One of the anticipated games that many people were looking forward to was Solar Ash. It’s an adventure platformer game developed by Heart Machine and published by Annapurna Interactive. This is the second game for the developer and is something many people were looking forward to following its trailer. The game featured very colorful and breathtaking visual arts and what seems like exciting gameplay.
When the game was officially released, many people were ecstatic. Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last long. Yes, the game was visually stunning, but it was also a bit dull at the same time. Let’s discuss more in this SolarAsh review.
The Gameplay of Solar Ash
Before we get into the review portion, let’s first briefly discuss the gameplay of Solar Ash. In this game, players get to control Rei, a voidrunner within a black hole. As a voidrunner, she’s able to skate around the vast 3D landscape designed with bright-neon colors. She’s also equipped with a boost function to build up speed. Rei also has the ability to slow down time and use a grappling hook. All of these abilities make exploring the 3D neon-colored landscape more fun and exciting.
The objective of this game is to save Rei’s planet from being sucked by the void. You get to explore the vast 3D neon-color world, while also battling a few enemies along the way. But don’t expect a lot of battle here since you won’t encounter a lot of enemies on Solar Ash. There will still be boss fights, but it won’t be like the usual battles. Instead, it would be a self-contained platforming challenge. What you’ll do here would be to try and hit targets within a time limit.
This still makes the fights exciting and challenging to play. The bosses are also massive black goos that look like different animal creatures. You can also develop Rei here. But it’s not a complex development, as you can only give her more shields in the process. But you can also change Rei’s outfits, you just need to hunt them down throughout the landscape. You can see that it seems like an interesting game to play. And it is, but only at the beginning.
Solar Ash Is A Dull Game
A game that features bright neon-color artwork and exciting gameplay doesn’t seem like a dull game. Unfortunately, that’s what Solar Ash is. Initially, it is a fun and exciting game to play. But after a while, it becomes too repetitive, which will make you lose interest in it quickly. In fact, the game can be completed in about 4 to 7 hours, depending on how fast you’ll go.
Though completing it initially is already okay, you will need to play it several times if you want to complete all of the available trophies. This will seem more like a chore than actually being excited to play the game again. The world you have to explore is not that vast and there aren’t really any compelling and interesting side quests available. There are some side quests, but they still require doing almost the same thing as the story quest.
The game basically lacks variety, which is why it’s a bit dull. You’ll be excited to play at first, but after a while and seeing things over and over again, you start to lose interest.
Verdict (3 out of 5)
Solar Ash is a fun and exciting adventure game that you will definitely enjoy. It does feature breathtaking visual arts that will make playing the game fun. And it’s also a relatively short game, allowing you to finish it in 4 to 7 hours, depending on your progress speed. The only issue is that the excitement and fun won’t last that long.
You will soon start to see that the game lacks variety and things become repetitive. This means that it’s a game that you likely won’t be playing regularly. But it’s still a good game to play, especially in the beginning. But just don’t expect it to be a game that will want you to come back for more.