Solar Ash Reviews
Solar Ash's sin of less than ideal platforming progression is outweighed by its constantly surprising, intoxicating world that features stunning vistas explored using primal speed, asking the player to be along for its dreamy ride.
Solar Ash is a complete package, with stellar gameplay, a well-told story, and a realized world ripe for exploring.
Influences from other games are quite present in Solar Ash — Tony Hawk's line-following, Super Mario Galaxy's wraparound camera, Shadow of the Colossus's massive bosses. While those together may seem incongruous, they come together to make it an exciting, fast-paced platformer that gives you the tools to move smoothly and complete the challenges before you. It's so satisfying to nail those obstacle courses, clear anomalies, and topple skyscraping Remnants. The roller coaster of Solar Ash is well worth riding.
This glorious game about movement and adventure also feels like a rumination on something deeper and more personal.
Solar Ash may not get everything right, but its kinetic platforming and incredibly stylish presentation make its world a lot of fun to explore.
Graceful movement and jaw-dropping fights against colossal monsters make Solar Ash a worthy follow-up to Hyper Light Drifter.
Solar Ash pushes for a sense of momentum and fluidity with its take on 3D platforming, and it does work very well indeed.
Solar Ash makes a good first impression with its silky-smooth controls, eye-catching visuals, and bombastic boss battles, but a lack of character progression or changes to core mechanics eventually drains some of the life from the game. Solar Ash is a solid action-platformer, but it doesn't really rise above the many other indies occupying the same space, and ultimately, you may find your memories of the game disappearing rather swiftly into the void.
There’s a lot more to Solar Ash than simply gliding and grinding around its luscious world, but by god is it good fun.
Solar Ash is another triumph from Heart Machine, a fast-paced burst of vibrant, surreal science fiction where players get to glide and jump around fascinating worlds with terrific bits of platforming and action spread out across a series of unique worlds with jaw-dropping visuals.
It's not far from being a bit special, the kind of indie gem that everyone has to play, but it's unfortunately just not quite there.
Solar Ash is a platforming playground that never loses steam, and it hides a memorable story of unfathomable tragedy.
An action-adventure that sees you topple big monsters with your rollerblades. It's stylish and oh-so-smooth when it gets in the flow, but is hampered by repetition.
Solar Ash is an exhilarating action-adventure game with strong puzzles and flashy boss fights.
Solar Ash offers a collection of promising concepts that don’t quite hit realization. While undoubtedly a visually striking experience, Rei’s journey into the Ultravoid suffers due to a disengaging narrative and repetitious gameplay. Solar Ash’s attractive world struggles to provide the player with captivating experiences. The elements do occasionally come together, however, ensuring that while Solar Ash isn’t quite the adventure it might have been, it successfully retains unmistakable Heart Machine charm.
Solar Ash is a contemplative experience, visual feast, and faced-paced thrill ride expertly wrapped up into one exhilarating adventure. Without a doubt, this game is one of the best indie games of 2021, if not the best.
Solar Ash comes at the end of the games, with the Top 10 of 2021 already compiled and the nominations for the various year-end awards already awarded, and that's a shame. Because it is one of those endings with a bang in a complicated and fluctuating year, which has undoubtedly given us pearls, but which also feels on the rump the difficulties and challenges that the pandemic has added to the already difficult universe of game development.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Solar Ash is a highly original open-plan platform game. A slim move set that rewards momentum is the perfect means of exploring its swirling, broken landscapes and executing its more exacting challenges. While some of its elements feel overly simple, that doesn’t detract hugely from a clinically focused and fresh experience.