Nine Sols
2024
- platform
- hack and slash/beat 'em up
- adventure
- indie
- action
- fantasy
- science fiction
- single player
The story
Nine Sols is a hand-drawn 2D action-platformer set in a science fiction world influenced by Asian fantasy and Taoist imagery. The game follows a vengeful protagonist on a quest to defeat the nine Sols, the rulers of a ruined realm once inhabited by an ancient alien civilization. Gameplay focuses on exploration, story progression, and combat built around timed deflection mechanics.
What it’s like
Hand-drawn ink-wash backdrops and crisp sprite animation give Nine Sols a painterly, lantern-lit look: jade and vermilion palettes, misty mountain silhouettes, and ruined palaces crowded with glowing Taoist talismans and alien machinery. The sound leans on sparse traditional strings and percussion that swell into tense, rhythmic synth during fights, with long stretches of ambient hush between battles. Movement is fluid and precise, and the combat asks for timed parries and patient reading of enemy patterns, so it feels more like a deliberate duel than a button-mashing brawl. The mood is melancholy and austere, with a wary, grief-tinged vengeance easing into something quieter as the world opens up. Its violence is frequent and stylised: sword-and-spirit clashes, bloodless bursts of sparks, and some fierce boss encounters that can be punishing, though nothing graphic or gory. It suits a focused evening alone, with headphones on, for players who want a demanding soulslike-style challenge wrapped in an elegant, mythic atmosphere.
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