Solstice Chronicles: MIA

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Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a single player and multiplayer survival role playing shooter game. It was developed by Ironward and was released on July 26, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

In Solstice Chronicles: MIA, players navigate a dead colony on Mars as a corporate marine with an insurgent drone as an ally. The game features challenging twin-stick combat against mutants and other enemies, and requires strategic decisions to manage threat levels, scavenge for supplies, and upgrade weapons. The goal is to survive and uncover the colony's dark secrets.

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77%

Audience ScoreBased on 166 reviews

story19 positive mentions

stability10 negative mentions

The game features a fun and engaging combat system with satisfying gunplay and a variety of weapons.
The unique threat system adds an interesting layer of strategy, allowing players to manipulate enemy spawns.
The graphics and sound design are well-executed, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.

The game suffers from a lack of online multiplayer, limiting its replayability and social experience.
The campaign can feel monotonous and linear, with some levels lacking meaningful objectives.
The upgrade and skill systems are not well-explained, leading to confusion about their impact on gameplay.

story
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
70%
4%
The story in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it entertaining and well-integrated with gameplay, while others describe it as simplistic, bland, or forgettable. Many appreciate the humorous cutscenes and the unique premise involving a lone marine and a drone, but feel that the overall narrative lacks depth and could benefit from more missions and character development. Overall, while the story has its moments, it often falls short of engaging players fully, leading to a desire for more substantial content.
- “Voice acting and story are solid.”
- “The story is simple but the small cutscenes are funny and well realized.”
- “While the single player campaign isn't Shakespeare, missions are connected by interesting cutscenes with fairly decent voiceover work.”
- “It's.... boring, the story is meh; I would rather play that free game, Alien Swarm instead.”
- “The story is just kind of 'meh'.”
- “Story, characters, and sound were not on par and made it feel like a weird school project focusing on the graphics and animations.”
gameplay
67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
75%
4%
The gameplay of "Solstice Chronicles: Mia" is characterized by solid mechanics typical of a top-down twin-stick shooter, enhanced by unique features like a companion drone and a threat management system that adds depth and variety. While the upgrade system is straightforward and the controls are generally smooth, some players noted issues with repetitiveness and technical bugs that can detract from the experience. Overall, the game offers a fun and engaging experience, particularly in co-op mode, but is hindered by some design flaws and a lack of polish.
- “The upgrade system is simple enough and the mechanics are fairly smooth.”
- “Overall, I can't say enough about the gameplay; it's a solid twin-stick shooter with very minor RPG elements.”
- “Features like the threat system and the varied skill trees add depth to the gameplay, allowing for the freedom to try many different playstyles.”
- “Unfortunately, while the gameplay is decent, the game doesn't seem finished and I ran into numerous bugs (not the kind you shoot!) and technical problems that ultimately made the experience frustrating.”
- “Between monotonous gameplay and a generally uninteresting story, Solstice Chronicles: Mia lacks the qualities that help shape a successful single-player campaign, and the co-op changes feel like a strict downgrade from its predecessor.”
- “I mentioned that the tactics seem rather limited and the shooting mechanics within Solstice Chronicles: Mia get repetitive when you know that the foes follow a linear pattern.”
graphics
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
38%
6%
The graphics in the game are generally well-received, showcasing impressive visuals, dynamic animations, and a unique art style, particularly with effects like flames and explosions. However, some players report technical issues such as lag, glitches, and dated textures that detract from the overall experience. While the graphics are often described as good or decent, they are sometimes perceived as underutilized in relation to the game's other elements.
- “The visuals and sound design are nice.”
- “Great graphics and smooth gameplay.”
- “Besides that, the animations, graphics, and sound effects give the impression of a game that has had a lot of work put into it.”
- “Graphics are also laggy and stuttery in some areas, even when the frame rate remains constant.”
- “Graphics - honestly they felt wasted on this game.”
- “Game runs on Unreal Engine... 3 I think, graphics are decent but a bit dated in some things like textures and effects.”
replayability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The game offers significant replayability through its survival mode and diverse character classes, allowing players to experiment with different builds and strategies. While the single-player campaign is functional, it lacks the ambitious infinite co-op replayability some players expected. However, the overall experience remains enjoyable, with suggestions for additional content to enhance long-term replay value.
- “There is endless replayability in the survival mode.”
- “A fun little twin stick shooter with decent replayability thanks to the 4 different classes.”
- “Improving your character's abilities adds another dimension to the game and replayability.”
- “I am playing the single player campaign, and this - while less ambitious than the promised infinite coop replayability of The Red Solstice - is certainly way more functional.”
- “Imho what the game needs now is more -- more single player mission maps, more survival maps, maybe some sort of procedurally generated levels mode that could add more long-term replayability.”
- “Due to local coop only, it has severely limited replayability.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting issues such as slowdowns, freezes, and audio glitches, particularly at launch. While some users have experienced significant bugs requiring restarts, others have noted improvements with updates and have had stable gameplay without crashes. Overall, the game's stability appears to vary widely among players, with some enjoying a smooth experience while others encounter persistent issues.
- “Yet it has a lot of problems; suffers from slow down, freezes, and echoing audio issues.”
- “Same as the first game... buggy and complete mess.”
- “The game launched in a slightly buggy state but every update since the release has aimed to both fix the existing problems and add new free content.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a blend of light humor and campy 80's action movie vibes, enhanced by great voice acting and amusing interactions. Players appreciate the funny cutscenes and the sassy drone companion, which adds a layer of contextual humor to the gameplay. Overall, the humor complements the game's mechanics and contributes to an enjoyable experience.
- “There is some 80's action movie style campiness to the campaign and some light humor.”
- “The story is simple but the small cutscenes are funny and well realized.”
- “The robot companion you get at the very start of the game has just the right level of sassy/sarcasm to create some good contextual humor.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its combination of intense elements like blood, explosions, and fire, creating a strong sense of horror and suspense. While some players appreciate the solid sound design and graphics, others feel that the relentless presence of monsters detracts from the immersive experience. Overall, the game is noted for its engaging atmosphere, reminiscent of titles like Dead Nation, enhanced by improved visuals and sound.
- “Loving the atmosphere and mechanics.”
- “Solid sounds, good atmosphere; little to no music is present as of the alpha.”
- “No time to explore the level and feel the atmosphere.”
- “It would be better if the developer team kept the atmosphere of horror and suspense rather than filling every corner with never-ending monsters.”
- “This game heavily reminds me of Dead Nation but with better music, graphics, and atmosphere.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The music in the game has received mixed feedback, with some players finding it bland and unexciting, while others appreciate the sound effects and overall audio quality. While the soundtrack is described as decent and atmospheric, it lacks a significant presence, especially in the alpha version. Comparisons to other games suggest that while the music may not stand out, it contributes positively to the overall experience.
- “Soundtrack never bothered me and the sound effects were on par with the rest of the audio assets.”
- “Solid sounds, good atmosphere; little to no music is present as of the alpha.”
- “This game heavily reminds me of Dead Nation but with better music, graphics, and atmosphere.”
- “Music is bland and overall, generally unexciting.”
- “No real music ...yet.”
- “Sound effects and soundtrack are decent; they do the job, but nothing good or bad can be said.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game's optimization has notable issues that do not severely impact overall gameplay, but performance problems and the use of an outdated engine detract from the experience. While it is optimized for consoles, it may cater to a less challenging gaming experience. With future patches, there is potential for improvement.
- “Optimization problems are present, but they do not seriously affect the overall gameplay experience.”
- “With some patches and further optimization, this game has the potential to be very enjoyable.”
- “Optimization problems are there but do not affect the game very seriously.”
- “A decent top down survival shooter with some new mechanics that keep it fresh and up to date with the times, still the lack of online co-op, performance problems, and using a dated engine bring this title down quite a bit.”
- “- Optimized for consoles (crappy hardware) and respective players to enjoy an easy game without much mindful tricks and challenge.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players find the story mode to be good and wholesome, others criticize the overall narrative and gameplay as boring, leading to a lack of engagement and emotional investment.
- “The story mode is a heartfelt journey that resonates deeply with players.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters makes the experience truly unforgettable.”
- “I felt a strong connection to the narrative, which brought out a range of emotions.”
- “The story was dull and uninspired, making it hard to connect emotionally with the characters or the world.”
- “I felt no attachment to the characters; their struggles and triumphs just didn't resonate with me.”
- “The emotional moments felt forced and unearned, leaving me indifferent to the outcomes.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and unenjoyable, citing a lack of engaging content and repetitive tasks, such as farming experience with uninteresting weapons and skills. This has led some to consider refunding the game before investing more time.
- “It had a boring story, boring weapons, boring skills, and so few things to do, yet it forces you to max out your character. Can you imagine farming experience by killing with a pistol?”
- “So very tedious, I'm refunding this before I get much further and lose out on the chance to.”

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64%Critics’ scoreBased on 10 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a survival role playing shooter game.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One and others.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA was released on July 26, 2017.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA was developed by Ironward.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its replayability.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include The Red Solstice, Red Solstice 2: Survivors, Guns n Zombies, Outbreak, Livelock and others.

Solstice Chronicles: MIA

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