Cruel Cruel Summer Solstice

Sometimes a game crawls into the back of your mind and you say you want clear it, and have every intention to do so, but you just can’t motivate yourself to see it through. It’s through no fault of the game, it’s just the stigma that if you clear this game, then what? Having a skeleton in your closet in some strange way gives you an endgame, something to look forward to. But what’s the point in looking forward to completing something if you never in fat complete it?

Solstice fit this bill for me. It was a game I loved, I promoted it as one of the best challenges and best soundtracks the NES had to offer. But I had only competed roughly 50% of it prior to yesterday, where I finally went ahead and clobbered this one.

Solstice is an isometric game with an emphasis on puzzles and labyrinth exploration. You play as the wizard Shadax who must rescue Princess Arcadia who has been taken by the vile Morbius on the winter solstice to sacrifice towards his own ends. You must collect the six fragments of the Staff of Demnos scattered about the labyrinthine lair of Morbius, the fortress of Kastlerock, if you hope to defeat him.

The game is on the short side, you can complete it within a half hour to an hour once you know where to go and what to do. But therein lies the issue that stopped me from playing it seriously for so long. See the game is relatively open. There is a certain optimal order, but the dungeon is open to Shadax to explore its depths. It’s made up of hundreds of rooms. Granted, many of these are simply the nondescript cavern chambers of the underground mazelike cave. But even so, many of them lead to immediate death if Shadax doesn’t have his wits about him when he enters the room and is lax in response.

So it wasn’t not the actual difficulty, it’s the amount of time I would have to devote to the game to learn it and ultimately conquer it. But what alleviated this was to simply part it out. I made a few runs at it over a few days. Learned the game and realized that a victorious run would not take long at all. Once that tension melts, motivation returns.

Solstice is open, but it still has branches and a linearity to wings of the fortress. There is definitely a suggested way to clear out a path, though a tricky wizard can use the game mechanics to make shortcuts.

Shadax can jump and grab. He can jump on platforms, and grab certain coloured objects and blocks. These can be placed to provide him a platform from which to jump, reaching higher heights. A block can be dropped on an enemy’s head, allowing him to ride the enemy. A block can be placed in the air, at the height of his jump allowing him to jump again and achieve even more height. A block can be picked up while jumping, allowing Shadax to take it with him as he scrambles to a higher platform. These blocks cannot be carried out of a room.

Shadax also has a number of potions at his disposal, and they act as his magic. Casting magic uses up a small portion of your available potion for the selected colour, though Shadax can find extras in the fortress – often out of the way. Blue renders Shadax invulnerable to enemies, purple destroys all onscreen enemies, yellow freezes enemies and blocks in place, and green reveals hidden platforms. All of these are useful in exploring the labyrinth and sometimes feel required. But as you play you realize new ways to pass puzzles, allowing you to save your potions for when you actually need them most.

So it is a simple concept. Simple gameplay and a simple task, but the depth comes from the layout of the labyrinth. Kastlerock is twisting, mazelike and sinister. You may hear Shadax’s death scream more than a few times in this one.

I’ve seen the term “NES Hard” thrown around with little or no thought in the past. And while I won’t use it here, I will say this: Solstice is indicative of the games on the NES that do challenge correctly. It is very unforgiving at times. Even though you can pick up extra credits and lives, some rooms can chew through your reserves so quickly that you’ve game overed before you know it. But it’s one of those games that you make it farther and farther in. It’s one of those that are easy to pick but requires effort to master. It’s a terrific test of both dexterity and mental acuity.

But it is not instant gratification. Solstice is as good as you make it out to be. You need to dig puzzles and accept or even embrace the isometric viewpoint. It is absolutely rewarding, however. It’s the kind of game that feels good to conquer because you know that most of your failures are your own fault.

Either way, I’m thrilled to conquer this one. My first isometric game was actually the wonderful Mystic Towers on PC. I picked up Solstice long after market and I fell in love. I’ve got a copy of the sequel, Equinox, on its way and perhaps I will write about that in the future.

I would be remiss not to talk about the music of Solstice. The game is striking to look at with its isometric viewpoint, it lends it a unique aesthetic. But the music really brings the aesthetic home and tends to be the most remembered aspect of Solstice (besides Shadax’s death scream). Composed by the master Tim Follin, Solstice may not have many tracks but they are mightier than most. And the intro song really pushes NES music into greatness.

I actually only first heard the ending song this week. THAT was my reward for clearing this game. That and the satisfaction of clearing it of course, ha ha.

If you enjoy NES puzzles, Solstice is absolutely worth checking out. It’s not nearly as punishing as it first seems and it’s a pure joy to play. So assemble the Staff of Demnos and hoist Solstice high overhead. You have the power.