[b]sands of solaris[/b] is a card-based light-redirecting puzzler, no affiliation with the late stanislaw lem or the prog-rock band (imagine the soundtrack though).
[b]72 levels[/b] unlocked one by one (3 at a time would be better) with on-screen level numbers, divided into 6 chapters. make sure the lights reach the receivers by rotating whatever's on the level, but no need to use everything, cards or on-screen objects. and this ain't [b]ghostbusters[/b], beams can cross each other.
short text-free tutorials introduce new 'discoveries' but they don't even have a name, feels lazy. [b]undo is available[/b] and there's no timer, score or anything, but it's also underwhelming that as soon as the level is solved, you move on to the next without any fanfare, nor is there anything at the very end. I'm all for not wasting time or clicks but still.
besides the basic light transmitter (or whatever it's not called) there's a pillary thing that turns beams a different color, in case the goal demands it, and a prism that only lets a beam of the same color through. a piece of stone is next, simply blocking beams, what a discovery. still better than simply a different color in chapter 5 and nothing new in chapter 6.
non-rebindable mouse controls, that's all you need, but there are undocumented (why?) hotkeys. can't select cards with the numbers or mouse wheel (again, why?), esc brings up the pause menu. backspace is reset, ctrl+z is undo, as I was told (yet again, why and why?). another inconvenience is level select itself, scrolling all the way down every time because it always drops you at level 1 on top, not the next unsolved level, and there's no quick navigation between chapters either.
solaris is a desert planet (or just a desert), not much to look at, audio is more ambient than anything as well. on release there was a lot of ui overlap, making gameplay really cumbersome, and unfortunately, shrinking the levels was the solution, not shrinking the cards and the level number background, but it's not a huge deal. it can also be [b]difficult to tell which beam is which when there are multiple of the same color[/b], possibly facing the same way, and the constantly spinning things became an annoyance eventually as well.
it shipped with all the basic settings (resolutions, windowed mode and a bunch of languages) except volumes, but they were promptly patched in. no sliders, just 0/25/50/75/100%, still better than the original on/off. unlike languages, offered in a separate window, [b]resolution changes instantly, no confirmation, nor a list to choose from[/b], so probably don't keep clicking if you don't have a 4k screen. since there are only 3 options, there should be 3 buttons in that section, click the one you want. progress is stored in the registry, another unfortunate decision.
as it's often the case, the game starts with too many filler levels. no [i]aha![/i] moments and mostly no satisfaction, or maybe I just happened upon quicker unintended solutions. then things get trickier but not a whole lot more interesting and [b]overall it's on the easier side[/b]. aside from the issues mentioned above, [b]it's okay if nothing special or unmissable[/b].
