Nine Sols

Nine Sols is an action-adventure game adapted from ancient Eastern mythology. Players will take on the role of a hero who has been asleep since ancient times, embarking on a journey to defeat the nine kings who rule Kunlun. Facing dangerous rulers and mutated alien creatures, players need to use skillful movement and the use of Qi talismans to inflict massive damage on enemies and obtain rich rewards to upgrade their weapons and skills, gaining greater combat power. The game features multiple areas for players to explore, each with different enemies and scenery waiting to be discovered. Find hidden treasures, witness stories in various side quests, and enjoy a wondrous and wonderful journey.

Features of Nine Sols:

Deflection focused combat: You rely on deflection focused combat that rewards timing and positioning. Successful parries cancel enemy pressure and open short windows to counterattack. Mistimed inputs cause damage, so practice matters. Attacks, blocks, and movement feel deliberate to keep each encounter readable. This approach keeps fights about learning patterns and reacting with intent rather than button mashing.

Hand drawn 2D world and Taopunk tone: Nine Sols uses hand drawn visuals to present clear enemies, attacks, and environments.Asian fantasy and Taoist themes mix with cyberpunk motifs to define the Taopunk setting.Scenes and dialog reinforce a lore heavy atmosphere without cluttering the screen.

Boss encounters against the nine Sols: You face nine major rulers across the realm. Each fight emphasizes reading patterns and applying deflections at the right moment. Progress depends on understanding behavior, managing distance, and capitalizing on brief openings after a successful parry.

Exploration across New Kunlun: You traverse districts with platforming sections, shortcuts, and hazards that test timing.Environmental details and characters provide context about an ancient alien civilization.Routes branch to optional areas that offer additional lore or tougher challenges.

Strengths of Nine Sols:

Slowly told story: The storyline of Nine Sols isn’t straightforward, nor does it explain everything clearly. When I first played, I was quite confused. Who are the characters? What happened to this world? Why is everything so ruined? But the game doesn’t rush to answer. Information comes from short dialogues, small details in the environment, sometimes just a vague statement. At first, it felt a bit hard to grasp, but after playing for a while, I started to understand why this storytelling style suited the game’s atmosphere so well.There were moments after defeating a boss where I sat still for a few seconds, not because my hands were tired, but because the story had just opened up a different line of thought. Not a major twist, but a feeling of regret, conflict, and sometimes a little sadness. In reality, when experiencing it, Nine Sols’ storyline doesn’t try to emotionally impact the player with heavy words, but lets the emotions form naturally in the mind.

World design and exploration guide: Nine Sols doesn’t present an overwhelmingly vast map right from the start. The game’s world unfolds gradually, with each area connected by rather hidden pathways, sometimes feeling a bit confusing for new players. But the deeper you go, the more you understand why the developers chose this approach.Some fairly long sections exist, where there is no combat, just the character running through ruined landscapes. The illumination being dim, and the environment being a little touched with history.

Graphics and visual appeal after playing for a long time: One thing I noticed relatively late in playing Nine Sols was how the game uses visuals to maintain the player’s emotions. When you first start, everyone is easily drawn to the ink painting-style art mixed with sci-fi, which looks unique and different from most 2D games today. But if it were just “beautiful,” I probably wouldn’t have remembered it for so long. The great thing is that the graphics don’t stand alone, but closely follow the gameplay and the character’s mood.

Useful Tips of Nine Sols:

Play The Story Mode: The combat in the game is pretty brutal and unforgiving if you play it in the standard mode. Enemies hit hard, Yi's health drops significantly, boss fights take forever to beat, and dying frequently causes frustration while playing in the standard mode.The Story mode tones down all the damage Yi takes. Enemy encounters and boss fights become easier to beat, and the overall experience of unfolding Yi's story and exploring the game's vast world becomes enjoyable.While the story mode takes away the difficulty curve, players who prefer tough boss fights and winning over bosses using precise parry mechanics may not want to play in the story mode. The combat becomes monotonous and overly simplistic.

Visit The Pavilion Often: The Pavilion is your base of operations, where you will find NPCs and robot vendors selling upgrades for Yi and unlocking utilities to aid him on his journey. If you do not visit the Pavilion often, you could miss out on many upgrades and unlockables.The best time to visit the Pavilion is usually after beating a boss. Any interactable NPC or Sol Carrier you encounter or defeat will move to the Pavilion. For example, the Kuafu NPC, who unlocks the Azure Bow for Yi, relocates there once you meet him.Skipping visits to the Pavilion while exploring new areas means you will overlook important upgrades that could have been useful sooner. Do not do this!

Buy The Health Upgrades Early: Health upgrades are essential for Yi's survival in both the Standard and Story modes of the game. As you progress from early to mid and late-game areas, boss encounters, and enemy attacks become increasingly dangerous.There are two types of health upgrades: Pipe Vials and Medicinal Brew. Pipe Vials increase the number of times you can use Yi's Pipe to restore health, while Medicinal Brew increases Yi's overall health bar.Acquiring both upgrades is essential for enhancing Yi's survival and overcoming bosses in the mid to late stages of the game. While it is possible to defeat some of the toughest bosses with limited Pipe Vials, doing so requires mastering parry mechanics like a true pro.

Thin The Crowd Using The Bow: At the start of the game, Yi does not have the Azure Bow. You unlock it by defeating Yingzhao and then speaking with Kuafu back at the Pavilion. Once you do, Kuafu will give Yi the Azure Bow, a powerful weapon perfect for taking out multiple enemies at once.The Azure Bow's strength lies in its ability to eliminate multiple targets with a single shot. Simply line them up and unleash the arrow in their direction. By upgrading the bow's arrow count and damage through Kuafu, you can enhance its effectiveness even further.

Player Comments of Nine Sols:

A beautiful game. The aesthetic is full of character, culture and charm. Very solid artistic direction. The dialogue is weighty at times, comedic at others, and you do grow to appreciate the main cast. There are plenty of nuggets of wisdom that can resonate with someone. The worldbuilding is well done and paints an interesting picture of the universe it is set in.The gameplay is parry based, it plays very well, feels impactful and is responsive. In almost all cases if you are hit it is on you. As a metroidvania it is less densely packed than what might be expected, allowing for a less hardcore collectionist experience. Traversal is pretty simple but still enjoyable. The boss fights are very solid, one of the primary highlights of the game, and most of them feel very good to fight.The beginning hits hard, the themes and events continue to impress, and the end is final and fitting for the experience. A genuine game full of passion throughout, well worth your time. Thank you Red Candle Games.

Great game. Found it through a video essay about the music for one of the bossfights and was instantly intrigued.At first I was sceptical because I don't have many great experiences with metroidvania games. I tried hollow knight, but even though I adore the style and the music of that game, I have to be honest that I never really got into it. And that mainly has to do with the fact that I didn't enjoy the combat. This wouldn't be a problem if that wasn't a big part of the game. But it was. This game however has the best 2D combat I have ever played.The strong points of this game are definitely the combat, gameplay, music, style and the story.The gameplay is polished and excellently put together. The game finds the perfect balance in throwing in new mechanics so that it never gets under or overwhelming. This game has the exact sweet spot of difficulty for me. Even if some of the bosses have taken me several hours to beat (I do admit, I didn't use as many health upgrades as might have been the intention). This game does not get too frustrating because it simply doesn't waste your time. Every boss feels like a dance you need to learn and feels incredibly satisfying when you get it right. The progression and level design are so fluent you almost don't notice the thought that went behind it. But you definitely feel it, and it is greatly appreciated. Not many games manage to get this right.The music is great, expecially during the boss fights. It gives you the adrenaline boost you need to win the fight. As well as fitting the characters you fight against. Ji's theme even managed to strike some emotional chord in me. Which brings me to the story. Nine sols very much tells it's own story without trying to be anything it isn't. The dialogue is well written, and even though the story will get quite disturbing, all characters are ultimately written with respect.

Another game that makes me question my stance on the metroidvania genre. I've seen many reviews saying the game is underrated or too unknown. I disagree - I believe the game is properly rated, maybe a little overrated based on the glazing I've seen. While being very polished, I hesitate to call this a masterpiece. Multiple areas within the game are very linear and too similar to each other, the story overall is vague and not very compelling, with the ending(s) being especially unsatisfying. The game itself does not innovate, but takes a lot of inspiration from other games that do.That being said, I did enjoy this game a lot. The taopunk setting is one I haven't seen very often, despite having read plenty of xianxia, and I think more games could blend sci-fi with chinese cultivation to wonderful effect. I personally enjoy difficult games, so the combat was fun to me, but I often feel parry-based combat encourages too much passive/reactionary behavior for my tastes. The game really shines during its bosses, with [spoiler]Ji[/spoiler], [spoiler]Fuxi & Nuwa[/spoiler], and the last boss being especially fun and well designed.Definitely worth playing if you like games like HK/silksong and sekiro!

Conclusion:

Nine Sols invites you to plunge into a mesmerizing 2D action-platformer filled with thrilling Sekiro-inspired combat. Play as Yi, a relentless warrior determined to defeat the Nine Sols, the formidable rulers of New Kunlun. Master intricate mechanics like deflecting enemy attacks, dashing through perilous landscapes, and unleashing powerful talisman abilities. With each encounter, uncover pieces of a rich narrative blending Eastern fantasy and sci-fi, all rendered in stunning hand-drawn art. Explore hidden secrets across interconnected regions, where every victory brings you closer to avenging your past.