In marketing Fort Solis, small developer Fallen Leaf has managed to attach most of the major players in the project. Roger Clark, best known in Read Dead Redemption 2, played the main character, Jack Leary, who keeps up with Julia Brown’s character, Jessica Appleton. radio contact, and the ubiquitous Troy Baker also plays a prominent role as (maybe) mad scientist Wyatt Taylor. This makes sense, since strong voice acting can shine through the subwoofer mix that covers the unsettling and lonely surroundings of the abandoned Mars space station Fort Solis like a thin atmospheric film, the game’s Happens there most of the time.
Luckily, the talented cast also got a competent script. The constant back-and-forth between Jack and an absent Jessica makes the loner wandering the sterile corridors of the first half of the game more bearable, and serves as a spiritual light in the dark. Also absent are the scientists and other staff who are supposed to inhabit the seemingly deserted mining station. Instead, they speak via audio files and video recordings, as we’ve come to expect from games like Dead Space and System Shock. These logs have often become a disjointed mix of heavy exposition and uninteresting everyday observations, but here they all merge into an interesting atmospheric background noise that supports the central mystery.
A storm and a mysterious distress call kicked off the events at Fort Solis.
Fort Solis was created during Covid-19, and the game’s developers clearly have something to say about loneliness and the digital alternative to human contact that doesn’t always have enough to say. Even the beautifully designed, graphically detailed environments revolve around this, like satellites orbiting planets. This is true on a small scale, with realistic reflections on greasy tablets illustrating how residents of the station insist on any form of engagement or distraction, and can be observed through interactable objects such as sandbags and Rubik’s cubes, reminding us How sometimes we can use our bodies and minds to overcome feelings of isolation. Yes, there are rough edges here and there, and the environments don’t have the level of detail that the latest AAA games have spoiled us for. But given the size of the developer, the demo was very, very impressive, and it’s certainly a big step up for such a story-heavy game. It’s also well optimized and I haven’t encountered any glitches or bugs worth mentioning.
Here is an ad:
While the developers have a clear vision for the game’s story and environments, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the gameplay. In fact, it’s hard to see why Fort Solis needed to be a game. Walking simulators like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter use game mechanics to support a central narrative, while many adventure games inspired by Telltale’s The Walking Dead use interactivity to add intensity and the chance to influence the narrative, Fallen Leaf seems to include more Gameplay as a concession to the player.
The main gameplay loop consists of painstakingly searching room after room for clues that will reveal what happened at the station. Without puzzles, you never have to think about what you’re doing with a given item. Every once in a while, you’ll be lucky enough to stumble across a keycard that unlocks more rooms in the station, and you can wander the same drab corridors, looking for new objects to look at and touch, but rarely meaningful interaction.
The problem is spelled out when something dramatic actually happens, which is usually between the game’s four acts, and more often towards the end of the game. One moment the game gives you a clumsy, unexplained quick event to deal with, the next it just takes control away from you and leaves Jack (or any other playable character) to fend for itself. If the developers have a plan for how the gameplay will enhance the experience, it’s as hidden as you go into the next room and have to painstakingly search for the annoying little item you need.
Here is an ad:
Jack realizes he should be in the movie.
Fort Solis takes about five hours to complete, but if Jack hadn’t trudged at such a slow pace, the whole thing could have ended much sooner. It certainly makes sense that a fully equipped character wouldn’t run and jump like another Super Mario. Unfortunately, the pace is so slow that you lose the desire to explore the stations for collectibles, audio files, and other items that support the game’s universe. A slight jog can really do wonders and turn Fort Solis into a more enjoyable, manageable game.
As it stands, Fort Solis is an atmospheric experience, with impressive graphics and a slow but fun central narrative. But as a game, it falls short on many parameters, with low interactivity and quick events and exploration that rarely feel rewarding. I can only imagine that the actual game parts were mostly added as an afterthought, which is too bad because something that could have been very special ended up being rather bland.
