Final Boss is better than Cocaine nothing will change my mind. Except Cocaine.

Catkiro™: I'll Die Atleast Twice

Reject Silksong. Embrace Nine Sols

You smoke space cat opium to heal yourself. ‘Nough said. It's like if Silksong had actually released. My wife’s boyfriend on the other hand says it’s 2D Sekiro but with even deeper combat. This is a game that speaks to me in ways no other Metroidvania since Hollow Knight has... Nine Sols is a masterpiece. Really one of the best Metroidvanias I've ever played. It's near or equal to Hollow Knight in terms of quality. The combat is fantastic and the boss fights are very well done. The story is interesting and the characters are memorable. The environments and visuals are fantastic, though they can be a bit gory so not as suitable for a younger audience like Hollow Knight is. I'd say overall it's pretty much the same quality as Hollow Knight and I even enjoyed it a bit more. HK has better exploration with some nicer, less streamlined secrets to discover but Nine Sols blows it out of the water combat and story-wise. Like most people, I got into the game because it has a lot of Hollow Knight DNA, but the game is quite different from HK. It is definitely more Sekiro inspired gameplay wise. The biggest difference is that Nine Sols has a very strong focus on story, more so than any Metroidvania. I would say it is Hollow Knight inspired but leans more toward Ori or Cave Story regarding its narrative. Nine Sols has a tonally consistent, and well delivered story that takes itself seriously, unlike Iconoclasts which tries and fails miserably to be both dark and funny/quirky. Nine Sols had more characters that I actually really cared for compared to HK, which made me more invested in the story, but that's also extremely subjective. Personally, the Sci-fi Eastern Philosophy of Nine Sols was more novel and interesting to me than the 'Dark Souls but bugs' of Hollow Knight. And that's not a dis to HK either, as I love that theme/atmosphere/trope. I loved Yi's character so much because there are so many layers to everything he's doing. He's such an emotionally clueless hypocrite, but he's also incredibly intelligent, and despite everything, he never quite slips into being unlikeably evil. I loved that your dialogue options in the game underline this, you are often given two questionable options that help to colour in his personality. I also think there’s a good amount of dialogue at the start, but beyond that it proceeds like a normal game telling its story. The dialogue also develops the characters in a way I haven’t really connected with in other games. Shuanshuan is one of the best kids in any game I’ve played. I also like how DOWN TO EARTH the story of Nine Sols is. Most of the Metrodvania that try to present a deeper story tend to make the story-telling as complicated/ as confusing as most of the Soul series, for example, Blasphemous and many imitation of Souls-like Metrodvania games. Those games may have a good setting, but the way they tell their story is so convoluted/confusing to the point most people stop caring about it. Nine Sols and Ender Lillie are some of the few exceptions which tells a coherent, relatable and touchy story. One does not require an extended exposition to understand the culture, the drama is what pulls everything in. The last dialogue "When the curtain falls, none of us are really at fault" encapsulates the philosophical attitude of Taoism entirely. There were so many layers to each of the 9 souls, it gave me the desire to research into them even after completing the game. I have been changed entirely along with my perspectives towards Taoism. I have seen a few people get turned off by having to read text bubbles for the story but sorry this is a huge mismatch in expectations. Like playing a story focused game like Mass Effect and ending up getting Kingdoms of Amalur instead; or if you go to the theater expecting a fun marvel style action but ended up watching Logan. So when trying the game, do consider engaging with its story as all other mechanics (exploration, combat, etc.) are there to support the narrative, not the other way around like most Metroidvania. It has a really compelling story for a Metroidvania, which is extremely rare in this genre. The game has a Story Mode too with adjustable difficulty settings, and the game length is not too long but not too short. Many people would know the burnout after playing HK or Elden Ring. On the other hand, Nine Sols respects players time, and the ending is so good it made me feel sad that it was all over. Now while there's a lot to love about Nine Sols, the bosses were what made the game a stand out experience for me. Some of the boss fights in this game are absolute masterclasses in design. The level and consistency of boss quality was among the highest I've encountered in a game. That final boss in particular was probably the best 2D boss I've ever fought and the last boss in general was probably my favourite boss in general since Isshin. The final boss is just so perfectly executed I can't even comprehend. It's Consort Radhan type of difficulty, but much more fair overall. It's so good and so hard it gives you stockholm syndrome and makes you wanna replay the fight despite it taking HOURS to beat initially. The experience of overcoming the final boss is going to stay with me for a long time. The combat is some of the best Metroidvania combat l've seen in a long time, it's difficult and so satisfying to pull off. The game is ridiculously hard. You have to LOVE parrying. So if you’re a platinum Sekiro-loving bastard like myself you’re in for a great time. Now it’s difficult, but also f**king amazing. When you lock in to a boss fight, it’s like a dance. The controls and movement are a little different from Hollow Knight, and there’s definitely an adjustment period while you get the parry down, but once you do it’s SO satisfying and you move through the game BEAUTIFULLY. I cannot imagine playing a Metroidvania without a parry System now. This is so incredibly executed that I would dare to say this really improves and innovates the Metroidvania formula. The Boss Fights are an exciting dance of striking, dodging and parrying. Rarely the game is intransparent and it felt like every death taught me something. I loved that it makes me react to the fight coming to me, rather than getting to choose when to engage. I loved that I have multiple options for dealing with every incoming attack. I loved that I don't even have the option to sit back and cheese it out with a ranged attack. It's a wonderful experience and unlike a lot of other games I've played. Yes, it's difficult, but I found that learning to use the game's systems effectively was equally rewarding. Now to clarify when people talk about "parrying" its more a deflect than a parry. If you ever played Sekiro, you know the difference. I only say this because I HATE parrying. I DESPISE parrying. I do NOT TOUCH the parry button on souls-likes and that almost made me miss out on the f**king master piece that Sekiro is. Years later, coming into Nine Sols was a breeze but old me would've flinched away from it when hearing about "parry based combat". If you like Metroidvanias and challenging/rhythmic combat, give this game a try, even if you're not a fan of parrying it’s absolutely worth it. Game is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Metroidvania games with a good difficulty. Can even play storymode if your skills are not up to par. I enjoyed this game more than Hollow Knight. I know that may be blasphemous, but that’s how high it ranks for me. Really absolute banger of a game, If the year it came out wasn't so packed it would have definitely had a shot at some real heavy hitter awards, maybe even GOTY. 10/10

I have tried to give this game a shot but it just isn't for me. Which is a huge shame. The game is so pretty. The soundtrack and atmosphere are amazing. I wish I could like this game but the game play and mechanics are just too infuriating for me. Some people like bullet hells but I'm not one of them and if I knew that going into the game I wouldn't have bought it. The enemies in this game are beyond frustrating. Most of the mini bosses are harder than the actual bosses. They spam crimson attacks and (at the point where I'm at) some of them summon clones of themselves and get you in a crimson attack lock. Where they hit you over and over again with very little time to react or counter and then I'm dead. A lot of the bosses attack you relentlessly with very little room to attack back. There's just too many elements during combat that you have to keep track of and it's frustrating. "Dash through that crimson. Jump and press L1. Parry 3 times then 2 times. He's dash attacking press L1. Jump and dash through that attack. Parry 2 times this time. Brief pause, then parry 3 times. Hold L1 then release." I just find the combat to be extremely frustrating and way to fast paced for me. To each their own of course, but there are just too many things that you have to react to and counter/dodge perfectly that it becomes not fun for me. Not even a compelling story and world atmosphere can keep me enthralled if the combat makes me rage at almost every enemy encounter. I saw people say that normal is actually really hard and I have to agree. I picked normal because I always pick normal but if I would've known the game would be this punishing I would have chosen the easier difficulty. As far as a metroidvania goes this is hardly one. I feel like the rewards you find are lackluster. I've upgraded my health substantially and yet every enemy encounter can kill me in 3-4 hits. I've upgraded my attack strength substantially as well but I don't feel any stronger. It's like you take 3 steps forward but the enemies take 2 steps forward with you. You're only slightly stronger after several minutes/hours of work. People keep comparing this game to Hollow Knight and I can see why. This game hates you and wants you to die at every opportunity. Just like Hollow Knight (Which I also didn't really enjoy). TLDR: This game had promise for me but this isn't the type of game that I enjoy. If the combat wasn't as infuriating then I would've loved to play this game, but I can't even fight a mini boss without losing my mind so I'm going to choose to walk away and never touch this game again. That being said, I don't hate the game. It's just not for me.

Catboy uses the power of rizzomatic energy and his weed pipe to cause corporate espionage.

Makes you feel like a badass until you die 7 seconds later

Yes, there is another phase. There's always another phase.

Stop waiting for Hollow Knight Silksong and play this!

Funny alcoholic stoner cat parries everything, except his sister complex. 10/10

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☑ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☑ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☑ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☑ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☐ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☑ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☑ Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☑ 9 ☐ 10

Ignore all of the bad reviews, some people clearly misunderstand the intent of the game as laid out by developers. The game is hard, yes, but only if you focus on the non-important aspects of the game. Truly, there is only one task in the game; ensuring Shuanshuan gets as many knickknacks as possible. Every combat encounter was simple a vessel to further my want to teach Shuanshuan how to draw. Every boss who died by my hand was for the furtherance of Shuanshuan's education. Blood was spilt, countless parries achieved in pursuit of learning pottery. Every moment was just leading into my next fix, my next gift for my little sweethearted baby boy. Reading an item could be "gifted to Shuanshuan." was like taking that next drag on a cigarette. I NEEDED him to be able to play the flute, to learn to build with Uncle Chubby, to be able to reprogram the skyline to what Shuanshuan willed it to be. May mankind hope to be reflective of Shuanshuan's visage.

It is the year 2024 and Hollow Knight: Silksong release date is still 'To be announced'. Gonna play Nine Sols for now..

Post beating the game Edit:

Nine Sols is few steps shy from being a masterpiece. With that being said, many aspects of the game are straight up 10/10. The game is simply fantastic. I HIGHLY recommend it to any Soulslike/Metroidvania fans. Don't miss out on it.

*OKAY: 7 hours in - this game is fundamentally broken across a slew of major aspects that totally destroy the game play and as is - in my opinion - so fundamentally broken that i never want to play it again* 1) The Qi blast - charge it up, dash through the enemy, tag them and detonate it. Sounds cool - would be cool if the wait till detonation wasn't so long and you were totally paralysed in place as enemies swarm you and you die. A fast paced game should not have a mechanic where you have to stand statue still for 2 seconds in amongst melee combat. You either give us fast and fluid, or you adjust the game. 2) Enemy movement speed and reactions are twice to three times that of what you are capable of. Dash through an attack, and the enemy will turn and hit you once or twice whilst you are STILL inside the dash animation. That is totally utterly broken and I despise it. They can reach / react faster than the game allows the player to respond. 3) Crimson attacks. Just no. No no no and **** that **** no. Spinning dodging air graceful parry and then whilst you are still inside the character animation and powerless to respond, the enemy is smashing you again. And again. Then the animation stops and you get smashed again. GET. RID. OF. THAT. CHEAP ***** GOLD / XP RESET AT DEATH MECHANIC. This game is hard - brutal absolute 'die a thousand times' hard - and the developers decided that A) Skills and other such things cost tens of thousands of coin to purchase, and (B) AT EVERY DEATH YOUR MONEY RESETS TO ZERO. RESETS. TO. ZERO. You of course have the very Hollow Knight thing of catching up to where you last died and recovering SOME, but if you die three steps in? Zero. Done. Die soon after? Zero. Die half an hour later? Zero. For a game that requires 1000 coins to unlock articles, has drops of 3 to 5 coins per minor baddie, some drop 40... You can see where this mechanic is going to get really crappy really fast. It got so old so quick that 6 hours in I've said "Awww hell no, this is just stupidly unfair." Then we get to the mechanic that made me tear my freaking hair out YOU CANNOT HIT UPWARDS OR DOWNWARDS - SO ENEMIES COMING FROM ABOVE OR BELOW JUST GET FREE HITS AND YOU CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. NOTHING. YOU JUST GOT TO SUCK UP THE PUNISHMENT. ENEMIES CAN SHOOT ARROWS DOWN AT YOU THROUGH PLATFORMS AND FLOORS - YOU CANNOT HIT THEM BACK OR DO ANY DAMAGE THROUGH ANY SURFACE WHAT SO EVER. Infuriating to the Nth. I hate it. Thats BS. And before anyone says 'GIT GUD!' at me - I've well over 220 hours in Hollow Knight on PC and the Switch. These mechanics need to go - the game is too brutal and the skill costs too high to keep having to backtrack for 140 coins again and again and again and again and again... And the map is s**t - Sort that out - as its unusable. All in all - Hard 'nope' from me until this is fixed.

First off i do like this game, the combat, love the art style, the story so far... but the balancing is terrible; The hit-reg box on some of the basic enemy and boss enemy attacks are way too wide / unprecise, to the point I'm being hit by thin air. The cool down on some enemy attacks is way too short, in particular the Centaur General whos charge attack stagger locks me every-other attempt killing me without giving me time to react, i even tried spamming parry while stagger locked and there literally isn't a window to even parry, jumping wont help cause the hit-reg is too big, and this isnt the only attack pattern that does this. Now it could be a 'skill issue' but he is probably the first major boss and i cant even get him to a quarter health, i die within generally 10 seconds of entering. Also just a quality of life thing, when entering a boss arena, can we have the option to skip or turn off the bosses starting animation because it makes the fight so much more tedious. The games level design and exposition needs work also unfortunately. There are a lot of empty rooms with hardly any secrets or diverting paths making the game feel very linear and a little uninspiring. Speaking of which, the exposition is very show AND tell rather than show and do not tell. Meaning the game explains basically everything to the player before or after it happens leaving little wonder and constantly dumps tones of text on you. Which leaves me conflicted as i do enjoy the game but with the price tag and it numerous problems leaves it difficult to recommend. As of writing this i haven't refunded the game but am considering doing so. Its a tricky one to answer, most will be fixable with updates but I feel the game should have launched with some of this corrected. I kinda wish there was a neutral rating on steam, as I cannot decide whether I do or don't recommend the game...

Sucks playing with keyboard and mouse, and no I will not buy a controller.

CATKIRO: U can finish this twice before silksong out!

This is an excellent metroidvania with Sekiro-ish parry mechanic and an engaging emotional story. The difficulty of this game is NO JOKE but once the combat rhythmic click, U be dancing with the enemy with style & end victories. The boss fight are the main highlight of the game & the narrative are so good it rival with God of war (2018) & sekiro. (i look at U, Lady Ethereal)  The Music surprisingly combines traditional Chinese orchestra with futuristic techno elements sprinkled with hym like vocal chanting, it's like a great jazz piece.... unusual but harmonic fantastic. This game developer previous 2 games is in the horror + narrative game genre. For a first time they create their 1st metroidvania game.....(and it's 1st of the kind of parry system focus metroidvania too) It's OUTSTANDING!.....If U are a metroidvania fans with the liking of difficulty, This is a must play! Personal rant: Its very disheartening this game got snubbed by the Game Awards for the lack of recognition. & for those reviewer that played the game in two hours & give a bad review.... the game have a difficulty slider & story mode in the menu......U can play the game with easier setting, this game really need player to master the parry & talisman mechanic, the first boss is the first real test if U can handle the game, (it take me almost 2 hours to beat the 1st boss.......NO JOKE) after this battle, it open up more offensive item & skill that really make the game more enjoyable.

My dream was Hollow Knight but CAT and it came true Plus my potato PC run this smoothly

The levels of gore and violence shown in screenshots/trailers doesn't accurately represent how dark this game gets, nor does the "Mature Content Description" on the store page. In fact, it's not until after buying and starting the game that a screen comes up saying that "those with heart disease shouldn't play this game." So if you're fine with graphic and dark violence, including witnessing such violence performed on civilians, then great. Otherwise, keep this in mind. Edit: For context, I've played and enjoyed Alien: Isolation, Hyper Light Drifter, Half-Life 2, and Noita, so I'm no stranger to violence and gore. Also, I feel I should stress that the worst violence is perpetrated by the villains, not the player (though you do witness it). That said, I still found this game somewhat shocking and disturbing. I probably wouldn't have bought in the 1st place if this issue was more up-front, like if there was an ESRB review I could read, (or at least the whole heart disease thing on the store page (not that I have a heart disease, but that's a warning I've never seen before that gave me pause when I saw it.)).

THANK YOU TAIWAN FUCK CCP

Hollow Knight and Sekiro made love and this was the outcome. Definitely the best indie game of the year. If you enjoy metroidvanias, parry based combat, and difficulty this is the game you have been looking for. Lady Ethereal took me into deep waters and drowned me into submission.

There's a very thorough, well written, and highly upvoted negative review on here that almost convinced me not to buy this game. I'm leaving this positive review to cancel out that one. I'll be going through the negative review point by point, using its format. If you don't want to sit and read through all of that (a very good choice), here's the summary: 1. The first boss is called Yingzhao and you will not beat him on your first try. 2. Yes, the intro is slow, but the story is very, very big, and you're going to have a real hard time if you rush through it. 3. You can, within the review period, unlock Qi Balancing and Jade Tech and experience what the combat is actually like and why Sekiro is a good comparison, but you will be cutting it close. If you get that far and still aren't satisfied with the direction the game is going, no one could fault you for deciding that it isn't for you and refunding it. Now then, let's prevent anyone else from being swayed by a somewhat silly review written by someone who waited with great excitement for 2 full years, but couldn't give the game 2 full hours.

A Bad Review Undone

There is a lot of writing here, so I'll unfortunately have to pull in quotes to meet Steam's review length requirements. As with all quotes in life, any excerpts will sound far more blunt than they are. Don't forget to read the original before jumping to conclusions about the reviewer. I think they are mistaken, but I don't think they are a bad person. With that said: I have never felt more compelled to leave a review on a steam game to express my disappointment. This opening should already give you pause. I don't know how this person has avoided the AAA hellscape of modern gaming, and why on earth this extremely cared for, fairly inexpensive indie game deserves such a heavy insult. But all I can say is, I hope anyone who feels this way reconsiders.

POSITIVES

The ART ...the game is beautiful on the outside and hollow within. Whatever you saw in the first hour, let me assure you, the village and the first few rooms are nothing, I mean nothing, compared to what this game does just a little while after. I'm doing my best to stay spoiler free here, but all that background detail you gloss over as just the vibe in the beginning is both intentional and important. The MUSIC Solid OST, nothing extremely noteworthy nor iconic but it fit the setting of the world and served its purpose. This game is about Tao. I assume from your review that you don't live here in Asia, but it's obvious that the soundtrack has a meaning to convey. There is an invitation into some interesting culture and philosophy here that will enrich your experience if you decide to let it. I hope you didn't also think the little phrases that the characters are saying were in a made up language. That is all the positives I can say this game has going for it. And thus, I almost didn't buy it. Hopefully we can correct that for others. Few studios are doing what this one is doing, and I really want to see where they go from here. -------------------------------

NEGATIVES

PRICE TAG $29.99 for a game with less content than its "competitors" (Hollow Knight is $15) I haven't completed the game, so this may be fair, but what other "competitors" are cheaper? Sekiro sure isn't. COMBAT (WORST PART) I cannot stress how dreadfully boring/simple the combat is in this game.... Big first issue I noticed is that you cant dash mid-air, only when you are on the floor. This is strikes me as strange, as air dashing isn't a common mechanic in gaming in general. For example, one of the ways people divide fighting games is based on which ones have air dashing and which only include jumping. Many very large adventure games don't have this mechanic. Many metroidvanias don't have this mechanic, either. Here's the ACTUAL combat: attack attack attack- dash, attack attack attack-dash (do not parry). Why is this a problem? because parrying is NOT even viable until you upgrade it a ton which takes quite a while. You parry in this game to put a talisman on an enemy after then hold down the talisman button to explode. Sounds great on paper until you realize that by just simply spamming attack you will have a higher DPS output and kill anything twice as fast without parrying at all. The first upgrade you get to your talisman gives it the ability to stun enemies that you stick it onto. I won't spoil anything, but there's a mechanical sacrifice for it. You then need to choose whether you want an easy to use talisman, or to keep the other thing. This is the first of many such branching choices in the talisman / parry system. To be fair, the reviewer says that they know this, but unfortunately they seem to assume no more complexity will come later. The choices become so complex, in fact, that switching out your talisman and parry builds are an important part of how you approach certain rooms, and especially bosses. This isn't even mentioning several other mechanics. Until you get Qi Balancing, I wouldn't say you've experienced combat. So the reality here is that the rooms mentioned in the review are "boring" because they are the tutorial rooms. The only mechanics they have are the default ones and the first two upgrades. This should be obvious, because there are still large signs floating around telling you what the controls are. DIFFICULTY (can you even call it that?) Apparently none of the enemies know what blocking is in this game oh and theres no contact damage so you dont take any damage when you walk face to face into enemies which means button mashing your main attack input trivializes almost every fight. After the tutorial, the next thing you face are shielded enemies, electrical enemies, and enemies that have mechanics that combine with one another, in addition to static defenses (sometimes unreachable without some clever thinking). My first death (and the two after it) were in a normal room that just had a couple regular enemies appear at once. STORY this might be more SUBjective than anything else I wrote, but the game constantly shoves the story in your face. No I am not exaggerating, in the hour i played there were more forced dialogue and cutscenes than ACTUAL GAMEPLAY. This is half true. In terms of story being unavoidable, that's correct. I'd even say this person didn't get to the game yet. It does chill out a bit after the first hour or two, but it's still on the heavy side. That said, there's so much more that requires a lot of attention. This person claims to have gotten to the "central hub", I can't help but wonder, did they notice who the statue on the right was? Did they realize why Heng talks to you that way? Did they figure out why Kuafa has the symbol he has? These are just introductory questions. It goes much further, and let me say, there is a lot more going on than you may realize. Don't let the amount of story you're seeing lull you into a fall sense of thinking you've had everything (or even anything) explained to you. CONCLUSION After 1 hour of mostly slow cutscenes, empty rooms, spamming 1 attack, hundreds of forced dialogue popups, defeating every enemy with ease on the hardest difficulty I regrettably refunded the game that I was looking forward to for years because its half-baked and had the potential to be so much greater than it currently is. In reality, after 1 hour of playing the (admittedly maybe too long) tutorial, this person left the game, and are telling others at great length to skip it. They did not face any of the actual enemies, and did not fight the first boss. My recommendation to you is that you don't make the same mistake. Go up to the refund point before making a decision. It's a slow burn, but it more than earns its comparisons to Katana Zero and Sekiro.

Perfect game ruined by an absolutely tremendous and completely unwarranted difficulty spike in the final boss.

I'm never going to beat the furry allegations after this...

Strongly Recommended: This game is a masterpiece

For some quick background information: I've been following Red Candle's work since I first heard Devotion was taken off of Steam (if you're unaware of the full situation, look it up). Out of curiosity, I picked up that game on Red Candle's website and played it with zero expectations. What I got was one of the most unforgettable experiences I've had in gaming, and to this day I still listen to Devotion's soundtrack. Back in 2022, I heard rumors that Red Candle were developing a new game inspired by Sekiro, so I immediately crowdfund it. Only problem was, I don't like metroidvanias... I'm uncertain why, but exploring on a 2d plane doesn't do it for me, and the incessant backtracking with zero guidance feels like a steep time sink. But fuck man, now that I've finished this game I am proud to say I have my name in the credits. Red Candle continues to do the impossible and change my opinion on genres I don't care for.

Pros +

Art and Music : For real, this is some of the best on the Market. The animations are breathtaking and the style is oozing originality. Whoever does the music at Red Candle deserves all the love and praise in the world, as far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best soundtracks in gaming. Combat : Fluid and fast paced, featuring incredible boss fights that all aspiring developers should take notes from. This game markets itself as, "Sekiro-Inspired", and while true, that sells this game short. Red Candle did their own thing, and to my surprise, I prefer this combat over the aforementioned Sekiro (Although, Sekiro is still incredible). Story : This game features a cast of whimsical characters that are each lovable in their own way. Furthermore, the world is set in an unconventional cyberpunk setting which I quite enjoyed. I wouldn't say this game reaches the heights of something like Mass Effect or New Vegas, but I would like to give it points for originality. Overall, I found myself thoroughly enjoying and invested in this narrative.

Cons -

Difficulty : This game is hard, like hard-hard, I had more trouble with this title than most of the souls games. While I personally enjoyed the challenge, I list this as a "con" because I can easily see new players being discouraged. I did my playthrough on the "standard" difficulty, but regardless of your settings YOU WILL struggle with this game. Every fight has extremely tight timings and numerous mechanics. The key to success is to resist frustration and remain calm, but with the right attitude anyone can beat it. Navigation : This is personal preference, but I still don't like the exploration in metroidvanias. Don't get me wrong, Nine Sols certainly does it better than any other title I've experienced. Red Candle was generous enough to give us hints which direction to go in, and every unlockable ability has very clear use cases. Despite this, I still got lost twice and had to look up a walkthrough, once at the factory section, and again before the Eigong fight. Subjectively, I view this as a negative.

Closing thoughts

I don't know where to leave this in my review so I'll drop it here. Before playing this game I lost access to my Red Candle account and my Steam key. I emailed Red Candle's support staff in the morning and got a detailed response immediately despite the time difference and language barrier. Within 20 minutes I had my account fully restored and back in my hands, to me this shows the quality assurance you get with Red Candle. If you're at all interested in these games, I would highly recommend buying directly off of Red Candle's website. These devs deserve your money more than Steam does. TLDR: If you enjoy metroidvanias this game is a MUST PLAY. If you don't enjoy them, I would still urge you to give this game a fair shot. Hell, if you're a fan of quality games, you should encourage developers like these. Nine Sols has found its spot among my favorite games, and the devs found a loyal fan in me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Red Candle for the quality work. I will be keeping a eye on your future endeavors.

I really wanted to like this game, I just can't. I really enjoyed and 100 percented Sekiro (and all souls games for that matter), not quite 100 percented Hollow Knight (looking at you Godhome) but still went pretty far, so I thought Sekiro meets Hollow Knight would be fun, unfortunately this doesn't come close. This game does not respect you or your time, having a so-called standard mode that less than 20% of players can finish, knowing that most people who bought this game probably did their research before buying. I did, but I wasn't prepared for the thousand deaths I would experience. Yes I know there's a noob mode, but I wouldn't be here if I was that kind of gamer. Probably won't finish this one, the fight that finally ruined the game for me is Lady Ethereal, Mantis Lords is fun, Lady Ethereal is not. If having to suffer an onslaught of 3-hit kills when you barely hurt her in response wasn't enough, when you think you've won after dying about 100 times, she pulls a third phase, the first time it happened so far, and instantly annihilates the whole screen. Fun, in my early days I would probably have broken a controller or 2 over this.