The next game from the developers of 2016’s indie hit Hyper Light Drifter has been revealed.
In an exclusive announcement made on IGN, the debut trailer for Solar Ash Kingdom was shown as well as some first details. Check out the trailer below!
We know very little about the game other then what we see in the trailer. The game is visually a lot different then Hyper Light Drifter, abandoning that game’s pixel art, SNES aesthetic in lieu of a more modern style reminiscent of other colourful indie games like Fe or The Witness. We see a character who looks like they’re rollerblading on some clouds and then through a wooded area before leaping into the air to attack a one-eyed monstrosity.
Lead designer Alx Preston said that the team at Heart Machine “strive to tell a beautiful story through our world, the atmosphere, our characters and even our gameplay – each aspect of our games are painstakingly considered – which requires a large investment of time. Thanks for bearing with us and our relative silence; we’re so excited to start opening up about the game and the process behind it on our devlog and beyond.”
Preston went on to say that “It’s been difficult to hold our tongues on such an exciting creation after this long, but it’s been worth it to make sure we put out our best for our audience to see just how far we’ve come from our days of pixel art.”
The game is being published by Annapurna Interactive, the publisher of other indie gems like Donut County and the currently Epic Games Store exclusive on PC, Ashen.
Solar Ash Kingdom is also currently only announced for the Epic Games Store on PC, no doubt using the publisher’s connection with Epic Games for this title as well.
Hyper Light Drifter struck a chord with many upon its release due to its heartbreaking story of a hero, the Drifter, who suffers from an unspecified illness that slowly drags him down throughout the game. The story was inspired by Preston’s own experience living with congenital heart disease.
Hyper Light Drifter went on to be nominated for over 15 awards and ultimately won the IGF awards for Excellence in Visual Art and the Audience Award. It currently sits at an 84 on Metacritic.
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