moving forward
a review of Nine Sols
Contains spoilers for the game Nine Sols.
Our universe is an interesting place. We inhabit four dimensions--three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. It is remarkable to consider the degree to which that temporal dimension holds sway over the spatial ones and the implications of that. After all, we can move in most any spatial direction we choose.
But in time, no matter how much we look back, we can only move forward.
You awaken as Yi, a mysterious, furry individual and no time is wasted at all in propelling you toward some very interesting questions about this world's past and present. Your task is to seek out and claim nine Sol Seals from their current holders, fulfilling Yi's mission of vengeance. But as you move forward, you are always, mentally, cast back in time to answer the questions that the present lays before you. Who, really, is Yi? Why are humans present among these non-human creatures known as Solarians?
You will ask yourself several times: What happened here?
And as you learn the history of this world and the choices that you--Yi, that is--and other characters made, Yi's suffering becomes clear. But you cannot go back. You cannot undo what has already been done.
You can only move forward.
I am hesitant to compare this game to similar ones in the genre, as it's so easy to fall into traps of calling something a "whatever"-like, but I think it's apt to contrast Nine Sols with another action platformer, Hollow Knight, because I think there will likely be comparisons drawn. The key difference here is that Yi is not simply dropped into this world and forced to uncover its history. Yi is, literally, uncovering his own history, his own actions, and the bosses you encounter are actors within that world as well, in a way that the Knight, effectively a vessel only for the player, is not (for the most part). Characters, enemies, and environment are so tightly intertwined with the narrative here and feel alive--or, at the very least, attempting to survive. Hallownest is dead, but New Kunlun is asleep.
"In the end, you were the one who woke me up."
Yi begins the game emotionally closed-off, certain of his task and goals. Glimpses of him in the past are revealed through messages from his sister Heng and subsequent flashbacks, showing us a child with eyes turned toward science and away from sentimentality. Yi felt like everything I was as an elder child: self-assured, impatient with my younger sibling, eager to prove myself among the adults. He humors Heng, even as he contradicts her. But he also loves her deeply, and this tension--the tension between their views of the world--leads, inevitably, to suffering.
Yi cannot go back, and we cannot go back. But we can move forward and make different choices. We can choose, for instance, to spend our time with the inquisitive Shuanshuan, or the curmudgeonly Shennong, or the jovial Chiyou. We can choose to deepen our relationships to others. In fact, these interactions are beautiful moments to breathe in the midst of some wonderful--and difficult--platforming and combat.
Yi transforms over the course of the game, learns to do more than look at the world but to truly see it, to be part of it. Yi awakens. And thus he must--we must--make a choice.
We cannot go back. We can only move forward, knowing what we know now. We are awake and so we must choose.
Nine Sols is a truly masterful symbiosis of narrative, gameplay, and environmental design. The combat can be brutally tough at times, but there are many ways to give yourself an edge in battle, including an honestly brilliant use of damage sliders to adjust how much damage you deal and how much you take, allowing each player to adjust the challenge to suit their own tastes. The more I played, the more I wanted to play, and the world is luscious and the characters deeply memorable.
The most memorable part, though, is certainly the narrative. Nine Sols does not obscure its story in interactable pieces of the environment: the story is front-and-center, with support from the environment to flesh everything out. A mixture of cutscenes, animated comic panels, and in-game effects uncovers the vast horrors and mysterious histories of the Solarians and New Kunlun and support the action admirably.
I adored this game. It is an absolute must-play. It is only a shame that I also cannot go back and play it for the first time. I can only move forward, carrying the game with me.