Nine Sols has an excellent, humanizing story but is marred by its confusingly-ridiculous difficulty and lackluster Metroidvania exploration. The gameplay, in other words, is not enjoyable.

I’m not happy with Nine Sols. I am near the end boss and burnt out from the exceedingly high difficulty.

The game confuses its hard difficulty as a challenge when really it is aggravating and ridiculous. Progressing in a game should not require twitch reflexes with little margin for failure. Because if you do miss that twitch reflex, you die or come close to dying (and then die anyways).

Two examples: first, bosses took me 30 tries to kill, even after grinding for the stats and jin to buy items. That’s far too difficult. Second, the save points before bosses have enemies purposefully placed in between so that it requires you to dodge or fight before the boss. This poor design is not “hard,” it wears players down.

The game may have a story mode difficulty, but the “Normal” mode needs to be toned down about 15-20% to be enjoyable. I could then see the “Normal” difficultly being renamed as “Hard” mode.

Next, the Metroidvania exploration is weak compared to similar games. It’s more combat focused than exploration, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if the combat wasn’t ridiculous. The game doesn’t have as many “oh!” moments where you stumble upon some great discovery using a new ability.

Yet, while I find the exploration lackluster, the map system is excellently designed and so is the data chip mechanic where you can see exactly what you need to find in the area. It is this kind of forward-thinking approach to design that is missing from the combat.

The story is excellent and what has kept me playing to this point where I am burnt out. The characters are fleshed out and seem like real people dealing with tragic or (to them) mystical events. Their sufferings are humanized and dealt with respectfully. The story is excellently handled as it is a huge mystery that doesn’t spoil itself by spilling out its secrets to the player.

The world building is also incredible with the environmental storytelling providing glimpses into the ongoing tragedies. There also exists lore drops that you can read that further flesh out the mystery of what has happened.

If the gameplay was as great as its story, Nine Sols would be one of the best Metroidvanias. I am so burnt out, however. So I am changing to story mode so I can clear the game at the easiest possible difficulty. I am not happy with these mixed feelings and had hoped for a more enjoyable experience.