3.5/5 ★ – ChucklesBiscotti's review of Nine Sols.

All the comps to Nine Sols make sense. Sekiro, Souls, Metroidvanias, Dust, and so on all have some DNA in this game. When it comes to combat, it takes pretty much all the right lessons from those games and creates the best 2D parry mechanic I've ever utilized, albeit 2D games are not something I play too often -- and the same goes for Metroidvanias these days. I am a little tired of the Metroidvania formula and so it takes a good amount for me to want to approach a new one. But here it's mostly light on Metroidvania mechanics. Yes, you get double jump, dash, and the usual other power-ups as you progress, but it doesn't really get in the way of much along the way. In addition, it also takes some pointers from the mystery of something like a Sekiro where you can sort of wander and not quite know what you're doing next, especially early in the game. (Again, some might not like this, but I found it refreshing.) However, what does get in the way at times is the irregular pacing and surprisingly heavy amount of storytelling. I wasn't a huge fan of the plot and story of Dust: An Elysian Tail, and this gets a little too close to it for me at times. Nine Sols is a little too furry-coded, and there's like 100 thematic elements in here -- everything from science vs. faith to the dangers of VR to genocide to slavery to redemption to loss to regret to childhood trauma and even to the idea of a good life vs. a good death. It's a lot, and this means quite a bit of dialogue and stops and starts to the action as you talk with various characters after most major boss fights. You can skip a healthy amount of this dialogue if you want, and I don't even think the storytelling is bad at points -- I was genuinely moved to an extent at the end of the game, plus the art is fantastic overall -- but it's just not necessarily what I care a ton about in this sort of game. Still, I respect the hustle and trying to do something adult, and it's highlighted in there with a surprising amount of gore at times. In other words, it goes for it 100 percent with the story even if I don't think it always nails the beat to beat pacing of the plot. Either way, the parry mechanic is just so good, and the final boss is a gem, so it ends things on a high note. There's also some really satisfying platforming that is reflex-based at times and then at other points it's more about puzzle platforming to reach certain items and extras -- sort of like a Celeste-lite. I hope more and more folks check this one out if they're looking for a challenging Metroidvania, and hopefully they don't get turned off by some of the things along the margins that sort of get in the way of that delicious gameplay.