![]() ![]() When the end comes, it's not exactly surprising, but it delivers a satisfying coda to the despair and horror that's been building for the past few hours. Just when the world starts feeling mundane and predictable, The Solus Project shocks with sights like spiky caves where organic blades shoot down and impale anyone passing through. The majority of it reveals itself through the notes and inscribed slabs you read with a scanner, but also in the hints of quick movement in spaces that once seemed empty. Jump scares are so rare as to be almost entirely nonexistent instead, it relies on a creepiness that inked its way under my skin through both visuals and an effective use of sound. Most of all, it succeeds on the strength of a building dread that intensifies as its roughly 25 hours roll to a close. The design of the beaches and ruins never changes significantly, but they're used to great effect. ![]() Moments and sights like these make The Solus Project worth playing. Elsewhere I might tiptoe through stonewrought corridors with cobwebs that spoke of centuries of disuse mere seconds later I'd be outside dodging fireballs in a meteor shower or running for shelter from an otherworldly tornado. In one sequence I'd crouch through claustrophobic tunnels barely wide enough for my shoulders the next, I'd be standing in vaulted temples where histories from a seemingly dead civilization lined the walls. Play Its presentation thrives on a constant tug-of-war between extremes, switching out one for the other just in time to avoid drudgery. From the creators of 'Unmechanical' and successor to 'The Ball'. Survive through exploration, and unlock the mysteries of Gliese-6143-C. Even more impressively, it manages to induce spine shivers and goosebumps within a game design that has no direct combat, and in which exploration largely consists of getting from one point to another. The Solus Project - Official Soundtrack 4.99 4.99 Add all DLC to Cart A single player exploration driven adventure with survival elements, set on a mysterious and seemingly uninhabited alien planet. The Solus Project delivers that sensation fantastically, thanks in part to an appealing aesthetic that pulls as much from Stargate as The Blair Witch Project. But again, its survival elements seem to exist only to enrich the experience of being lost and alone on a strange planet rather than to make it a challenge. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it comes off as a little less than satisfying with a traditional gamepad. The PC version of The Solus Project is gaining some attention as one of the few "complete" virtual reality games on Steam, and fiddly things like robust crafting or convoluted puzzles might translate poorly to the HTC Vive's controllers and menus. I get the impression such systems are simple by design. Some admittedly stumped me for a bit, but often in those cases I'd find the answer had been almost right in front of me all along and I’d simply overlooked it. “Puzzles pepper the alien world as well, but they're rarely more demanding than finding a nearby item to open a gate or using a portable teleporter to sneak through barriers and up columns that would normally be impassable.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |