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We’ve played Nine Sols and its Sekiro-inspired combat is shaping up nicelyDevotion devs' latest is one to keep an eye on
Devotion devs' latest is one to keep an eye on
The Nine Sols demo begins with a splat. You, a warrior cat, are dangling off a cliff edge as an evil ronin cat watches on. They say something inaudible – probably, “try jumping”, if I were to guess - and watch you fall. An aerial shot confirms that, yes, your guts are now vulture pickings. Suddenly, some magical tentacles sprout from the earth and slide you into their embrace. After an unspecified amount of time later, a boy playing a flute sees your eyes spring open amidst the rocks. He takes you in and you become bros, naturally.
Nine Sols 九日 - Teaser TrailerWatch on YouTube
Nine Sols 九日 - Teaser Trailer
It’s a cool opening and sets the scene for what’s to come. The boy is part of a tribe who believe in Sols, gods who choose lucky folks to ascend to their realm. Dialogue is a bit stilted between the two of you, but it does enough to make you care for the little tike. He’s excited for a special ceremony, and later you wander through a village that’s wonderfully illustrated - bitHollow Knight, a bitSpiritfarer- and has heaps of character.
To cut a long story short, the ceremony isn’t what it seems, andyou’renot whatyouseem, either. There’s a dark undertone to it all, which fully captured my attention. Red Candle call it “Taopunk” and somehow I know exactly what that means. Somewhere underneath the stars and the soil, there’s a mechanical underbelly calling the shots. Immediately, you need to know more.
So, you dive into a mysterious facility and take your katana to the evil doers. It’s here where Nine Sols demonstrates its Sekiro influence. Combat comes down to one thing: timing. Enemies slash or shoot, and it’s up to you to parry their attacks at just the right time. Do so and you’ll leave them wide open for a quick combo. Get the timing wrong and you’ll see a big chunk of health disappear, although that’s nothing a quick puff of the green stuff won’t fix. Like other Souls and Metroid-likes, you’re limited to only so many puffs between checkpoints, but the ultimate aim is to move between these checkpoints and reach the big bad.
From very brief demo I played, Nine Sols is shaping up to be a 2D platformer worth keeping an eye on. While the combat and the exploration still have something left to prove, the story definitely seems like it’ll be strong enough to drive you forwards anyway. And let’s not forget the art work, which is ridiculous. Too pretty to ignore.
Nine Sols is still in the middle of its crowdfunding campaign at the moment, but is currently sitting at 188% funded, having quicklysmashed its initial goallast week. It’s nearing another milestone too, which looks to add a story mode if it’s hit. The game itself is currently due out sometime in 2023, but the good news is you’ll be able to play this exact demo to get a taste of it yourself next week. Keep an eye on Red Candle’swebsite and crowdfunding pageto find out more.
