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This isn't Heart Machine's previous game, Hyper Light Drifter. This isn't even an action game, really: it's a 3d exploration-platformer where you roller-skate through gorgeous, colorful yet dilapidated worlds inside a black hole. Drifter, gameplay-wise, was about snappy, controlled movement and brutal assassination. Solar Ash, instead, is about floaty, freeflowing constant movement, sliding and jumping and rail-grinding and grapple-hooking, whether through relaxed wandering or occasional brief timed challenges. Combat against normal enemies, contrasting with Drifter's brutal gauntlets, is breezy and simple - but you wouldn't criticize Mario 64 for having simple combat, would you? Boss fights, meanwhile, are instead the spectacular conclusion to the timed movement challenges. (Have you ever wished you could fight the Titans from Drifter? You can essentially do that here, and it's only possible through these entirely different systems.) Nothing is too difficult, and often you're just skating across the clouds, taking in the sights without anything to stop you. The theme is momentum.
The jump from pixel art to 3D is a big one, but Heart Machine doesn't lose their artistic voice here. You see it in the color choices, especially. There are some really striking images in Solar Ash; the sequences where you talk to Echo and the technicolor bursts when you defeat a boss are highlights. Disasterpeace returns on the soundtrack, though in a smaller role: the bulk of the music is made by Troupe Grammage and Joel Corelitz, with some contributions by Azuria Sky. These new composers won me over; each of them has several incredible pieces to their name. The moment I heard the sheer drama in Echo's theme and the theme when you reach the final phase of a boss, I knew I was in good hands.
The storytelling approach, meanwhile, is directly opposite to Drifter's - yet I think it dovetails into being a perfect companion piece. Drifter was so dedicated to its wordless storytelling, which is a difficult thing to do as well as that game did. I can almost feel the developers sigh in relief as I listen to these chatterbox characters and audio logs... but I think the motivation for the inclusion of fully voice-acted dialogue goes deeper than ease of writing. The specificity of voice and characterization is essential for Solar Ash's narrative about grief and denial. Where Drifter was about accepting your own imminent death, Solar Ash is about accepting the deaths of your loved ones. Grim stuff, but buoyed by distinctive environment art, a great synth-based score, and excellent-feeling movement. Criminally underrated.