Nine Sols - Review - Nintendo Switch

Nine Sols arrives on Nintendo Switch as one of the most striking 2D action games in recent memory as a fusion of Taoist cyberpunk, hand‑drawn animation, and Sekiro‑inspired deflection combat that demands your full attention from the first encounter. It’s a game built on rhythm and pressure, where every clash feels like a duel and every mistake is punished with absolute confidence. What makes it stand out isn’t just the difficulty, but the way it pairs that intensity with a world that feels ancient, spiritual, and quietly tragic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhMPkqJluIw

Nine Sols tells a revenge story on the surface, but underneath it’s a slow unravelling of faith, power, and engineered divinity. You play as Yi, a warrior resurrected in a world that feels both ancient and futuristic, a Taoist‑inspired cyber‑kingdom called New Kunlun, where ritual and biotechnology have been fused into a brittle, authoritarian order. Yi’s mission is simple at first: hunt down the nine rulers who betrayed him. But as you push deeper into the city’s temples, laboratories, and forgotten shrines, the narrative widens into something far more tragic.

The game reveals its world in fragments through murals, terminals, whispered memories, and the quiet decay of a civilisation that has been holding itself together through myth and manipulation. The Sols aren’t just tyrants; they’re symbols of a system built on sacrifice and control, and the more you learn about their history, the more the lines blur between justice, rebellion, and the cost of survival.

I was lucky enough to be sent a physical copy of the game for this review!

Nine Sols’ gameplay is built around a single, uncompromising idea: deflect or die. It takes the parry‑centric philosophy of Sekiro and distils it into a 2D action‑platformer where timing isn’t just important, it’s the entire language of combat. Every enemy, from basic foot soldiers to screen‑filling bosses, is designed around patterns you must read, absorb, and eventually dominate. When you nail the rhythm, the game becomes almost musical: a back‑and‑forth exchange of steel, sparks, and perfectly timed counters that break an enemy’s Chi and open them up for a brutal finishing strike. It’s demanding, but the satisfaction is immense.

Outside of combat, the game leans into a light Metroidvania structure. Exploration is deliberate rather than sprawling, with new traversal abilities unlocking shortcuts, hidden rooms, and optional challenges. Platforming is responsive and clean, never overshadowing the combat but giving you enough mobility to feel agile and empowered. Boss fights are the standout moments with multi‑phase, aggressive, and visually spectacular, each one pushing you to refine your timing and adapt to new attack patterns. The Switch version maintains the core feel of the combat beautifully, even if occasional frame dips can slightly disrupt the flow during the most chaotic sequences.

Visually, Nine Sols is one of the most distinctive 2D action games on the Switch. The hand‑drawn art style blends Taoist mythology with cyberpunk machinery, creating a world that feels ancient, sacred, and quietly corrupted. Environments are layered with detail: glowing circuitry woven into temple walls, decaying shrines humming with dormant power, and character designs that look like they’ve stepped out of a graphic novel. The animation work is sharp and expressive, attacks snap with weight, parries spark with energy, and bosses move with a theatrical, almost ritualistic presence.

On Switch, the art direction survives the hardware limitations impressively well. Handheld mode, in particular, showcases the bold outlines and painterly textures beautifully, though some background detail softens on the smaller screen. Docked mode offers a clearer view of the world’s intricacies, but it’s also where the occasional performance dip is more noticeable during heavy effects or large enemy attacks. Even so, the visual identity is strong enough that these technical hiccups never overshadow the atmosphere.

What elevates Nine Sols beyond its mechanical sharpness is its atmosphere. The soundtrack blends ritualistic percussion, mournful strings, and ambient tension, giving every corridor and arena a sense of spiritual weight. The narrative, while sparse, grows more affecting as you uncover the truth behind the Sols and the society they shaped. It’s a story about faith, rebellion, and the cost of engineered perfection, told with restraint and surprising emotional clarity.

Pros

• Exceptional parry‑focused combat that feels rhythmic, tense, and deeply satisfying once mastered

• Striking hand‑drawn art direction that holds up beautifully in handheld mode

• Atmospheric world‑building blending Taoist mythology, cyberpunk tech, and quiet cosmic dread

• Memorable boss encounters with strong visual identity and multi‑phase challenge

• Metroidvania exploration that rewards curiosity with shortcuts, secrets, and optional challenges

• Evocative soundtrack that reinforces the spiritual, ritualistic tone of New Kunlun

Cons

• Performance dips during heavy particle effects or large boss attacks

• Longer load times on Switch, especially after death

• High difficulty curve that may frustrate players who don’t click with deflection‑centric combat

• Sparse checkpoints in certain areas, making repeated runs more punishing

• Some visual detail loss in handheld backgrounds due to Switch hardware limitations

Nine Sols on Switch is a rare thing: a brutally precise action game that also feels soulful and considered. It’s challenging, stylish, and deeply atmospheric, with a combat system that rewards patience and mastery. The performance quirks are real, but the core experience is so strong that they fade into the background. For players who love tight, demanding combat and richly imagined worlds, this is one of the standout releases on the platform.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

Nine Sols is available now!