The Solus Project, the new sci-fi explorer game developed by Grip Games, has launched for PC and Xbox One platforms.
The game features a dynamic, changing environment with day and night cycles, tides influenced by the moon, plant life reacting to climate changes and natural phenomena like earthquakes, meteor showers and much, much more. It's a game that showcases a rich and vibrant atmosphere that adversely affect one another and create a seemingly lifelike simulation of a growing ecosystem.
Gamers are placed at the heart of it all as they try to survive the harsh elements found in the game, in a desperate attempt to look for humanity's new Earth. All alone on the planet with little to no "hand holding," players are tasked to establish a connection back to base and "phone home" — an homage to E.T., only this time, humans are the alien.
"With your team members dead and your equipment gone you have no way of communicating or receiving help from anyone," describes its developers. "[Y]ou look for a way of phoning home, but as you explore the seemingly desolate planet, you uncover the dark secrets buried within the depths."
Albeit somehow similar to upcoming title No Man's Sky, launching this Aug. 9, the two games are only alike in being sci-fi exploration games. While No Man's Sky focuses on deep space exploration where players jump from one planet to the next, The Solus Project, on the other hand, limits gamers to one planet.
Do not be mistaken, however, to assume that Grip Games' title is relatively limited compared to Hello Games' own, the game's Gliese-6143-C planet has a few secrets up its sleeve that (still) requires an ample amount of time before players reach the game's end goal.
The Solus Project, alongside its ever-changing environment, contains "10 large [and] entirely handcrafted levels to explore," composed of five major islands separated by shallow waters and connected through an intricate network of five cave systems — some of which are tombs.
There are endless amounts of puzzles for players to solve as they try to unlock the mysteries of Gliese-6143-C, which through further exploration would seem to have housed a previous civilization that now appears to be extinct... or is it?
"Fond memories of games from 10, 20 years ago? So do we. Complex level layouts. Dozens of secret areas. Keys to unlock doors. Underground environments," the developers add, noting that the tilde (~) key can be used to access the console window if, for example, players prefer a "quick solution." *wink
Those who wish to see if they can conquer The Solus Project may purchase a digital copy of the game for $20 through the Xbox Store and Steam.
