I'm seeing a lot of unfair negative reviews about this game, which bothers me because Nine Sols deserves a bigger audience. Make no mistake, this is a difficult game. Parry mechanics aren't for everyone, and that's totally fair, but so many of these complaints about feeling weak are solved with a couple points in the skill tree, or just some basic game progression. People who haven't gotten past the second area are complaining about a lack of features the game hasn't introduced yet. Players stuck at early bosses are calling the combat unresponsive. 'Git gud' is a really obnoxious sentiment to hear during gruelling boss fights, no doubt, but I really encourage people to give this game a chance, take it slow, and push through some of the difficult opening hours. If it still feels really unforgiving, then play on story mode. You can adjust damage values in the settings mid-game. Yes, you won't get that achievement, but who cares? This is a singleplayer game, play how you want.

Every boss, miniboss, and tough enemy that kicks your ass initially will eventually become second nature, especially as the difficulty curve flattens out, you get more upgrades, and most importantly, you learn the game more. Explore every corner, and don't hoard your money. Remember spots on the map to come back to later. Switch your Jades out for different situations. During new encounters, just play passive and learn the moveset. The talisman mechanic is very important, and finding moments to slap paper on enemies will pay off, doubly so if you use it to reposition. A Jade you get early that makes talismans stun enemies will help you get used it, but learn to keep a mental tab on how many you have as you deflect attacks and gain more charges. Experiment with the different types you get later, and find one that suits your playstyle.

Every boss makes use of the parry mechanic, so if that's not your cup of tea, I wouldn't recommend the game to you, but if you've played Sekiro, you'll feel right at home here. The final boss of a game hasn't made me feel like such a baller since The Glock Saint himself. It's cocaine. That other Steam review is right - it's cocaine. The bosses in this game are tightly designed, with the great animation work showing off their tells before each attack. It's cocaine. You'll find yourself getting into a flow state where you're picking up patterns and learning how to counter each and every move. It's cocaine. Don't get discouraged from dying - it's part of the game, and you're expected to. But with a bit of patience and some quick reactions, this game CAN be mastered. It's cocaine.

The visuals are just stunning. I haven't played a metroidvania this pretty since the Ori games, and both the Taopunk aesthetic and manga panels during key moments really give it a sense of style that adds to the already engaging story. The chilling opening sequence hooked me and made me want to discover what was going on in the massive facility you find yourself in. Fair warning to people drawn in by the charming character designs - the game has some dramatic tone shifts, and you will go from picking up bubble tea rations to exposed intestines in the span of a room. The atmosphere is also very eerie as you blitz through cyborg guards and mutated freaks to an absolute banger of a soundtrack full of chimes and distorted wailing. I personally could not get enough of it. I harpooned the backs of dragons and hid in storage containers filled with human meat and marvelled at the creative choices on display here. Did I mention the lovingly hand-drawn animations? It's all gorgeous.

The game has built a rich world, with a lot of history before the time you start the game, and many characters are absolutely ancient. Each Sol (boss) runs a sector of the facility, and part of the fun as you go throughout their level is finding out how they've adapted (or contributed) to the crisis going on at the moment as your angry little rationalist hamster clashes philosophies with them and generally talks some mad Taoist ♥♥♥♥. Some of my favorite bits in this game come from when a Sol decided to introduce a new gameplay mechanic in their level - or completely switch genres in one case. The strongest of these segments come in the first two thirds of the game, but each level has a unique twist that makes for some interesting platforming.

If you're a lore enjoyer like me, there's a lot to dig into here. You'll find loads of entries detailing the facility's many ethically questionable processes. You'll learn about dynasties, families and religious groups in power who had a hand in shaping the current world. You'll stumble on recorded hologram meetings that help put a timeline on the web of events that went on before the game's story. That's without even mentioning all the Taiwanese myths and symbolism inspiring this game that I'm too culturally stupid to catch.

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Some issues that could be fixed with a patch or two:

Item Tracking: The true ending for this game requires picking up a loooot of collectibles, most of which you will find just by exploring and playing the game naturally. But if you missed one or two, scouring the map for them near the end of the game is a pain in the ass, which isn't helped by the barebones map markers. I think a simple "X artifacts/health upgrades left" for each area would help the pace of the game near the end if you're going for the 100%.

Progression Guide: Similarly, your AI computer and a few other characters in the game will point you in a direction for the main story or a sidequest, and then never speak of it again. This was fine for me, as I played the game in big sessions, but I can easily see someone picking up this game after a busy week and getting lost or completely missing a sidequest location because it's mentioned in one dialogue box. Obviously, exploration should still be a priority for minor upgrades, but there should be one of those permanent orange markers whenever an important character offhandedly tells you to check a broom closet across the map.

Arrow Switching: I'm not sure if this was a problem for anyone else, but the game would constantly switch around my arrow types throughout the game, even mid-fight. Maybe there was some quick-switch button combo I missed, but I lost many a boss run because I was expecting to stun a boss out of an attack with a laser arrow, and the game decided to randomly switch to another arrow type despite me never touching the menu since the fight started.

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These are nitpicks though, and the game is overall very well designed. I think Nine Sols may be the best metroidvania I've played in a long time, and I can't give it enough praise. I'm not sure why there was absolutely zero marketing for this game, but it's really sad that the Elden Ring DLC is right around the corner, because between that and the challenging gameplay, I'm not sure how much attention Nine Sols will get. Maybe some big name youtubers or streamers will pick it up and there can be a much needed spotlight for it. There is so much love put into this game, and I'd hate to see it fade into obscurity, especially with the popularity of Sekiro and Hollow Knight, which it borrows a ton from. Hopefully this review convinces at least a few people to try it out. Thanks Red Candle, I really hope you guys get the recognition you deserve.

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Overall: You chief a hit of that squong to heal. You get glad. You parkour into the exact same electric wall 14 times in a row and lose all your money. You get mad. You talk to any character in the game. You get sad.

Red Candle, make a boss rush mode that pays for Shuanshuan's university tuition if you beat it. Or make a dating sim. I see some of those character designs, you ain't slick. The furries will go nuts. You'll make bank. Everyone wins. That idea's for free because this game is such a 10. I'm still annoyed I had to waste a third of this review telling people to play it.

Buy Nine Sols. It's cocaine.

Stop waiting for Hollow Knight Silksong and play this!

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.


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.



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.

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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.

Need boss rush mode.

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.

(100% Completion at 35.0 Hours)

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I thought Nine Sols was a chill platformer—turns out it’s a rage-fueled masterpiece.

Sekiro was my first souls game, and Hollow Knight was my introduction to Metroidvanias—so, naturally, Nine Sols was the next step. Like many others, I was drawn in by the brutal, fast-paced combat. I came for the satisfying parries, stayed for its gut-wrenching story of betrayal and sacrifice.

Gameplay: Parrying feels downright divine, and the talisman detonation mechanic? Absolute perfection—blow enemies to bits and look cool doing it, until they return the favour (looking at you, Eigong) ★★★★★

Graphics: Gorgeous, haunting, and you’ll probably die trying to admire the scenery (The same thing can be said about Lady Ethereal…) ★★★★★

Sound: Beautiful music but the serene melodies are a trap; the clash of swords and your groans of failure are the real soundtrack ★★★★★

Story: A well-written but tragic tale of revenge, secrets, and god-like cats who need therapy just as much as you do after finishing this emotional rollercoaster ★★★★★

Replayability: Two endings and plenty of exploration, but sadly no “New Game Plus” or extra content ★★★☆☆

Final Thoughts: By the end, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll probably smash a controller—but it’s all worth it. Would I recommend Nine Sols? Only if you’re okay with a game that’s gorgeous, punishing, and completely worth the pain.

I've no real way to put into words just how incredible this game is. Taken completely by surprise by the devs who previously made two horror games - Nine Sols is an absolutely stellar and masterpiece metroidvania that has genre-defying writing and some of the best boss fights I have ever seen in a 2d game, period.

With games like this on the market, there is no justifying "waiting" for Silksong.

This game gets compared to Hollow Knight a lot, but I only find the comparison useful when it communicates one or both of these two points:

1. Nine Sols is a Metroidvania and is on the same "tier" as Hollow Knight in terms of quality
   
2. If you're a fan of Hollow Knight, you're likely to be a fan of this game

Other than those two points, I hope that these comparisons slowly start to dwindle away, because I believe that Nine Sols is more than good enough to stand on its own, and does not deserve to live in another game's shadow. Now on to my review:

Hollow Knight is my favorite game of all time, with Sekiro coming in at a close second. So when I first heard about Nine Sols, I was cautiously optimistic. The thought that your two favorite games can be amalgamated into one complete package is an exciting proposition, to be sure-- but it's also really hard to believe that a studio will be able to understand and tap into what made those games special on their first foray into a genre. But I'm happy to report that Red Candle Games blew my expectations out of the water and into the stratosphere. Nine Sols clearly understands what made these two games special; but rather than try to imitate them, it learns lessons from their successes to create a unique and beautiful work of art.

Nine Sols introduces itself by showing off the two things that it does best: Story, and combat. (Intro Spoilers for the first ~10 minutes of the game): The story starts in the middle of the action, as your character Yi is betrayed by his master and left for dead. You are aided by some mysterious roots, and later again by a little boy named Shuanshuan, who you befriend off-screen. The game begins right before Shuanshuan is about to have his head voluntarily severed by a machine in a bizarre and shady religious ritual, but Yi intervenes, saving his life.

You are then rushed by enemies and given a concise tutorial for the unique combat system. Here are the basics: Block an attack just as it's about to hit you to perform a perfect parry, which denies all damage. Imperfect parries deny some, but not all, damage. Successfully parrying (either perfect or imperfect) rewards you with a talisman-- an explosive xi (chi) card that you can place on an enemy as you dash past them for a burst of damage. You can also swing your sword in a 3-hit combo, with the third hit doing some extra damage. There is also a jump button, and a dash for a small speed boost and a few i-frames. There is also an "estus flask/bonfire" system that works as you'd expect, except you rest at a root node and smoke out of a pipe (so f****** cool) to heal. If you like a good combat system, then you're in for a treat-- This is just the beginning, as Nine Sols uses the metroidvania formula to add more and more abilities as you progress. Thanks to the well-balanced skill tree and shop systems, you have tons of autonomy to choose and perfect your own playstyle as you go. As you add, perfect, and combine these abilities throughout your playthrough, you will slowly unearth what I believe to be one of the best combat systems in all of gaming.

*Note: I found normal difficulty to be perfectly tuned and quite forgiving as long as you're trying to parry and find healing windows. But if the game's difficulty is making you want to quit, don't; know that there's an easy mode that allows you to tweak damage done/received to any number you want.

As far as story, Nine Sols tells a Kill Bill-esque tale of revenge, but also redemption. Themes include spirituality vs science, nature vs man (or should I say, cat), and justice vs forgiveness, just to name a few. These are all handled very maturely. There is also significant character progression for Yi and all of his friends-- not so much for the villains, but rest assured that each of their motivations/behaviors are compelling and believable. There is a normal ending, and a "true" ending. The true ending requires doing almost everything in the game, which leads to maximum main character progression-- this is worth it, as Yi's newfound maturity creates an incredibly beautiful and much more satisfying conclusion to the story.

I also cannot end this review without highlighting the boss fights. It's easy to explain what separates a good boss fight from a bad one, but harder to explain what separates a good one from an amazing one. I'll try anyways-- Nine Sols bosses have an amazingly smooth (but not perfect) progressive difficulty curve. Meaning that the further you go, the harder the bosses get, but without ever creating so big of a bump that it makes you feel like you've hit a wall. On top of that, no two main bosses feel too similar to one another, with each having a unique identity that aligns with their respective stories/abilities. Almost every main boss fight, and even most of the mini-bosses require at least a few attempts to learn their patterns (except maybe two of em), giving you a flow feeling while you're fighting them and a euphoric feeling when you master them. There are two standouts that I want to shout-out just because I think they're near-perfect fights:

• Lady Ethereal is the most emotional battle, and has the most beautiful level and music in the game.
  
• The final boss of the game is a very complete and demanding test of your accumulated skills, while still allowing you to be quite expressive in your approach. These two seriously belong on the boss fight hall of fame.

Here's a plain list of all the other stuff the game does well, to spare y'all the word count: Art style (holy crap), world design, platforming, movement, lore, and progression are all top-tier. Enemy variety, music, and navigation are also quite good. Some minor complaints are that hitboxes were a little bit too big for some attacks, and sometimes I found myself not knowing where to go next.

In conclusion, if you like metroidvanias, tough-but-fair games, deep combat, boss fights, and/or meaningful, well-written narratives, Nine Sols is a masterpiece that might soon find a comfortable spot in your all-time list; it's certainly made it into mine. Please support this game and its studio.

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


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 ♥♥♥♥ 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.


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.


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.


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 would give this game two thumbs up if I could, this is genuinely a modern classic in my eyes. I usually write joke reviews for games, even for games I love, but I feel like this one deserves genuine straightforward praise. beautiful visuals, excellent music, fantastic gameplay and combat, good storytelling, interesting character writing, engaging setting, I could go on and on about how great this game is. Please, if you're scrolling through the reviews and wondering if you should play Nine Sols, I urge you to do so. If you have already played the game and you are reading reviews out of curiosity, I don't need to convince you, you already understand where I'm coming from. Highly recommend.