Nullstar: Solus

[h1] Interesting concept, better physics. [/h1] Growing up with 3D games that hold your hand meant I missed the platformer wave, but this is a great place to start. It’s tough—prepare for some "skill issue" moments—but trying to beat your ghost with different craft is incredibly satisfying. Fun Physics? Yes. Tough but Fair? Mostly. Recommended? Absolutely.

Played this game during the demo and got addicted to going back and forth between friends and hunting times. Same story on full release. New mechanics I've come across in zones 2/3 add a lot to the levels (some of the space debris interactions are actually hilarious). Easiest $12 buy I've come across in a while. 10/10

I've adored the pixel art-style since learning about this game, but I thought I wouldn't enjoy the gameplay as much as I actually did until a friend gifted it to me. My fingers are displeased with my APM once I recognised and started using air breaks, thruster limiters AND resets. Honestly want to see the speedrunners get their hands on this game, that'd be such a banger to watch. By the way, the ART STYLE... It's peam.

Went into this thinking I'm going to fly through the levels Humbled within the first handful of levels 100 deaths within 30 minutes 10/10

died about 30 times in a row, in one spot would die 30 more times in the same spot

This is one of those games where you find yourself going "ok just one more, I'll get it this time" again and again and again and again. It's just plain simple fun in an addictive way. I hope they make the lore more accessible for people like me who aren't exactly the best at the game because the few entries I've read have been fascinating and I wanna work out what happens next. Oh well, just have to try that level again... and again...

Glad to see the feedback about the 'instant spawn after death' be incorporated into the full release of the game! The mechanics on disabling directions is a new one to me, and feels like a rewarding skill to master, albeit a bit confusing initally (disabling a direction will still cause the boosters to fire opposite of where you are going, obviously). I first played the demo on Keyboard, but would wholly recommend a controller to make the full use of this mechanic, which even the game pushes you to do during the up/down gravity levels or even when simply attempting to beat the best times. [strike]I've managed to get to World 2 so far, and have almost completed the perfect times on almost all the levels in World 1, with the exception of 1-9 'Arc Conduit'. I'm not one to play platformers very often, but I managed to be #7 on this level with a time of 1.707 seconds (1.600 to beat) using Solus. The next best time is a whopping 1.581, which for these types of games is a quite significant jump leading me to believe I was beaten using one of the locked ships, Horizon, which has a boost in horizontal movement speed. I myself have beaten the best time of 1-8 by 0.1 seconds simply by switching to Titan and ramming into the last laser beam to complete the level. Unless the developers intended for players to beat the best times with specific ships, this feels like a major oversight on leaderboards, and would love to see an icon of some sort to let the player know which ships they've beaten a level with and allow all players on that specific leaderboard to compete on an even playing field, or at least an in-game hint of to let them know to come back to this level in the future.[/strike] After closer inspection, it seems like the leaderboards are in fact separated by ships. If there was a different change I'd like to see, it'd be some more clarity on how the data is represented (using each ship's icon maybe) and some more obvious way to tell the player how to switch between leaderboards/ships, as Z or C is not otherwise used in game. The rest of the game feels polished, using expressive pixel art combined with smooth animation that just feels great to play. Movement can feel 'floaty' to an extent, though this is intentionally done so to reward players who interact with the 'disable engine' mechanic and ties in to some more subtle mechanics like gravity and friction to allow for some rewarding drifts. Well worth the price tag!

Saw 30 reviews with 100% recommend. Bought the game. Beaten W1 and grinded most of the WRs. Got bored due to poor level design. Moved to W2. Disappointed at space garbage appears from W2, that causes "random" blocked. Stopped playing. Checked profile of review posters. Most are shills within 1hr playtime, and not even beat W1. A few with over 10hrs but no achievements unlock. I’ve let it go with this reviewe :)

Its a fun little game, similar in style to flash game like you would have played on newgrounds 20 years ago. You can finish the game relatively quickly, but for a game like this you don't want it to be too long. Its tough, but fair for the most part. The ships can be a little too slippery and finnicky to control at times, sometime that can be frustrating for games like this that require precision. I played through the game and never unlocked a new ship, which is pretty dumb, as it should just be tied to level completions, but even if its not it should be explained. A few later levels are kind of poorly designed, specifically level 5.13. But its a small team and still an enjoyable game overall. Get it on decent sale. 7.5/10

Incredibly well polished game. I'm not usually a huge fan of precision platformers but I've found myself playing through this one trying to get better and reach the higher scores almost without thinking. The controls are so tight and it feels like any mistake is mine rather than the game. It has options for those who may usually struggle with games like this in the form of various ships, one you start with is a little slower but can take two hits, and its insane how much more forgiving this is without taking the challenge out of the stages. The art is incredible, the soundtrack is perfect and it all just blends together into a well balanced, enjoyable gaming experience with significant replayability.