The Ball was a really good game, don't get me wrong, but it was at it's core, about "The Ball", and as such effectively was centered around a singular note, navigating and solving puzzles with the titular ball. It was an excellent exercise in good puzzle gameplay, with a smattering of platforming and a side dish of adventure story nonsense if you did a bit of skimming into it, but it was a first try for the studio, so really it was mostly for them to get their eye in and to make sure they weren't doing anything mechanically wrong. In that sense, "The Ball" was a roaring success.

"The Solus Project", that's a far different proposition, this is a game that actually goes several steps further, creating a real story around your actions, a limited survival system that whilst not lethally challenging in "normal" difficulty (in hardcore however, you'd best believe it can punish you fast) does serve as a constant reminder to keep fed, watered and rested, and a zelda-like crafting and inventory system that gradually expands your reach and your ability to explore an alien island that you've just crashlanded into, nose first.


And oh what an island it is, it's genuinely beautiful at ultra settings, whilst managing to remain fairly decent looking even if you tamp down on the pretty, whilst there's very little to actively contend with in the sense of wildlife and movable nastiness, there's a fallen civilisation that's left behind a lot of high tech nastiness, and a lot of that can, and will kill you if you're not paying attention. You learn pretty fast to keep an eye on the floors, ceilings and immediate surroundings if you're indoors, and your atmospheric readings if you're outdoors, as the outdoor temp can swing wildly between "So cold it freezes your genitalia off" to "So hot not even ice cream will help", this doesn't count the weather cycles, which seem to take their cues from America circa 2016, complete with tornadoes, blizzards, torrential rain, heatwaves, and that's all in twenty four hours.

Your primary mission is to re-establish contact with Solus command, and effectively to warn them that the planet has a giant energy cannon that is being operated by the remaining natives that can and will blow anything out of orbit (as seen in the intro), so it's likely a really, really bad idea to come knocking at this planet unless they fancy a dose of highly concentrated plasma being slung at the colony ship (almost certainly a bad plan).

Over the course of the game you'll get a bunch of downrange transmissions sent to your dinky little PDA from Solus command who are getting progressively more panicky at the state of the Solus probe teams, it seems most of them have not ended up in places that would qualify as "safe", but more than that would be deemed spoilery, so I'll keep that bit quiet.


The game leaves you alone to deal with the hazards posed by Gisele, the planet you are stranded on for the bulk of it, and essentially puts you in the shoes of "The Martian" but instead of trying to survive, you're trying to explore and figure out just what in the name of dieties is going on with the planet, you'll be spelunking through caves, picking through the remnants of a previous civilisation, and dealing with some genuinely creepy stuff as you work your way into the bowels of the planet. As you progress you'll gain an inventory of useful items for helping you deal with the various environmental hazards, starting with simple tools and working up to the really helpful stuff like hammers, teleporters and ropes to pick your way through.

Some areas are very much "linear", you'll go through them and unlikely revisit them unless you're going secret hunting, others are much more exploratory, since you'll have to scour them for the parts of the comms tower, but in either case, you'll be roaming Gisele back and forth for a significant sum of time, probably 12-16 hours for the average player. If, like me you got this during the sale, this is a fantastic buy and well worth the money. At full whack, potentially a tricker choice to make depending on your love for exploration games, if you -really- like them, then it's a safe recommendation, if not, you may want to wait for the sale to hit.


The Solus Project marks a coming to form from the creators of "The Ball", it's a much more confident and complete game, and it definitely marks their graduation from promising developers to fully fledged and talented rising stars. If the Solus Project is indicative of what we can expect of their things to come, they've a genuinely bright future among the distant echoes of space.

Verdict : Recommended, if you like survival exploration games, upgrade to highly recommended.

[H1]From the creators of "The Ball" comes a far more confident and genuinely interesting offering, serving up a slice of survival adventure that for once, doesn't require you to harvest a ton of wood.[/H1] The Ball was a really good game, don't get me wrong, but it was at it's core, about "The Ball", and as such effectively was centered around a singular note, navigating and solving puzzles with the titular ball. It was an excellent exercise in good puzzle gameplay, with a smattering of platforming and a side dish of adventure story nonsense if you did a bit of skimming into it, but it was a first try for the studio, so really it was mostly for them to get their eye in and to make sure they weren't doing anything mechanically wrong. In that sense, "The Ball" was a roaring success. "The Solus Project", that's a far different proposition, this is a game that actually goes several steps further, creating a real story around your actions, a limited survival system that whilst not lethally challenging in "normal" difficulty (in hardcore however, you'd best believe it can punish you fast) does serve as a constant reminder to keep fed, watered and rested, and a zelda-like crafting and inventory system that gradually expands your reach and your ability to explore an alien island that you've just crashlanded into, nose first. [H1]A very beautiful, desolate land, it's like Sweden, but an unearthly Sweden[/H1] And oh what an island it is, it's genuinely beautiful at ultra settings, whilst managing to remain fairly decent looking even if you tamp down on the pretty, whilst there's very little to actively contend with in the sense of wildlife and movable nastiness, there's a fallen civilisation that's left behind a lot of high tech nastiness, and a lot of that can, and will kill you if you're not paying attention. You learn pretty fast to keep an eye on the floors, ceilings and immediate surroundings if you're indoors, and your atmospheric readings if you're outdoors, as the outdoor temp can swing wildly between "So cold it freezes your genitalia off" to "So hot not even ice cream will help", this doesn't count the weather cycles, which seem to take their cues from America circa 2016, complete with tornadoes, blizzards, torrential rain, heatwaves, and that's all in twenty four hours. Your primary mission is to re-establish contact with Solus command, and effectively to warn them that the planet has a giant energy cannon that is being operated by the remaining natives that can and will blow anything out of orbit (as seen in the intro), so it's likely a really, really bad idea to come knocking at this planet unless they fancy a dose of highly concentrated plasma being slung at the colony ship (almost certainly a bad plan). Over the course of the game you'll get a bunch of downrange transmissions sent to your dinky little PDA from Solus command who are getting progressively more panicky at the state of the Solus probe teams, it seems most of them have not ended up in places that would qualify as "safe", but more than that would be deemed spoilery, so I'll keep that bit quiet. [H1]Unfortunately, whilst you might be "A" martian, you're no Matt Damon[/H1] The game leaves you alone to deal with the hazards posed by Gisele, the planet you are stranded on for the bulk of it, and essentially puts you in the shoes of "The Martian" but instead of trying to survive, you're trying to explore and figure out just what in the name of dieties is going on with the planet, you'll be spelunking through caves, picking through the remnants of a previous civilisation, and dealing with some genuinely creepy stuff as you work your way into the bowels of the planet. As you progress you'll gain an inventory of useful items for helping you deal with the various environmental hazards, starting with simple tools and working up to the really helpful stuff like hammers, teleporters and ropes to pick your way through. Some areas are very much "linear", you'll go through them and unlikely revisit them unless you're going secret hunting, others are much more exploratory, since you'll have to scour them for the parts of the comms tower, but in either case, you'll be roaming Gisele back and forth for a significant sum of time, probably 12-16 hours for the average player. If, like me you got this during the sale, this is a fantastic buy and well worth the money. At full whack, potentially a tricker choice to make depending on your love for exploration games, if you -really- like them, then it's a safe recommendation, if not, you may want to wait for the sale to hit. [H1]Final Thoughts[/H1] The Solus Project marks a coming to form from the creators of "The Ball", it's a much more confident and complete game, and it definitely marks their graduation from promising developers to fully fledged and talented rising stars. If the Solus Project is indicative of what we can expect of their things to come, they've a genuinely bright future among the distant echoes of space. Verdict : [b]Recommended, if you like survival exploration games, upgrade to highly recommended.[/b]