on PlayStation so that’s why I was confused!
Damn talk about exposure, Ive never heard of this game until this post. Is the game very sekiro-like, in that if you can’t parry you can’t play? It took me years to beat sekiro for that very reason lol
Yes it is, but there is a mode where you can adjust difficulty to your liking
Games been on my wishlist for a while but a little too expensive for a spontaneous buy, so been holding off for now. Is it similar at all to something like the Ori games?
It's more combat heavy.
Very subjective question, but how parry heavy is the combat system and do the enemy attack patterns have intuitive parry timings?
I didn't really enjoy the demo, but it's been a while. And though I do like tough fights and learning boss patterns, I'm not really a fan of facetanking attacks to learn parry timings, if that's all I'm doing.
In other words, how good is the combat system aside from the parries?
its plays a major role. There are attacks that won't work without parry.
You can use the story mode, to make things easier for you
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One of the best Metroidvanias I've ever played. It's near Hollow Knight in terms of quality. The combat is fantastic and the boss fights are very well done.
The story is interesting and the characters are memorable. The environments and visuals are fantastic, though they can be a bit gory so not as suitable for a younger audience like Hollow Knight is.
It doesn't have a tremendous amount of backtracking as you get new powers (double jump, dash in air etc etc). Though you can acquire "map data" that tells you if you missed anything in an area. My only complaint is the Jade system is fairly backloaded, leading you to using the same ones for the majority of the game as you just don't have the slots until the last 1/3 of the story.
I feel like this is going to be a similar tale to Hollow Knight, when it came out, it was relatively unknown and then eventually skyrocketed into popularity.