Furthermore, I have the whole description and feature list:‘FULL DESCRIPTIONThe Solus Project a single player exploration-driven adventure with survival elements, set on a mysterious and seemingly uninhabited alien planet. Survive through exploration, and unlock the mysteries of Gliese-6143-C.Earth has been destroyed and mankind lingers on in a small fleet of ships near Pluto. As humanity’s last hope, you are sent to scout a distant planet as a potential location for a colony. After years of space travel disaster strikes, however, your ship is destroyed when approaching the planetWith your team members dead and your equipment gone you have no way of communicating or receiving help from anyone you are completely and utterly aloneDesperately you look for a way of phoning home, but as you explore the seemingly desolate planet, you uncover the dark secrets buried within the depths.
In this otherworldly odyssey you uncover mystery upon mystery as you try to survive the harsh climate.KEY FEATURESExplore – Unlock the depths of the uncharted planet, and discover the secrets buried deep below. Delve into huge cave systems and tombs and uncover over 200 secrets.Vast handcrafted world – 10 large entirely handcrafted levels to explore. Explore and puzzle your way through 5 islands and 5 large tombs/caves.Fully dynamic environment – An alien day and night cycle and a dynamic weather system that calculates everything from temperature, wind, humidity, cloud coverage impact on the climate and so on. It handles ocean tides. Plants respond to the climate.
The Solus Project for PC, PS4 and XONE is a science-fiction survival sandbox. It was developed by Teotl, a Swedish studio that created a logic game entitled The Ball as well as Unmechanical, a puzzle-filled platformer production.
Earthquakes happen.Survive – Survive the extreme climate, tornadoes, storms, meteors, lightning and the dark secrets buried beneath the surface.PlayStation®VR support – Explore every corner of the vast and alien world in VR.’ Audio and Soundtrack:This game has their audio flawless. I really have to give them credit overall. They even took things like explosions in space to a more accurate level. We always see in other media and games that when there are space battles you hear the shooting and the explosions when in all rationality, you shouldn’t hear it. There is zero air. There is no way to convey the sound to our ears.
This game features a large explosion early on in a cutscene and instead of it being loud like those other mediums, they took a different route. They didn’t simply make it completely silent either because I think they realized that people would assume that the game is broken or glitching. They settled on the middle ground which is to have the most muffled explosion sound that only lasted for about 3 seconds and then petered off. It’s like it was reminding us that space has no air and the only air that could let sound be created is the air from within the vehicle that exploded, so there would be a flash of sound and then it would disappear. Perfectly chosen on their part.Obviously, if they got that right, they nailed down everything else in terms of sound effects. They gave us new sounds that we had never heard since we were experiencing things that we have never seen. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that that is something that I love.
All in all, I don’t really think we need to dwell much more on the audio aspect. We can move onto the music, which, as you can guess, also does not disappoint. The music is definitely different then other games that I’ve played. There was a small sense of that music that you get in Star Trek that invokes the feeling of exploration. But since the exploration of this game was borne out of the idea that it was mandatory and urgent, you also feel it in the music. The wonderful compounding of fear, exploration, wandering, and openness can all be found in the compositions.
I’m not certain who it was that wrote the music, but I felt every purpose that they tried to convey while I was wearing my headphones and playing in VR mode.There is a sense of it that is lost even when you’re playing in standard mode with surround sound on. You’d basically have to have it up pretty loud as you play, but make certain to reduce the bass through your subwoofer. Otherwise, you may find that the floor vibrates like crazy (I live in an apartment with neighbors below). I think that the audio and soundtrack play well with each other. It’s like I’ve set out to do a task and there is a soundtrack for it everywhere I go.
8/10Visuals:The Solus Project’s visuals seem to vary depending on the settings. If you’re playing Standard mode, they look great, and even better on a PS4 Pro. If you’re in VR mode, it seems to look better if you leave all of the settings on default rather than the settings that I mention down in the VR Reflections section. I very much leaned into the Standard mode as it brought to the table the visuals that I like to see when playing a game on a current gen console.
If you watched the trailer or pay attention to the pictures in this review, you’ll see that the lighting is fantastic. They have a dynamic lighting system as well as a functioning day and night cycle. The shadows work flawlessly as well, versus those you might have in a previous generation game. The visuals go beyond as well in terms of weather.
There is every weather type that we have here on earth that might be deemed dangerouns and man, they are convincing. You don’t want to be in the way of a mondo tornado!Since there is a VR mode built into this game, you will find that it very much feels like 2 entirely different games. I’ve read that the team that ported it made the best decisions that they could after assessing all options and limitations of the hardware. I would say if you’re looking for the best visuals for the VR mode, play only on a PS4 Pro. You’re going to get back what you lose not playing in Standard mode. The textures are just so much richer and that sense of realism is that of what you might find in Resident Evil 7 for instance.
If you’re worried or dislike the visuals of the VR mode, I would almost advise you to upgrade to a PS4 Pro. This isn’t the only game that has pushed the boundaries of what the hardware can do, and it certainly won’t be the last. 7/10Gameplay:This part is difficult. The game has so much stuff that you can actually do and so many hidden bits to it. I suppose what I can focus on is the core gameplay and what it takes to really move forward in this game. Those who played the other versions of the game, like on XBOX One, may have found the crafting simply too easy.
However, I would argue in the PSVR playthrough, it helped the player so much to have that as navigation and button presses are harder to achieve. So if you’re looking for a greater difficulty instead of a breeze, you may very well defer to the PSVR mode. In fact, most PSVR experiences are anywhere from less than an hour to 3ish hours. This game can be beaten in 15 hours in PSVR if you’re just doing the bare minimum. Now that is truly bonkers,dear reader. I was thinking that a fair amount of that time was due to the fact that you have zero map as the traveler.
I understand that there is no map because you’ve never been there before, but maybe a feature that creates a map as you go? Come on developers, add that into a patch please!But back to the basics. It’s not enough just to explore and craft in this game. There is very much a survival angle involved here. You have to stay dry or if you get wet, you should stay warm. There’s definitely hypothermia and so many other real-world issues that can get you into trouble and kill you. In fact, it shares that in common with games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
You carry a PDA around that breaks down the elements and environment around you at all times. You can carry a tool in the right hand, this tool could be a torch or maybe something to strike/leverage an object open.
It’s really all of the cave exploration and secret digging that really makes you want to spend more time in this game. No, there does not appear to be any fighting and no, it’s not a horror game. It’s all very basic at its core, but expansive and elaborate in what you truly get to do in the game.
It’s just such a hard game to explain (really you truly should play it yourself to know everything).The load screens are long, by the way, I had to add that in. You’ll be forced to look at random screenshots a fair amount as it has no loading bar to load a level in VR as it does have in the Standard mode.
It will have a loading bar on its way to cutscenes though, but those are few and far between. Overall, even though the loading screens make take forever and not tell you how long it will be that you have to wait, they rarely happen, so that should put your mind at ease.Replay-ability:This game is long. This game is very long. This game is so long that if you explore everything about it, you’ll be in the 30 hour mark and even one of the developers said you probably shouldn’t spend 30+ hours in this game on PSVR. They want you to experience the game as it is, closer to a movie than a book. You’re just supposed to follow the beaten path, but it feels like it’s a new path. In terms of replay-ability though, I would say the best way you’re going to maximize your value here is to first play it in Standard mode.
This way you know what all functions you have, how the world works, where things generally are. After you’ve beaten the game in that fashion, then move onto PSVR as an extra tasty morsel. But other than playing the game twice through, there really isn’t much more to it. You can’t really speedrun it in VR mode and there is no logical way for leaderboards and there definitely is no online multiplayer. It’s just you and a planet and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it just is not an infinite game.
5/10VR Reflections:I had the hardest time with the VR in this game. I followed instructions that I found from the developer on how to have maximum comfort while playing to also enjoying the gameplay.
However, upon applying those tweaks, sure I wasn’t having motion sickness, but I truly wasn’t having as good of a time as I have in other VR experiences. There is plenty to give them an A+ on here though. They have implemented so many options and modifiers for you to mix and match with that there should be some option that works the best for your comfort level.
I would say that if you never get motion sickness, leave the default options how they are. If you’re American there are some non-VR options on the main menu though that you may not catch that you want to enable, like using Fahrenheit and having US measurements enabled.Like I said, if you can leave the settings as they are, you’re a badass and you will be able to experience the game in its full-fledged glory. If you have a sensitive stomach as I do and you understand that you’ll have some concessions on gameplay and visuals, then play with the options until you’ve found an experience that works the best for you.
You’ll just have to do more work in game, but it’s the same massive world at your disposal. Nothing is lost except visuals and you gain extra steps that you have to do in order to complete certain tasks. And, to answer the first question I posed at the top of this page, which is better Standard or VR play? Well, I would say for my money you get a damn decent experience with no issues on Standard mode (even better on PS4 Pro). PSVR should be for those who really love to dive deep into games and be a part of them. But I would say that it simply is not necessary for the gameplay to play in VR. 6/10If you’re wanting The Solus Project for PSVR, you can download the game by clicking.Stay tuned here on Hackinformer.com and follow us on TwitterIf you like the author and his work follow him on Twitter as well.
Isolation, Exploration, And Canned Food
HIGH The outdoor weather effects are a sight to behold, especially in VR.
LOW A whole lot of time-consuming fetchquests.
WTF The ending is straight out of a bad Twilight Zone episode.
After crash-landing on an alien world, The Solus Project starts off slow and uneventfully. A player’s first act is to craft a sharp rock to cut away netting from their ruined escape pod and emerge onto the planet. Don’t be lulled into complacency though — a few minutes later, the game throws a literal tornado at the player as if to say yes, you will die here.
As a first-person survival title, Solus rewards those who settle into experiences rather than those who expect the best sequences right at the start. Apart from that opening tornado, the moments of awe and intrigue come as the player engages in an exploratory survival adventure on a strange world full of ancient ruins and machines. Unfortunately, the mechanics and design don’t match the thick, successful atmosphere.
After the crash, players awaken to find themselves the only survivor of a mission to save humanity. This setup launches a quest that tasks players with determining whether or not the mysterious planet might be a potential new home for humanity. In order to accomplish this, players must gather local resources, craft useful items, scavenge the wreckage of their spacecraft, and discover the secrets of an ancient alien civilization before it’s too late.
Solus excels at creating a genuine atmosphere of isolation and distress. In order to survive, players must monitor their heat levels, hydration, nourishment, and other biological factors using a small computer they permanently carry in their left hand. This computer also tracks progress on quests and translates an alien language found around the world. Meanwhile, the player’s right hand is free to wield useful items such as a torch, food and drink to be consumed, or a device that fires teleportation disks to make traversal somewhat easier in difficult terrain.
Desperation sets in as players realize that they are susceptible to dangerous weather events while above ground, and equally threatened by cold and fatigue exploring the many subterranean environments.
The weather effects are perhaps the most graphically impressive element in Solus, although it generally displays the sort of moderate graphical prowess befitting its indie origins. Thick swirling, ominous clouds accompany the formation of deadly twisters, sheets of rain dampen the earth as lightning crackles in the fogged distance, and meteor showers set the sky afire, all in a glorious spectacle that help sell the idea of the world’s inhospitable nature.
These dangers are especially believable and salient while playing the game in VR, which I did for the majority of my playthrough. While Solus handles fine in normal mode using a controller, its weaknesses are more apparent and it lacks the sense of presence that VR provides. In addition to witnessing the gorgeous weather effects, one of my favorite VR moments was simply wading through underground pools of water while holding my Move controller high in the air to keep my in-game torch dry while it illuminated my way.
Standard first-person controls in normal mode become quite different when playing in VR, which requires the use of two Move controllers. Although Solus‘ controls suffered on launch day, the latest patches have produced one of the finest first-person VR control schemes. Players can choose between standard teleportation movement or use the left Move controller to point in the direction they want to go and the right Move controller’s central button to move in that direction. It’s an intuitive setup that quickly becomes second-nature, and a great workaround considering the Move’s lack of analog sticks.
While The Solus Project achieves a great sense of place, it’s ultimately a title plagued by poor design decisions. The more I played, the more I had to weigh my appreciation for the atmosphere against a growing mountain of small complaints.
To begin with, a lot of the environments look the same — especially the underground ruins. The caves and decayed pyramids repeat textures and assets, creating deja vu rather than the joy of continual discovery. Furthermore, some of the wide-open areas require a lot of trudging through difficult terrain to pick up quest items, and most of the campaign’s ‘progress blockers’ are just fetchquests for items like keys, ship parts, or alien dolls. The only other puzzles involve an underdeveloped mechanic about placing objects on weighted floor platforms. Solus Project is at its best when it produces a feeling of momentum coupled with the awe of discovering new and exotic spaces, yet its desire to challenge or impede players flies in the face of its strongest elements.
Similarly, the save system feels arbitrarily limited, allowing saves only at special pillars. While the game is generous about how many of these pillars it includes, I experienced moments where a quicksave would have been a godsend, particularly after random crashes – a problem between early patches – or after unexpectedly dying. Any sense of discovery quickly fades after being forced to repeat sections.
For being a survival and crafting experience, the inventory system in Solus Project isn’t especially intuitive. The interface is clunky (particularly in VR) and players can only carry a small number of items. There are some pickups that expand backpack capacity, but these are easy to miss and the scant few slots they unlock never truly solve the problem. Like other survival games, Solus Project forces players to weigh edibles against other useful items like glow sticks or flashlights. This creates a sense of consequence for player decisions, yet I didn’t feel that it made the game better, or more pleasurable.
Despite its limited crafting system (mostly used to make sharp rocks or torches) players will spend the majority of their time walking from one cave to another while trying to maintain their health. For players who prefer a less strenuous journey, The Solus Project offers a sliding difficulty scale from 0 to 100. At zero, players no longer have to worry about food, water, or temperature, and the limited save system almost ceases to matter. This means players can freely enjoy exploring the alien world and unraveling its mysteries. This also eliminates what some might consider the essential tension of the survival mechanics and drastically changes the experience, but it’s to the game’s credit that it offers this option.
While the story about the fate of humanity and the mystery surrounding the unseen alien race was ultimately a disappointment, I still find myself thinking about the most memorable moments from The Solus Project, such as encountering my first raging storm or wading waist-deep through that subterranean pool.At its best (and in VR) it evokes the strange and wonderful sensation of exploring a truly unknown environment. At its worst, it’s a slog that undercuts its unique qualities with finicky survival elements and an inconsistent, sometimes-buggy experience. Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Teotl Studios and Grip Digital and published by Teotl Studios and Grip Digital. It is currently available on Windows, Xbox One, and PS4. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4 Pro. Approximately 14 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Violence and Blood. Players will encounter things like alien skeletons and crucified people in space suits. These images may be disturbing for younger players.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game features subtitles for all dialogue and does not require sound to play. it’s fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.
John Vanderhoef
John Vanderhoef is a writer, editor, and academic. Other than game reviews, he mostly writes about the culture and industry of video games. He loves narrative games and is an MCU fanatic.
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