GamerEscape

As I’ve dove further into the world of retro games, my interests have become a bit more…eclectic. Sure, I spent my time playing and collecting NES and SNES games. Even spent some time further back with the Atari 2600, and nearly got my hands on a Fairchild Channel F (nearly…).

But I decided that I wanted to go full hipster with the hobby. And with that I looked eastward, exploring the libraries of games for familiar consoles that never left Japan. The PC Engine (Turbografx-16). Interesting stuff on the Sega Saturn. But when even that started seeming normal, I jumped in deeper. Got myself an MSX2 computer and played around with that for a hot minute.

Alongside that system is another one that I’ve developed a fascination for: the PC-98. Unlike the MSX, which also gained popularity in Europe, the PC-98 series of computers truly is Japan-only…meaning I’ve never seen one, nor software for it, in the vast collections of game stores and vendors here in the Pacific Northwest. But it’s become an exteremely interesting machine for me, particularly after coming across ThorHighHeel’s YouTube video discussing the artstyle of games for the system.

So when an opportunity to play an upcoming graphic adventure game specificially inspired by PC-98 games of the same kind, I knew I had to immediately jump in. The question is, how well does a game inspired by such an obscure-in-the-West system turn out in the modern day?

Developed by Space Colony Studios and published by Astrolabe Games, Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog is set for release on February 19th, 2025, on PC and February 20th, 2025, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Switch. The Switch version was played for this review.

The Future is the 80s

Stories from Sol follows a nameless protagonist that you get to name. Far in the future, the solar system was embroiled in the “Solar War,” a battle between Earth, Mars, and the “Jovian Alliance” based around the moons of Jupiter. The main character was a participant during one of the key battles of this war with the Jovian forces…or at least, was supposed to be. Technical issues kept them out of battle, and they were forced to watch as nearly the rest of their squad perished in the fight.

Cut to a few years later – our protagonist has worked their way up the ranks of the Jovian military, becoming a lieutenant and specializing in security. They find themselves assigned to a patrol ship, the eponymous Gun-Dog, on an assignment to check up on another nearby patrol ship. But when mysterious things start happening, it becomes our protagonist’s job to figure out whats going on, whilst overcoming the traumas of their past.

Stories from Sol is an excellent exercise in how to get the absolute most out of a single setting. Nearly the entire story takes place in one location: the Gun-Dog. You’re here in this small ship for the entire run, and you’ll really get to know it, from its layout to its crew. Even with this limitation, the game manages to tell a tale that wound up enthralling me from beginning to end.

Much of it comes down to the crew and the relationships between them. All of them have some kind of pre-established relationship with each other – including many with our protagonist – and much of the grip the story had on me came from seeing how these relationships stretch and strain against each other during the events of the tale.

Of particular note is our protagonist themselves. Despite seeming like they’d be a player self-insert at the onset, what with being able to pick their name and pronouns, the protagonist truly is a character in and of themselves. Yes, there are moments where you’ll be making decisions on what you want them to do. But there are numerous moments where they will react and move on their own, based on their past relationships with crew members alongside the ones they develop during their time on the Gun-Dog. There’s no faceless visual novel protagonist syndrome here, and for that I am thankful.

Speaking of choices, despite the copious amounts of reading you’ll be doing, Stories from Sol is not a visual novel. This is an old-school graphic adventure. There aren’t multiple story “routes” that depend on which cute lady crewmate you decide to woo (and, in fact, our protagonist is already in an established relationship with one of the crew from the game’s outset). This is a singular tale with a set beginning and end, though the path to said end and the exact details of it will be affected by some choices you take.

Rather than multiple visual novel-style “routes,” instead there are a few branching story paths that eventually lead back to the same place. While the choices in the first half of the game are more to provide flavor to character relationships and the world in general, they become much more important in the second half, to the point where some will vasty change how the story approaches its finale.

Unfortunately, going back and replaying the game to follow different paths didn’t wind up feeling entirely fulfilling. No matter which path you decide to take, Stories from Sol does work toward a single ending, just with a few details adjusted depending on how you got there. Due to this, every route ends up having to hit a few of the same story beats. I played through three times for this review, each time taking a different path. While each one introduced a few unique details to the overall story (one of which honestly felt like the “correct” route with some of its details), they all wound up leading to the same places and divulging the same key story beats. So, while multiple playthroughs will help expand the world a bit, you could one-and-done this game and honestly not be missing much.

An Enthralling Bottle Episode

As a graphic adventure, you’ll be doing more than just simply reading during your time with Stories from Sol. Moving about the Gun-Dog, hunting down people to get information, and poking around rooms to reveal important items, all of this will be instantly familiar to fans of games from the era this one is taking inspiration from.

Thankfully, the developers forewent the frustration of “pixel hunting” that oft plagues classic adventure games. Choosing to look around or use objects in a room, rather than bringing up a pointer and making you click on (or try to click on) important objects, instead highlights several pre-established choices. While cycling through them was oddly frustrating at times (I could press the same directional button repeatedly and the game would still move through selectable objects in different orders), this design choice does make object-hunting easier.

Also useful is the datapad that you receive relatively early in the game. You’ll be constantly moving through the Gun-Dog during the story, and the datapad includes a map with which you can move to particuar rooms immediately rather than cylcling through them one-by-one. Should an important story bit be flagged to start in a room between where you are and where you’re trying to go, the game will stop you there for the story before letting you continue. It’s a nice little time-saver that simultaniously lets you get around easy without accidentally missing any story beats.

Another perk of the game taking place in a singular environment is you’ll get to know the Gun-Dog very well. The layout becomes second nature, and you’ll quickly learn where each character tends to hang out should you need to find a specific one. As the game often gives you a task and then leaves you to figure out your own way to get it done, this quickly-built intimacy with the setting means said openness never gets frustrating.

Of note, and something that I don’t typically focus on in reviews, is the engine the game is built in itself. Stories from Sol uses a customized version of Ren’Py, a free visual novel creation engine often used by indie and hobbyist developers. And there’s a lot of customization here, what with having to twist Ren’Py from visual novel to PC-98 graphic adventure presentation.

However, this seems to have led to a couple of…quirks. For such a simple game from initial observation, Stories from Sol has some weirdly long loading times. Booting the game from the Switch menu took nearly a minute for it to load in, the longest initial load of any game I’ve played on the system. Loading a past save also takes an unusually long amount of time before you’re back in action.

Retro Style, Modern Flourish

The initial reason I was drawn to Stories from Sol was its graphical presentation, and I have to say, I wasn’t let down for a single moment during my playthroughs. With stunning character design and pixel art and occasional animation during impactful moments, the game feels like a PC-98 game brought to current day with modern flourishes.

The developers also included options for multiple graphical styles, so you can tailor to how you remember (or want to remember) your late-80s/early-90s adventure games. I chose to play through in the Full Color mode, represented in the screenshots in this article. There are also options to play the game in shades of black and green, for those that didn’t have a color monitor back in the day, as well as “doujin” mode, which simplfies the designs of the characters.

While the music and sound design felt true-to-era, unfortunately, I didn’t find it very memorable. Unfortunately I’m not too familiar with the different sound designs of the various sound cards of the era, so I can’t nail down exactly which design the developers are going for. But the music feels appropriate, though I have no desire to listen to it ouside of the game.

First Steps Into the Unknown

I came into Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog solely for two reasons: the initial art and the promise of a “PC-98 style adventure.” What I got was an enthralling story straight out of late-80s mecha anime, with some honestly surprising turns, all accompanied by stunning pixel artwork evoking the era.

It became obvious by the end of my time with the game that the studio intends this to be the first outing in a planned series. If so, I am highly anticipating the next entry. And if they can shore up the quirks from the engine they’re using, all the better.

Whether you’re a retro-head with a weird interest in the PC-98 like myself, a fan of old-school graphic adventures, a visual novel fan poking their head into something similar, or just into 80s mecha, Stories from Sol is a tale that is worth your time.

Oh, and I also ordered a PC-98 during my time with this game. So there’s that, too.

~ Final Score: 9/10 ~

Review copy provided by Astrolabe Games for Switch. Screenshots taken by reviewer. Featured image courtesy of Astrolabe Games.