Nine Sols: Sekiro-Inspired Combat in an Asian Fantasy Metroidvania

Nine Sols is a hand-drawn 2D action-platformer that blends Metroidvania exploration with deflection-focused combat inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. You play as Yi, a vengeful hero who awakens in an Asian fantasy world once inhabited by an ancient alien race.

It was developed by Taiwan's Red Candle Games and released on 27 May 2024 (UTC).

Overview

The story unfolds in New Kunlun, the last sanctuary of the Solarians, silent for centuries. Ancient gods promised a protected land here, but the truth is far stranger.

Yi's quest is to slay the 9 Sols who rule this forsaken realm.

In practice, the loop is: leave your hub, re-learn the rhythm of deflection on regular enemies, chain save points forward, and reach the next boss room. When you lose, you return to the hub, rebuild your loadout, and try again.

Expect most of your playtime to go into individual boss fights rather than mapping.

Combat and systems

Deflection is not just defense here. Successful parries attach talismans to the enemy, and detonating them is your main source of damage.

Defensive play converts directly into offense, so a cautious dodge-only style barely works.

Red-flashing attacks cannot be handled with a normal deflect and require a dedicated response, which prevents "just parry everything" autopilot and forces you to learn each enemy's attack colors and spacing. An upgrade system lets you lean toward health, damage, or a more forgiving parry window — when you stall, reconsider your build before blaming your reflexes.

Exploration and progression

The map follows the usual Metroidvania structure: new traversal abilities reopen old paths. Still, exploration is lighter than the genre label suggests, and hidden rooms mostly hold upgrade materials and lore.

Detours pay off in a practical way — the next boss gets a little easier — rather than in the joy of filling in blank map space.

System requirements

The published Steam requirements are modest for a modern PC game, as you would expect from hand-drawn 2D.

Note that RAM (8 GB) and storage (15 GB) are identical across both tiers; only CPU and GPU differ. An 8 GB machine is not disqualified, so if anything holds you back it will be the GPU.

With GTX 950 as the floor, a reasonably recent integrated GPU may work, but that is not a guaranteed configuration.

More importantly, comfort here depends less on whether it runs and more on whether the frame rate stays stable. Deflection windows are measured in frames, so stutter turns directly into damage taken.

Lowering settings to hold a steady frame rate reduces perceived difficulty far more than raising resolution or effects. On laptops, watch power profiles and thermal throttling.

Full controller support is available. Given the input precision required, a wired pad and a low-latency display mode are worth setting up.

Reception trends

The game has held a high standing since launch. Praise usually centers on the feel of a clean deflect, the craft of individual boss encounters, and the strength of the art and story.

Many players single out how well the learning curve is paced.

Criticism tends to focus on difficulty, especially the way it spikes at one particular boss — stalling for hours after a smooth run is common. Another recurring complaint is expectation mismatch: players who came for a Metroidvania find something closer to a boss-rush.

Some reports of controller or platform issues also appear, though these are highly setup-dependent, so it is worth checking reports for your own configuration.

Who it suits

• Players who clicked with Sekiro's deflection combat and want that feeling in 2D
• People who enjoy memorizing boss patterns and improving through repeated failure
• Anyone drawn to hand-drawn 2D art and a mix of East Asian motifs with science fiction
• Players without a high-end PC who still want a demanding action game

Who should skip it

The biggest caveat is that the design refuses to let you play evasively. Because deflection is your damage source, you must stay close.

If your Souls-like instincts are built around rolling away, the opening hours will fight you.

Second, exploration is thin. If filling in maps and finding secret passages is your main draw, this may disappoint.

Time here is spent on bosses, and if that is not fun for you, it becomes a chore.

It also suits short sessions poorly. Boss fights need a warm-up before your timing returns, so a 15-minute burst rarely produces progress.

This is a game that rewards longer blocks of time.

If difficulty worries you, check the options menu details on the store page before buying — assist or difficulty settings are sometimes added in later updates. Language support is best confirmed on the product page as well.

At 15 GB the install is light, so it is easy to try and quickly decide. That said, buying it purely on reputation while disliking hard games is not advised: the appeal lies past the difficulty, and stopping before that leaves little behind.

Getting through the early game

Early on, press attack less. Deflection windows require free hands, so a short cycle — apply talismans, detonate, reset — kills faster than greedy combos.

Practice responses to red attacks early. Skip that and you will hit a wall mid-game with no tool for it.

Walking into a boss room already able to react on reflex lowers the felt difficulty enormously.