Survive the mystery that awaits the JFS Gun-Dog in deep space in this retro visual novel / graphic adventure.
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About
War is over. War is just beginning.
Planetary Calendar 214. Four years have passed since the end of the Solar War. Our protagonist, scarred from the loss of their crewmates in the war, is re-assigned to the Jovian patrol ship Gun-Dog as it’s dispatched with orders to investigate mysterious signals coming from the edge of Jovian Space.
Unknown to the Gun-Dog’s crew, a new danger looms deep in the ocean of stars, threatening not just the Gun-Dog but all her crew.
Take on the role of the Gun-Dog's security officer as you attempt to save the ship from an unknown assailant whilst navigating the paranoia, conspiracies and vendettas that break out amongst the crew. As camaraderie falls apart can you overcome the challenges that await?
Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog is a visual novel adventure in the spirit of classic PC-9800 titles. Space Colony Studios strives to create an "era-accurate" game that exudes retro vibes in every way, from the text to the visual effects. As the Jovian patrol ship sails into the darkness among the stars, the players will feel like they are on an adventure in an 80s Sci-Fi as they solve the mystery they find themselves in.
Humans have long since freed themselves from the grasp of gravity, but they are still unable to escape the hold of war.
It’s year 214 of the Planetary Calendar. Four years have passed since the end of the Solar War and an uneasy peace persists throughout the solar system. The Jovian patrol ship Gun-Dog is sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate mysterious signals coming from the edge of Jovian space. What starts as a routine assignment quickly escalates into a battle for survival as an unknown threat terrorises the crew.
Utilising traditional point-and-click adventure mechanics, during your time on the Gun-Dog, you can navigate various locations on the ship, examine the details of the richly realised backgrounds or talk with the different crew members on board. You will need to listen closely to the characters' words to reveal important clues or duplicitous intentions and keep your eyes peeled for key items and interactive elements in the backgrounds that you can use to advance the story.
The main stage of the first instalment in the "Stories from Sol" series, as the Jovian patrol ship Gun-Dog heads into deep space it serves as the setting for the game’s story. It has been exhaustively realised. Rich and evocative descriptions of the ship, including the constant rumble of the engine room, the bustle of the bridge, the silence of space pair with an extensive range of scenes that have been meticulously designed and animated in detail to deliver an immersive experience. Inspired by the best that anime has to offer the ship even features "Armoured Frames", mechanised, human shaped, weapons of war.
All stories are about people and the cast of “The Gun-Dog” bring the story to life, so much so that their charm and charisma convinced the team at Astrolabe Games to board the Gun-Dog and sign up to be the publisher. From the elegant yet distant Captain Bartermews, to the bubbly Lieutenant Commander Cassandra Quinn, to the assertive and domineering Chief Mackenzie Cathays, “The Gun-Dog” features an extensive cast of characters for you to meet. Each crew member has a distinct personality, role and history. Get to know them and their quirks and decide whether to work with or against them to unravel the mystery that lies at the story’s heart.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Spanish - Spain
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 45 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 45 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
In cases like this, I wish there would be a "mixed" rating. First the good: The artstyle, story, dialogues and characters are good, the retro style is charming (and you can pick from several configurations). The sound, music and animations are basic, but do their job. Then why "mixed"? The bad: The game is rather short - 6 hours. The choices give some replayability value, but the don't impact overall story much. The ending feels, rushed like it missing 1 or 2 hours to wrap things up - or it's sequel bait. For the amount of content/gameplay the game cost too much. If you want to play this game, I suggest wait and grab it on at least -50% sale.
Honestly this was a surprise and a delight to play. The ending sequence had my heart pounding and I loved all the optional investigative work between various high-stakes moments. I found out at the end of the game that there's quite a variety of branching paths, yet only two "distinct" endings. That said, what happens to everyone along the way and after the story's conclusion can change DRAMATICALLY and gives a surprising amount of replay value, leaving me intent on playing with different save files. Thankfully the game has plenty of save slots, allowing you to piece together missing links in your story from different angles. Overall I'd say this is more than worth the buy, it's a charming story with meaningfully written, if cliched, characters. I'm VERY interested in where this story is going in a supposed sequel, as this game feels more like an introduction to the world it puts you in than a wholly-contained, total story. I'd like to see Stories from Sol: The Sylvestria. Or even some analogue stories related to the backgrounds of the crew we already know, or side stories set within the realm. How about what's going on in life for the other two major factions of the system? That's about all I got. Again, TLDR is it's worth it. It's good, I'd even say great.
[h1] Una novela visual corta e intensa para los amantes de ciencia ficción [/h1] Una NV de corte retro y con una muy buena ambientación espacial, que si os gustan las obras futuristas os lo recomiendo. Durará unas 6 horas pasárselo y dejan con ganas de más. [spoiler] y más con ese final. Yo lo único que quiero es que Cassie y su pareja se vayan al parque de atracciones acuático como prometieron [/spoiler] Básicamente es el típico juego de leer, investigar... Lo que viene a ser un "point and click" dependiendo de tus opciones afectarás a los personajes [spoiler] excepto a la pobre Cassie que le ha mirado un tuerto [/spoiler] e irás descubriendo que está pasando. Tiene buena narrativa y un pixel bastante bonito. Lo recomiendo para los amantes de las aventuras narrativas y si no sois mucho de ese género, pero os gusta la ciencia ficción o el anime estilo gundam, patlabor... os animo a probarlo. Aparte de demo, por unos 10/15 euros que cuesta merece la pena darle un intento. Esperó segunda parte, me ha gustado mucho y quiero continuar con la historia.
really nice game. mix gundam with some mystery twist. i hope for a follow-up
Love the retro look, but the story is undercooked. As it is, the game only really works to set up a sequel.
Not without it's problems but they pale in comparison to the passion of what this small team was able to produce. The atmosphere is spot on and the mid section of the story had me hook, line and sinker. Excited to see what they work on next, if this seems up your alley it's definitely worth a shot!
Overall, it’s a nice little game, pretty entertaining with a pleasant style. On a downside it feels a bit rushed, I wish it had more stuff to explore and the story progresses more slowly. P.S. Hope to see another game in the Stories from Sol universe someday!
The Mech Pilot Visual Novel that you never knew you needed. Loved everything about it, great characters, art design, music, plot, writing etc. Only negative I can give is the game left me wanting to play the unreleased sequel immediately.
有很浓的机动战舰抚子号的味，结局留有大坑，期待后续故事
Incredibly charming game. I had an absolutely blast exploring the world. I'm deeply excited for any future installments, and I want to do some alternate runs in the future!
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Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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