The folks at Heart Machine are back in the fold with a game set in the same universe as their action-adventure debut. Hyper Light Drifter. Except this time, it’s not a top-down hack-and-slasher but a stylish skate to save a civilization on the brink of collapse. Solar ash See you do somersaults on the backs of huge monsters and chop them down as if you were performing sports acupuncture. So yes, it retains a few things from its predecessor, and that’s the fun factor. This is an interesting game. One thing that excels as it allows you to get off the leash, just, that doesn’t happen as often as I would like.
In Solar Ash, you will play as Rei the space skater whose planet is being sucked into a giant black hole known as the Ultra Void. Normally you would turn a knob on this big tower called the Starseed and hey first you would rescue the planet from the Destruction of Gravity. But for some reason Starseed no longer works and Ultra Void seems to specific attractive this time. Error! An error occurred. Please try again later. So it’s up to you to venture into Ultra Void and see what’s cracking.
It turns out that Ultra Void is not “cracked” but “obstructed”. Towering monsters called Remnants have left this darkness splattered across the land and can you clear this rot? How? By taking that blade of yours and poking their eyes out. Thing is, when you start, you don’t feel too good about it. It does just that in Shadow Of The Colossus, where the shooting down of these creatures inspires less of jubilant celebration, but more of a guilty “Sorry, big buddy.” While it’s nothing new, I love how there’s a thick layer of insecurity that underlies everything you do.
However, you continue. And in about five to six hours, you’ll go to some increasingly complex areas and remove them from the Ruins whether you like it or not. In doing so, your hope is to reactivate Starseed and remove Ultra Dyson for good. However, this game is not structured like an open world game. You can’t deal with any of the Remainders you want in the first place. Instead, you’ll need to beat one before you can unlock the next.
It’s not just a case of jumping after these ruins, Shadow Of The Colossus style. Each area has a few broken spots that you can ping on the HUD with your scanner. Only when you’ve cleared these will their resident boss respawn. That’s the rhythm of Solar Ash: scan each area for faulty bits, clear faulty bits to wake up the boss, beat said boss, switch to another area, repeat.
It’s a rigid structure that does more harm than good. The game barely deviates from this loop, which makes things easy to digest, but ends up being somewhat similar. Sure, interspersed in these areas are side stories and collectible audio diaries, but it all boils down to finding or activating three, four, or five things. Let’s just say that by the end of the credits, I had my full.
The real star of this game is the movement, which has you rollerblading around shattered worlds like a post-apocalyptic antelope on wheels. I used a controller because it feels much more intuitive than a mouse and keyboard. Squeeze the left trigger and you’ll go from light jog to great gliding that builds momentum as you stride forward. Pull the right trigger and you’ll get this short nitrogen boost that will let you off-road with more enjoyment. My favorite easy is the grappling hook, because we love grappling right? Smash into the right bumper and you’ll shoot slingshots at the hovering hoops with a fun snap of your fingers.
Solar Ash has one thing ridiculously true, and that’s the lifelike cool feeling of skating around its beautiful surroundings. They’re all designed with roller skating in mind, with amazing drops that take you up crumbling skyscrapers. You’ll flip between cracked rocks like a supersonic vocalist. You will grind on the tracks and fall into the dark abyss. Despite succumbing to black holes and massive monsters, the world still makes for a brilliant skate park.
Solar Ash has one thing ridiculously true, and that’s the lifelike cool feeling of skating around its beautiful surroundings.
It makes chasing those scanned Remnant lumps a real treat. Not only does it give you a great sense of viewing each, but the act of seeing the scenery and taking the correct route together, adds an extra layer of fun. They are just hard enough to present a challenge, but never keep you stuck for long, which I appreciate.
Over time, the game introduces new ways to travel around the world and access those nasty remnants of soup. It starts out easy with rails you can grind, but then it gets a little more complicated. To give an example, you will eventually come across mushrooms of different colors that release certain scents that stick to you for a short time when hit. You then have to swipe through a corresponding mushroom of the same color to activate it, which will then open a door or the like. After: MANY types of mushrooms with different properties. They drop in at a manageable pace and together they make for some sweet skating times. However, some worlds become so fixated on them that they frustrate you. Sometimes, I just want to get out of their grip and get through the clouds a little bit.
However, taking on all that Remnant goop is a great way to flex your knowledge. They’re basically timing raids where you have to cut and head through environmental puzzles before the timer expires. Staying motivated is key here, as you need to get through each checkpoint to reset your timer and stay active, and there’s a real elegance to the overall design. its. They’re also a fun way to measure how far your skating skills have come, and I never lost sight of the fun of nailing on my first try.
This feeling of energetic anticipation is multiplied when you finally take on the role of the resident Remnant boss of an area. First of all, they are huge creatures that roam the lands with breathtaking style. Bone snake, giant snake, a glove-sized sphere the size of a flipping planet. To take out one, you’ll need to find a spot on their body that you can touch. Once done, it’s back to cutting and struggling through the checkpoints, only this time you’re sliding around on the back of a monster. Move through Shadow Of The Colossus, with your slow, clustered movements. It’s boring. We have Solar Ash here, doing somersaults and damnation. The music plays, the checkpoints explode… You’ve never been so focused in your life. And after that pitiful cry, which is a weak point. Two others to go. But the real war has only just begun.
You see, each Remain has three stages, and with each hit loses more of its armor. This means you have fewer and fewer safe places to work. The checkpoints became wider, the route more winding, and the floor was lava. However, even if you mess things up, Solar Ash never really gets you down. You can lose one of Rei’s armor cores, but you can only replenish it by smashing a nearby box. It also only takes a few seconds to climb back up and have another swing.
It’s all lovely stuff, but I wish Solar Ash had more moments like this beyond its boss controls. There are glimpses to be had, to be sure, but its construction is so stubborn that it almost restricts the flow of its own movement. You know you’ll only ride the organic express a handful of times. Otherwise, it’ll be a lot of work to stop and start when you figure out the next mushroom puzzle.
Maybe I’m being a little harsh here, but that’s because Solar Ash’s movements are so vibrant and I long for more ways to metabolize its waste. Don’t expect a smooth ride, but when it’s put together, it really impresses. If you’re after a couple of hours slicing and skating, I’d say you should tie those blades up.
