# Nine Sols

Nine Sols is a 2024 action-platform game developed and published by Red Candle Games. The game is set in an Asian fantasy-inspired futuristic world which Red Candle Games describes as "taopunk", a combination of Taoism and cyberpunk, stating that “[they] had a clear goal of combining Taoism with cyberpunk, melding sci-fi elements with Eastern mythology." In gameplay, combat emphasizes the player deflecting attacks from enemies to build up energy to perform special attacks. It features a hand-drawn animation style. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and macOS on May 29, 2024, which was followed by home console ports on November 26. On the same day, a major patch was released, introducing a boss rush style gamemode called "battle memories".

## Plot

Five hundred years before the events of the game, the Tianhuo virus infected the Solarians, an anthropomorphic cat-like race. With no cure in sight, their leaders, the Ten Sols, developed the Eternal Cauldron Project, in which Solarians could rest in a virtual reality system known as the Soulscape to delay the virus while they searched for a cure. However, the processing power to create the Soulscape required the brains of intelligent lifeforms, so the Solarians left their home planet of Penglai and embarked on a 500-year-long journey aboard the island-ship New Kunlun to the solar system of the "pale-blue planet" (Earth), to kidnap and harvest the native "apemen" (humans). Yi, the Tenth Sol and mastermind of the Eternal Cauldron Project, was attacked by his mentor and fellow Sol Eigong, but survived in a state of suspended animation due to a special connection with Fusang, a plant that produces vast amounts of energy that the Solarians harnessed for their technology.
Yi awakens several hundred years later in Peach-Blossom village, an area within New Kunlun where the Solarians had kidnapped humans to breed as livestock. He befriends the human Shuanshuan and saves him during the brain-offering ceremony which almost kills Shuanshuan, awakening the nine others Sols in the process. Yi seeks out the Sols throughout New Kunlun to exact revenge and to take their Sol Seals, which act as control codes for the Eternal Cauldron Project.
During his journey, Yi stays in the Four Seasons Pavilion, which is defended by the artificial intelligence system Abacus/Ruyi. Over time, more residents come to the Pavilion: Shennong, a skeptical human who realizes the truth behind the village and brings Shuanshuan to the Pavilion, Chiyou, a former battle robot who gained sentience and became a scholar and merchant, Shanhai 9000, a reserved robot assistant who has its own personal agenda, and Kuafu, a Sol and close friend of Yi who decides to betray the Sols and upgrades Yi's weapons. Yi receives messages from his sister Heng sent from Penglai, where she chose to remain when New Kunlun departed.
Yi also learns of the Eternal Cauldron Project's flaws after meeting Lady Ethereal, a Sol and the project's lead programmer. She tells him that the Eternal Dream simulation she created caused the Solarians to want to stay in the simulation, and those who left the simulation became insane and hostile to others. As well, the Empyrean District, where most of the hibernating Solarian population was housed, has fallen to the Tianhuo virus. Yi learns from the logs in the laboratories that Eigong was responsible for the outbreak of the virus as the constant failures to create a cure drove her insane and she began to see the virus as their salvation, as it made them essentially "immortal". After completing the newly modified Tianhuo virus, she unleashed it on the Solarians.
Yi defeats eight of the Sols and obtains their Sol Seals, which are then stolen from him by Eigong. Depending on the items collected and interactions made with various non-player characters during the game, there are two endings:
* In the default Normal Ending, Yi kills Eigong and obtains all the Sol Seals before taking control of New Kunlun and returning to Penglai. The remaining Solarians are still in hibernation, with human brains being used to power the virtual reality, and it is unknown if there is a cure for the Tianhuo virus.
* In the True Ending, after Yi deepens his connection with Shuanshuan and other humans, decides to save them, and eventually evacuates them to Earth, he confronts Eigong, who fuses with the Primordial Roots after being infected with the Tianhuo virus in a final attempt to spread the virus all across New Kunlun. In response, Yi promptly sacrifices himself to destroy New Kunlun and by extension end Tianhuo, killing himself and the other remaining Solarians, other than Kuafu, who already left along with the apemen, in the process. In the end, he finally reunites with his sister Heng in the afterlife.

## Gameplay

Nine Sols is a 2D action-platformer in which the player controls Yi, who aims to defeat the Nine Sols to get revenge. The focus is on melee combat mixed with side-scrolling platforming and deflection mechanics. Yi's basic attack is slashing with a sword, but he can also deflect enemy attacks, which allows him to absorb and accumulate Qi. Yi can then dash through his opponents attach talismans powered by Qi, which can be charged before exploding. In addition to his sword, Yi also uses a bow for ranged combat. In regards to movement, Yi can run, jump, double jump, wall jump, dash on the ground and in the air, climb, wall run, and grapple.

## Development

The game was announced on March 22, 2022. Red Candle Games, a Taiwanese company behind Detention and Devotion, led the game's development. The game's combat was heavily inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Katana Zero, and Hollow Knight.

## Reception

Aggregate score :
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 84/100 |
Review scores :
| Publication | Score |
| GamesRadar+ | 4/5 |
| Hardcore Gamer | 4.5/5 |
Nine Sols received "generally favorable" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Nic Reuben of Rock Paper Shotgun said he had mostly ignored platform games until Nine Sols, but its gameplay converted him into a fan of the genre. Despite Nine Sols's difficulty, he said it made him feel invincible, and he praised the game for being full of creativity.

### Accolades

| Date | Award | Category | Result |
| December 19, 2024 | The Indie Game Awards | Game of the Year | Nominated |
| December 19, 2024 | The Indie Game Awards | Gameplay Design | Nominated |
| December 31, 2024 | The Steam Awards | Outstanding Visual Style | Nominated |