Solstice Reviews

Solstice is a dystopian mystery thriller visual novel. It does give you some choices that direct the story (four endings possible). But mostly it is a collaboration of beautiful artwork and crafty story-telling. One of my more enjoyable stories to follow along to date (and I really enjoy visual novels of all genres). I have only discovered two of the four endings and am over two hours in. There is lots of dialogue and every character you meet has their own story told and brought to resolve by the end of the main story in some way. My only possible negative is that the game may end up being to short in the long run. I really enjoy the artwork in this game and the characters too. I wanted to know more about them so I am hoping in the future for a second game or something to follow up on the back-stories or further future stories of the characters. A guide to help you with achievements & when to save! I recommend only using this after your first blind play-though however! 💖 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1485672804

Very meh. Wasn't impressed with the story or characters, I mainly liked Yani and Galen. It's a pretty game though.

Short version for prospective buys: I would not catagorize this game as interactive fiction OR a visual novel. Instead, it's more like a movie where you have to read all the dialog. Also, you have zero control over your character, not even their name. You will be forced to play two different characters, sometimes simultaneously. Presumably because the author thought it would be good experiance for players to identify with highly-educated flirty gay caribian doctors who think highly technical asian women are janitors. And a very stuborn highly-skilled asian woman who apparently has no flaws. What was good: The pictures were pretty The music was nice How can this game be improved: 0) Go study some Choice of ... Games. They are generally of very high quality story wise, and choice wise. While this game has "polish" and "shine" those games have substance. 1) Make some interesting choices. In this game, almost all choices boiled down to one of two questions: What motivates the character and why do you agree with the author on this bit of social commentary. There is no possibility of dissagreeing with the author on their social commentary, you MUST agree with the author, you just get to choose why. 2) If you have to tell the player when they just made a meaningful choice with something in the UI your doing it wrong. It should be made immediately obvious by the dialog and way other characters treat the Player Characters (PC). I suspect the problem is the choices are all too simmilar. It's hard work to write a route through the story where the PC is a beligerant jerk. Shorten the story and provide that route. 3) Let the player decide who their character is. Forcing the player to play two different characters at the same time is not only irritating and confusing for the player, but I feel it defeats the entire purpose of the genera. Even Otome games like Amnesia provide for this possibility (though "Punch Him" should totally have been at every choice point in that game) 4) Don't state your opinion on something, and force the player to choose one of three reasons they agree with you. I'm thinking of the entire 5 minute conversation on wheather the lady in the bath house should call the Doctor "Doctor". Not only did this diatribe add nothing to the narrative, it's totally out of place. The "they willingly signed a contract so they are all slaves" thing is another place where the choice was more like an english teacher prompting a high school student for analysis "We know jane didn't like this becaus the auther said so, but WHY didn't Jane like this" 5) The transcript (scrollback buffer, story log, whatever it's called in this game) only goes back to the most recent choice, and actually resets the people moving around in the pictures. Every other game puts up an overlay where the player can scroll back indeffinately. That's because you sometimes don't pay much attention when you play through again and can't remember exactly what was said. In short the "cool graphics" thing you were probably going for is a hindreance, not a help. 6) When your writing a story, you MUST provide clear indication when the point of view changes. Making the player read two paragraphs on a journal page BEFORE they get to know who's writing it is just painful. Also the wierd 2 person omneciant view (where the player is choosing for both PCs at the same time) is seriously detremental. This is the only place in the chunk of the game I played where I felt that a repeat of the conversation would have been acceptable, there was really only one choice in that whole thing anyway "Work together? Yes or NO (other games would have a Pretend to thrown in, but I didn't see one here). 7) Other than replacing the awkward two PC's talking to each other simultaneously thing, get rid of all the repeated dialog. It was VERY tiresome to read the something, then read it again 5 minutes later as the other character. If someone wants to know what other choices do, then they can play through again with skip mode and find out. Recall the "Novel" part of the genera name and follow the same rules you do for writing. How many books do you like where every other chapter is nearly identical?

"Solstice" is another great game from MoaCube and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to any fan of visual novels out there. What stands out the most? Amazing, very realistic characters. Not only protagonists (I absolutely adored both Galen and Yani), but also other citizens. Everyone has unique personality and motives. Nothing is ever presented as black or white. Everything has layers - people themselves, their relationships, their goals. Writer/s did such an outstanding job with presenting this isolated city - especially with it's past and present dark secrets. Everyone suffers and everyone is hiding something. Very engaging storytelling and the overall plot is no less intriguing. Also, the atmosphere created by both outstanding visuals and music makes "Solstice" an unforgettable experience. I thought "Cinders" was gorgeous, but this is another level of beauty. Even when the story gets grim, the game still feels weirdly warm, almost magical. This game is one of a kind and you should give it a chance, especially since it gets big discounts during sales. Honestly though, I wouldn't mind paying the full price - it's absolutely worth it.

I bought this game because I had played Cinders and found it to be a great game. Solstice did not nearly have the impact that Cinders did, but it was not a terrible game. If you go into this with the mindset that you are basically reading a book, it is not so bad. Achievement hunters will probably get sick of this game seeing as how one of the achievements is to find every single variant in the game. This does not mean get all four endings. This means getting all four endings and every single variant within those endings. Needless to say, I will be glad to uninstall this sucker and never see it again. I do recommend this game (especially if you are not an achievement hunter), but wait for a sale if you are thinking about getting this.

The first time I played through this game, it was on a review copy for IndieGames.com. I liked it enough that I have since purchased it and am playing it a second time. It's a visual novel from the same folks who did Cinders. Like Cinders, it has excellent characters and writing. Like Cinders, it is gorgeous. Unlike Cinders, it's a mystery with two protagonists to give different points of view, and it'll leave you guessing as you navigate different branches, ask different questions, and get different pieces of the puzzle depending on how you play. I highly recommend it. If you don't usually like visual novels, you should still consider giving this one a try. It's so, so good.

Overall this was a fairly good game, with stunningly beautiful graphics and a rich narrative, world and atmosphere. A few problems would make me rank it beneath Cinders (other game by this dev), and I didn't feel all that compelled to play through all endings obsessively. The main problem I have with this game is construction. Cinders wrapped a simple-yet-intense story around a fairytale almost everyone knows by heart; this meant we knew the story beats already and could concentrate on the actual crucial choices and the heart of the nuanced, achingly real and complex characters (well, the female characters at any rate). Also, Cinders is by her nature boxed in - that's the whole point of her story, her desire to break free from control. The reason there are only a few - but crucial - decisions to make is thus transformed from a potential flaw into being an important part of the story's concept. They also impact on the outcome a lot. By contrast, Solstice is based around a mystery....which we are not allowed to solve, because that would derail the ending. Our supposedly intelligent protagonists either fail to do some pretty obvious things, or are occasionally allowed to try something smart only to have it fail in a contrived way. I understand this is not a Sherlock Holmes game, but then it should not have been based around a murder mystery, should it. The world was rich enough to give us lots to think about without adding a whole level of Nancy Drew, especially since it turns out we can't do much about it. Seriously, out of the dozens of decisions you can make, only four or five seem to have an actual impact on the ending - two of which are virtually random, ie, choose the blue pill or the red pill but we won't tell you which does what - and the only impact even those decisions have is on how boned everybody ends up being. It was also a mistake to have two protagonists, IMO. It means repetition in narrative, loss of focus, and gives us twice the amount of "supposedly very smart person who had every reason to prepare for this trip...who doesn't know the first thing about the situation they walked into because that allows the player to get exposition". This happens again and again, and really loses the connection wth the characters as a result. It's a pity, because compared to many other games of this sort, the characters are rich and very complex, nuanced, and beautifully rendered. The story is rich and complex too, but that very complexity probably explains why the rails are so strict, and thus I can't enjoy it quite as much. I would have preferred having a lot of the world building done in a series of notes - avoiding "stupid, unprepared protag" syndrome and allowing them to be skipped on playthroughs - and a story that wasn't quite so convoluted if it gave us greater agency over it. I'd recomend the game on sale for people who like fantasy/sci-fi novels, and who will read it as such, not so much for gameplay. Would still recommend it though, it's an interesting experience.

This game presents itself as a game about treasure and mystery, but is really a somewhat unclimactic and underdeveloped whodunnit. Whodunnits can be fun, but the issue with this game is that it has you collect information about people as if you are going to use it to some purpose (which takes up a good portion of the game), but you never do and it makes it all feel like a waste of time. There's magic but it's almost like an afterthought, there's politics but you play as almost powerless characters [spoiler] who can't change anything except by killing everyone, [/spoiler] there is the mysterious kala but [spoiler] it's written off as a meaningless aside. [/spoiler] In addition, instead of allowing you to find clues and eliminate suspects, the game just outright tells you who didn't do it and narrows the list down to a select few for you. Who wants to be a detective with no real intrigue or important discoveries to be made and with a verdict practically handed down for you? Only about three of your choices really make an impact, since most just change the dialogue slightly. Also, none of the characters are redeemable and none of them are given time to grow or change which made the story seem stagnant. In short I would NOT reccomend buying this at full price, if you must try it, wait for a sale. It really needs more plot development.

Excellent visual novel by the same developers who made Cinders (another VN that I enjoyed). Unlike Cinders, this is not an otome game, but a mystery, fantasy story. However, there are romantic elements in certain paths. I believe it takes place in the same universe as Cinders, as there's one reoccurring character. Pros: - Beautiful, stunning artwork; detailed character design - Stylish and helpful interface - Fitting, elegant music - Excellent writing - Intriguing story - Many choices and branching paths - Queer character representation (including one of the protagonists) - People of color representation (including both protagonists) Cons: - Witnessing all the variants can get very tedious - Read journal entries cannot be skipped - Occasionally, already read text can't be skipped - There's no way to save the villain from themselves

As I write this, I am mid-way through my second play, trying to uncover things I missed on my first playthrough. I'm wishy-washy on whether I'd recommend the game, but went with yes since it was clearly intriguing enough for me to start a second play through. In my view, it had great positives and disappointing negatives. THE POSITIVES The artwork was gorgeous and I loved playing characters of diverse backgrounds. The story was intriguing and sufficiently unique that I didn't feel like I was reading something done a million times before. The length of the game was perfect for a busy professional who wants to find time to finish something, and it was clearly sufficiently interesting that I went for a second play-through. There were some intriguing mechanics around things like how notes were presented (I liked the layout) and having the player play multiple characters. I haven't done that before in this style of game. Overall, the dialogue was generally well-written and enjoyable. The game felt creative and cohesive. The central mystery was mysterious! The layers of what you discovered about characters as you played were revealed at a nice, natural pace, and it was genuinely intriguing. THE NEGATIVES For a game that's designed in the vein of a choice game, you could go huge blocks of time without a choice presenting itself. It didn't play well as an RPG for a few reasons - firstly, the fourth barrier was broken a few times because the characters that you're playing had secrets that you yourself didn't know whilst blundering through the story. Secondly, the decisions didn't feel meaningful. As an example to avoid spoilers, if you tried a friendly response or action, you didn't necessarily act in a friendly manner or come across as friendly - sometimes the NPCs would even chastize you for being friendly. Thus decisions felt arbitrary, and the game is more about navigating through someone else's story than making it your own. For me personally, I felt like I was getting chastized by NPCs for the bulk of the game for not analyzing the situation correctly and making the 'right choice'. I'd have been far happier if I felt that every path was a different, valid one towards a goal. The best way to play this game is without the expectation that you're actually playing the characters that you're making decisions for - rather, your observing their journey from the outside. If you expect otherwise, you will probably be disappointed. If you're happy without playing it more like reading a novel than as an RPG, it's probably very enjoyable.