Solar Ash

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 43
  3. Negative: 13 out of 43

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  1. SlayerGGXX
    Dec 12, 2021
    9
    Simple, yet adjusted game, with amazing feeling of movement. That`s what sonic-games should be, but never will be. Good 3d-arcade with melancholic yet life-asserting mood.
  2. black_samorez
    Dec 4, 2021
    8
    The game is truly beautiful. Visually, each game area is unique and captivating. Sadly I can't say the same about soundtrack which, sadly, is monotonous and pretty much the same throughout the game.
    Gameplay wise the game is amazing. It's unbelievable how Hearth Machine Games got their first 3D project so right in terms of level design and motion, considering how geometrically complex    The game is truly beautiful. Visually, each game area is unique and captivating. Sadly I can't say the same about soundtrack which, sadly, is monotonous and pretty much the same throughout the game.
    Gameplay wise the game is amazing. It's unbelievable how Hearth Machine Games got their first 3D project so right in terms of level design and motion, considering how geometrically complex environment might be. Sadly, there is no upgrade system of any kind and combat wise the game does not progress at all. But there's more to the game and with base mechanics done right this is but a small downside.
    Story wise the game has moved past silent visual storytelling to written dialogues even when they aren't needed that much, The developers have shown in their previous game that they can convey lore through scene composition and visual hints but now they rely maybe too much on dialogue.
    Notably, the game is quite short, but still a unique experience and it might have set a new standard on how motion should feel in action games.    … Expand
  3. NotAPlotTwist
    Dec 5, 2021
    9
    The game has a beautiful art style. The platforming is great! And it's fun to explure the world around you. The music is amazing! With a mysterious tone that complements the worlds atmosphere very well. Gameplay is great, movement controls are just fantastik, and so much fun to play around with. However the combat is a bit too basic for my taste. Most of the time, enemies feel more like anThe game has a beautiful art style. The platforming is great! And it's fun to explure the world around you. The music is amazing! With a mysterious tone that complements the worlds atmosphere very well. Gameplay is great, movement controls are just fantastik, and so much fun to play around with. However the combat is a bit too basic for my taste. Most of the time, enemies feel more like an obstacle then a threat. The real highlight of this game are the boss battles, skating ontop off these giant remnents is allways an enjoyable RUSH! The story is pretty interesting, however i found the overaching narrativ a bit weak (especially the ending). I was more interested in the NPCs that you meet on the way of your journey. Solar ash is a wonder experience with very unique gamplay, and is definitley worth playing.… Expand
  4. AlexTTP
    Dec 8, 2021
    7
    So, I created an account. Especially for this game. If you are here for my rating - 7 out of 10. The following words are addressed not so much to people who want to know about Solar Ash, but to Alex Preston personally and to those people who have already finished the game.
    And I warn you: further there will be some details that will ruin your impression during the passage (if you want to    So, I created an account. Especially for this game. If you are here for my rating - 7 out of 10. The following words are addressed not so much to people who want to know about Solar Ash, but to Alex Preston personally and to those people who have already finished the game.
    And I warn you: further there will be some details that will ruin your impression during the passage (if you want to go through this game - so do it, do not read the following lines).
    Let's begin.
    We all know the old funny phrase: "What could be worse than bite off an apple and see a worm there? Find half a worm inside." About Solar Ash, I can say the same thing: "What could be worse than beating the game and realizing that it is not bad, but it is nothing special. To discover that it contains a myriad of unrealized potential." As much as I hate to deny it, but, unfortunately, it is. Knowing how great the Hyper Light Drifter was, it's impossible not to compare Solar Ash to it. It's still a secret for me, how, having in hand the formula for a great game, could you not follow it? Don't think, I did not expect Solar Ash to be Hyper Light Drifter 2, but it's... it's not what I expected.
    Soundtrack, game design, gameplay, STORY - everything was created in the right direction, but as if it was all unfinished. Not put it that way. it was all done, but as if in a terrible hurry (?). If you compare the game with the trailer that was released in 2019, you can see that almost everything has been redone. Maybe this is the reason? Maybe such a full-scale alteration did not allow to carry out everything that was conceived? Quite possible.
    The first thing that catches your eye (or rather in your ears, hehe) is the soundtrack. He just is. It does not evoke the same awe and awe that it did in the HLD. "An unremarkable soundtrack for an unremarkable game. Not bad, but not good either." Probably, this is how I would describe it if I had been given to listen to it earlier, without saying where it came from. I don’t feel Disasterpeace’s hands in them. Only a couple of them made me "shake". The rest are just copy-paste.
    In principle, the whole game is copy-paste (but, in truth, with some differences). Come to a new location --- meet the CYD --- "Systems are offline, destroy the anomaly" --- destroy all the "eyes" --- defeat the boss --- meet with ECHO --- come to a new location --- meet CYD --- ... and so on until the very end. I think the reason for this cyclical (hehe) nature is the same as I wrote earlier.
    Now let's move on to game design. The game is very colorful and contentedly expressive with its soft minimalism. But unfortunately, it is far from the first in this niche. With its colorfulness and Low Poly style, it immediately reminded me of ASTRONEER. It's a pity, but in principle, it's okay. If you look closely, the locations are decorated quite well, but after looking at the trailer, it seemed to me that there were not enough showed details that were present there. Let's move on to the more technical part. I noticed gaps in the textures, some graphic bugs, and, most importantly, there are empty bushes inside :) Simply put, no critical issues were encountered.
    I'll tell you briefly about the gameplay. Running is cool, fight is boring, boss fights are interesting. And by the way about bosses - you can feel the strong influence of Shadow of The Collossus. The same impressive, huge creatures, and the same climbing over them and hitting weak points. I don’t think this is bad. I just thought it necessary to say.
    Let's move on to the most important thing - the plot. To be honest, it's predictable. Crazy and corny predictable. The player almost instantly understands who is who, and what the main plot twist is. most of the same unrealized opportunities and lies in the plot. A pity, but it had every chance of being quite extraordinary.
    All of the above problems affected me. When I watched the events in the game's finale, I felt ... nothing. I hoped that playing with its hooks would catch on the threads of my soul, that she would take my heart and play with it. I begged Solar Ash to do it, I tore my ribcage myself, as I realized that the effect that I expected was not happening. I myself raised my heart to it on a silver platter. All you had to do was take it into your own hands. but it didn't. It made it worse. By its inaction, it tore him apart. and that's why I'm here, writing this stupid review about this stupid game. I'm lost.
    Reading all this, you might think that I hate this game and do not recommend it to anyone. Well ... it isn't. This is a beautiful and inviting game. Would I recommend it to my friends? No. But if my friend asks about it then I'll tell him: "try this."
    I did not write this review to say this game is bad. Rather, it was a small essay in which I poured out all my thoughts and emotions. I hope my style was not very difficult, and also I did not say a lot of stupid things. Even if it is, I hope you will justify me.    … Expand
  5. cdub1001
    Dec 7, 2021
    8
    A very beautiful game with simple yet fun mechanics. It's not going to blow your socks off, but if you want to kick back and relax with some smooth gameplay, it's a solid play. The skating mechanic is also enjoyable. I really liked the game and would recommend it to people who don't want too much of a challenge but really enjoy moving around from place to place to uncover the storyline.
  6. gamyprepare
    Dec 5, 2021
    0
    A pretty-looking snoozefest that has nothing going for it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  7. igor_velikiy
    Feb 18, 2022
    0
    Well done, they received money from Epic, they received money from Sony, as a result, they translated the game into Russian by Google, and it seems that there were no programmers at all, because such a low-detailed game slows down at the minimum settings on the PC, on which modern AAA games can easily hold 60 fps at high setting. The game itself is not bad, 0 score for the attitude towardsWell done, they received money from Epic, they received money from Sony, as a result, they translated the game into Russian by Google, and it seems that there were no programmers at all, because such a low-detailed game slows down at the minimum settings on the PC, on which modern AAA games can easily hold 60 fps at high setting. The game itself is not bad, 0 score for the attitude towards the players.… Expand
  8. jaywhitaker1987
    Dec 22, 2021
    0
    It's nothing short of impressive. Solar Ash fails so completely and spectacularly that Heart Machine has, in one fell swoop, burned through every last bit of goodwill and trust they established with Hyper Light Drifter. The full release of Solar Ash feels worse than a day-one Early Access title from a first-time developer. The writing is bad enough that every single piece of text andIt's nothing short of impressive. Solar Ash fails so completely and spectacularly that Heart Machine has, in one fell swoop, burned through every last bit of goodwill and trust they established with Hyper Light Drifter. The full release of Solar Ash feels worse than a day-one Early Access title from a first-time developer. The writing is bad enough that every single piece of text and dialogue could and should have been cut from the game. The game could have been deliciously abstract, but instead it's stupidly blunt, and then STILL doesn't ever manage to create anything remotely verging on a compelling setting or interesting character. The movement is one-note and the world to explore, while pretty in screenshots, is shockingly empty and dull. Perhaps worst of all is the gameplay. The gameplay feels like it was conceived and implemented the day before the game was released. It's like an afterthought, like a sticker on an oil painting. It's just really, really, really bad and unsatisfying. Heart Machine didn't just overstep their bounds with Solar Ash; they jumped off a cliff.… Expand
  9. tofak92
    Apr 22, 2022
    1
    Solar Ash will be a valuable point of reference when everyone inevitably asks "Why is Hyper Light Drifter 2 so very, very bad? When did Heart Machine completely forget how to make a remotely enjoyable game?"
  10. lobana5162
    Jun 7, 2022
    2
    Solar Ash is an unfortunate miss: rough around the edges with nothing at the center.
  11. Cyber_Angel
    Apr 3, 2022
    9
    A great and beatiful action adventure marred by bad controls, camera and imprecise movement.
  12. watchm824
    Feb 27, 2023
    5
    The game didn't grab me. Seemed monotonous and boring. After a couple of hours of playing, I deleted it.
  13. guiegui
    Jun 24, 2022
    6
    I mean, it's an OK game, but i am personally disapointed. What really carries the game is the smoothness in it's movement, it feels very good to move fast around the map, jumping around and slide some bars. But besides that, i felt the narrative on the game was made in a very sloppy and lazy way, reutilizing an "dialog scene" several times, developing the story through audios and stuff youI mean, it's an OK game, but i am personally disapointed. What really carries the game is the smoothness in it's movement, it feels very good to move fast around the map, jumping around and slide some bars. But besides that, i felt the narrative on the game was made in a very sloppy and lazy way, reutilizing an "dialog scene" several times, developing the story through audios and stuff you find in yout journey, all of that kinda bored me and i really stopped paying attention on the narrative after some time. The final sequence is interesting, but as i ended the game knowing very little about the story, didn't impact me.
    The aesthetics here is another thing that we can praise, beaultiful scenarios and a big "open world", that is kinda wasted because we have few things to do on him, because they fill the maps with uninteresting things like finding parts of a suit '-', i mean, c'mon.
    Overall, i think you can enjoy the game just enjoying the movement and the boss battles, but, unfortunately, my expectations was too high and they gave me too little =(    … Expand
  14. TheLinkgirl
    Feb 22, 2023
    2
    Nothing quite felt like it hit the mark for me here. Solar Ash feels a bit too basic, a bit too empty, and a bit too spectacle above substance. All things considered, the visuals of this game are gorgeous to look at, but that really doesn't feel like a compliment in the long run, since it made me feel like I would much prefer watching the game over playing it. Meanwhile, the gameplay feltNothing quite felt like it hit the mark for me here. Solar Ash feels a bit too basic, a bit too empty, and a bit too spectacle above substance. All things considered, the visuals of this game are gorgeous to look at, but that really doesn't feel like a compliment in the long run, since it made me feel like I would much prefer watching the game over playing it. Meanwhile, the gameplay felt like nothing to me, and the main character's movement felt so completely weightless and slippery that it made moving around the world feel boring at best and downright frustrating at worst. I wish I could say anything made me think this should have been a game, but the conclusion I've come to is that this entire game would have been better as a movie, since at least then I could enjoy the visuals without feeling disappointed about everything else.… Expand
  15. andrey809736428
    Jan 13, 2022
    6
    Игра в целом мне понравилась. Графика конечно никуда не годится, но работа с арт дизайном боле менее вытягивает положение. Вся сють игры построена на механиках перемешения, и к этому аспекту невозможно придраться. Персонаж ощущается хорошо, прыгать, скользить и дэшится приятно. Боёвка... ну, она не раздражает. Музыка у игр в целом неплохая, но ничего особенного. Что реально разочаровало -Игра в целом мне понравилась. Графика конечно никуда не годится, но работа с арт дизайном боле менее вытягивает положение. Вся сють игры построена на механиках перемешения, и к этому аспекту невозможно придраться. Персонаж ощущается хорошо, прыгать, скользить и дэшится приятно. Боёвка... ну, она не раздражает. Музыка у игр в целом неплохая, но ничего особенного. Что реально разочаровало - сюжет и отсутсвие прогресии. Смысла собирать разбросанные вокруг красные сгустки почти нет, тратить их можно только на восстановление ячеек щита. Собирать секреты можно разве что для визуала костюмов, записки других исследователей скучны и не несут в себе почти никакой информации, а бонусы костюмов почти бесполезные. Персонажи в игре в целом невероятно скучны, надеюсь разработчкики уволят тех бездарей что писали сценарий, так как я проходил игру не ради, а вопреки сюжету. Единственная часть которая не раздражает в сюжете - финал, не скажу что он очень интересен, но на фоне остальной скуки, хоть какое то разнообразие. В целом игра оставила приятное впечатление, но в ней как буднто не хватает целостности. Цемента, который бы скреплял все аспекты. Это конечно всего вторая игра студии, так что я возможно излишне строг, но почему то к первой игре у меня было значительно меньше притензий.… Expand
  16. stealthwhale80
    Jan 6, 2022
    10
    Truly beautiful and visually stunning masterpiece. I was in love with the movement and combat and the whole world through my entire playthrough. the story was well done too :)

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Meristation
    Dec 31, 2021
    80
    Solar Ash has matchless richness and fun offering full design variety, verticality moreover proposing ideas, concepts and diverse moments which will never get you tired of.
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  2. Shacknews
    Dec 9, 2021
    80
    Solar Ash is another hugely stylish venture from Heart Machine, though it’s not terribly long. Exploring any area to its fullest ran me about two to four hours and the whole thing ran about 11 hours for me when it was all said and done. Nonetheless, the graceful feel of movement, platforming, and combat in this game can’t be denied, and it’s accompanied by a lush and interesting mix of neon, natural, and industrial landscapes caught up in Solar Ash’s Voidspace. There’s a little jank in the controls here at here, but generally, for such a quick game, Solar Ash glides like a cosmic dream.
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  3. The Games Machine
    Dec 8, 2021
    81
    When you want to get rid quickly of level bosses just so you can get back to running down ramps and trampolines, there is something amiss with the balance of the game. And this is exactly the issue with Solar Ash: common enemies aren’t a big threat and boss battles break the flow, and not a in a great way. Exploring the game's bizarre worlds, on the other hand, is extremely fun, and requires above average amounts of skill and timing. If you are looking for a fast-paced 3D action platformer that also offers a good story, Solar Ash is a solid choice.
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