The two things people tend to care about when talking about great games are innovation and execution. I tend to lean towards execution being more important to the quality of a game, but Nine Sols for most will reaffirm why innovation is important too. If you can get past the opening hours, Nine Sols has a lot to appreciate (in particular some great boss fights and consistently stellar presentation), but it never feels like it's pushing the ideas of its predecessors to new ground. I don’t even think that’s a strike against the game, but for those with unfettered expectations, you’ll be leaving disappointed. For anyone seeking a game who’s quality of content can match the likes of its contemporaries, Nine Sols does in fact achieve that lofty standard, albeit with less focus on open-ended design than I would like.



Quickfire Notes (minor spoilers):

Swift Runner should be unlocked by default.

Lady Ethereal's Soulscape is the best area.

Eigong is the best boss fight.

Unbounded Counters make me feel like a god every time I land one.

The story was surprisingly good on a thematic level. The writing is inconsistent and I wouldn’t say it's worth all the time spent on side stories, but it was good regardless. Seeing how the Sol Signs were directly connected to the Sols personalities was a neat touch that wrapped each story up in a neat bow.

I wish there was more non-linearity. Unless there were some sequence breaks that I didn’t see, it seems fairly linear. Funnily enough, it seems very easy to soft-lock yourself in an early area, which is unfortunate that it wasn’t accounted for.

The stealth drone thingy felt very tacked on. Not sure why they added it in.