Solateria
Game Title: Solateria
Released: March 12, 2026
Game Length: 24 Hours
Grade: B
Gameplay
Terminology: The game leans heavy in the elemental nature of the world. Learning how each region functions and connects between each other is expressed in such an unusual way to the player. There are story tablets you can collect, info slates that place markers on the map, stones in the environment that give you details on what might you encounter, Memory Fragments of quotes made from previous characters that used to reside in the region, and etched markers to show where to find the next altar save spot. When it comes to combat, the tutorial is essential to translating basic mechanics. As an example, the game does not use the word "health" but instead uses "warmth" in all their item explanations.
Stamina: When you are out of combat, no action consumes your stamina bar. The developers made it so dodging on the ground wouldn't consume stamina. This is indicated by a little white flame on the far left of the green bar. If an enemy strikes you or you strike them, the stamina bar will start depleting and recharge. Holding your shield up, jumping, and standard ground attacks do not use stamina, but dodging, being hit with your shield, or using auxiliary moves such as the skill core moves will use some stamina. Trying to do things like striking in the air or using a charged strike when you are out of stamina can catch some players off guard. The only way to increase your maximum stamina is to use inflare at a save point. For every point you increase, you gain one point of stamina from 20 to upwards to 40.
Shield: There are many different aspects that have to be considered for defenses. The difficulty you choose determines when a "guard" turns into a "parry" in combat (which was improved days after release by increasing the window and removing the need to be facing in the direction of the attack). While Traveler's Path gives you a Traveler's Guardian Stone that turns your guard into parry no matter when you use it, the other options range from a second to a quarter of a second window to hit the button. Since being hit when your shield is up consumes stamina, running completely out of stamina with break the shield for a short period of time. You cannot guard against explosions. Enemies can occasionally have their own shield displayed as a circle or shell around their body that only can be broken using a charged attack. The health you lose while guarding can be restored by performing a parry! This is displayed as a grey bar and called Residual Heat. To generate a "shield" beyond your maximum health, you will need to use Hyper Pyron Action or equip special parts such as Silent Leap or Shield of Cycle. How far you can go can be increased from 10% to 50% using inflares in the Warmth skill core stone and the Shield of Hope part.
Parry: Pressing the guard button the moment an enemy strikes is the heart of the game. You have to press the button for each strike even if the enemy performs four in two seconds. This prevents all damage done to you. Parries will reflect enemy projectiles (including spore that shoots towards you) and damage any enemy when deflected in the opposite direction. Certain enemies will have Resistance indicated by little red dots by their health. You can lower their resistance by one each time you parry (or lower two on the Traveler's Path difficulty). Once all of them are gone, the enemy will become "Unstable", the camera will pan inward, time will slow down, and you will have the option to initiate a Pyro Action. Using this feature, that has no cost whatsoever, shoots out a number of Flame hits (not to be confused with flame that damages overtime) that automatically home onto your target, equivalent to the power of ten normal strikes. Later on, you will have the option to induce a Counter when you use a charged attack at the same time of an attack or Hyper Counter without moving forward that removes all resistance of an enemy.
Dodge: Initially, you are only able to dodge on the ground. Later, you will obtain Stat Core Stones such as the Air Dodge, Dodge Flame that enables you to do damage on enemies after you dodge through them, and even the Reignite ability that lets you dodge through thin walls. Since you cannot guard against explosions, dodging them is the only way to prevent damage. Inversely, enemies that emit a red aura called Rage Flood cannot be dodged unless you have the Soowoo's Dignity defensive part equipped.
Heat: During your adventures, you are able to convert a special item to upgrade your Heat Core. With each upgrade, you are given a new ability and an additional heat bar to use a special maneuver. Your first move is Ignite costing one heat bar to cast a flame in both directions on the ground that deals small amounts of damage every second to enemies caught in it for 10 seconds. Hyper Pyron Action is your second skill that overdrives your Pyron Action for one heat bar that pulls out a giant sword to do additional damage and increase your shield. The third upgrade Hyper Burst uses two heat bars that functions as an ultimate skill to Incapacitated enemies (and can outright kill them if their health is low enough). Last Ember is your last passive upgrade that extinguishes all heat bars and restores portions of your health once your Flame skill core stone is upgraded depending on how many heat bars you have at the time (zero heat bars disables this ability).
Warhorns: Lunya takes any empty warhorn shells you might have and make them usable as a sort of health potion. It is possible to have upwards to 8 depending on the circumstances. They automatically restore any you might have used once you reach an altar. How much you heal is dependent on whether you have upgraded your Stamina core skill stone, the type of Warnhorn part you have installed, and how many times you upgraded a heat part (up to 5 times).
Status: Each type of element an enemy is made of will create a status on your Pyron character (who is made of fire). Wind (that can be parried) can call down lightning that will cause the Shock Effect doubling all damage done to you. Getting wet like when falling in water will create a Moisture Effect reducing movement speed, lowering Flame stat, and removes residual heat. You can remove this simply by dodging a couple times. Spores that hit you and black clouds can create the Dark Effect reducing the maximum of your Warmth (health) bar.
Mechanics
Air Theatrics: When you are exploring the regions, there will be areas that will appear to be out of reach. You will need to have a number of Skill Core Stones to get your body further across while in the air. This isn't just one or two upgrades over your basic jump and air strike! You will learn to Double Jump, Air Dodge forward (that can pass through walls with Reignite), cause a small explosion that propels you upward with Ash Break, Ash Blast straight across with your attack three times, and swirl your body with an Enhanced Jump Attack. That can total pressing up to 10 buttons to shorten the gap. You will know rather quickly if you are able to hop to the next platform or reach a secret area up above.
Blocked Paths: Once you obtain one of your first upgrades to dodge in the air, there are plenty of areas you can explore. You can access one of the harder bosses near the entrance of the game (and without the support of a companion) if you time it right over the water. Technically, you aren't supposed to explore around the regions until much later in the game. The "pilgrimage" of new players takes you from Silent Ruins, Earth Port, Terradin Greenhouse, Ashen Hills, the Library, and finally the Training Grounds to get your double jump. To prevent you from accessing some areas early, they added mushrooms you need to learn how to jump on with Quick Drop and vines that you need a charged strike to rip open. Blue crystal walls come later where you need to learn Downward Attack. Unfortunately, you need Reignite first to pass through the wall blocking the passage there.
Bosses: I am not going to spoil the ending. There is a lot revealed once you reach the "final" location. What I will tell you is that there is no hope in saving these lands. Don't anticipate some sort of "magic cure" that saves those infected by the plague. The only safe haven left is the Library and even then the dozen or so people that stick around are barely holding it together. If you encounter someone that is classified as a boss (there's like 20 of them), you can try fighting them or dying (literally) to fight another day. There is usually a save spot nearby to quickly obtain your currency and try again. In order to survive the ending, you will need to defeat the five warriors and obtain the five relics to force the enhanced wristband. This is the only requirement for the true ending. To obtain the perfect 100% achievement, you must collect everything and complete the final encounter. In addition to a number of standard bosses, there are four guardians with your basic attack sequences. The warriors themselves have two phases that will restore their health to max. The final boss has three phases. They do not scale to your current layout but instead are designed to be taken down near the end of the game. If you do manage to defeat them early, the spoils are still there for the taking. Most of these will include a heat part with a challenging, yet rewarding playstyle. Once you complete the game, all bosses can be redone inside the Forgotten Archives.
Map: There are a total of 15 regions, three of them marked as special locations. All save points are marked and can be traveled to (other than the specific event that happens during the end). Warmth tunnels function as a two-way port and not part of the fast travel system. Bosses, travelers, items, chests, sprouts, and stones. Info slates will add markers to specific perks. You can place 20 markers of 5 different colors each that look like spheres on the map. Muha will provide you custom markers with paintings made by him to place where those locations are on the map. Once you reach the endgame, there are features that will open up to help clear out the map. The Opus Machine (added in later) will direct your cursor to a single location on the map that you might have missed. The Librarian will give you a device that shows all the items on the map.
Limitations: Some of the initial things a player is going to notice rather quickly will probably come as a surprise. The game does not pause while accessing your main menu. Days after the game released, they added a key binding feature to manually pause the game. There is no way to increase your speed. There is no sprint or "move faster" perk. Dodging is about the only way to get you across the screen quicker. You cannot click an altar to teleport, but the game does allow you to port to the library or your last visited altar (something the developers added after release) anywhere in the game. Once you get there, then you can use the altar to fast travel to another location.
Progression
Plague Sprout: If you are able to get enough Skill Core Stones to circumnavigate the regions, eventually you will find one of these pesky sprouts almost ready to spread the Shadow Plague to more victims. Destroy the blob and return to the Secret Society Stone in the designated section on the map for rewards. Each section can have more than one region and one sprout. For example, the Ophilin Region includes the Water Mirror Basin and Undel Caverns.
Cooking: At the very beginning, the entrance to the Earth Port introduces a cooking pot that you can whip up a couple of meals on your own. You will later find a cook at the Library who is willing to mix together some ingredients you may find in hidden areas, through the Secret Society Stone, or purchased from the merchant. Each cooking ingredient can only be used once. There is no downside for having him prepare the meal(s) on the spot if they are available. Make sure to consume the meal in your inventory for the perks.
OHN: There doesn't seem to be anything that explains what the currency acronym stands for or what exactly it might represent in the game, but the currency is how people in the world make things happen. Almost everything requires it from upgrading your parts to creating warhorns. There is even an option to upgrade your level, but you can naturally increase it to a maximum level 120. Each heat part can be upgraded 5 times, but they only increase a passive trait while you have that part equipped. You do not need to upgrade every single part you get, but there is very little else to spend your money on. If you die, you must obtain your Spirit Flame to recollect all your currency. If a boss killed you, the location where it spawns will be pushed just outside the room.
Core Stones: To increase the value of your Stat Core Stones upwards to 20, you will need to collect Inflare. They may appear as little glowing spheres during your travels. There is no cost or penalty for changing how much you dedicate to each stone. What they upgrade will be highlighted on the side of the screen. If there is anything you need explained, just press the Term Explanation button. You can upgrade two different tiers by collecting Royal Seals and visiting Opus. You will have enough to maximize all the stones if you collect all the items in the game.
Summary
Review: Solateria is a hidden gem that fits a certain kind of audience. On the surface, the artwork to the level design makes it appear similar to Hollow Knight in every way. However, the gameplay and tone sets it apart to a more Dark Souls universe. Pressing a button the moment an enemy strikes to parry is so rewarding that guarding, attacking, or trying to avoid enemies entirely can feel like a punishment in comparison. The difficulty in the beginning feels rather balanced while playing on the Warrior's Path, but trying to learn the exact moves of the bosses that can last upwards to three minutes can tire out the average player. Do not be afraid to turn down the difficulty all the way down when that happens. I would definitely suggest this game to players that like reaction combat instead of being proactive.