Imp of the Sun PC Preview

Metroidvania titles are usually timeless games that offer both challenges and encourage precision, especially in speed runs. Games such as Super Metroid, Hollow Knight, and Castlevania Symphony of the Night are some prime examples of incredibly well-aged Metroidvania titles, and Imp of the Sun is seeking to capture many of the elements found in those great titles. With a colorful art style and fluid mobility options, Imp of the Sun is a hidden gem that gamers won't want to miss out on.

Imp of the Sun stars a nameless Imp who is called Nim by the locals. After falling from the Sun Nim is tasked to restore the Sun's light and end the Eternal Eclipse caused by the 4 Keepers. With Nim traveling to each Keeper's domain, acquiring new skills, and defeating them in combat.

The demo provided a short 40 minute previous up to the first Keeper boss, with Nim collecting orbs for leveling, new abilities, and solving some light platforming challenges with occasional combat sprinkled in. It's clear the developers are big fans of Hollow Knight as Nim moves a lot like The Knight but with more control. Nim can dash in any direction, making it an invaluable tool in both combat and defense as making contact in this animation deals light damage. Nim's main attack is using its staff but has access to a spear but it's mainly used for puzzles since it uses your Inner Fire, a meter that allows Nim to use special attacks and abilities. The demo provides access to a slide, spear, and fading ability called Ash. Each is used in puzzle solving to some degree to create precision-based challenges that require you to manage your Inner Fire and near-perfect jumps. Thanks to the excellent controls chain together these challenges is possible but requires a lot of practice. You don't need to move fast but the game's systems help complement fast movement.

Combat is basic with more focus placed on mobility. Since Nim's offensive options are limited you need to focus on maintaining your Inner Fire and making strikes when possible. The handful of enemy types provided were you basic melee strikers and 1 type that requires you to reflect projectiles back at them but they broke up the game's puzzle sections well enough and the developers often place them in stations that offer different environmental challenges combined with fending them off. To keep players from spamming Inner Fire abilities elements such as rain drain your fire leaving you vulnerable till you find a torch to regain your heat. In the boss fight against the Keeper, she would constantly blow out torches to ensure you cannot fade through objects using Ash or recover health, leading to some heated moments as you dodge and wait for the torches to recover.

Hitting water can be annoying though. Since Nim doesn't recover his dash ability unless it's on solid ground if you happen to get stuck in a situation where you're being damaged by water and have no way of making your way back up with the double jump you have to just die. This only happened twice during my playthroughs but a checkpoint option would be an ideal option during these unfortunate situations.

Qari is a dead traveler who aids Nim in its journey along with any surviving humans. Qari serves as a checkpoint system and levels Nim in health, damage, and Inner Fire in exchange for orbs obtained by completing combat challenges, beating enemies, and finding them in the world. It's a basic but effective leveling system but you can play the game without using it if you want. Either for the challenge or for speedrunning as this game clearly has that in mind.

The presentation is outstanding, both the music and the visual design are phenomenal. The developers took a lot of time to ensure the game looks pleasing to the eyes and candy to the ears. There was only 1 issue I came across where the game requires you to slide underneath a specific area, but if you get to this area before grabbing the ability you'll be stuck and need to restart.

Imp of the Sun is looking to be a promising Metroidvania that provides everything fans love about this genre. All with its own unique design inspired by Peruvian culture with a promising opening boss fight that left me excited for what the others could be. Imp of the Sun is a hidden indie gem you don't want to miss out on what it launches this year.

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed