Go! Go! GOTY! ~Day Eleven~ (The Sun at Night)

Day Eleven

• Game: The Sun at Night
• Source: Indie Royale's The Mystery Bundle
• Start: 11/12

Laika, the unfortunate stray dog that the Russians launched into space with no intention of bringing back (this Achewood strip captures the fucked-up-ness of that particular historical moment of scientific progress), did not die in this alternate timeline version of Earth but descended back to terra firma considerably more intelligent and with a powerful robotic body that is able to equip numerous weapons as well as project a kinetic shield that protects Laika from both enemy gunfire and environmental hazards. The Soviet Union has, in the time since Laika's launch, blown up major parts of the world and conquered the rest, but now has to deal with the fallout (literally, in some cases) of the various environmentally unsound weapon programs that ascended them to dominance. The game does a fine job looking into how the Cold War hypothetically might have proceeded had the Soviets narrowly won by desperate means, dabbling into all sorts of unethical science and explicating the unfortunate living conditions of those few who survived the war. Laika joins a scrappy bunch of rebels of various nationalities early on, and then chooses to help them achieve their goals in defying the Soviets.

My immediate thought when seeing The Sun at Night was that it was somehow connected to A Valley Without Wind: both share a distinctive yet somehow simultaneously dull visual style, like someone built entire level design out of default sprite templates for crates and furniture that came with Unity. The combat's similar too, as is how both games found an unusual means to visualize maps. They both even have what sounds like a Zen koan for a title. Turns out that the two games have absolutely nothing to connect them, however.

(A Valley Without Wind, to digress a moment, seemed like such a great idea on paper: a procedurally generated SpaceWhipper with useful items scattered across randomized zones filled with monsters and other dangers. The player could go exploring in any direction, finding all sorts of necessities out in the dangerous world to bring back to a home base which would continue to expand. I suppose I was hoping for something more like Animal Crossing with randomized dungeons. But hey, I've always got Dark Cloud for that sort of thing, kinda.)

So far the game's been kind of middling. The various characters (both ally and enemy) whizz around so much that it's hard to keep your weapons trained on them, and combat is generally just leading the enemy and watching their health bar quickly drain down, multiplied by infinity. There is some exploration, but besides some notes and other lore (which, to be fair, is quite well-written and does a good job thoroughly expanding on this alt-history setting) and the occasional upgrade gizmo, there's usually not a whole lot to find. The game has a handy feature where you can reduce useless items, like ammo for a gun you don't yet have, into a base resource which can then be processed into any other consumable. Likewise, finding consumables when you don't have room for them means you can simply break surplus items down for resources and never have to deal with that irritating feeling of passing on items you've maxed out on but might find yourself needing some time later. While convenient, it does mean that you never have to go out of your way for hard-to-find consumables, leaving those upgrade points (and the occasional new weapon) as the only viable reason to ever wander off the beaten path.

The Sun at Night has some neat ideas, then, but the execution's a little lacking. Backtracking through all these large and mostly empty areas for stuff to find is a little dull, the combat's both too frenetic and too repetitive and it just doesn't look or sound all that great. Like Magicians & Looters, it has plenty of great notions for a SpaceWhipper (though I guess Laika is closer to a SpaceWhippet?) that I admire and would like to see more often, like a waypoint system on the map screen that tells you the optimal path to take by highlighting which rooms you want to pass through, and a busy upgrade tree that lets you prioritize upgrades of a utilitarian, defensive or offensive nature. The core just isn't quite there though. I might stick with it to see where its unusual story is leading, but I suspect I'll be drained of any enthusiasm by its dull gameplay long before then.

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