With each new release of Metroidvania, it becomes more and more difficult to come up with an original introduction to the review. It seems that everything has already been said about the genre: dozens of such games are released per year, and for indie developers this is perhaps the most popular way to express themselves. The formula seems to have been worked out a long time ago — explore the world, find abilities, discover new ways. But still, sometimes there are projects that stand out from the crowd.

Nine Sols is just one of those. We missed its release once, but in vain: the game confidently stood on a par with the legendary Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge and other masters of the genre. There are no revolutionary mechanics in it, and nevertheless, it attracts from the first minute. Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel — it’s enough to be inspired by other people’s ideas and do it with all your heart. That’s why Nine Sols doesn’t feel like a copy, but a fresh look at what we love about Metroids.

Nine Sols Free Steam Account

For most independent developers, metroidvania is a way to make a name for themselves, a debut that begins their journey in the industry. But the creators of Nine Sols have a completely different story. These Taiwanese developers have long earned respect and fame for their psychological horror films Detention and Devotion. Their games were not just entertainment, but real statements — dark, deep, thought-provoking. But with fame came problems. After Devotion found a joke about the President of the People’s Republic of China, the project was withdrawn from sale, and the studio found itself in the center of an international scandal. The team disappeared from sight, seemingly forever.

However, after a couple of years of silence, the developers returned — not with horror, not with a continuation of old ideas, but with something completely new. Nine Sols has become a way for them to start over, step out of the shadows and prove that their talent is not limited to the horror genre.

Creating the game turned out to be a real marathon for the studio. The deadlines were shifted, the release dates were postponed, but every additional month of work was not in vain. When Nine Sols finally came out, it became obvious that this was not just an experiment, it was a mature, original work that felt confident and loved details. Visually, the game is amazing — each scene seems to be hand-drawn, and the smooth movements and oriental aesthetics create the feeling of a living painting.

The only thing that spoils the impression is the map. It doesn’t help, it hinders. In a world full of mysteries and ramifications, it can be difficult to navigate, and the lack of a proper labeling system makes it even more difficult. At least you could put pins in Hollow Knight, but here you have to keep everything in mind. If you have a bad memory, it’s easy to get lost.

Otherwise, Nine Sols pleases, but warns you right away: don’t expect an easy walk. This game is not about relaxation, but about concentration, patience and humility in the face of complexity. At the start, you are given a choice of difficulty level, and if you decide to take the easy path, the “Story Mode” will turn the adventure into an eventless dream. But if you choose the usual level, get ready to suffer. And to enjoy this suffering. Even two enemies can drive you into a corner if you gape for even a second.

At the center of the combat system is a parry inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Here, every fight is not just an exchange of blows, but a kind of dance of death, where rhythm, reaction and a sense of timing are important. Enemies flash their weapons before attacking, warning you — but that doesn’t make them any kinder. Especially the bosses: They build complex series of punches, and your task is to learn them like a score in order to meet each thrust in time and deflect it. A successful parry not only saves a life, but also gives you the opportunity to strike back, put an exploding talisman on the enemy and turn the attack against him.

At first it seems too complicated. I want to act the old—fashioned way – jump, hit, dodge. But it soon becomes clear that there is no way to survive without parrying. Any mistake is expensive, and the limited number of first-aid kits makes you cherish every victory. It is especially difficult due to the lack of an “invulnerable window” — if you are hit, the next attack arrives immediately. And the enemies take advantage of it without mercy. Crossbowmen firing arrows in series is a real nightmare, and the first hours without an aerial dash turn the battle into a game of survival in the truest sense.

When the opportunity finally opens up to do jerks in the air, you feel a real sense of relief. The air becomes your ally, your movements are smooth, and your fights are graceful. Every fight ceases to be chaos and turns into a ritual, where every shot, every punch is important.

Gradually, you begin to feel the game on your skin. You parry automatically, anticipate the blows, act on your instincts. This is no longer just a struggle with enemies — it is a struggle with oneself, with impatience and fear of making mistakes. Nine Sols rewards attention and punishes haste. Enemies become smarter over time — someone acquires shields that can only be penetrated with a charged blow, someone attacks from above, forcing them to react differently. You have to be alert, think, analyze, feel the pace of the fight.

It is at these moments that you understand why Nine Sols was created. This is a game about patience, about growth, about how fear and confusion gradually turn into confidence and pleasure. It’s a metaphor for the studio itself: fallen but standing up, exiled but not broken. They came back and made a game that in itself became a symbol of overcoming.

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Nine Sols gameplay — a unique metroidvania in the style of daopunk

Nine Sols is not just another metroidvania where you have to jump on platforms and fight enemies. This is a game that lives and breathes — it feels the artist’s hand, the breath of myths and a strange, almost spiritual energy, as if it came from ancient legends. It’s nice not only to fight here, but also to just walk, watch and listen, because every corner of the world is filled with details and emotions.

The main character moves easily, with amazing plasticity. He clings to ledges, deftly overcomes chasms, and even simple movement around the location is enjoyable — the controls are so responsive that the barrier between the player and the character seems to disappear. Each zone feels different: somewhere stalactites loom threateningly, capable of collapsing at the most inopportune moment, turning a fight with a mini-boss into a deadly dance to the sounds of falling stone; somewhere fiery corridors are burning, where you can escape only in rare safe zones. Sometimes a cat hook comes to the rescue, giving a brief sense of freedom, but even here the game remains strict – you can use it only where the world itself allows. And that makes every jump, every moment of flight seem especially valuable.

But what really makes you freeze is the visual style. Nine Sols at first sight feels like something created by hand, with love. Each background, each character, seems to be drawn with a brush, circled with a confident line, and then enlivened by the artist’s breath. My eyes just don’t want to leave the screen. Everything around us resembles oriental scrolls and traditional paintings, where the past and the future are intertwined. Sometimes the scenes are styled like manga, and you sit still because you realize that you’re looking at art, not just pixels.

The developers have come up with a special definition for this visual world — daopunk. It combines ancient oriental philosophy and the cold light of cyberpunk. Here, cyberimplants are adjacent to temples, neon signs are lit next to rustling sakura branches, and flutes and synthesizers sound in the soundtrack. This contrast works perfectly — the game does not copy familiar patterns, but creates its own reality, where technology and spirituality exist in balance. Music stands out especially: she is sometimes calm and contemplative, sometimes anxious, with a pulsating pulse of the future. At some point, you just stop to listen.

That’s what I especially want to praise Nine Sols for:

• For the bold visual style in which the ancient East meets cyberpunk.
• For an atmosphere where even silence is filled with meaning.
• For a soundtrack that can give you goosebumps with one chord.
• For the fact that every detail — from the movements of the hero to the architecture of the temples — feels alive.

The plot seems simple only at first glance. The hero is a Solarian named Yi, an upright cat with a frown and a long past. At the beginning of the game, he is thrown off a cliff — literally thrown out of the world, and he wakes up five hundred years later, living quietly in a small village. Two years without war, without revenge, without a goal. The only one who fills his life with meaning is the Shuanshuan boy. There is a warm, almost familial bond between them.

But the world of Nine Sols is haunting. Shuanshuan decides to take part in a terrifying ritual where participants are beheaded— literally. And, of course, he cannot stand aside. He breaks into the ceremony, rescues the boy, disrupting the order and provoking the wrath of the Sols, the rulers of this world. The hero had his own scores with them before, and now everything is coming back. We embark on the path of retribution, but the further we go, the clearer we realize: this is not a story about revenge, this is a story about inner awakening.

Nine Sols is in no hurry to tell everything at once. Her plot is like a mosaic made up of dialogues, finds, short phrases and glances. Every piece of history is a small revelation. The secondary characters here are not just decorations. They live, react, and surprise. Someone is trying to help, someone is trying to test the hero. And each of them adds depth to the world.

The main character is the opposite of all of them. Introverted, tired, he doesn’t say too much and rarely shows emotions. But that’s why his rare displays of warmth seem so real. When Yi hands Shuanshuang the gifts he finds, he does it awkwardly, as if he is not used to gratitude. In these moments, one feels not a hero, but a living person who is in pain, but who is still able to care.

Even the bosses here are not just obstacles. They are the keepers of fragments of history, the bearers of pain and the past. After defeating each of them, the world becomes clearer, and he gets a little closer to understanding himself. There is no black and white morality in Nine Sols. There are no perfect heroes and villains here, there is only a path — difficult, beautiful and sometimes scary.

Nine Sols feels like a meditation in motion. This is a game in which pain, beauty and philosophy are intertwined into one whole. It teaches attention, patience, and respect for detail. And, most surprisingly, he does this not through moralizing, but through pure emotion — when you look at the screen and just feel that you are not looking at a code, but someone’s soul.

Results: Nine Sols’ Pros and Cons – Is It Worth Playing?

Although there is no shortage of metroids on the market, truly great projects are much rarer. Nine Sols is one of those rare exceptions that stay in the memory for a long time. Everything is lovingly put together here: a non-trivial plot, an incredible visual style and a deep combat system that is not about chaotic clicks, but about awareness, timing and the pleasure of every movement. For a studio that has not previously worked with this genre, this is not just a successful experiment — it is a strikingly mature and courageous work, where confidence and talent are felt.

Nine Sols stands out from dozens of similar games. She knows how to surprise — and not only with battles. Her story is not limited to cliches, the visual style impresses with attention to detail, and the mechanics of parrying make you think, feel the rhythm of the battle and enjoy every moment of victory.

Advantages of Nine Sols:

• An unconventional and emotional storyline that reveals the character gradually;
• A magnificent visual style combining oriental aesthetics and cyberpunk spirit;
• A Sekiro-inspired action game that makes every encounter a challenge and a dance at the same time;
• Intuitive, responsive controls that allow you to feel the hero with every cell of your fingers.

Disadvantages of Nine Sols:

• It’s still a problematic card that makes it easy to get lost;
• The difficulty imbalance is that the easy mode is too simple, while the normal mode can drive you crazy;
• There is a lack of a “golden mean” that would allow you to enjoy the game without extremes.

As a result, Nine Sols is more than just a metroidvania. This is a game about attention, rhythm and inner peace, where every action has weight. Even if it’s imperfect, its energy, handwriting, and character make it one of the most vibrant and soulful games of the genre in recent years.

Nine Sols System Requirements

How to play Nine Sols for free on Steam via VpeSports

Do you want to test yourself in a world where ancient legends collide with technology, and fate is decided in the blink of an eye? Nine Sols offers just such a path — the path of a warrior who defies the gods and the past. There are no familiar patterns here: just a cold blade, the silence of a ruined world, and your determination to go all the way.

With the help of VPEsports, you can go this way without spending a penny. The platform makes it possible to access an already installed game through the service — just go to the website, register and go to the Free Steam Account section. There you can find Nine Sols, open the review page and follow a few simple steps to start the game.

After that, there is only one thing left — to take the first step into a world where the past and the future have merged into one. We ask players to leave comments under the reviews — this helps others understand what to expect and improves the process itself. All reviews are moderated, so if your comment doesn’t appear right away, just wait for verification. After approval, the moderator will send the login information by email.

If you’re interested in following updates, new giveaways, and discussions, you can subscribe to the Telegram channel and join the support chat. They will always tell you if there are difficulties. And for those who like precision and order, the website has detailed instructions on How to play for free.

There is no need to rush to Nine Sols. Here it is important to feel the rhythm of the battle, listen to the sounds of the world and look for answers hidden between the shadows of ancient cities. This is not a story about heroism, but about survival, awareness and inner strength. And if you’re ready to go all the way, the road is already open.