Review of Fort Solis – epic sci-fi drama

The spooky space game genre has been enjoying a renaissance of late, with The Callisto Protocol and the Dead Space remake starting earlier this year. From the new Anglo-Polish team Fallen Leaf, this game looks similar at first glance, but it has a lot of veteran developers on board. This is evident because the game uses Unreal Engine 5 in a way that can easily stand up to much more expensive and bigger games like the aforementioned The Callisto Protocol. However, unlike it, it’s a shorter, cheaper game that focuses on story rather than action, and is more comparable to games like Soma or Deliver us Mars. In addition, the focus on the story was supported by a stellar cast.

• Platform: PS5 (Review) PC (Steam)
• Publication date: 08/22/2023
• Manufacturer: Fallen leaf (England/Poland)
• Genre: story adventure
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 7.5 GB
• Game time: 5 o’clock
• Price: 779 kr (boxed version)

Mysterious plot, great actors.

In the near future, several different scientific stations will already appear on Mars. Jack Leary works as a technician on one of them and was fixing outdoor equipment ahead of an exceptionally violent storm when he picked up a distress call from a station called Fort Solis. However, the emergency alert was not accompanied by either a voice or text message, theoretically possible due to signal interruption due to the hurricane. So, Jack sets out to sort out the situation at the base on his own, not knowing that something really bad happened there and that he is in for one of the worst nights of his life.

The game deliberately hides for a long time what exactly is the cause of the triggered alarm at the base, where everyone went and what the story really is. So I will not spoil with any spoilers, but I will say at least so on the topic that this is definitely not a primitive and not a stupid story. On the contrary, as is the case with high-quality games with a strong story, it draws on real human qualities and emotions, and not on any elements of science fiction or horror. To do this, in addition to a great script, he is armed with a trio of first-rate actors: Troy Baker (Joel from The Last of Us), Roger Clarke (Arthur from Red Dead Redemption 2) and Julia Brown (for example, the series). The Foundation) even in extreme situations in the game show a completely natural game, thanks to which you can experience the story much more effectively.

Joel from The Last of Us, Arthur from Red Dead Redemption 2.

Unfortunately, what didn’t quite work in my playthrough was a concrete explanation of the whole point of the story, as it is partially broken down into a series of audio and video recordings that you have to find and study while exploring the abandoned areas. base. Based on the in-game stats, I missed a few, and it was pretty obvious that I was missing important nuances of exactly what happened and why. But this lack was more than compensated for by several completely unforgettable story scenes, where the aforementioned actors show their best, which is facilitated not only by excellent graphics and animation, but also by the filmmaking process itself, whether it be camera, editing or even music.

High-end design, humble gameplay

When you look at almost any screenshot or frame from the game, it is impossible not to notice how much attention the creators have put into the set. As with the first Hellblade, this is one of those rare occasions when a smaller, so-called “budget” or AA game looks as good or even better than most of the bigger games. While the PS5 version’s settings are quite modest, you do have a choice between graphics and performance modes. I chose performance and most of the time the game ran very smoothly, with a few exceptions. To be fair, this is one of those games that doesn’t use loading screens, transitions between locations are smooth.

As for the gameplay, the creators themselves are a little hesitant to admit that their game is closest to the so-called “walking simulator” genre. So don’t expect any gunfights, jumps, etc. But what you should prepare for is some pretty tense QTE sequences at the most intense moments. I confess that I got so carried away by the story and the movements/expressions/voices of the characters that I often did not have time to react flexibly enough to QTE, which rarely happens to me in such games. That’s why I’m wondering if QTEs are more of a nuisance here and that overall the trip would actually work well even without them: walking around a darkened, quiet base is definitely something, and the plot and setting got me so hooked that I very willingly searched for and reproduced the said audio and video recordings. By the way, the game allegedly has a “secret” second ending, but I was unable to unlock it during the preparation of the review.