If there’s one thing that Fort Solis understands, it’s that the worst horrors are not supernatural: they are man-made. Combine this idea with the unforgiving environment of space, and you have the perfect setup for a classic sci-fi tale. Set on Mars in the year 2080, Fort Solis sees you play as Jack Leary – an employee of a large mining corporation called Terra – who is called away from his engineering work to investigate an unusual manual alarm at a neighbouring base. Naturally, this occurs just as some massive Martian storms are due to hit, ensuring you won’t have any assistance from the outside world for quite some time. It’s a great premise, and Fort Solis initially builds up some wonderful tension as Jack starts poking around the eerily-quiet facility. As things get more serious in the later stages, however, things begin to unravel – both in terms of the story beats, and the slightly messy way the game delivers them.
Fort Solis reviewDeveloper: Fallen Leaf, Black Drakkar GamesPublisher: Dear VillagersPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam) and PS5
Fort Solis has the feel of a Netflix show to it: perhaps one that pops up as an alternative when you search for The Last of Us, or gets suggested as an 87 per cent match because you watched all six seasons of Black Mirror. It’s very much aspiring to be prestige telly. Split into four chapters, it can be played in one sitting, with a single playthrough taking the same length of time as a TV miniseries. It takes around four to five hours to complete, which is welcome news for anyone with actual responsibilities who needs something that can be finished in a couple of evenings. The art direction, too, aims to create the feeling of an expensive show. Slow camera movements and choreographed action sequences help to sell the idea of this being a gritty, grounded sci-fi tale. The weightiness of Jack’s movements remind you that he is very much mortal, and very much . One early sequence sees you climb a cliff face to enter the fort, with a quick-time event based around using Jack’s body weight to swing backwards and forwards on a wire until he can reach a ledge. When this nearly goes horribly wrong, it’s a nervy reminder that outside is just as dangerous as inside – and nobody is going to come to your aid should you fall.
Continuing the Netflix theme, Fort Solis also boasts some star quality in the form of its cast, with Troy Baker, Roger Clark and Julia Brown voicing the story’s main characters. More than anything else, it’s the dialogue between these characters that helps to sell the story, particularly in the game’s early stages. Here, Jack and Jessica’s playful banter over comms allows for some vital character exploration and wider context about their lives on Mars. And, more importantly, someone to bounce off when disturbing things start happening inside the fort.