Kids of the Solar is a pulpy fever dream developed by one man and printed by Devolver Digital. If you happen to took Suda 51’s Killer7, and mixed it with Sniper Elite, SuperHot and Mandy, you then’d find yourself with one thing resembling René Rother’s Kids of the Solar. It really works past simply being a dynamic piece of visible artwork too, containing some extraordinarily satisfying gameplay that feels crunchy and tactile.
Kids of the Solar is out now for PC.
Let’s simply get the dialogue of the sport’s visuals out of the way in which first, as a result of Kids of the Solar is really putting to take a look at. When it comes to its presentation, it resembles a very nasty 70s grindhouse film that has been totally soaked in bleach. This can be very fashionable, at occasions reminding me a number of the visible aptitude seen in El Paso, Elsewhere.
The truth is, it shares extra with El Paso, Elsewhere than simply visible aptitude, with each having an undeniably moreish high quality to them. Every stage is so brief and so satisfying to work via that it’s very easy to get sucked into enjoying this sport for hours on finish. I accomplished the whole lot of Kids of the Solar in two sittings, which is an more and more uncommon factor for me to do with video games lately.
Kids of the Solar truly additionally matches properly in proper alongside another bold-looking titles additionally printed by Devolver like Hotline Miami. Each video games share greater than a coloration scheme although. Like Hotline Miami, Kids of the Solar’s narrative tells of a violent psychedelic tragedy informed through mute cutscenes, with the more and more corrupted psychological state of the participant character being portrayed through the sport’s twisted neon visuals in each circumstances.
And it really works, portraying a chilly revenge story, devoid of any actual emotion apart from mania. At no level do you’re feeling as if you might be enjoying because the “good man” right here. As a substitute you’re a character appearing on pure intuition, hell-bent on righting the unsuitable that she suffered, regardless of what number of lives should be violently taken to realize that.
Right here Comes the Solar… die, die, die, die
The sluggish movement violence seen within the sport is precipitated as a result of seemingly supernatural capability that the protagonist has to manually management the route of their single bullet fired at will. When you choose you first goal and pull that set off, the digital camera the follows alongside the trail of the bullet in the style of Sniper Elite.
As soon as that focus on is lacking a head and spouting blood from their neck gap, time slows down because it does in SuperHot, permitting you to re-direct that bullet in direction of your subsequent enemy’s skull. The problem comes when that subsequent enemy is standing behind and obstruction like a wall. This introduces the puzzle aspect of the sport which forces the participant to get inventive with a purpose to get rid of all enemies within the stage.
Alongside Kids of the Solar being an addictive expertise it additionally encourages replayability. The scorecard that seems on the finish of every stage grants a rating based mostly on the participant’s efficiency, this encourages gamers to attempt once more to see if they’ll full the extent faster or in much less photographs. All of this feels snappy and strikes the narrative alongside at a clip, which is simply as effectively actually given how dour the whole lot feels.
That is among the sport’s largest challenges. If you happen to strip away the creatively satisfying-though-repetitive gameplay, Kids of the Solar is actually a vibes-only sport. The problem is that the vibes are dour as hell. This isn’t a really feel good title, nor does it glorify the revenge fantasy. The entire campaign that your character is embarking on is hopeless, and all through the sport takes itself very severely.
Brief and never so candy
Then you might be pressured to contemplate the catch-22 of the sport’s brief runtime. Would you somewhat a title that feels as if it ends simply as it’s about to hit its stride, or would you somewhat endure for longer caught on this dire world, with issues starting to really feel extra repetitive with each further hour of gameplay?
Given its cheap worth of admission, then I’d say that Kids of the Solar is value trying out in case you are a PC participant. With that being mentioned, console gamers are onto plumbs on condition that there are apparently no present plans to carry port this title throughout from PC. It at all times sucks to see a sport stranded on PC, and that is no totally different.
Total, Kids of the Solar is a title that options some actually novel concepts, some nice sound design and a few putting imagery that may dangle round in your mind for a very long time after enjoying. It’s an effective way to spend just a few hours, though it’s a little bit of a disgrace that there isn’t any extra to it. What’s right here is strong, and greater than sufficient to entertain followers of the macabre revenge style.
Kids of the Solar – 7/10
