Solar Ash

Solar Ash comes in hot with its fantastic art style, free flowing movement, and minimalist synth soundtrack, but it also hits a lot of road blocks along the way. When you’re landing sick grinds, nailing grapple points and taking down massive bosses, it’s top notch. When it works it works well; unfortunately, it doesn’t always succeed and you end up doing so many repeated tasks that it quickly wears out its welcome. The story content is written beautifully, with a lot to say about heartbreak and grief, which makes it unfortunate that Solar Ash can be a drag to play. It seems we may need to wait for Hyper Light Breaker, to see a truly worthy successor but at least Heart Machine’s writing and style chops remain consistent.