Solar Ash review: Skate in the surreal visual spectacle of the void

Solar Ash's freeing traversal across surreal environments provides a breath of fresh air for those of us who have been cooped up in a room over the majority of the past two years.

The free-flowing skating of this indie game challenges any torpor. Players gracefully glide over the nebulous cloud-like ground, dilapidated ruins of buildings, the dark caverns filled with mushroom spores, to name a few.

Solar Ash is Heart Machine's spiritual successor to the beloved Hyper Light Drifter, set in the same fictional universe. The 2D contained feel of the earlier title has translated into the latest game's vast, vivid 3D world.

Hurtling through space (Image via Heart Machine)

The pixelated art style has become the soft and warm visual color palette of Solar Ash. And it is traversing this world that makes up the game's backbone.

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In Solar Ash, the player is in a frantic dash to save a world out of order

Solar Ash is an adventure platforming game that chooses to deal with the theme of grief and loss. Players control Rei, a Voidrunner, inside a black hole known as the Ultravoid.

The basic gameplay is to navigate the brightly colored psychedelic world, avoid obstacles, finish off objectives that dismantle a black goo, and take down the giant beasts that patrol each sector.

The primary gameplay mechanic is the idea of traversal - Rei can skate or glide on the environment's surface with an additional option of a boost. Interestingly, the game also has the notion of inertia, where players have to be mindful of Rei's momentum when they want her to stop.

Each sector is replete with black goo-like structures with eyes that need to be stabbed to wake the large Remnant patrols that sector slowly. Rei has to find each of these eyes, engage in a timed slashing of several nodes, and finally stab the eye.

Once the colossal beast wakes up, the player will have to grapple onto their bony scales. The objective is similar - slash needle-like nodes or nerve endings in a timed fashion and then stab an eye-like node.

This has to be repeated thrice to bring down the Remnant, with the movement becoming ever more difficult as the number of safe areas to stand on reduces.

Colossal titans (Image via Solar Ash)

Killing the giant creature is a fast-paced dash against time where one mistake will send you back to the last checkpoint. Putting down these lumbering giants and flying serpents is one of the most exhilarating parts of Solar Ash.

For a game that deals with space, black holes, the cosmos, and the eventual destruction of a planet, slaying these large creatures gives the player a close look at how small they are on that scale.

Looking at the void (Image via Heart Machine)

The platforming mechanic, where Rei dashes and jumps from one part of the body to another, or grapples across the space between each scale, brilliantly showcases the fluidity that the game embodies. The only issue is that any missteps will revert the player to the previous checkpoint.

After slaying the colossal beast, it makes the AI conduit, Cyd, of that particular sector operational. This has to be done so that a giant monolith that the player comes across early in the game can be powered, which will affect the black hole and save Rei’s planet.

Cyd will also provide the player with further details and options to recharge and change suit. Each area also has caches and logs that shed light on what happened to the other Voidrunners that Rei is looking for.

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The world of Solar Ash

The most significant pull for me was the beautifully woven world of the game. The art style has a distinct flavor that intricately compliments Solar Ash’s emphasis on movement.

Gliding across the soft, turquoise-colored, billowy cloud-like ground or jumping from structure to structure or even grappling across gaps - Solar Ash looks breathtakingly gorgeous.

The sectors also vary in their building structures and environment. For example, Broken Capital introduces players to an area filled with rails and ruins of skyscrapers. In contrast, the Eternal Garden has dark caverns dimly lit by colorful spores.

The dark caverns (Image via Solar Ash)

Players will have to solve puzzles and find their way up to specific objectives to make sense of their surroundings. Rei also can scan and figure out where the next goal is. This allows the player to orient themselves into the environment and figure out how to get there.

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In Conclusion

I will start by mentioning the shortcomings of Solar Ash. My first point is that the boss fights, that is, the fights with the colossal Remnants, barely had anything different or unique from the other bit of platforming in the game. Don’t get me wrong. It is in itself a visual spectacle. But somewhere, it leaves the player asking for a bit more.

Adding on to that, the camera is at times unhelpful or unforgiving. Now, this can be dealt with during exploration. Still, it feels incredibly infuriating when this happens during the final stages of taking down a titan Remnant, where one slight misstep is fatal.

Foreshadowing (Image via Heart Machine)

Yet, the hours I spent in Solar Ash feel wonderfully worth it. There is something joyous about wandering around the surreal expanse of the Ultravoid. I often marveled at the beauty of Rei’s movement as I figured out how to reach somewhere or how to solve a specific puzzle.

The story that drives Solar Ash is not something unique, but it reflects the serious themes that the game tries to convey. The twist at the end can be anticipated to a certain extent if players have paid attention to the texts available in the game, especially the Umbra Elder’s sayings.

Rating for the game (Image via Sportskeeda)

The lack of an outright boss fight did not dampen my game experience. Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed the platforming that the developers have provided. I got flustered when I missed my footing and had to start again. However, even that added to my enjoyment of the game.

The game does a mighty job with the themes that Solar Ash chose to covey through its narrative. It beautifully marries the idea of fast-paced movements borne out of the urgency of saving Rei’s planet with a meandering look at the notions of repetition and failure against the background of a dreamlike space.

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SOLAR ASH

Reviewed on: PC (Review Code provided by fortyseven communications).

Platform(s): Windows, PlayStation 4 & 5.

Developer(s): Heart Machine.

Publisher(s): Annapurna Interactive.

Release Date: December 2, 2021.