Developer RedCandleGames' latest title, Nine Sols, is gaining traction on Steam and is attracting thousands of players with its immersive 2D platformer action inspired by Sekiro.
The game was just recently released and is already making a good run on Valve's gaming platform with a lot of positive reviews. This action platformer title has a lot going for it, including a beautiful combination of themes and genres featuring stunning visuals.
Nine Sols Gains Traction on Steam
(Photo : RedCandleGames / Screenshot taken from Steam)
Players will also be taking control of a warrior cat, which is probably the only reason that some people need to play Nine Sols. But the game's biggest caveat is definitely its combat mechanics, which are based on a Sekiro-style deflection system.
This particularly rewards players for waiting, watching, and parrying enemies' strikes at just the right time. Because your character is only a small warrior cat, you are unable to directly face off against bigger foes in a straight-up duel of strength, according to PCGamesN.
You will instead have to find a way to turn their weapons against them and use their own strength to take them down. After they are battered and bruised from your constant counterattacks, you can finally strike directly to land fatal blows.
Nine Sols seems to be a game that resulted from Hollow Knight taking inspiration from Dark Souls and its challenging but rewarding battle system. But what makes this new game really stand out is its visual style as well as its world-building.
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RedCandleGames' latest title is set in a sci-fi universe that the developer is calling "Taopunk" and mixes futuristic technology with Far Eastern mythology. Early reviews of Nine Sols point to this feature being an incredibly important part of the players' experience due to a deep lore.
A quick look at Nine Sols' Steam page shows that it has striking similarities with Hollow Knight games that might just do the trick for those waiting for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Despite this, the new game is still able to make itself feel like a completely different game in its own right, said ScreenRant.
A Sekiro-Inspired Battle System
Nine Sols taking inspiration from Sekiro's battle mechanics is also something that is not commonly seen in many titles nowadays. Many believe that this is because of the high degree of precision that is required to execute it at a high level.
But demo gameplay shows that the game stands out by itself as it also allows players to build up Chi in order to deliver more devastating special attacks. This could be considered to be an even more hyper-aggressive system compared to Sekiro.
Nine Sols comes after RedCandleGames has had a rough few years after it was founded in 2015 and debuted with Detention in 2017. Its follow-up release in 2019, Devotion, was later banned in China for containing an easter egg referencing Xi Jinping.
Its latest game was first announced in March 2022 and was able to blow right past its fundraising goal of roughly $93,000 in just the first 24 hours. The game is miles away from the feel of the studio's first two games, according to Digital Trends.
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