Foreign Sun had spelunking back and forth between a settlement, a sewer system, and a competing settlement; running around shanking anyone foolish enough to cross beam-sabers with me; getting ready for another attempt at the boss. Turns out I still wasn’t ready enough.
I spawned back in to find the settlement I’d been buying my mods at raised to the ground, its inhabitants butchered by some black-clad, mask wearing weirdos who were also wiping out anything breathing in the competing settlement. I imagine they did the boss in as well?
Did this happen because I failed to beat the boss too many times? Because of a prisoner I helped free a little earlier in the game? Questions whirled through my mind but I carried on. And just when I felt the need for a map, lo and behold there was an NPC selling them for the low, low cost of my soul. What could possibly go wrong, right?
Choices with consequences – a bold claim many games make yet very few achieve. Even fewer with consequences that make a discernible difference to the game world around you.
It’s not difficult to understand why that doesn’t happen all that often. Games are complex beasts, full of varied systems already struggling to work together in harmony. But every so often, a game comes out of left field that makes you go; “Wait? What just happened?”
And that is exactly what Foreign Sun made me do. Now I love replaying games that I enjoyed, but I rarely have the urge to restart them or play a New Game+ as soon as I’d finished it. But even before I was at the halfway point through Foreign Sun‘s world, I already found myself wondering “What if?”
What if I’d beaten that boss on my first or even second attempt? What if I hadn’t visited that suspicious prisoner? What if I hadn’t sold my soul just for a quick way to figure out where I was or had yet to visit? What if?
So much so that I’d considered starting a new save file just to see how much of a difference my decisions would make. And that’s when I knew Foreign Sun had me hooked. Even with the tough boss fights and the more than a few moments of feeling like I was butting my head against a wall trying to figure out where to go next. Yeah, Foreign Sun captured me, so much so that I’m still thinking about it. Still wondering “what if”?
Developed by Final Scene dev, Foreign Sun is both the spiritual successor and rework of the developers previous game, Biomass. What started out as a visual update has evolved into it’s own pilgrimage to the Lighthouse.
Set in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world, where survivors eke out a miserable existence in the drowning remains of skyscrapers, Foreign Sun is a Souls-vania swimming in a variety of influences. From odd mutations to cyberpunk-ish leanings, it’s a melting pot of ideas all rounded out with a heavy Spaghetti Western feel. And as a pilgrim with no name hoping to reach The Lighthouse and cross the Meridian Gate, your journey across a new, wild world is only just beginning.
With choice being such a huge part of the narrative, seeing everything Foreign Sun has to offer will require multiple playthroughs. The game seems tailor made for it in essence, with multiple endings that reveal more about the world, change characters, and open up new routes and boss fights.
With that requiring a fair amount of time investment, it’s a good thing the game is both intriguing and plays well. In essence the basics of Souls-likes is here, with light and heavy attacks, ranged attacks, and mods that upgrade your health and stamina. There are machines to reconstitute at when you die, where you also buy your mods from, but stat specific upgrades don’t exist, making this a more streamlined experience in the Souls genre.
You can block and parry attacks, but what you can block and parry is based around the type of attack used. Some attacks, like AOEs, can’t be blocked. Others will drain your stamina bar and a little bit of your health. Some attacks can even parry bullets back at enemies.
Close combat is the name of the game here, with bouts designed around weapon clashing. In function it’s a form of parry, but one that needs to be hit back-to-back to drain the enemy’s posture, leaving them open to one hit kills for regular enemies and large damage dealers to bosses. With all your melee weapons plasma-based, the Star Wars inspiration is clear and quite awesome. Timing is paramount, but when you do get the flow right and clash multiple sword attacks together in one sequence, it’s a spectacular-looking (and sounding) sight.
The combat system is simple to use but has enough nuance so that it is hard to master while paying attention to all the small details that can turn the tide in a fight. Clash weapons too often with not enough success and you can overheat, leaving you open to attacks. Sneak up on enemies and you can do a one hit kill. Regardless, paying attention is highly important as the combat flow in Foreign Sun is incredibly fast. You’re going to need speedy reflexes here to survive fights. Even more so in boss fights.
It does bring me to one of Foreign Sun‘s flaws: it’s just a little too hard for its own good at times. Bosses can be very challenging and even standard enemies can wreck you in two or three moves. Even with health mods, you get wiped out very quickly. I think the game needs a little more tweaking on the difficulty and damage dealing mechanics, especially for bosses where it can feel like you’ve hit a roadblock until you finally manage to beat them.
Atmosphere is one thing that Foreign Sun excels at. The fantastic soundtrack combines wonderfully with the ominous, washed-out, sun-drenched visuals and dark, mutant infested corridors. Even with NPCs around, there’s a feeling that you’re a lone gunslinger on a long, lonely journey, reinforcing that Western feeling. And dripping over it all, a sense of melancholy and despair that permeates the whole journey. The games audio is also wonderful. Beam weapons sound fantastic – even more so when you’re clashing at high speed.
Games that come around and really surprise you are increasingly rare. Vanishingly rare are the ones that make oft used mechanics feel fresh again while also surprising you. For its few faults – namely the high difficulty and obscure moments on where to go next – Foreign Sun is one of those games. It’s an atmospheric, lovingly crafted, melancholic Souls-vania with haunting, hidden depths that I can recommend to all indie fans.
Pros:
- Choices you make have weight
- Fun, fast and deep combat
- Fantastic atmosphere
- Great soundtrack
Cons:
- Some hefty difficulty spikes
- Can feel obscure at times where progression is concerned
Score: 9/10
Foreign Sun was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by the publisher. It is also available on PC.
Double AA Gaming 