Put just a few people in outer house for a narrative set sooner or later and the outcome all the time appears to be that nothing will go their manner. That is as soon as once more the broad strokes of this newest house thriller, Fort Solis, however the intrigue, as ever, is within the particulars. Developer Fallen Leaf does a very good job of hiding the satisfying solutions to its central mysteries as much as the very finish, which makes its story persistently absorbing at the same time as a few of its gameplay parts betray its personal Hollywood-inspired intentions.
Fort Solis is a third-person journey recreation that tells a narrative paying homage to Moon and 2001: A House Odyssey. It is gradual, generally to a fault, and extra involved with its message and themes than motion set-pieces. That does not imply it is a low-stakes story. Quite the opposite, the secrets and techniques tucked away in Fort Solis are existential, but it surely’s expressed by the eyes of a small forged of fascinating characters whom you may get to know over the sport’s five-hour story.
Fort Solis has AAA aspirations, and it exhibits fairly clearly in just a few methods. For one, the sport appears attractive. In-built Unreal Engine and presenting gameplay in an over-the-shoulder type, it might be simple to mistake this indie for the following big-budget cinematic thriller. That is additional solidified by its distinctive forged headlined by Roger Clark and Troy Baker, however the full forged of about 10 or so individuals is simply as well-written and with nice performances to match. Clark’s Leary and Julia Brown’s Jessica Appleton do nicely to paint on this planet within the first hour, together with their very own characters who would in any other case be amorphous Mars transplants in drab uniforms.
![Visually, Fort Solis is indistinguishable from a big-budget project.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1632/16320660/4172039-img_7153.jpg)
In Fort Solis’ imaginative and prescient of the 12 months 2080, we have but to occupy Mars as a species, however companies have made it a mining and analysis hub. I wager you’ll be able to guess how that is going. As a skeleton crew stays behind to work what is actually a weeks-long graveyard shift on the purple planet, a misery name throughout the ability alerts Jack Leary to a problem inside the titular analysis lab. The sport ramps up its drama at a tempo that pulled me proper in, the place early chit-chat and jokes over the radio along with his scene accomplice, Julia Brown’s Jessica Appleton, quickly grew extra pressured as doorways appeared sabotaged, then dire as our bodies began to pile up.
Paced to unfold like a mini-series meant to be marathoned, the central query of what occurred on Fort Solis is expertly hidden from full view for practically the whole recreation. It is introduced in a digital one-shot type with none loading screens, doling out the following dangling thread at a tempo that stored me each guessing and enjoying. I used to be impressed by how nicely it shielded the reality of the matter whereas concurrently drip-feeding lots of particulars over time. It does this largely by video-gamey strategies: elective audio and video logs in addition to emails.
Although that method is way from novel, it feels justified on this universe the place staff are recording messages to ship again to their households on Earth, or cataloging a few of the facility’s latest risks to cowl their very own legal responsibility considerations. This ample variety of elective clues led me to rigorously look at every little thing I might find–for instance, not simply the phrases in an e mail, however the date it was despatched, who wrote it, and whether or not I would already seen the opposite facet of the dialog. I used to be making an attempt to disclose the magician’s status earlier than they introduced it to me. I by no means did determine it out any earlier than I used to be meant to, which stored me engaged and finally glad.
Like in lots of video games, it does really feel just like the story calls for you dig by many of those elective clues to have all of it make sense. In keeping with in-game stats, I discovered 92% of all video logs, audio logs, and emails which collectively assist flesh out the story significantly, but it surely appears just a few extra vital particulars are hiding in that final 8%. Nonetheless, I additionally sense that a few of the recreation’s solutions aren’t discovered even there, and as somebody who enjoys a lingering thriller, I fortunately made peace with that end result.
There are seemingly branches you may anticipate this story to journey down, similar to hostile aliens, rogue AI, insanity by means of isolation–the ordinary suspects of a creepy house station. I will not spoil something right here, however I’ll say that Fort Solis is each structured in contrast to different tales on this common subgenre and likewise lands on a narrative that feels novel, whereas nonetheless protecting intact a few of the extra common themes of dystopian futures. Its dramatic unveiling within the ultimate act is each threatening on an enormous scale and likewise so innocuous in its unique intent that it is truly tragic.
As some in the actual world contemplate the prospect of colonizing Mars, Fort Solis examines why that is even on the desk, what pitfalls that may embody, and the way even well-meaning individuals may cause disaster once we’re grappling with the cosmos. It blurs the traces between heroes and villains in asking these questions, making characters complicated and its moral argument nuanced.
These strengths helped me push by a few of the recreation’s extra irritating bits associated to its gameplay mechanics. Fort Solis is an journey recreation, nearer to one thing like Firewatch–complete with the lady on the radio chatting with you as you examine anomalies–than it’s Lifeless House. There’s nothing improper with that, however there are just a few missteps in its execution.
![Like a well-paced mini-series, it'll be tough to figure out the story's central mystery before you're intended to.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1632/16320660/4172037-ss_0375dfdd4baa829ff88ad6e0eb628efa755a5dbb.1920x1080.jpg)
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For one, your character strikes slowly to the purpose of frustration. This worsens when the sport opens up, permitting for extra exploration. I needed to show over each figurative stone so I did not miss a clue as to what I used to be piecing collectively, however this usually meant trekking slowly throughout expansive areas searching for interplay factors the place my character would touch upon them. It was at its worst after I did all that gradual strolling and located nothing in numerous corners within the setting, leaving me empty-handed after losing a couple of minutes at a time.
It is as if the sport needs to keep up management of its pacing and never let gamers run wildly throughout the terrain whereas its story is telling far more of a slow-burn sci-fi story. I can admire that inventive path, however I nonetheless really feel there was room to hurry up participant motion with out sacrificing the cinematic presentation. On condition that backtracking is usually constructed proper into the story by means of the titular fort’s tiered safety clearance system you may figuratively climb throughout its 4 chapters, this difficulty is blatant instantly and solely will get in the way in which extra as the sport goes on. For all of the obvious need of a correctly paced story, the gradual motion pace hurts it greater than a jog button would have.
Even once you’re moving into the suitable path, gameplay mechanics stay gentle. You may have to resolve some primary puzzles and nail just a few quick-time-event sequences–or not, as there appears to be no penalty for failure. However for probably the most half, you may simply need to head in the suitable path, as steered by the story and the smartphone-like object strapped to your wrist. This makes gameplay much less concerned than even a Telltale recreation, as right here there aren’t any decisions to be made, neither within the plot nor the dialogue. Sadly, that does not depart a lot when it comes to partaking the participant in a standard gameplay sense.
Fortunately, Fort Solis as an entire is stronger than its weakest components. That is owed largely to its writing, which launches into well-tread floor and manages to subvert tropes in surprising methods, not simply with an ending that feels completely different, however with some narrative-structural alterations it makes alongside the way in which. It is all the time tough to put in writing a few recreation that hinges a lot on a thriller I ought not reveal on its behalf, however suffice it to say that, although I might vaguely see its themes coming, the precise unfolding of the plot is exclusive and satisfying, and it left me with the moral questions I used to be clearly meant to ponder–and nonetheless do as I write this assessment.
By fiction, I’ve traveled to 1 house station or one other extra instances than I can depend throughout a few years and plenty of types of media. It is a setting I all the time enjoy–as a gap at least–and from there, tales could or could not maintain me invested relying on what they do with that basis. Fort Solis locations a small however intriguing forged in its off-Earth saga in methods that may be acquainted, but it surely justifies its addition to the subgenre with its personal enjoyable twists and philosophical arguments.