SummaryNine Sols is a lore rich, hand-drawn 2D action-platformer featuring Sekiro-inspired deflection focused combat. Embark on a journey of eastern fantasy, explore the land once home to an ancient alien race, and follow a vengeful hero’s quest to slay the 9 Sols, formidable rulers of this forsaken realm.
Developer:Red Candle Games
Nine Sols
Released On:
May 28, 2024
Metascore
Generally Favorable
84
User score
Generally Favorable
8.3
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
84
94% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jan 15, 2025
92
A masterful metroidvania that builds on Sekiro-style combat and tells a great sci-fi story too. Unmissable.
Jun 17, 2024
90
In any other universe, I would balk at Nine Sols’ difficulty. Yet, I gave it a chance, and it more than rewarded me for giving it a moment of my time. Over 20 hours later, I came out of it bruised, battered, and wanting more Taopunk goodness.
User score
Generally Favorable
8.3
80% Positive
539 Ratings
539 Ratings
11% Mixed
75 Ratings
75 Ratings
8% Negative
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
Aug 3, 2026
10
Jouez y. Non sérieusement. L'histoire est exceptionnelle. Les combats sont incroyables (et dur). Le platin est pas abusé pour les joueurs playstation. Franchement jouez y.
Jun 13, 2026
10
This game was one of great first impressions, lingering disappointments in the form of particular design choices, punctuated by an engaging, emotional, and satisfying conclusion both in terms of gameplay and story, that made overlooking the few shortcomings this game has practically effortless. Nine Sols is a gem **** with beautiful art, a fascinating world with interesting lore and secrets, great character and enemy designs, fantastic exploration, and the best combat of any 2D game. While its music may not be particularly memorable, it serves the setting well and there are a few standout tracks which are great. The squash and stretch style of animation leaves a bit to be desired, but overall the presentation was great, and the comic book cutscenes add a lot of personality to the game. The exploration is a bit less freeing than contemporaries, but that's because this is a story-driven action platformer first, and a metroidvania second. The story and the action, which are the focus, are both impeccable. Much like Metroid Dread, this game lacks in the interconnected and mazelike level design, but it places its bets on the combat, which in both cases ends up paying off. The combat in this game is closely inspired by Sekiro, which is a very good thing. It has a satisfying parry, and interesting and innovative internal damage system, a satisfying chaining of moves with the talisman and the parry, alternative options for deflecting and avoiding damage that the player is rewarded for using like the unbounded counter and tai chi kick, and more. The core combat is fantastic. The only criticisms I would make are these minor ones: the hitboxes needed more work, as some enemies and even bosses have problems, and the lack **** period after getting hit makes it very easy to get stunlocked, which is never fun. But the great story which creeps up on you and hits you with an emotionally impactful tale of accepting the flow of time and the truth beyond what you can measure, more than makes up for it. This is a fantastic game.
May 31, 2024
90
Nine Sols is a masterfully crafted 2D Sekiro-like Metroidvania that explores a lore-rich Taoism fantasy setting through science fiction elements.
Jun 7, 2024
85
Despite a few minor issues, Nine Sols has a compelling, addictive and highly explorable world, and a slick, responsive combat system.
Jul 11, 2024
80
Of course, horror as reflection of the social and psychological is what we've grown to expect from Red Candle. That it couples here with such a confident step into pastures new, though, means we're keener than ever to see what's next. [Issue#400, p.114]
Jun 7, 2024
80
Nine Sols offers a metroidvania experience that may not be entirely unique, but it remains an excellent choice for fans of the genre. Kudos to the developers for successfully differentiating it from other metroidvanias through its combat system, employing challenging but fair use of parries, not unlike Sekiro.
Jul 18, 2024
70
Nine Sols is a notable step for the Taipei-based studio, but too high a bar for a small game company to set.
May 14, 2026
10
If Sekiro and Hollow Knight had a baby.
HK has better exploration, but if you think it’s storytelling is to vague and in the background, than this is for you. Many cutscenes, 8+ flashbacks mean that the story is gloriously presented straight to you. And yet, they manage to keep a lot of stuff that the protagonist knows a secret from you, the player & of course there is still plenty of lore overhead for theory and debate. Go play this beautiful game already!
Aug 1, 2026
7
It's an alright metroidvania, but I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of the sekiro-like combat.
Feb 26, 2026
7
so i am reviewing the game while i haven't finished it yet, because my gamepass pc subscription ended and my save game file was lost after i did reset my pc and the cloud saving didn't work. from what i've seen and what i played, nine sols seemed to have a great potential, the visuals and art style were great and the gameplay was kind of fun, i liked the UI design and also the way the story was going, and the characters. but, i didn't find that specific "spark" that i do find sometimes in video games that end up in my favorites, i don't know if it's just my relationship with metroidvania and 2d games, or the game just came in a time where i lost that passion for video games. overall i liked the game and maybe i would've liked it more if i continued playing till completing it but that was my review for the amount of time i've already played.
Jul 5, 2025
4
Nine sols is a great game with great combat and good story, why 4/10? Because it has the worst boss ever existed with the most poor design and most glitched move set ever, defeating this boss is purely on luck weather he's gonna glitch this time or no, gotta give it to the devs I have never seen a less devoleped boss in my life, great game with a strong weak point, fuxi
Dec 8, 2024
4
Perfect example of a badly polished release. - bad pacing : the game just insists on interrupting gameplay to dump some sub-par story. The beginning is too slow too which doesn't help. - map design : serviceable but not impressive in the slightest. Nothing stands out but the furnace level which slows down the game making you wait til the blaze goes off... - Combat : worst part of this game. Specially bosses.
Hitboxes are so poorly designed, damage detection all over the place. Combined with overlaying attacks coming from blind spots. Leaving you often taking damage in the cheapest ways. Bosses also mouvement is all over the place, they track your mouvement as well as well as their attacks making footsies out of the question.
Cheap environment hazards on boss arenas just feel added nonsense for the hell of it.
Also hits stuns so you get chained quite easily into a fatal combo out of nowhere..
Not that you need a lot of hits to die. Healing and HP a irrelevant on boss fights because they kill you in 2 or 3 hits max.
Just a sluggish effort to go through all this.. - Progression : most progression isn't that interesting. Asmentioned earlier, hp increases doesn't matter when you get killed in a couple of hits. Art direction and music are quite nice even. This game shows how good tram cherry are.
Polishing the game before release is everything because of how important first impressions are.
Platforms:
- PC
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date:May 28, 2024
Publisher:
