Nine Sols Review (Switch 2)

Nine Sols came out a while ago but with the release of the physical version it seemed the perfect time to take another look at it. A 2D action platformer at heart it has some light Metroidvania elements and some of the most beautiful hand drawn graphics we’ve seen on the Switch. It attempts to merge Taoism with cyber punk, merging eastern philosophy with sci-fi.

It’s a complicated story to unravel but basically follows the idea that a virus wiped out an alien race, but they somehow managed to store their consciousness in a virtual reality system. If that’s not weird enough, to power the system innocent beings need to be sacrificed to it so their brains can be harvested for power. Or something like that.

Players control Yi, a sort of cybernetic creature that decides he doesn’t want his human friend to be sacrificed and sets out looking for the Nine Sols to defeat and harvest so that he can gain the codes to the Eternal Central Cauldron. Basically, you jump around beautiful levels and hit stuff with your sword, occasionally upgrading to a new skill and taking on awesome boss fights.

That’s doing the combat system a disservice though. Yes, you can bash stuff with your sword but there are also a lot more nuanced things you can also do. An early example of this is the deflection mechanic. If you successfully deflect an enemy blow, you can then dart past them, attach a bomb to them, charge it and then explode it. As you progress, you’ll gain more skills such as a dash, double jump and the ability to send a little robot out to get into places you can’t otherwise reach, a mechanic normally used for shutting down security systems and opening doors.

There’s also a cool grappling hook mechanic which lets you swing around the place, and you can of course wall jump and even run up certain surfaces. There’s certainly no shortage of ways to get around the beautifully stunning locations. It’s a good thing the game looks so great as well as it’s also pretty damn tough. Even early on enemies pack a punch so you’ll need to get to grips with the combat system quickly. If you die, you’ll need to go back and find your body to retrieve any lost experience as well.

Experience is important as there are various skill trees you can expand upon to boost your health and other stats. And in the style of Hollow Knight, you can equip talismans which add other changes and skills as well. When you get a good build together it’s certainly rewarding to go cutting through the enemies and at times, when it’s all flowing together perfectly you will feel like a complete bad ass.

Overall, Nine Sols is a really a very beautiful looking Souls game in terms of its approach to combat. Fans of Hollow Knight or any of the Sekiro games will soon feel at home, despite the bright colours and tech filled levels. It’s certainly rare to find a game with this much depth and such a clear design vision. It won’t be for everyone, but everyone should try it.

Overall 8/10

Warhammer Classics Round up (Steam)

Recently, a load of Warhammer games have been picked up and republished on Steam. We will be covering some in more detail in coming weeks. But here is a round up of one of the bundles that is available currently. It’s worth noting that almost of all of these are complete packages that include any DLC or extra content released.

Space Hulk and Space Hulk: Ascension

We have covered both Space Hulk and Ascension before a good few years ago. The first Space Hulk game does a pretty good job of recreating the board game experience. As a result, though it can feel slow and clunky in places. Ascension adds a bit more into the mix with the ability to level up your characters and having maps created from scratch. Both games are incredibly tough, but fans of the original game or Warhammer 40,000 are well served here. Just don’t expect anything too pacey.

Warhammer: Dark Omen and Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat

Our first experience of both these games was with their release on the first PlayStation. You would have hoped that using a mouse would have brought a better control scheme, but they are extremely clunky with a very small window to view the actual battlefield from, as most of the screen is filled with the user interface. Yes, instead of using the mouse you must control the game with different on screen buttons. These were clearly developed with the console ports in mind. If you can get into them, they are tough and engrossing, but we really struggled and found the games far too frustrating to stay with for long. Still, if you want to take on hordes of Skaven or the Undead it certainly has some scale to it.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos

Finally, proper mouse controls come to Warhammer. Many see this as the sort of precursor to Total Warhammer. It’s like the Lord of the Rings strategy games in terms of it using smaller groups of characters and telling its own story. There are campaigns from the Empire and Chaos sides with the DLC adding the Orcs and Goblins. Further races such as Dark Elves and Skaven can be played in multiplayer. It’s certainly not perfect but it’s a game we fought our way through on the Xbox 360 and loved, and naturally it plays a whole lot better here. It’s a lot of fun with a solid campaign and a decent enough multiplayer mode. A good progression from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen and though it’s lost a bit in terms of looks it plays perfectly fine still. 

Final Liberation

This is the PC attempt at getting Warhammer 40K Epic into game form. The controls are pretty good and it’s easy to identify your troops and move them around. There is also a ton of units and things you can do with them. It is crazily tough though. Taking on the first mission on the easiest setting we found our Marines always missed their shots, while simple groups of Orks managed to destroy heavily armoured vehicles. Once you get the hang of it though it’s an engaging game that certainly deserves a second life.

Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Gate

Note, this is the older version of the game. The Games Workshop attempt at UFO: Enemy Unknown. Build your squad, equip them and then send them into different missions to take down imperial cultists and demons. It works well and there are a ton of customisations and weapon options available for tackling levels in different ways. You can even use terminator marines and other specialist categories like apothecaries and tech marines. It looks dated but plays well. It’s worth playing for fans and we can see people losing a good few hours of their lives to it.

Warhammer 40,000 Fire Warrior

Looked upon as a disappointment on release, Fire Warrior is a perfectly ok FPS game. Now the hype has died down it certainly has it charm (although it was certainly never going to be a Halo killer). You play as a lone Tau warrior trying to fight off the Space Marines and forces of Chaos. It plays well, has some impressive set pieces and runs at a decent pace. It certainly is never going to be a stone cold classic, but fans of the theme and genre will find a lot to like here.

Warhammer 40,000 Rites of War

It seems there is no genre or template untouched by Warhammer. While Chaos Gate took on the Enemy Unknown template, Rites of War goes down the turn based hexagonal grid route and draws inspiration from Panzer General. The game has players taking control of the Eldar as they first fight, then unite with imperial forces to fend off a Tyranid Hive fleet.

Like a lot of these games, it’s a mix of good and bad. The classic mechanics are addictive and work well but missions are overly repetitive and pestered by small annoyances. Enemies have a habit of running away and healing before you can finish them off and characters can only carry a single object, so if you get to the end of a mission with no troops left to pick up that vital artefact you can’t complete the mission. And no, you can’t drop other objects already picked up. All that said, the core of the game is good. If you are looking for something that’s a bit more of a slow burn approach to Warhammer, then this is well worth a look.

Man O’War Corsair

Corsair is pretty much the definition of being an overlooked gem, if it was an indie game at least. It’s certainly the Games Workshop game which had the most potential if it had continued to be updated. It’s basically a rip-roaring pirate adventure set in the Warhammer world. Not only can you fire on other ships at range but also board them and let crews fight it out on deck.

There’s certainly a lot to like but the game is unpolished and messy. A lot of the ports look the same, sea monsters descend into predictable attack patterns and while naval combat is fun, when you get up close it looks tired and feels clunky. If you are forgiving though there’s a lot of ambition here to admire.

There are a host of other games falling under the Warhammer Classics banner as well such as Blood Bowl 1 and 2 and Talisman. It’s great to see them all being given a second chance on Steam and we will certainly be looking to cover more 

Space Hulk (Warhammer Classics) Review (PC)

Space Hulk started life as a table top board game where heavily armoured Terminator marines from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, pitted themselves against the multi-clawed Genestealers aboard massive drifting freighters known as ‘Hulks’. The tight corridors meant it turned into a battle of the strong and slow versus the quick and deadly. 

Space Hulk had been adapted in video game form before this in two titles that tried to merge action with semi-turn based gameplay. Now we have a new version of the game which takes a different approach and tries to replicate the board game in a much more precise and faithful way.

At this point I feel it's fair to share with you all that we are pretty well acquainted with the board game and we like it a lot. It’s important to bring this up as it’s likely to have a fairly large bearing on if you are going to like this. It’s clear the developers had a specific target audience in mind and there are few concessions to people expecting something similar to the last couple of PC games. It's also almost fifteen years old now. 

Space Hulk is turn based and relies on dice rolls to carry out actions. At the start of each turn you can move your terminators and set them to guard or go into over watch to scan for enemy movement. At the end of the turn the Genestealers then do the same. Firing weapons and close combat is carried out on the role of dice which means that there is a certain random element to it. This can be frustrating when you are one dice roll away from the success or failure but sound strategy and careful planning does tend to weigh the odds in your favour.

You are going to have to plan you moves carefully as the terminators only have four action points and even turning to face a certain direction requires the use of them. The game is also pretty tough and on the normal setting it took a number of attempts to even get through the second tutorial level. A single mistake of movement can spell disaster in a mission stretching into an hour of more in length so it is advised to save often.

As such, the game plays out more like a slow and thoughtful game of chess than an all guns blazing space shooter, but it certainly draws you in. The presentation is basic and the first thing you’ll likely do is head to the menu to turn off the shoulder cameras and death animations. Your next step will be to set movement to the fastest setting or you’ll be playing this until the rapture. 

However, once you’ve got that simple top down/isometric view, the sound of the engines and the cries of victory or defeat coming from your marines it all starts to click and draw you in. It feels claustrophobic and dangerous and the fact a wrong move is so costly certainly adds buckets of tension and atmosphere. A cry of "Bolter Jammed" has never caused such terror.

The levels are mainly based on the original games maps and as such it brings a wonderful authenticity for anyone not wanting to pay the huge sum of money required to find a decent condition version of the table top game. There are a few weapons and tricks taken from the Deathwing and Genestealer expansions but we would have liked to see a bit more of this added to give some variety as the game progressed.

Multiplayer is also here and there is a hot seat option to allow players to take turns on the same device. It’s a little unwieldy for the Genestealer player but it does work once you get the hang of it. Weirdly, you have to play through the main campaign to unlock levels in multiplayer which is something the game could really have done without. It’s not as gratifying as it should be, which is a shame as this is one of the key features that should make the game a must have title.

What we have is an authentic Space Hulk table top experience with some rough presentation brought to life digitally. Many may be disappointed, but fans of the board game will find this really draws you in. Yes, there could be more options and it could look better but it’s solid and enjoyable and a highly competent strategy title. The rule set is also solid and if you want to recreate some table top fun or take on one tough turn based strategy then this is the game for you. Those looking for fast paced action should look to something else to get their kicks.

Overall 7/10

Blue Prince Review (Switch)

It’s unusual for us to come across something unique, we’ve been around a while and played a lot of games. Blue Prince, combines a number of different elements to achieve that, mixing parts from visual novels, rogue likes, puzzle games and a good helping of a big old mystery.

The story goes that you have inherited the estate of your uncle. Or at least you will do if you can do something that no one else has – find the elusive room 46. But far from being a simple mystery you need to do this with the knowledge that at the end of every day all the rooms in the mansion will reset. There is a lot of lore in here as well about the games setting and why everything is so mysterious, but we’ll let players figure that out as it is drip fed through the various books and letters that you find along the way.

There are a lot of different elements to balance as you go about your investigation. The most pressing of these is the number of steps you have. Each room you enter knocks one step off your total of fifty. Once you run out the day ends and the rooms reset. As well as these you need to manage gems, keys and coins. Keys open locked doors and chests, gems are needed to draft certain rooms and coins can be used to purchase various things along the way. All these need to be found in the various rooms along with other items such as a magnifying glass, hammer or shovel.

Players have a blueprint which acts as a grid with which to draft their rooms. The initial sort of goal is to reach the ante chamber which is nine squares up at the top. It’s not a simple of that of course as you will soon find out. When you open a door, you are presented with three rooms which you can draw. Some may require gems to draft, and all will have different exit doors or other special features. You’ll soon learn as well that there are different colours for the rooms which denote different things.

Red rooms for instance, normally have some kind of negative effect such reducing your steps or removing your ability to see what you are drafting. Green rooms in contrast normally contain dig spot or other goodies. There are also bedrooms to help you restore some of your steps, hallways and shops of various kinds where you can get items, keys or food.

Away from these rooms there are rooms with specific puzzles or special qualities. The security room allow for the manipulation of cameras and security doors, while working out the boiler puzzle will then allow you to pump power through the house. There are also rooms like the lab and the observatory which can give you permanent upgrades. Gradually, as you progress, you’ll learn what it the most important to you and unlock a few permanent upgrades and areas along the way.

For what is effectively a game where you wander around and solve the occasional puzzles it’s remarkable how engaging the game is. The balancing of all the elements and trying not to put yourself into a dead end with you Tetris style rooms works very well. Add in the uncovering of the law and the gradual realisation of how different rooms work means you always feel like something new is happening each playthrough.

There are a few issues to think about though. The most pressing of these is the constant reliance on colour with the puzzles. If you have any form of colour blindness you are going to really struggle with this. There’s several puzzles which use six or seven colours of similar shades and sometime we had no idea what we were even looking at. We did get round it with a guide but otherwise we would have had no idea what was going on.

Also, you can get a number of runs were not that much seems to progress. The game could do with giving you a bit more in terms of keeping the progression loop going and give a bit more in terms of rewards when you solve a puzzle you’ve been working on for days. The biggest issue though is that a lot comes down to luck. You can stack the deck in your favour but sometimes you simply won’t get the room you need drafted for what you are trying to do in that run. All that said, we did keep going back again and again to it.

Overall, Blue Prince is a refreshing, interesting and original game. All the individual elements may be small, but when they are brought together it has created a high quality adventure game that will keep you curious and wanting to venture back in for one more go. It’s not perfect but its about as close to as we have seen for a fair while.

Overall 8/10