Solar Ash Review (Gwagwren)
TLDR
Solar Ash clearly has its own focus in mind, and executes its vision mostly pretty well. I do not think it has any fatal flaws. It is slow in the very beginning, but grows the player's interest without falter to the very end. The game may not be for you if you don't like wanting to actively seek out bits of narrative development in the form of voice logs (yes, you can listen to all of them instead of having to read them, they are all voice-acted), which aren't necessary to beat the game. This game is certainly worth the money, unarguably even more so if you are a fan of fast-paced 3D platformers. The game truly shines when the player gets to keep moving in one long, unforgiving, single motion of slashing and grappling, which that opportunity is given many, many times.
Full Review
Heart Machine's second game, Solar Ash, is a fantastic game.
The Not-good Parts
My following criticisms of the game may feel heavy-handed at first, so just hear me out.
I have three prominent issues with the game:
Firstly, in the first zone/area, despite its vibrant coloring (which the game keeps up consistently), was only lightly interesting. I cannot put my finger on exactly what it was that made the beginning feel bland, but I suppose it is that the level design and boss is too safe and formulaic as an introduction to the game's mechanics. I think that I am pretty good at video games, platformers especially, so this may be because I found it too easy (mind that I played through this game on the hard difficulty, the most difficult mode available for a first playthrough). That is especially a problem because it is the player's first impression of the game.
Secondly, I think the narrative for the game is a little weak, by that I mean all the other characters. I think the primary narrative of 'finding out what happened' gets better the more voice logs you look at or listen to; but even still, not everyone will want to seek out voice logs of your other Voidrunner crew-mateswhich is the primary drive of how interested I was in the primary narrative. Secondary narratives (includes all other characters) feel like they lack any sort of importance. You are expected to care about your other Voidrunner crew-mates while having no prior introduction to them and already expecting the same fate for each one which all are without any subversion of expectation . As for the other side character's storylines, they aren't compelling enough and feel like set-dressing more than anything else even though most of the time you have to actively seek out their many different locations of interaction to progress their stories if you want their full story.
I think the logs are only interesting for finding out what happened to the other world(s) which was/were swallowed by the Ultravoid, and not as much for who was documenting it. As for the other characters, I wouldn't have cared as much to find out all of their storylines if it wasn't for the fact that the game has a nice 100% completion reward (which is: spoiler: suit that has combined the abilities of every suit )
Lastly ( Big spoiler for the endings ), I personally don't like the binary good-bad way of ending a game. I think in any game it is a nice funny option to be able to know what would happen if you deliberately messed everything up at the very end for no reason, and I don't have a problem with that specifically. My problem with it is that the bad option does not invite any insightful meaning behind it, the whole game builds up to the point where the player knows what exactly what will happen if the bad ending is chosen. Throughout the game, it is very well thematically established that denial confront reality and change only dooms oneself to repeat meaningless suffering. And in this bad ending, you do exactly that just for fun. I think the existence of that option is fun, but diminishes the impact of the conclusion to the game as soon as the player notices the two big buttons, one of which that might as well spell out "this is the stupid ending". It adds a layer of insincerity to the game right at the very end where it really didn't need to be, if it was the new game ending (which its very well could've been based on the context of the ending), then maybe it would be fine, but it isn't.
The Good Parts
Despite all of what was previously stated, I really do like and recommend this game. The art direction is stunning and vibrant. The cutscenes are beautiful. Despite being able to very rapidly traverse the ever-bending warped-gravity surfaces of the game, the camera functions impressively well as it can alternate from free-cam to a fixed perspective fluidly and comfortably, it has a few customization options too -- it is rarely awkward. The music is best appreciated when it gets to blare through the satisfying sound design of sprint-boosting and slashing enemies. I absolutely loved being able to tackle the monstrously-large bosses, sprinting across their surfaces like an ant with the unrelenting flow and force of a great, rushing river.
Conclusion
I recommend this game.