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Nine Sols

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Nine Sols
Developer(s)Red Candle Games
Publisher(s)Red Candle Games
EngineUnity[1]
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, macOS
  • WW: May 29, 2024
Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S
  • WW: November 26, 2024
Genre(s)Action-platformer Metroidvania
Mode(s)Single-player

Nine Sols is a 2D action-platformer, metroidvania developed and published by Red Candle Games. The game is set in an Asian fantasy-inspired futuristic world which Red Candle Games describes as "taopunk", a combination of Taoism and cyberpunk, stating that “we had a clear goal of combining Taoism with cyberpunk, melding sci-fi elements with Eastern mythology."[2] In gameplay, combat emphasizes the player deflecting attacks from enemies to build up energy to perform special attacks.[2] It features a hand-drawn animation style.[3] The game was released on Microsoft Windows and macOS on May 29, 2024,[4] which was followed by home console ports on November 26.[5]

Premise

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The story follows Yi, a legendary hero from the past on a quest for revenge to overthrow the titular Nine Sols, the powerful, tyrannical rulers of the deserted realm of New Kunlun.[6]

Plot

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Five hundred years ago, the Tianhuo virus infected the Solarians, an anthropomorphic cat-like race. With no cure in sight, their leaders, the Ten Sols, developed the Eternal Cauldron Project, in which Solarians could rest in a virtual reality to delay the virus while they searched for a cure. However, the energy to power the project required the brains of intelligent lifeforms, so the Solarians left their home planet of Penglai and embarked on a 500-year-long journey aboard the island-ship New Kunlun to the "pale-blue planet" (Earth), where "apemen" (humans) were discovered. Yi, the Tenth Sol, was betrayed and put into a temporary state of hibernation shortly before New Kunlun's launch, but survived due to a special connection with the Primordial Roots, a plant that produces vast amounts of energy that the Solarians harnessed for their technology.

Yi awakens several hundred years later in Peach-Blossom village, an area within New Kunlun where the Solarians had kidnapped humans to breed as livestock. He befriends the human Shuanshuan and saves him during the brain-offering ceremony, awakening the Nine Sols in the process. To regain control of the Eternal Cauldron Project and exact revenge, Yi seeks out the Nine Sols throughout New Kunlun to take their Sol Seals.

During his journey, Yi stays in the Four Seasons Pavilion, which is defended by the artificial intelligence system Abacus/Ruyi. Over time, more residents come to the Pavilion: Shennong, a skeptical human who realizes the truth behind the village and brings Shuanshuan to the Pavillion, Chiyou, a former battle robot who gained sentience and became a scholar and merchant, Shanhai 9000, a reserved robot assistant who has its own personal agenda, and Kuafu, a Sol and close friend of Yi who decides to betray the Sols and upgrades Yi's weapons. Yi also receives messages from his sister Heng, who chose to remain in Penglai when New Kunlun departed, and it is later revealed that he was the mastermind behind the Eternal Cauldron Project and that Eigong created the Tianhuo virus in her attempts to research immortality.

Yi also learns of the Eternal Cauldron Project's flaws after meeting Lady Ethereal, a Sol and the project's lead programmer. She tells him that the Eternal Dream simulation she created caused the Solarians to want to stay in the simulation, and those who left the simulation became insane and hostile to others. As well, the Empyrean District, where most of the hibernating Solarian population was housed, has fallen to the Tianhuo virus. Yi learns from the logs in the laboratories that Eigong was responsible for the outbreak of the virus, as the constant failures to create a cure drove her insane and she began to see the virus as their salvation, as it made them essentially "immortal". After completing the newly modified Tianhuo virus, she unleashed it on the Solarians.

Yi defeats eight of the Sols and obtains their Sol Seals, which were stolen by the Sols' leader Eigong, who was Yi's mentor before betraying him.

Depending on the player's choice, there are two endings:

  • In the True Ending, Yi deepens his connection with Shuanshuan and other humans and decides to save them. He evacuates them to Earth before confronting Eigong., who fuses with the Primordial Roots after being infected with the Tianhuo virus. Yi sacrifices himself to destroy New Kunlun, killing himself and the remaining Solarians in the process and effectively ending the Tianhuo virus, and reunites with his sister Heng in the afterlife.
  • In the Normal Ending, Yi kills Eigong and obtains the remaining Sol Seals before taking control of New Kunlun and returning to Penglai. The remaining Solarians are still in hibernation, with human brains being used to power the virtual reality, and it is unknown if there is a cure for the Tianhuo virus.

Gameplay

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Nine Sols is a 2D action-platformer in which the player controls Yi, who aims to defeat the Nine Sols to get revenge. The focus is on melee combat mixed with side-scrolling platforming and deflection mechanics. Yi's basic attack is slashing with a sword, but he can also deflect enemy attacks, which allows him to absorb and accumulate qi to unleash charged attacks on enemies through a technique called "reverse deflect", with the power of the attack increasing as more energy is charged. When reverse deflecting, Yi dashes through his opponents and attacks them with talismans called "Foo charms", which explode when activated. In addition to wielding a sword, Yi also wields the Azure Bow for ranged combat. In regards to movement, Yi can run, jump, double jump, wall jump, dash on the ground and in the air, climb, wall run, and grapple.[7][unreliable source?]

Development

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The game was announced on March 22, 2022.[2] Red Candle Games, a Taiwanese company behind Detention and Devotion, led the game's development. The game's combat was heavily inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Hollow Knight.[3]

Reception

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Nine Sols received "generally favorable" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8] Nic Reuben of Rock Paper Shotgun said he had mostly ignored platform games until Nine Sols, but its gameplay converted him into a fan of the genre. Despite Nine Sols's difficulty, he said it made him feel invincible, and he praised the game for being full of creativity.[11]

Accolades

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Date Award Category Result Ref.
December 19, 2024 The Indie Game Awards Game of the Year Pending [12]
Gameplay Design Pending [12]

References

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  1. ^ Saver, Michael (June 10, 2024). "Games Made with Unity: May 2024 in review". Unity Technologies. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Bains, Jai Singh (March 22, 2022). "Devotion devs next game Nine Sols has already smashed its crowdfunding goal". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  3. ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (December 16, 2021). "A Sekiro-inspired 2D platformer is coming from the creators of Devotion". Polygon. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  4. ^ Romano, Sal (March 28, 2024). "Nine Sols for PC launches May 29". Gematsu. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  5. ^ Romano, Sal (September 27, 2024). "Nine Sols coming to PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on November 26". Gematsu. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  6. ^ Stewart, Marcus (March 29, 2024). "Nine Sols, A Hand-Drawn Action Game By The Makers Of Detention, Arrives In May". Game Informer. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  7. ^ Auberon (March 21, 2022). "Nine Sols is a 2D High Action Sidescroller Inspired by Sekiro and Hollow Knight". Fextralife. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Nine Sols PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  9. ^ Cryer, Hirun (June 5, 2024). "Nine Sols review: "Metroidvania blended with Soulslike elements and the execution is nothing short of astonishing"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  10. ^ Marshall, Callum (May 31, 2024). "Review: Nine Sols". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  11. ^ Reuben, Nic (June 19, 2024). "Nine Sols review: A 2D Sekiro-like so good it converted me to an entire genre". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  12. ^ a b Romano, Sal (November 19, 2024). "The Indie Game Awards 2024 set for December 19". Gematsu. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
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