Solstice Chronicles: MIA
- July 26, 2017
- Ironward
A solid top-down shooter,
Get on SteamIn 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.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a fun and engaging twin-stick shooter experience with great weapon variety and enjoyable combat mechanics.
- The local co-op mode enhances the gameplay, making it a great choice for playing with friends.
- The threat system adds an interesting layer of strategy, allowing players to manipulate enemy spawns and difficulty.
- The game suffers from a lack of online multiplayer, limiting its replayability and social experience.
- The campaign can feel slow and monotonous, with a forgettable story and unbalanced gameplay at times.
- There are technical issues, including rough controls and sound design that detracts from the overall experience.
- story48 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it enjoyable yet simplistic and lacking depth. While a few appreciate the humor and replayability of missions, many criticize the narrative as bland, generic, or poorly executed, often feeling disconnected from the gameplay. Overall, the story is seen as a weak point, overshadowed by more engaging gameplay elements.
“Voice acting and story are solid.”
“A fast-paced action game with a great story and fun survival mode for replayability.”
“The story is simple but the small cutscenes are funny and well realized.”
“The story is just kind of 'meh'.”
“Campaign story is a cheap text thrown to the screen without any sound.”
“Story, characters, and sound were not on par and made it feel like a weird school project focusing on the graphics and animations.”
- gameplay35 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally solid, featuring smooth mechanics and a tactical approach typical of twin-stick shooters, with enjoyable shooting and melee elements. However, it is marred by technical issues and bugs that can detract from the experience, alongside a somewhat monotonous gameplay loop and an unengaging story. While the upgrade system and enemy variety add depth, the overall execution leaves room for improvement, particularly in multiplayer aspects.
“The upgrade system is simple enough and the mechanics are fairly smooth.”
“Great voice acting, funny interactions, great game mechanics and control.”
“The core gameplay is solid - shooting and melee are satisfying, if a bit clunky, and there are enough enemy types to keep things interesting.”
“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.”
“The tutorials and threat meter mechanic never really come together in any meaningful way.”
- graphics26 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their quality and aesthetic appeal, particularly due to the use of Unreal Engine 4, resulting in lovely visuals and smooth gameplay. However, several users report technical issues such as lag, stuttering, and graphical glitches that detract from the overall experience. While the art style and character designs are appreciated, some feel that the graphics are underutilized in the context of the game's story and gameplay.
“It seems pretty well done, and graphically is very nice to look at.”
“Great graphics and smooth gameplay.”
“The game has good graphics.”
“Graphics are also laggy and stuttery in some areas, even when the frame rate remains constant.”
“Graphics - honestly they felt wasted on this game.”
“Graphics glitches everywhere.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers significant replayability, particularly through its engaging survival mode and diverse character classes that enhance gameplay variety. However, the local co-op limitation may restrict replay value for some players. The combination of fast-paced action, character progression, and enjoyable mechanics contributes to a fun and replayable experience.
“There is endless replayability in the survival mode.”
“Improving your character's abilities adds another dimension to the game and replayability.”
“Due to local co-op only, it has severely limited replayability.”
“Survival gives it some decent replayability.”
“A fun little twin-stick shooter with decent replayability thanks to the 4 different classes.”
- stability7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is marred by various issues, including slowdowns, freezes, and graphical glitches, which can disrupt gameplay and necessitate frequent restarts. While some players find the experience enjoyable despite these bugs, others express hope for future fixes to enhance stability. Overall, it is not considered a complete disaster, but improvements are needed to address the existing problems.
“Yet it has a lot of problems; suffers from slow down, freezes, and echoing audio issues.”
“So despite the glitches that required frequent restarts of the game, I liked it. It would have been simpler had there been a control file you could view without the game going on around you, and had certain tooltips been more accurate.”
“Graphics glitches everywhere.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a blend of light humor and 80's action movie campiness, enhanced by great voice acting and amusing interactions. Players appreciate the funny cutscenes and moments throughout the simple story, alongside enjoyable game mechanics and a chatty, humorous drone. Overall, the humor adds to the fun experience of battling mutant aliens.
“There is some good humor, and this is a great game to play when I want a small challenge and just want to blow mutant aliens up.”
“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.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is noted for its intense combination of blood, explosions, and fire, creating a vivid experience. However, some users feel that the relentless presence of monsters detracts from the horror and suspense, limiting opportunities for exploration and immersion in the environment.
“A very atmospheric combination of blood, explosions, and fire.”
“It would be better if the development team maintained the atmosphere of horror and suspense rather than filling every corner with never-ending monsters.”
“No time to explore the level and feel the atmosphere.”
“It would be better if the developer team maintained the atmosphere of horror and suspense rather than filling every corner with never-ending monsters.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
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 unexciting weapons and skills. This has led some to consider refunding the game due to the overwhelming monotony.
“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.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players find the story mode to be wholesome and enjoyable, others criticize the overall narrative and gameplay as boring and repetitive, leading to a lack of engagement.
“The story mode is a heartfelt journey that resonates deeply with players.”
“The emotional depth of the characters truly makes you feel invested in their stories.”
“I was moved to tears by the powerful narrative and the connections I formed with the characters.”
“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.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed feedback; while some players believe that further patches could enhance the experience, others feel it is overly simplified for console users, lacking depth and challenge.
“With some patches and optimization, this could be a very fun game.”
“The game feels optimized for consoles with outdated hardware, catering to players who prefer an easy experience without much challenge or strategic thinking.”
“It seems like the optimization is aimed at making the game accessible for casual players, sacrificing depth and complexity in the process.”
“The focus on optimization for lower-end systems has resulted in a lack of challenge and engagement, making the gameplay feel shallow.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The music in the game is often described as bland and unexciting, failing to leave a memorable impact on players.
“The music is bland and overall, generally unexciting.”
“The soundtrack lacks variety and fails to engage the player.”
“The audio design feels repetitive and uninspired, making it easy to tune out.”
Critic Reviews
Solstice Chronicles: MIA (Nintendo Switch)
A solid top-down shooter,
70%Solstice Chronicles: MIA Review – Bits of Fun Here and There
Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a bit hard to sum up. It’s well polished and offers moments of great fun, especially in co-op, but as a single player experience the game is slow and starts to drag quite quickly. In some aspects it feels rough and unfinished. As it stands, if you have a friend to play Solstice with, you’re likely to enjoy your time with it - but if you’re going to attempt the game solo, then maybe wait for a sale.
65%Solstice Chronicles: MIA Review
While the threat level system theoretically makes for some interesting moment to moment choices, it makes the campaign feel woefully unbalanced at times. Combat also lacks the smoothness one would hope for from the genre, with movement and aiming feeling choppy and imprecise. 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.
40%
