I think what a lot of people don't grasp is that 9-Sols isn't just what you should play while you wait for Silksong, it's without a doubt the new high water mark for this genre, it hit a home run so hard that it's kind of unbelievable it's the team's first try for a game like this.
Thank you for covering this game! One of the best total Metroidvania packages out there, and one of my new favorites in any genre. That final boss is perfection. It also inspired me to learn more about the Dao!
Just finished the game myself. The last boss took me so long to finally beat, but I rarely felt frustrated. The boss fights are gigantic highlights, as they demand new strategies and force you to find creative ways to use the rather simple move set effectively and without mercy. Couple that with an emotional story, memorable cast, terrific world, beautiful art, outstanding music (and an AMAZING parry SFX) - you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you are a Hollow Knight, Ori, or Sekiro/Souls fan.
Nine Sols does one of my favourite things in storytelling, where the setting (New Kunlun) is a physical manifestation of its theme of spirituality/tradition vs progression/science.
I picked it up on a whim, because I like metroidvanias and the art-style looked really nice. I ended up being absolutely blown away by the sheer quality of every single aspect of the game. This will surely be a title to remember.
Finished this game in a furious 50 hours and this scratched an itch I've had since Hollow Knight. Absolutely worth the money, what a gem. Also the sound cue for the perfect parry is *addicting*.
The best bit of this review is KC's coda over the Patreons list - and I am totally with him on the need for different settings other than European fantasy.
The combat is very tight. Almost every single death I've had I instantly recognized as my error. Not using the right parry, dashing the wrong way, attacking at the wrong time, etc. if you like fast paced, tight combat, give this a shot!
As usual for any Metroidvania or games in that general area, my top gameplay question is what the challenge balance is between enemies you can fight and environmental/platforming hazards you simply need to get past.
And trust me, i played a lot of Metrodvania games, from the well known ones like Lilie, Salt and Sanctuary, Hollow Knight, and Blasphemous, to the smaller ones too.
It's debatably one of the best games I have ever played, it's a fairly outstanding GOTY contender and it is hands down the current sitting king of the genre. The fact that so few people even played it or know about it is borderline criminal.
The way this game gradually teach you how to master parry skill should be studied. After beating this game I went back to Sekiro which I previously struggled with, found myself doing perfect parry after another it's insane.
Nice to hear this after feeling like Yahtzee didn't give it much of a chance in his "tries" video. I was immediately enticed by the demo it had during a steam next fest a few years ago and have not regretted buying it on release.
I am really looking forward to whatever Red Candle Games does next. They've had a rough time: their previous game, Devotion, had some placeholder assets that offended the Chinese market (associating a certain leader with a certain cartoon bear), and the resulting backlash from Chinese players led to a major boycott. Their publisher then pulled the game off of Steam to avoid retaliation, and it's still not on Steam to this day.
I will continue to say as an FYI, and only because people keep comparing the game to Hollow Knight - Nine Sols is more of a metroidvania-lite! HK players shouldn't expect a huge nonlinear maze to explore. It's got many similar gameplay features to HK, but it is structured differently: more straightforward and a bit more compact. I like it especially because I didn't come in with those expectations.
Never having been a fan of environmental hazard-based gameplay in... any games really, I very, very much prefer the challenge to come from enemy combat rather than spikes and death pits. Which isn't to say I don't want platforming or map variation at all, just that the platforming and such should be there to spice up the map design/traversal and combat, rather than to provide the actual challenge. Like in Symphony of the Night, or how most of Hollow Knight is. But absolutely not like the Path of Pain part specifically. The parts of the Deep Nest with the indestructible centipedes sucked too. And with that said, it's hard to tell where that combat/platforming challenge balance comes down from trailers or reviews of games alone, and this review was no exception. It showed some environmental hazard platforming, but I still have no idea how much of the overall game is that sort of stuff. So yeah, most everything else looked fairly good, but I'm gonna need to know how much this game is about platforming challenges before I'm sold.
I'm honestly getting really tired of Parry focused games I feel like it's the only thing action games want to do these days. I don't want to have to sit there for who knows how long trying to memorize an entire move set by the frame just to make a little progress.
I think what a lot of people don't grasp is that 9-Sols isn't just what you should play while you wait for Silksong, it's without a doubt the new high water mark for this genre, it hit a home run so hard that it's kind of unbelievable it's the team's first try for a game like this.
Thank you for covering this game! One of the best total Metroidvania packages out there, and one of my new favorites in any genre. That final boss is perfection. It also inspired me to learn more about the Dao!
Just finished the game myself. The last boss took me so long to finally beat, but I rarely felt frustrated. The boss fights are gigantic highlights, as they demand new strategies and force you to find creative ways to use the rather simple move set effectively and without mercy. Couple that with an emotional story, memorable cast, terrific world, beautiful art, outstanding music (and an AMAZING parry SFX) - you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you are a Hollow Knight, Ori, or Sekiro/Souls fan.
I appreciate the fact that you don't just focus on the popular games, but also review
Your reviews always provide a great balance of both the technical and artistic
I love how you always provide suggestions for improvements to the game
Your review was so well-organized, it was easy to follow and understand the main
Nine Sols does one of my favourite things in storytelling, where the setting (New Kunlun) is a physical manifestation of its theme of spirituality/tradition vs progression/science.
I picked it up on a whim, because I like metroidvanias and the art-style looked really nice. I ended up being absolutely blown away by the sheer quality of every single aspect of the game. This will surely be a title to remember.
This game review was so well-researched, it's clear that you took the time to play
Finished this game in a furious 50 hours and this scratched an itch I've had since Hollow Knight. Absolutely worth the money, what a gem. Also the sound cue for the perfect parry is *addicting*.
Legit one of my favorite games of all time. The story was so emotional
Your review was so interesting, it kept me engaged from beginning to end.
The best bit of this review is KC's coda over the Patreons list - and I am totally with him on the need for different settings other than European fantasy.
Excellent storyline, exhilarating battles.
aspects of each game, it's very helpful when trying to understand how a game was
aspects of each game, it's very helpful when trying to make an informed decision
Oh man, haven't heard of this game yet and it looks awesome. Glad you reviewed this or else it might have slipped by my notice.
The combat is very tight. Almost every single death I've had I instantly recognized as my error. Not using the right parry, dashing the wrong way, attacking at the wrong time, etc. if you like fast paced, tight combat, give this a shot!
mechanic], thanks for mentioning that in your review.
As usual for any Metroidvania or games in that general area, my top gameplay question is what the challenge balance is between enemies you can fight and environmental/platforming hazards you simply need to get past.
For anyone what the song used for in this video, it was Last Man Standing from the OST of this game!
Your reviews always provide a great balance of both the positive and negative
Nice to also see a game that it's confident in its story, where it doesn't have to be vague to compensate for the lack of storytelling ability
And trust me, i played a lot of Metrodvania games, from the well known ones like Lilie, Salt and Sanctuary, Hollow Knight, and Blasphemous, to the smaller ones too.
Hollow Knight AND Sekiro?! You sold me KC this looks great.
The aesthetics are incredible. A mix of Mysticism and Cyberpunk.
lesser-known games that deserve more attention.
This is also the first time I hear the term "Tao-punk", and I kinda love that term.
developers, it shows that you care about the industry and want to see it improve.
It's debatably one of the best games I have ever played, it's a fairly outstanding GOTY contender and it is hands down the current sitting king of the genre. The fact that so few people even played it or know about it is borderline criminal.
Nine Sols sounds like an amazing game. The themes seem a little intense to me, so it's kind of better than I deserve.
The way this game gradually teach you how to master parry skill should be studied. After beating this game I went back to Sekiro which I previously struggled with, found myself doing perfect parry after another it's insane.
I backed the game when Red Candle announced it, but I'll be waiting a month to play it as I want to play it on Switch.
Hey! Wanted to add one quick thing. I've loved this game and I'm on the last boss (hopefully tonight).
And its hard really love this game it needs more attention.
the game thoroughly before giving your review
I really hope this gets a port to the Switch. I still plan to get it on PC thou. Sounds very much up my allley.
Power Pak's probably face-deep in this as we speak. Either that, or checking out Next Fest demos.
points of your review.
As I said in my Steam review of this, it's biggest downside is that Silksong might not match up to how tight NineSol's combat is
Nice to hear this after feeling like Yahtzee didn't give it much of a chance in his "tries" video. I was immediately enticed by the demo it had during a steam next fest a few years ago and have not regretted buying it on release.
9 sols is the best Metrodvania I've ever played after Hollow Knight.
I am really looking forward to whatever Red Candle Games does next. They've had a rough time: their previous game, Devotion, had some placeholder assets that offended the Chinese market (associating a certain leader with a certain cartoon bear), and the resulting backlash from Chinese players led to a major boycott. Their publisher then pulled the game off of Steam to avoid retaliation, and it's still not on Steam to this day.
I really hope this might come to consoles, but I also might just get it on my laptop since it sounds like it'd be my thing.
In simplest terms Nine Sols is to Sekiro what Hollow Knight is to Dark Souls.
This game looks like it would be perfect for players who enjoy [insert specific game
I will continue to say as an FYI, and only because people keep comparing the game to Hollow Knight - Nine Sols is more of a metroidvania-lite! HK players shouldn't expect a huge nonlinear maze to explore. It's got many similar gameplay features to HK, but it is structured differently: more straightforward and a bit more compact. I like it especially because I didn't come in with those expectations.
I don't have time for so many 11/10 metroidvanias D:<
It is really hard for me not to make comaprisons too Hollow Knight based on the art style
Dang... Silksong can't come soon enough.
Not a fan of the metroidvania gameplay, so I'll check out a play through of it, because it does look amazing both in graphics and story.
hope this comes to console. you had me with every word until PC.
Any chance Nine Sols will come to Switch?
about a game.
made.
I liked it until I got stuck in a gauntlet after the bridge hack. Kinda doesn`t feel fair fighting a crowd without any tools to fight a crowd
Never having been a fan of environmental hazard-based gameplay in... any games really, I very, very much prefer the challenge to come from enemy combat rather than spikes and death pits. Which isn't to say I don't want platforming or map variation at all, just that the platforming and such should be there to spice up the map design/traversal and combat, rather than to provide the actual challenge. Like in Symphony of the Night, or how most of Hollow Knight is. But absolutely not like the Path of Pain part specifically. The parts of the Deep Nest with the indestructible centipedes sucked too. And with that said, it's hard to tell where that combat/platforming challenge balance comes down from trailers or reviews of games alone, and this review was no exception. It showed some environmental hazard platforming, but I still have no idea how much of the overall game is that sort of stuff. So yeah, most everything else looked fairly good, but I'm gonna need to know how much this game is about platforming challenges before I'm sold.
Surely you don't need to be revealing so many bosses in a review...
I'm honestly getting really tired of Parry focused games I feel like it's the only thing action games want to do these days. I don't want to have to sit there for who knows how long trying to memorize an entire move set by the frame just to make a little progress.