Gaming | Science Fiction
‘Solar Ash’ is Breathtaking in Every Sense of the Word
I recently played Solar Ash. I’m a little late to the party, as it’s multiplatform release was last fall, but now that I’ve finished it it’s clear this game is truly special.
Take control of Rei, a graceful figure-skating galactic warrior, as she seeks to destroy the Ultravoid, a black hole threatening to destroy her home planet and countless other worlds.
Rei journeys to the center of the void to seal it up using the Starseed, tech developed by her home planet. Rei and a group of elite galactic scientists and warriors, the Voidrunners, are sent into the planetoid amalgamation in the center of the Ultravoid to activate the Starseed, yet things go wrong quickly as titanic monstrosities made of black ooze attack Rei. Worse yet, she’s lost contact with her crew and is alone in the void. Traverse this strange planetoid, unravel the mystery of what happened to your crew, and slay the beasts in your path.
This game has some of the most fluid platforming I’ve seen in years. You can glide, skate and cut over picturesque, abstract landscapes, slicing and dicing through oozy enemies while grinding onto rails. Rei is so fast, yet you have complete control over her the entire time, keeping the constant speed and grace of the game’s central mechanics privy to your needs as the player. This keeps the exploration-based collectathon gameplay loop — harvesting a sort of material used to activate beacons towards the Starseed — constantly fun and entertaining as it is based on your playstyle.
Each stage is masterfully crafted to be explorable for secrets, but also — if you want — a clean cut towards the exit. Solar Ash is truly one of the only games I can say fits every gamer’s individual needs.
The game’s central platforming mechanic is Rei’s solar skates, which let her glide across the foggy waters and abyss of the Ultravoid. These skates also let you grind on rails suspended in midair and, later on, perform wall jumps. To keep you on your toes, small enemies will be placed on rails or fire projectiles at you, which you must swiftly dispatch with your sword, leading to a perfect blend of satisfaction and challenge.
Solar Ash has some incredible boss fights as well. I’m a sucker for gigantic enemies you have to scale and take down by utilizing weak points, and Solar Ash’s Titans deliver. Each one is humongous, easily towering over Rei by several thousand feet. The name of the game here is to hit their glowing weak points, which can only be accessed by climbing up the side of them, and each one has a different gimmick.
There’s a titan in the sky you must use cannons against and boostpad to launch yourself into the air to take it out, a giant worm you must ride on its back to reach its fleshy weak points, and a giant knight whose massive sword you ride up to strike the point on its head. These fights always make you feel like the underdog, and when you come out on top the gratification you feel is immeasurable.
This game’s art cannot be matched, either. Using watercolor and cel-shading accompanied by a dark and dreary score creates a colorful yet weary and tired atmosphere, creating the idea that something is seriously wrong. This game looks fantastic even on low-end platforms, the bright colors and ruins creating a clash of opposing elements that will forever evoke a sense of both wonder and sadness from me.
However, if you get farther into the game, its story is also poignant, sad, and will hit you like a truck once you get towards the end. I won’t spoil the twist, but I will say it almost had me in tears.
The one criticism I have of this title is it’s painfully short. I would’ve loved to explore the Ultravoid with Rei longer, but once I hit the 5 hour mark, my journey was over. I’d love to see devs do DLC or a sequel, but that is highly unlikely, unfortunately.
So please, don’t miss out on this game. It is not talked about enough, and the sheer spectacle in itself is 100% worth the buy.
