When it comes to the PS5 game-reveal event I've already shared how amazed I personally was at amount of content I yearned for which somehow managed to get swooped up by Sony. (There's a big one in that vein coming up next) But every now and then there came a reveal for a game that I didn't know I was waiting for, something which has been very much amended since. As it just so happens, such an experience is the topic for this blog as I suffered serious "Oh, I really want that!"when I saw the trailer for the stylistic neon-esque world of 'Solar Ash'. (or 'Solar Ash Kingdom' as it's known on the Epic Storefront) I didn't know of the the title, yet I seemed to recognise the game. "How very odd", I thought, "it's almost as though- oh, the game was made by Heart Machine! Thought I saw a bit of 'Hyperlight Drifter's DNA there."
For those unfamiliar; 'Hyperlight Drifter' was this mute, yet impressively coherent topdown hack and slash adventure which mixed that indie-patented pixel-shaped art style with harsh neon blues and purples atop oodles of style. It told the story of an overwhelming and mostly lonesome struggle where death would hound you at every step waiting for the first slip-up. And that's no exaggeration; you'd die often in 'Hyperlight Drifter', which is why player's had to rely on the superb agility of their character to dash around battlefields whilst felling their share of foes. In a way it actually reminded me of those classic bullet hell titles of yore in it's constant speed and required focus, only mixed with the instant respawns of a game that expects you to die frequently. It controlled great, looked great and sounded ethereal; which is why I'm so glad to say that 'Solar Ash' looks so similar to that game they could be long-lost siblings.
'Solar Ash' seems to borrow from he same styling kit as 'Heart Machine's previous title as well as the same colour palette; the most notable difference between the two games, and the clearest indication of the evolution of their craft, is that this newest title is in full 3D. I'd imagine it was in slight pride of that fact which drove the team to make the first shot of this reveal trailer a literal black-hole, bending light in a manner that just wouldn't properly work in 2D. That sort of astral scale, literally dwarfing their last game's setting, mirrors much of what we see from this game, as we see the protagonist seem to literally skate alongside slips in space in order to travel the cosmos. This is a far cry from the fairly terrestrial and mostly conventional navigation from 'Hyperlight Drifter' and goes to highlight how distinct this 'Solar Ash' will be despite straight-up looking like 'Hyperlight's sequel.
Another big departure from the first title is the way in which we actually hear some voice acting in the trailer for 'Solar Ash'. Sure, it isn't much and carries little in the way of context, but it goes to show that 'Heart Machine' have stepped up production in every facet, proving theirs to be a studio not ready to rest on the laurels of one great game just yet. 'Hyperlight' managed to convey it's narrative, tutorials and every bit of extra lore through pure visual stimuli, such as slides inside of speech bubbles that spelled things out for the player. At times this did become a bit bewildering and I'll admit that the greater story did allude me for a bit, but it allowed for deduction and interpretation to take hold of the experience in a manner that I really appreciated. Perhaps some of that might be sacrificed with more traditional, and less interpretative, spoken words; but something tells me that 'Heart Machine' aren't going to be one's to completely dispel the mystique. It worked so well for them, afterall.
On their Epic Store front, 'Heart Machine' completely neglect to touch on anything regarding story or context, but they do bring up a little something teased in the trailer; traversal. 'Hyperlight' had a slight 'Metroidvania'/Souls slant to it's world, where the player would find themselves doubling back on themselves and going over past areas with new abilities in order to get somewhere new. I'd imagine this is the same sort of world we'll see out of 'Solar Ash', however within the 3D environments lies more potential to create a place more sprawling and spread-out than the admittedly condensed world in their previous title. I can't say for certain, but I'd imagine that's why 'Solar Ash's protagonist appears to have skates that they can use to zip around as they explore: in order to help players cover a lot more ground. The added speed also adds some versatility for combat and could lay the groundworks for some challenging speed-based navigation puzzles like 'Hyperlight' enjoyed pulling every now and then.
Speaking of combat, that was the one vertical slice of gameplay that was oddly missing from the trailer, which is especially strange considering how important it was to 'Hyperlight'. In that game, the player was a glass canon, capable of dishing out deadly strikes but prone to dying from as much as a single hit, creating this dance of death that the player had to learn in order to master each encounter. This made every single fight intense and allowed for boss battles to be more than just a match of endurance but ones of skill and wit too. 'Solar Ash', on the otherhand, seems to have a focus on huge boss battles (if that description is anything to go by) so it's unclear if that same one-hit-death mechanic will translate over so well. Usually, games that focus on this 'David v Goliath'-style dynamic tend to emphasis the endurance and stamina that goes into matching such a huge foe, and I wonder if that same heart can be translated in a playstyle that rewards style, speed and evasiveness. It's almost the point for games like 'Hyperlight' to make every successful fight look effortless, even if in reality it was anything but. But hey, what do I know? Perhaps 'Solar Ash' will change nothing and prove just as dramatic and epic as 'Praey for the Gods' and 'Shadow of the Colossus.' I'll be happy to sing their praises if they do.
Yet here I am again, after talking to positively about everything 'Heart Machine' has offered so far, to ask that most simple of questions; was this an appropriate game to show off at the Playstation 5 reveal event? For which my answer is yes- and no. I get what the organisers were going for; once more this was Sony telling their audiences that they would be openly embracing indie-like titles in the coming generation and that fans needn't look to Steam or such to get their fix. However, I can't really see any tangible way that this game really takes advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware or even attempts to. That doesn't really seem to be the driving force behind a company like Heart Machine, and I'm sure 'Solar Ash' will run just fine on current gen systems. (Providing it ever makes it to them, it's hard to know nowadays.)
So in summary I am quite excited for 'Solar Ash' (or 'Solar Ash Kingdom') even if I do think the trailer itself was a little light on pertinent details. (Like how the combat feels.) Much of my expectations for this game are, admittedly, self-formed from my experiences with their last game, but isn't it every artists hope to match their previous work if not surpass it? I think it's only fair for me to make a few comparisons, in that light. Though I will disclose that I find the similarities in art a little disappointing, in that I'd have liked to see this team use their talents and style to make something that looked radically different from their last game, but I didn't hate that title's aesthetics so I'm not adverse to the idea of seeing them again realised in 3D glory. So keep calling me into the void, 'Solar Ash', and I'll happily heed it.
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