Solareth

About

Solareth is a single player action game. It was developed by SmoGames Studio and was released on November 27, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Solareth is a high-intensity top-down arena shooter where quick thinking and sharp reflexes are key. On a vast space battleground, you’ll confront waves of enemies that grow faster, fiercer, and deadlier with every round. With over eight weapon types, every encounter offers new possibilities: precise pistol shots, explosive rocket volleys, focused laser beams, or blazing flamethrowers that turn t…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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86%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,092 reviews

story142 positive mentions

grinding34 negative mentions

Engaging and addictive gameplay with a satisfying mix of real-time combat and strategy elements.
Immersive atmosphere and excellent sound design faithfully capturing the tone of the Alien franchise.
Strong replayability supported by varied character and weapon builds, upgrades, and tactical challenges.

The squad control can be frustrating due to lack of independent unit movement, hindering tactical options.
Story and character development are serviceable but lack depth, with some plot elements feeling rushed or cliché.
Presence of bugs, occasional glitches, and a save system that can cause loss of progress affecting the overall experience.

story
545 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
68%
6%
The story is generally regarded as serviceable and engaging enough to support the gameplay, with many praising its immersive atmosphere and character interactions, though some find it clichéd, rushed toward the end, or lacking in depth and motivation. It effectively complements the game’s combat and progression systems but is often seen as secondary to gameplay, featuring typical tropes and occasional scripting issues that limit narrative impact. Overall, while not groundbreaking, the story provides a solid backdrop that enhances player investment without overshadowing the core action.
- “This game means so much to me for its story and gameplay, and playing it has given me so much comfort.”
- “The story is really captivating with amazing characters and dialogue.”
- “First rogue-lite I've played that successfully delivers a good story and character development too.”
- “Don't get it for the story, as it's your typical run-of-the-mill story.”
- “Dialogue is fine, story and motivations are weak, plot ending a bit on the silly side but I wasn't playing this for the story in the first place.”
- “The story is so/so but you most likely wouldn't be picking this up for the story anyway.”
gameplay
353 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
56%
5%
The gameplay across these reviews is generally praised for its smoothness, solid mechanics, and engaging loops that blend elements like tower defense, tactical squad control, bullet-hell, and roguelike progression. While it offers addictive, challenging, and varied combat with rewarding movement and upgrade systems, some users find it repetitive over time, occasionally buggy, and lacking in depth or innovation in later stages. Overall, the gameplay is enjoyable, well-balanced, and worth playing especially for fans of its genres and setting, though it might require patience with grind and some design compromises.
- “This is my first dungeon bullet hell and let me tell you... incredible game, gameplay, art style, and lore.”
- “The hook mechanic, where you can pull yourself to the nearest obstacle, works well with the island aspect of the game, as you can essentially parkour from one small island to the next, which is quite satisfying.”
- “The gameplay is really solid and fun with great movement and difficulty.”
- “On its own this mechanic isn't so bad, but its particulars truly will prevent me from ever returning to play.”
- “The quest gameplay is kind of sad.”
- “However, it does have more than a few bugs that require re-loading if encountered and a few gameplay features or lack-of features that can be frustrating, such as the hunt mechanic or the inability to control individual units.”
graphics
160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
35%
6%
The graphics are generally praised for their appealing pixel art style, solid design, and atmospheric visuals that effectively complement gameplay and setting, particularly in top-down and indie genres. While not groundbreaking or ultra-realistic, they offer vibrant colors, detailed environments, and smooth animations that immerse players without demanding high-end hardware. Some critiques mention occasional graphical bugs, limited character visibility due to the top-down perspective, and minor issues with UI scaling or repetitiveness, but overall, the visuals are considered a strong and fitting aspect of these games.
- “The graphics absolutely nail the atmosphere and environments.”
- “With that out of the way, let me just say without any exaggeration that this game is among the 1% most graphically impressive I've seen in my life, and boy, do I play a lot.”
- “The graphics and lighting look great, as well as all the sound effects.”
- “My only complaint graphically is that it is a top down shooter, which makes human characters very much blend together.”
- “I feel like ultrawide has some issues with some graphics, such as the reload icon, where it blocks around 10% of the entire 3440x1440 resolution screen.”
- “Game is a bit graphically buggy when you're in a long session.”
music
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
50%
11%
The music across these games is generally praised for its quality, atmosphere, and strong alignment with the game's themes and settings, often highlighted by standout composers like Darren Korb. However, some users note issues such as limited variety, repetitive loops, occasional audio glitches, or silence in key moments that can detract from immersion. Overall, the soundtracks enhance gameplay and mood, though a few find them less memorable or inconsistent in execution.
- “I was blown away by the artwork, gameplay, and soundtrack.”
- “Shout out particularly to Darren Korb's OST - this and Transistor are easily in my top 5 OSTs.”
- “You have the classic pulse rifle and smart gun sounds, squelching footsteps as you walk across "some sort of secreted resin", aliens roaring and exploding into piles of acidic goo, and a brooding ambient soundtrack that, when combined with the ping from your motion tracker, will have you staring unblinking at your screen with a death grip on your controller or mouse.”
- “Sometimes enemies can shoot/detect you through walls, sometimes a cutscene prevents you from controlling your units in such a way that they die during the cutscene, sometimes combat music will play on loop long after the action has ended, sometimes the audio sting for being detected will play on loop for no reason.”
- “Tho the music and sounds are hot garbage.”
- “The few music tracks are mediocre, and long stretches of the game have no background music at all.”
replayability
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
46%
8%
The game is widely praised for its high replayability, driven by challenging gameplay, varied difficulty levels, extensive upgrade systems, and multiple game modes including endless and survival modes. While some note limited replay value due to lack of procedural generation or additional content, most find the replay experience rewarding and addictive, especially for fans of roguelike and strategic combat elements.
- “This is one of the only games I've played that I would describe as having "infinite replay value."”
- “The endless replayability makes this my favorite rogue-like game of all time.”
- “Infinite replayability, excellent game design, and difficulty scaling that actually adds new enemies with varied attack mechanics instead of just ramping up HP and attack all make for a combination that is addictive and makes you want to play just one more round.”
- “The game has some replayability with the 'new game+' mode that lets you use all your surviving marines from the first playthrough, but the missions are not randomly generated and will be the same as before.”
- “The downsides I would say are: a few glitches that may make you restart the level. Replay value would be much higher if there were extra levels or added content to create your own levels.”
- “Replayability❎ poor: little to no incentive for replay, limited content.”
atmosphere
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
36%
8%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for authentically capturing the tense, dark, and immersive alien universe, with detailed environments, haunting sound design, and survival-horror elements that keep players on edge. Its faithful recreation of the franchise’s mood, combined with rewarding difficulty and strategic gameplay, creates a compelling, anxiety-filled experience that many find deeply engaging despite occasional narrative and technical flaws. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as a core strength, effectively blending suspense, adventure, and thematic consistency.
- “Boy was I surprised, they absolutely nailed the atmosphere in this game, the immersion in your squad slowly advancing through these huge mazelike Weyland-Yutani structures, watching all the blips on the motion tracker closing in is completely unmatched.”
- “They managed to make you get lost quite often, even though you can often see the entire map, and they created a great horror atmosphere with pitch-black rooms and the constant echoing ping of the motion detector.”
- “The maps are huge and detailed and faithful to the source material - the game oozes the atmosphere at every step - from start to finish and never lets go - this is absolutely great.”
- “❎ Fair: basic sound/music, doesn't enhance the atmosphere.”
- “Unability to save anytime (you have to be in safe place and make it safe by using resource), pretty add to the atmosphere, love it!”
- “Tense atmosphere.”
grinding
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
5%
87%
Grinding in the game is generally moderate and not strictly necessary for progression, with most upgrades and achievements attainable through normal play. While some optional content and certain achievements demand extra grinding, the gameplay loop and mechanics are engaging enough to prevent the grind from feeling overly tedious. However, repetitive tasks like repeated runs for the true ending or back-and-forth missions can make the experience feel grindy and slogging for some players.
- “The grind for 100% was surprisingly decent and not tedious at all, which in my book is a good thing.”
- “The gameplay is great, the progression pace is nice, no grinding so far, the art style is fun and not resource intensive.”
- “Achievements are fairly easy to get with natural gameplay, with only a couple requiring grinding (the ones I didn't get). I would love to see a sequel with more funding/dev time.”
- “Finished a few runs but there's no way I'll keep grinding for the 'real ending' and whatever else.”
- “Progression is so long, totally unfun with 2 types of money, a reset all skill mechanic for prestige farming, and you have to upgrade gun or they won't get any more exp.”
- “The presentation and gameplay are well done, it just feels like a slog to play each grindy run.”
stability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
84%
The game exhibits a number of glitches and bugs ranging from visual hiccups and unresponsive controls to more severe issues like freezing, persistent exploits, and mission-blocking bugs. While these stability problems can occasionally disrupt gameplay and frustrate players, they generally do not prevent completion or severely hinder the core experience. Overall, the game runs well on most platforms but would benefit from improved bug fixes and quality-of-life stability enhancements.
- “Runs great on Steam Deck.”
- “It runs great and the gameplay is really nice.”
- “It's not buggy and it doesn't have broken mechanics.”
- “There are a few glitches that were sadly never solved, such as a collector item not being pickable in the first mission.”
- “They're everywhere — unresponsive buttons, invisible walls, enemies shooting through cover, glitches after reloading, countless visual hiccups.”
- “After an alien attacks the stuck marine, the game freezes.”
optimization
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
64%
18%
The game exhibits notable optimization issues, including performance degradation over time, stuttering in late-stage missions, and long load times, particularly on devices like the Steam Deck. However, the implementation of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution significantly improves performance with minimal visual artifacts. Despite these problems, options like toggling between DirectX 11 and Vulkan and first-person mode provide some flexibility, though frustrating design choices like unskippable animations and the inability to pause hamper the overall experience.
- “It is optimized rather well if you use the AMD FSR.”
- “Speaking of the FSR, it is implemented extremely well into the game with very minimal artifacts, but very noticeable performance gains.”
- “There's some kind of performance problem where the longer the game is running, the worse the performance gets.”
- “Problem is the performance is not acceptable to me.”
- “There's some kind of performance problems where the longer the game is running, the worse the performance gets.”
- “The final mission is so big, the game just starts stuttering towards the end, before the actual final 'mission' that is so bugged, that it's basically a walking sim where your squad of hardened marines gets replaced by invincible idiots who haven't fired a shot during the entire campaign, before you're being chased and the enemy AI literally breaking apart.”
humor
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game balances humor with a serious story, featuring witty dialogue, quirky characters, and absurd yet amusing elements that keep the tone lighthearted without undermining emotional depth. Players appreciate the random funny weapons, lively character interactions, and humorous world-building, though some humor is niche and may require understanding specific references. Overall, the humor is a standout aspect that adds charm and enjoyment throughout the gameplay.
- “It's almost nonsense, and it takes itself just serious enough to be really funny.”
- “The characters all have unique and vibrant personalities, and the amount of funny dialogue between Zagreus and the other characters (including the narrator) always made me chuckle.”
- “Xenomorphs trying to run off with my soldiers never stops being funny to me.”
character development
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
40%
20%
Character development in the game receives mixed feedback; while some praise it for successfully integrating a strong story and compelling character designs within a rogue-lite framework, others feel it remains the weakest aspect compared to the overall plot.
- “First rogue-lite I've played that successfully delivers a good story and character development too.”
- “The gameplay feels really good and smooth; the story is very good; the music is great; the character designs are sick; the vibes are immaculate.”
- “I feel the weakest part of the story is not the plot itself, but the character development.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game delivers a surprisingly lighthearted and humorous take on Greek mythology while still delivering impactful emotional moments. However, some players felt the emotional depth was limited and were frustrated by a game-breaking bug that disrupted their experience. Overall, the emotional elements are well-executed but not consistently memorable.
- “I wasn't expecting a game about the layers of hell in Greek mythology where you play as the prince of the underworld to be very lighthearted and funny, while still having major emotional impacts land.”
- “It was properly done for emotional moments, but I can only recall two or three distinct tracks including that one.”
- “Just another plain old shooter with a boring storyline that was great but then got ruined.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is criticized for relying on plagiarism and asset flips, with accusations of fake reviews supporting a cash grab approach. Users feel the game lacks proper credit to original creators and shows little intention of meaningful improvement, suggesting the focus is on quick profit rather than quality.
- “The "developers" here didn't credit any of the artists and real, actual game developers who created the assets here, so this is plagiarism, as well as cash grab shovelware.”
- “"...it would take many times longer to assemble all early access mechanics into a single complete product." sounds to me more like a cash grab and jump to another project.”
- “They're all written in either Russian, broken English, or ChatGPT AI slop, appear at almost exactly the same time shortly after the game launched on Steam, and have a direct Steam purchase of the game. The accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams.”