Over the weekend, I decided to make some progress with my backlog. Solar Ash, developed by Heart Machine HQ and published by Annapurna Interactive, had been sitting near the top of it for a while, so I decided to give it a try. I remember seeing gameplay for it when it initially came out and thought, “The skating mechanic looks pretty cool; maybe I’ll have fun with that one day.” Boy, was I in for a surprise when I discovered that, of course, the skating is cool, but this would turn out to be one of the most genuinely unique games I had played in a while. Not only that, but it also drew some interesting comparisons to other games.

Solar Ash is a looker. Seriously. There are moments in this game where I would look over a ridge or a balcony at the landscape below and be genuinely shocked by just how uniquely beautiful it all looked. Beautiful lush clouds clashing with dilapidated buildings and random floating structures created this sense of “beauty within chaos.” The color pallet is what really pushes these visuals over the edge, as it creates an eerie atmosphere that still manages to pop.

The skating mechanic also delivered. Gliding through lush clouds, grinding on rails like Sonic, and everything in between felt like a dream, and the sense of speed tied to this mechanic feels just right. It works really well with the “traversal combat,” allowing you to speed past enemies and take them out in a flash if you time it right. The only situations where the skating didn’t feel so great were during boss battles. I enjoyed the challenge of carefully skating through obstacles while hitting damage points, but the platforming during these sections felt awkward compared to the rest of the combat encounters. Nevertheless, these battles are a fun challenge to overcome. 

Playing through Solar Ash, I couldn’t help but think about the similarities this game shares with Returnal. Both games have unique traversal combat systems, allowing you to move quickly through environments, using that speed to take out enemies. Despite the stark difference in color pallet and art direction, both games create a very similar atmosphere. That sense of loneliness in an unfamiliar world, desperately reaching out into the unknown for anyone out there to reach back out to you, is ever present in both games. Both games mirror this atmosphere with an internal battle against oneself as well. However, despite their similarities, Solar Ash still stands on its own as a unique experience, but I would be lying if I said these similarities didn’t have an interesting impact on how I viewed every aspect of this game. 

So, if you’re looking for a unique experience with flow state like skating traversal, jaw-dropping visuals and a heart wrenching story, you need to try Solar Ash. I tried this out on Xbox Game Pass, making this a total steal to play, but it’s also available on all other platforms.