
Speaking of which, it's a rather short campaign, too, and there's even a trophy for finishing it within 3 hours. Aside from exploring a bit, the core gameplay merely involves running, dashing, and grappling to points as quickly as possible and although it's thrilling, it still becomes quite repetitive thus making the overall campaign become stale sooner than you'd hope. I mentioned that Solar Ash is a bit of a one-trick pony and it's true. Elements like this make exploring stages a treat and when you factor in hidden secrets and optional NPC quests, there are even more reasons to explore the distinct environments between action-intense segments. In fact, I found simply dashing along the surface of water to be rather mesmerizing, especially considering the fact that gravity plays an interesting role while the water creates large bubble-like surfaces with its waves. Once you finally see a boss bite the dust and discover the next stage it feels awesome! 😄Īs you can tell, Solar Ash boasts impressively stylish graphics that feature lovely hues and striking locales. You do this a few times for each boss and every iteration is trickier than the one before so it really forces you to hone your skills thus resulting in a rewarding and challenging formula. Fighting bosses is simple as you merely scale their bodies and move between points as quickly as possible in the hopes of attacking its weak point without taking damage along the way.

Meanwhile, the core gameplay loop is easy to understand as you essentially track down a handful of points within a stage and upon destroying them all, the boss will emerge. The fact that you're constantly being pushed forward whether you're dealing with enemies, fighting a boss, or platforming makes Solar Ash an exhilarating experience. 😊 Have you tried using an oil-based soap? For example, enemies that extend dangerous vines across the ground are best slain by leaping into the air then dashing towards them while homing laser turrets force you to hide behind barriers until you can reach it for a final blow. To make the gameplay feel a bit more varied, you'll face an assortment of regular enemies that can be quite relentless and the trick to beating them is to outsmart them then dispatch them as soon as possible. It's odd that this mechanic is used in both the platforming segments and boss fights as the 2 tend to blend together gameplay-wise but it's a blast nonetheless. Specifically, Solar Ash is a game all about speed as many of its scenarios and bosses require you to reach certain points to extend a timer before the floor becomes lava. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing because what it does, it does exceptionally well.

That being said, they are very different experiences as The Pathless features substantial variety with its stealth-based bosses and Solar Ash well, it's kind of a one-trick pony.

When I started playing Solar Ash, I noticed similarities almost instantly as both games have a focus on fast-paced movement within vast environments. Last year, I played and thoroughly enjoyed The Pathless which was also published by Annapurna Interactive. 👩🦯 Do you ever get the feeling that you've ended up in the wrong side of town? │ At Video Chums, accessibility is important and we go to great lengths to ensure that it's easy for everyone to enjoy our content. Maciejewski playing a PS5 on December 11, 2021įast-paced 3D platforming seems to be an emerging genre and the action-packed Solar Ash proves that this concoction has promise.
