Solar Ash Review: Skate Me Through The Ultravoid (PS4)

How far are we willing to go? Just what will it take for us to get across the finish line? Or to break? Like many great games before it – The Pathless, Shadow of the Colossus, RiME – the story of ones’ stubborn, determination against all the odds to reach the other side has, for this reviewer especially, created lasting memories that are worth experiencing. And Solar Ash, with its own personality, for better and for worse, has been worth the journey.

Solar Ash was created by Heart Machine and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in December 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows. It was released on Steam in December 2022 as well as in September 2023 for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series S.

One of Solar Ash’s main influences, as mentioned, is The Pathless. Christian Pacoski wrote a review on the game, here’s what he had to say about it.

Story: Grasping Onto Reality

Welcome to The Ultravoid. A gargantuan black hole which has consumed everything in its path – and you are next in line. Absolutely nothing can stop this behemoth from swallowing your planet whole… except maybe yourself. You are a Voidrunner, outcasts from your civilisation who have embarked on a journey. They have created a device which they have called The Starseed. It is a feat of engineering hypothesised to be able to destroy black holes. You are your planets last line of defence. You are Rei.

There is more story here than the games mentioned above and while it is very similar, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Solar Ash. Unlike the others, the situation here is slightly different. You are alone by yourself – but you meet people who are stuck here. The game has a linear story. You must get the Starseed working, figure out what went wrong.

To fix the problem, you encounter CYD, the Centralised Yottabyte Database, an AI. They can activate the Starseed if they are functioning at full capacity. They are not. You are tasked with travelling the Ultravoid to various locations to repair CYD. In doing so, you find different locations to explore, impediments to remove and encounter “Remnants” to defeat.

I found the story gameplay loop to be ultimately satisfying. I enjoyed travelling to new areas. The best parts were meeting an entity called Echo. I enjoyed meeting optional characters stuck in this living hell. It gave The Ultravoid a wonderous, fantasy amalgamation, coupled with a straightforward progression system. By exploring, there is a depth to the story, explaining what happened to the other Voidrunners and other civilisations now trapped here if you desire to find it.

The beginning of Rei’s journey. Who knows what awaits inside?

Gameplay: Skate Like The Wind, Rei… But Only When I Tell You To

I loved getting around the Ultravoid as much as I was, at times, frustrated by it. We’ll get into it.

Rei, as a Voidrunner, can skate in any direction. Heavily influenced by The Pathless and Its’ fast traversal system, Solar Ash allows you dash anywhere around the map. I wouldn’t say it was as exhilarating –  it is done in a more relaxing fashion & had a flexibility that I liked.

Some were open expanses like Broken Capital which then had connecting grind rails or there’s The Ironroot Basin which has open areas along with broken pathways to get through which needed roots to connect them. The Luminous Peak is probably best with it’s cascade of islands to travel around.

I feel the longer I played, the slower I became. This was due to the intricate nature of the levels. If you want to explore every nook & cranny like I did, going too fast means you’ll miss a turn off. The areas were quite dense with parts you could easily miss. There was one door puzzle which stumped me for some time as it wasn’t clear where all the switches were. One quibble I have was being unable to traverse up the sides of buildings. This would have helped because as fun as the platforming was, you could go so fast and misjudge timing your jumps. 

For the main story, going from point A to B, this isn’t as issue. The story is straightforward. However, they do highlight that other beings live here. There is ancillary information to discover. Finding Voidrunner caches reward you with story information. Finding them all in an area rewards you with a new suit. Deciding to find these rewards are worth it. However, it means scouring the area which can grind you to a halt. 

As well as skating, jumping onto grind rails was a necessary way to get around.

Time Based Combat Is A Hit, Hit, Hit… Hit?

This is why there is a scanning mode for Rei. There isn’t a map to use, so Rei can find anomaly points to dissect. This will lure a remnant out into the open to force it into a confrontation. I enjoyed the overall gameplay loop. Controlling Rei for the most part was good. She is fast and agile. You press L2 to Skate, then R2 to Boost. Circle allows you to slow down time. Enemies are dotted around an area and thankfully aren’t a massive annoyance or a big presence. Slowing down time was a lifesaver to use though, as there is a no dodge button.

Overall, the anomaly sections are good and the boss battle are definitely the highlight of Solar Ash – even if their influences are written all over them. Solar Ash’s take on this formula is a time bar. Which is fitting as the game is naturally influenced by Alx Preston, Heart Machine’s leader. The creative director has had health issues and the ideas presented here are health related.

Anomaly points are massive black fungal gloops sticking to the sides of broken architecture, like an illness throughout the land. To begin excising an area, you hit a checkpoint which is essentially a needle. Once you start, a countdown begins, and you must hit every one in the sequence to get to the end. It was satisfying to pierce that infection. There were times I really enjoyed these and others I found too repetitive. This gameplay structure is the same when dealing with a Remnant. It’s an inventive take but is similar to The Pathless.

Clearing an infection site was satisfying and you were rewarded with an overdose of colour

The Remnant Of A Lost Civilisation?

The bosses, Remnants, are another of the games highlights, but there are over too quickly for my liking. The insistence of using a timer means when dealing with a creature of unparalleled size, Rei, a mere speck in comparison, I was in conflict on how I should feel. A remnant has three stages to defeat, and I did feel accomplishment in doing so. Stage three was naturally the hardest and it felt great to overcome that hurdle.

Every stage peeled off a layer of armour, exposing the flesh & blood underneath. They were exhilarating to experience – but with a timer always in effect, I noticed my need to hit the needles to progress superseded noticing the majesty of the remnant I was on top of. Which I felt was a real shame, as the art design is great, albeit they are heavily influenced by Shadow of the Colossus.

Remnants tower over you. You’ll have to figure out how to defeat them.

Hi Rei, Can You Help Us?

Last thing to mention is that there was effort put in to make the Ultravoid, where you are a solitary figure trying to save your people, feel like people lived here. Other characters present themselves with small quests to complete if you desire to help. There are only three, which was a decent amount, the quests themselves are a decent length and they helped flesh out this chaotic world you now inhabit.

Again, finding out information on the Ultravoid’s inhabitants or Voidrunners was worth it. Voidrunner caches rewarded you with a new suit which had granted different abilities. I don’t really notice the difference except one which gave you a chunk of health when defeating an enemy, really helped. Throughout the world you can collect plasma as a currency, but it’s only use was to restore health bars. A missed opportunity. 

Overall, I had an enjoyable experience with Solar Ash but do feel the game forced you to play a certain way. Better implementation of the core facet – speed – would made this an amazing game and the timers get in the way of that facet.

You can meet interesting people in the Ultravoid. Naturally though, they’ll want a “favour”

Graphics: Lavish & Bold

Right from the off, Solar Ash screams colour. The Ultravoid is a vibrant place, and the art direction is stunning to look at. I noticed that most areas had a specific cul-de-sac for you stand. The camera intentionally pans out to say “look at this landscape.” It is a beautiful looking game.

Inside The Broken Capital, showing off a city in complete disarray, with tall buildings like skyscrapers smashed at the top to create pathways, with railings connecting disused train systems. The Mirrorsea was beautiful, with toxic green rivers flowing everywhere. Solar Ash has a vivid colour scheme at work. The Luminous Peak also has flowing rivers of lava everywhere. And did I mention the starry sky? Absolutely stunning.

The remnants took massive inspiration from other games, but they looked cool. Their sense of scale wasn’t on par with their progenitors to be honest, but they still looked great; from the beginning a serpent named Ouroboros to a sword wielding knight named Rust Dragger, they looked incredible and were fun to jump onto.

Character wise, the design of Echo is amazing. That is all.

As a metaphor for human body, the use of bones were around certain areas. Black goo which stuck to you, you cleared the area of “infection.” I specifically noticed how it sounded too, all squelchy and sticky. The character Rei looked nice but was conspicuously all covered up.

Lastly, I have to give a shoutout to the art direction within cutscenes – they were incredible and need to be seen to be believed. 

Overall, Solar Ash’s art design was great. Everything looks nice in Unreal Engine. The areas usually had an abstract, out of place vibe to them but each one looked distinct and the speed aspect was nice, everything was fluid and exhilarating.

Luminous Peak looked absolutely stunning and this was a camera shift – the “ground” is to the right.

Music & Audio: Mysterious & Considered

The soundtrack for Solar Ash is comprised of four people: Troupe Gammage, Joel Corelitz, Azuria Sky and Disasterpiece aka Richard Vreeland The music is mostly played in the background and picks its moments when to have a larger presence. As you glide around the map, you feel it always there, omnipresent, waiting to become something more.

It almost had an ethereal quality. Sometimes it felt aimless, other times it felt foreboding, having you question what was here within The Ultravoid. Very pleasant to listen to. It’s a synth laden extravaganza. The music for the Remnants themselves was very good. Much more exciting to get the blood flowing. The music within cutscenes with Rei was good. Praxis is a good one. My favourite was Sanguination.

I enjoyed the voice acting for Rei & Echo especially, shout out to Fryda Wolff. Everyone else was enjoyable too, solid to listen to. Realising that the cast was small, they did well distinguishing characters from one another.

Played & reviewed on Playstation 4.