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I’ll start by saying I was one of the backers for this game’s crowdfunding phase. I loved each of Red Candle’s previous efforts- Detention is a brilliant piece of political horror and Devotion has a masterfully told story about love and obsession- so I was entirely open to whatever they would do next. I wasn’t excited for a game in this genre (I actually get pretty frustrated with especially hard boss fights), but they’ve earned my trust enough for me to blindly devote myself to their projects. And sure enough, I really enjoyed this one.

Gameplay: It’s fun, parry-based gameplay that rewards you for quick reactions and creative thinking. I really enjoyed trying out the various mechanic-altering jades and talisman to see which ones worked best for me. I also really enjoyed the exploration process of the game which uses a lot of great environmental storytelling.

Of course the main attraction here is the difficulty and the bosses. There were a few occasions I felt some mechanics were unfair or not very useful (ahem unbounded counter), but there was one particular section that almost made me quit the game. There is an included ‘story mode’ option if it gets too difficult and I was right there- I was close to toggling it on and never looking back- but I ended up toughing it out after looking over some very helpful comments in the Steam forums. My advise: if you’re committed to beating it on standard like I was, don’t be afraid to look through the forums. And if you’re struggling mightily and can’t get through it but are interested in the story and the world- toggle on story mode.

Art: Fantastic, beautiful art. The environments are all beautifully and meticulously crafted (and also change over time to help tell the story). The character designs are great and it’s clear they were designed with purpose.

Sound/Music: It doesn’t have any major bops like Lady of the Pier, but there were a few songs that stuck with me. Overall the soundtrack is about setting the mood- it can be appropriately high-octane during tough boss fights and appropriately creepy/mystic at other times.

Story: Red Candle’s great strength is in their storytelling and if you’re familiar with their style, this falls into their catalog very well. The relationships between the characters are its strength and it does a lot of work to get you invested in them. The story is pretty grim, really grim once you start putting the pieces together, so if you’re into that kind of high-intensity storytelling, it’s worth playing for that alone. The difficulty can get in the way of this but I think it’s interesting enough to use the story mode option if it does get too difficult (which you can toggle on in the menu any time).

Probably the biggest compliment I can give Nine Sols is that it feels like a Red Candle game. I wondered if the shift to a completely different genre would hinder the je ne sais quois they have with their storytelling, or their art, or their music- but it didn’t at all. It feels very much like a metroidvania Red Candle game. They have a style and authorship that is uniquely them- they make very thoughtful games that exist on this border between deep love and deep despair. I’m just really glad to see them back.

Screenshots

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