Solar Ash Review friv game: Sliding is Life

From Friv2Online Studio Heart Machine and publisher Annapurna Interactive, the new game delivers on the promise - a vibrant 3D platformer with an amazing sense of speed and a story full of mystery. We tell in the review whether there is life inside a black hole.

Solar Ash sends us to a distant galaxy, where we have to help a race of aliens save their home world - it is on the verge of death due to the Ultra-Abyss, an all-devouring black hole. You can stop it with the help of the Starseed device, but so far the attempts have not been successful. Many researchers have passed through the event horizon, and Ray, our main character, rushes there, which will become a guide to an amazing, surreal world.

From the very first frame, Solar Ash delights. Starting from contemplation of the frighteningly beautiful Ultra-Abyss before making a fateful jump, and ending with the study of many broken worlds that are intricately intertwined inside a black hole. Fragments of planets float in space, bending at incredible angles, interconnected by bumpy matter. Somewhere in here lies the secret to launching the Starseed, and Ray won't stop until he gets to the bottom of it.

Unlike Hyper Light Drifter, the previous work of the Heart Machine team, the new friv game is not focused on combat, but on movement. This is more platform than action, and the authors managed to convey the main thing - the feeling of speed and swiftness of the character, implement precise control and add a large number of tests.

Here, the key responsible for acceleration is never released: procrastination is like death, and sliding is like life. Using futuristic cutscenes, Ray rushes through the expanses of fantasy worlds, jumps over poisonous lakes, clings to rails, climbs walls overgrown with alien black substance. Controls - a minimum: acceleration, double jump, grappling hook and a gadget that can briefly slow down time.

It is noticeable that the developers have spent a lot of effort on honing game mechanics. Ray has almost no inertia, and the player can very subtly control, feel the character, directing exactly where he needs. In rare moments, this does not work, for example, when jumping between parallel rails, but in most cases it is possible to control the heroine as accurately as possible. The dynamics here are amazing, and I often wanted to just glide through the world, admiring its beauty.

In addition to stunning views, you can also find traces of explorers who went here earlier, notes and caches at the locations. The latter store parts of the costumes that will give Rey useful bonuses, such as doubling her attack power, improved finding secrets, and so on.

When it comes to fights, Solar Ash folds a little. Not in the sense that the combat system is boring - no, it just has nothing to offer. It is one-button, tries not to distract the player from movement, and you can not encounter ordinary opponents at all, fortunately, battles do not bring experience.

Everything changes when we meet bosses : in each of the locations there is an Anomaly - a gigantic monster that prevents the Star Seed from unfolding. To awaken it, you must destroy several nodes scattered around the area, after which a fight with the titan itself begins, reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus or Praey for the Gods on steroids.

Rey must climb the monster, hit the vulnerable points on his body and stick a spike into the exposed nerve, however, given the speed of the game, you should not count on a measured battle: on the contrary, boss fights test reflexes for strength and do not tolerate mistakes. The battle with the Anomaly takes place in stages, and the players must make a series of hits, however, with each stage, the monster sheds some of the bone growths, exposing deadly hot areas of the body, which forces you to be more careful: death sends Ray to the control point, forcing the battle stage to start again.

When it comes to boss fights, Solar Ash doesn't hold back. One of the battles takes place on the surface of a small moon occupied by a centipede beetle. The other is on the back of a flying monster, where it is difficult to hold on, not to mention trying to hit the target. And after each fight, Ray is waiting for a meeting with a mysterious figure: in verbal skirmishes, secrets are revealed and hints are given at the true reasons for what is happening.

The adventure takes between six and eight hours, depending on whether you're willing to carefully explore the world to find all the caches. And I have never been able to get bored in the friv game for a long time. Definitely, there are prolonged episodes here when the world seems too big, and once I had a chance to get stuck for a long time at the beginning of a new location without understanding where to go next. Finally, there are problems with localization into Russian.

However, despite the occasional flaws, for the most part, the game made me excited. If you like titles such as Pathless, Jet Set Radio, Shadow of the Colossus, then be sure to check out Solar Ash.

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