Developer: Pulsetense Games
Publisher: KISS ltd
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Solarix – Review
We’ve covered this horror game in the past in a preview (for those curious about it, check it out here) and now, as the game is fully released, I guess it’s time for the review. Solarix had quite some potential to turn out pretty good if some of the issues were handled. Well, unfortunately, not everything got a fix or tweak.
Story
The story didn’t really change much since the last time we spoke about it. You are still the lone survivor of failed experiments with human subjects. The company who authorized those experiments doesn’t want the world to know what they were up to so what’s a better way to remain under the radar than to send a ‘cleanup crew’, right? As your character tries desperately to avoid being killed by that particular crew, it soon turns out that there’s a lot more going on. Something about an alien machine keeps returning in information carriers. Meanwhile an AI and mysterious person called Betty keep contacting you. Betty seems quite the lunatic and it’s pretty clear she knows more about the whole situation.
Through audiologs scattered around in the areas, you’ll soon find out more about the experiments. Bit by bit, the story becomes more clear and the way of discovering (mainly through these audiologs and other messages lying around) has something atmospheric. It really makes you feel like you are completely on your own in a dangerous place where some nasty stuff happened. Overall, it must be said that the story is decent and builds up nicely throughout the whole game.
Graphics
As we already said in the preview of this game, the graphics are far from breath-taking. The graphics look pretty outdated compared to today’s standards and although it’s not so bad that they’ll distract you from the game, the game experience would’ve proven more enjoyable with an up-to-date graphical style. Some animations are also not really perfect to say the least.
Effects like fire, rain and light are okayish but often look too artificial to really believe in it. As an example: rain suddenly stops when you get under a roof, you can even see the exact line on the ground where the rain stops. Or fire seems to burn without having a real fuel source (it just burns straight out of the ground at times). Things like that could’ve used another look. It must be said however, Solarix knows how to bring an eerie atmosphere to the table by playing with light sources and other effects.
Sound
The music and sound effects are really the best aspects you’ll find in Solarix. They make the game so much more immersive and the creepy atmosphere really adds to the horror experience. The voice acting in the game is nothing overly spectacular but convincing enough to leave you restless about the whole situation at hand (and yes, for a game in this genre, that’s definitely a good thing).
Hearing monsters and opponents talk to one another while you are right behind them, makes you jumpy right of the bat as one movement in the wrong direction will end up with you dead with a belly full of lead or other severe body trauma.
Gameplay
Solarix is mostly about creeping around stealthy and making your way through enemy crowded areas. Yes, it is possible to fire a gun yourself but it’s often not recommendable to do so (only if you’ve got no other choice) as the opponents are pretty strong and not that easy to defeat. A well-placed headshot can save you in a one on one encounter, but be sure to tuck away the body afterwards.
A very important game mechanic is the ability for your character to shoot out light sources to be able to sneak past. Still, enemies will hear it if a light bulb suddenly shatters in the environment so waiting for the perfect opportunity is mandatory. Another possibility to distract anyone in your way is to throw objects with a blue glow (which is a bit ugly in a dark game like this). Sometimes, you’ll have to solve a puzzle by exploring the area but mostly they don’t seem too hard to complete. They bring a nice change of pace in the sometimes very intense combat and/or stealth sections in the game.
Solarix strongly encourages stealthy techniques but because of that, the shooting mechanics feel a bit unpolished and just not smooth enough. Aiming precisely is not always the easiest of jobs and guns often feel like toys in your hands. It’s another one of those things where the base core game mechanic is alright, but could’ve been brought more to perfection.
One of the annoyances I encountered while playing Solarix is that enemies seem to possess some kind of superhuman seeing and hearing. Even if your character is just slightly in their line of sight, you’ll be dead before even drawing your own gun. There’s no doubt that this title strongly suggests stealthy gameplay, but as it is now, there’s more frustration than fun to it. Even on the easiest difficulty level, enemies were way too alert and quick to react. It wasn’t always like this as one of the latest patches actually changed the enemy alertness to a higher level. Although some might disagree, that decision might’ve backfired a bit.
Conclusion
This is a hard one. Although Solarix provides an incredible horror atmosphere with an interesting story and great sound effects, the game fails in other departments like graphics and non-stealthy gameplay. If you can look past those hiccups, Solarix can surely provide you with a decent horror experience and enough jump scares to make it worth your while but there are a lot of better alternatives out there.
Solarix - Review,
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