Solar Ash is the latest adventure platforming game from Annapurna Interactive (which is already having quite an eventful year with other releases like Maquette, Twelve Minutes, and The Artful Escape). Developed by Heart Machine, the game serves as their follow-up to the studio's critically-acclaimed debut, Hyper Light Drifter, with both games being set within the same universe.

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There is very little linking both titles beyond that though unless of course we also consider the studio's flair for vibrant, atmospheric visuals. The new game has players controlling Rei, a voidrunner on a quest to save her planet from being sucked into a supermassive black hole. It mixes platforming with some light combat, with much of the focus being on its fast-paced traversal mechanic that finds players skating across various three-dimensional landscapes. The whole thing might look overwhelmingly tricky to master at first glance, but anyone should be able to dive right in with these beginner's tips.

5 The Importance Of Staying On The Move

A screenshot showing gameplay from Solar Ash

Much like the brilliant Sunset Overdrive, Solar Ash boasts a fast-paced traversal system that has you skating and grinding across rails and other surfaces to zip around the levels. This gives the game an exhilarating sense of momentum that might take some getting used to for new players but becomes second nature the longer you keep playing.

And keeping that moment is vital to succeeding in the game's platforming-heavy gameplay, or surviving one of the many boss encounters that punish you for staying stationary. In a way, the game can almost be likened to a racing game in that you wouldn't want to take your feet off the pedal if you want to come out ahead.

4 The Art Of The Double Jump

A screenshot showing gameplay from Solar Ash

Speaking of traversal and zipping around the levels, Solar Ash is a platformer at its core, so expect to have to deal with a lot of platforming sections that require well-calculated leaps across gaping chasms. Thankfully, you have a number of tools and abilities at your disposal to aid you with some of those jumps, like the timeslip and grappling hook.

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Perhaps the most useful one is your ability to double jump, which can give you that extra meter or two of additional coverage you need to reach faraway platforms. But it is quite easy to become too reliant on this particular maneuver which can often lead to overreaching and missing platforms entirely if not used carefully. So you'll need to make each and every jump calculated, and only fall back on the double jump when it is absolutely necessary.

3 Remember To Unlock Upgrades

A screenshot showing gameplay from Solar Ash

With its heavy focus on movement and platforming, it is quite easy to overlook the need to upgrade your health in Solar Ash. And the primary way you do so is by unlocking those upgrades with the plasma you've accumulated while exploring the Ultravoid. You'd need to visit Cyd, a robed figure that provides assistance as you make your way through the game.

You'll also want to ensure that you collect all the Voidrunner caches you encounter as these will contain the suit parts needed to unlock the various suits Rei can don over the course of her adventure. Cyd can help you scan for the caches in the locations you visit once you've successfully stabilized the signal in the area. Each suit you unlock comes with a specific perk; for example, the Erving Suit doubles your overall Plasma intake while the Verse's Suit reduces the time it takes the boosters to cooldown.

2 Read Journals To Gain Additional Insight

A screenshot showing a scene from Solar Ash

The storytelling in Solar Ash can be considered barebones at best. This is primarily because most of your adventure is spent in quiet solitude as you race against time to prevent the destruction of your homeworld. But for anyone willing to take the time to venture off the beaten part and explore every nook and cranny, they'll be rewarded with plenty of background details and lore.

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These come in the form of the lost journals of Tarragon Danderpaw, a mysterious figure who had once charted the Ultravoid and recorded his findings. Not only do they provide some much-needed context that helps you understand your actions throughout the game, but they are also a requirement if you intend to 100 percent complete the game as well.

1 Practice Makes Perfect

A screenshot showing gameplay from Solar Ash

The Ultravoid can be quite intimidating with its vast open landscapes and floating islands. Then there are the boss battles with the various hulking monstrosities that roam the black hole, some of which are so huge that you'd need to platform across them to reach their designated weak points. All of those things can make Rei look relatively small and helpless in comparison.

The good news though is that each one of those challenges has been meticulously designed in such a way that some careful trial and error is often rewarded and outright encouraged. The only way to know if a particular strategy would pan out is by testing it and taking note of the result. So don't be afraid to make that seemingly-impossible jump, or to face that terrifying boss head-on, because each new failure brings you one step closer to overall mastery.

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