You play as Rei, a ‘voidrunner’ who
plunges herself into a blackhole to
activate a MacGuffin called the
‘Starseed’ which we’re told can save
her planet, which is currently caught
in the singularity’s grasp. Inside this
black hole is a
dreamlike landscape
rendered in soft clouds
and goopy surfaces, all
of it in bold colours.
This is the ‘ultravoid’
as the game calls it. It’s
delightfully tactile,
with Rei plunging into
the candyfloss-like
hills as she lands, or pulls some of
the sticky mass behind her as she
jumps. Even the collectibles, plasma,
are rendered as blobs of liquid. The
world feels ephemeral, as if it’s
doomed to be washed away. It’s a
palpable mood, enhanced by sheer
scale and verticality – a world of
massive planetoids suspended in
space, clinging to each other via
clouds or thin rails.POP SQUISH-IT
If the world feels ‘wet’ then so too
does movement, with inertia carrying
you through slips and slides as you
skate. Chain the skates with grinding
on rails and eventually the game does
allow you some serious
momentum. Picking up
speed to throw yourself
over the crest of a hill
or round a corner,
lashing out at enemies
on the go, is where the
game comes alive. In
those moments Solar
Ash captures a
roller-coaster energy, letting you
barrel across alien landscapes with
confidence. Anyone who’s done any
skating in real life, especially on ice,
will appreciate how much it captures
that particular exhilaration, even if
it’s far more easily earned.
New areas slowly get bigger and
much more open, so as your skill
grows so do the playgrounds that are
available to you. Some personalfavourites were an area of floating
shipwrecks and a spooky fungal
biome where rails for grinding can be
summoned with spores. Not every
area feels as fleshed out, but those
that have that extra novelty to them
kept a smile on my face.
As wonderful as moving through
the world is, though, what you’re
tasked with doing is much duller.
Each area follows the exact same
structure: find and destroy a few
obstacles in each area to summon the
boss, then attack the bosses’
telegraphed weak points so you can
hit it in the eye, and then do that two
more times. Then it’s onto the next
area to do it all over again.
Disasterpeace returns to score but
seems to be given far less room to
move than the player, chained to boss
fights and broad ambient
soundscapes. There are practically
none of the curious little scenes that
filled Hyper Light Drifter, and allowed
the music to fill the gaps in the story
with moody anguish and grief. In
Solar Ash the music is a pleasant
accompaniment and definitely
establishes a strong atmosphere, yet
is robbed, much like the visuals, of a
chance to evoke anything of weight.NON-ICO FRIENDLY
Coming from Hyper Light Drifter I
expected a setting equally absorbing.
Instead Solar Ash’s story is like
navigating its world sometimes;
bumping into dead ends. My biggest
problem with the game stems from
the addition of voice acting. Right
from the beginning there’s a message
on-screen to convey the premise,
which felt clumsy but I was willing to
roll with it on the assumption this
was just a little kick to get us started.
However, right from the moment it
begins the characters won’t stop
talking and explaining. Every new
vista or item found has Rei deliver an
explanation before you can even ask
the question. As soon as a city enters
my view Rei has already identified
the architecture and spoken about itsS
tyle and substance feel opposed in Solar Ash, Heart Machine’s
follow-up to the acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter. It has an
abundance of the former but a vacuum where the latter should
be. Visual novelty and slickness keep it skating along but it never
manages to fill that void, no matter how many outlandish set
pieces, stylish transitions and beautiful landscapes it conjures.SKATE LIMBO
Despite neat visuals and tricks, SOLAR ASH falls short of its influences
By Samantha GreerThe world feels
ephemeral,
as if it’s
doomed to be
washed awayNEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
An action adventure
skating hybrid from the
creators of Hyper
Light Drifter
EXPECT TO PAY
£28.80
DEVELOPER
Heart Machine
PUBLISHER
Annapurna Interactive
REVIEWED ON
64-Bit Windows 7,
Nvidia GeForce
GTX-970, Intel
i7-4790K, 16GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
No
LINK
bit.ly/3lVxtMXSECRET OUTFITS
How to unlock new costumes1
To unlock new
gear for Rei you’ll
need to be on the
lookout for this
symbol, which will
glow when near,
hinting at a secret.2
They’re easy to
miss, and each
area will have six for
each piece of an
outfit. Trails of
plasma will guide you
to these hideouts.3
You’re looking for
these boxes,
which will sometimes
be guarded. You’ll
need to clear
enemies before you’ll
be able to open it.4
After you gather
all six you’ll get a
new outfit, each with
unique
enhancements for
you to try out as you
skate around.Solar Ash
REVIEW