Nine Sols is a game I very nearly missed last year—it arrived in May 2024, but I didn't play it until December of the same year. I spent the next 28 hours methodically kicking myself, because it's one of my favourite Sekiro-likes of all time, and I'd recommend it to just about anybody. Especially now it's 40% off.
For the uninitiated, Nine Sols is an indie game made by Red Candle Games (a studio who'd previously only made horror titles) that blends Hollow Knight's metroidvania stylings with Sekiro's parry-timing combat.
That's a serious undersell, though, because this game is downright exceptional. It has a fantastic soundtrack, an entrancing visual artstyle, and a focused, tightly-written story that had me caring deeply for its cast of characters.
Yi is a fun twist on your typical soulslike stand-in, in that he actually has a fully-fledged personality, character development, and sometimes makes decisions that left me (deliciously) uncomfortable. Don't let his cuddly appearance fool you, either. Nine Sols is both viciously dark, genuinely gory, and deeply existential.
And that's not even getting to the boss fights, which are some of my favourite in the genre. They're all snappily-designed, and its penultimate battle is the only time I've ever felt tempted to attempt a no-hit run on a boss in a game like this, well, basically ever.
It also introduces some fun twists on the formula, such as the Unbounded Counter: Which sees you holding down a limited-time block and releasing it at the right moment in order to parry someone extra hard. Your toolkit is narrow, but every weapon in your arsenal feels great to use.
All this to say: Being able to get it for $18 (£18—which isn't how price conversions work, RedCandle, but I'll forgive you since I like your game so much) is an absolute steal for around 20-30 hours of absolute peak. The deal brought it to the Steam bestsellers list at the time of writing, and it's absolutely deserved.
The studio's doing this to celebrate its one-year anniversary and the culmination of its prelude manga, but I recommend you play the game and let its mystery unravel first before you check it out. Nine Sols will be available at this price until May 12.
