The level design hardly demands much of players and gives them the same basic jungle gyms in each environment. Grappling, skating, and grinding are all surface-level interactions that never grow in complexity as the game unfolds.

It’s not even deep enough to make up for its lack of agility. For as much as this game feels like some sort of Sonic spin-off, it doesn’t match the impatient hedgehog’s pace. She just skates and grinds at a fairly leisurely pace. Rei’s movements don’t have much momentum so they lack the buildup of velocity that comes from many great traversal-focused games.

Sometimes, that is the case, but it’s often underwhelming and falls short of what it could be. Rei, the protagonist, can freely skate around, grind along rails, and grapple to certain points, all of which are meant to be chained together to create a rousing sense of speed as players fluidly blaze through environments with no interruption. Solar Ash initially appears as though it has some potential. However, unlike the studio’s last game, Solar Ash lacks any sort of mechanical complexity or narrative hooks and is a thoroughly unfulfilling and hollow experience. Solar Ash, the team’s second game, is radically different, keeping an inherently alluring visual style, but taking place in a small, 3D semi-open world. Developer Heart Machine’s first title, Hyper Light Drifter, was a solid debut that took the trappings of an early 2D Legend of Zelda game and layered in a beautiful pixelated aesthetic and simple yet satisfying combat system.

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