Love and insecurity are feelings that accompany our life for most of its duration, and these feelings are amplified exponentially when the love we speak of is the love for a person. Affective ties that are not imposed on us, but that are born and grow by our "will". The experience it offers us Solo, an independent title developed by Team Gotham, in addition to entertaining us with a playful component structured as a platform / puzzle, it confronts us with very introspective questions about love. These are not abstract questions, but real questions that are posed to us and to which we must answer as sincerely as possible. The sea voyage of our navigator (or our navigator) it will therefore turn out to be our metaphorical journey towards awareness, and not only.
The game start phase will see us do nothing but choose our sex, the sex of the loved one, and even his or her name (which in return will also become the name of the loved one). small boat which will allow us to travel to the archipelago). After taking the time we want on our microscopic island, we set out on our journey. From island to island we will find ourselves having to activate small beacons that will illuminate totems: our aim will be to talk to every single totem, which will ask us the poignant questions about love. However, doing so will never be so simple, since to reach both the lighthouse and the totem, we will have to solve puzzles. To solve them we will often have to harness the power of our own "Navigator's Auction", which will allow us to move the crates thus giving us the possibility of achieving our goal. However ingenious and variable, the situations and methods that will lead us to solve the various puzzles are always the same. To slightly increase the interest in these phases is the variety of boxes that we will have to use, from single wooden crates, to adhesive ones, up to boxes with built-in bridge or air jet. Another feature that will prove to be fundamental will be being able to glide with a parachute, thus allowing us to reach places that are too far away using a jump point placed very high.
Whenever we are able to talk to an active totem, answering his question in a sincere way, we will receive a “gearbox” as a reward and we will see a part of the island that will emerge, clearing the way for another totem to be activated. We will thus proceed to the bitter end, until we reach a giant lighthouse, whose light we will turn on and which will reveal a new island in the archipelago to reach. The game also puts us in front of other small puzzles, useless for the purpose of the adventure, but which will unlock achievements. Very often it is a question of bringing together the animals we meet in pairs, or feeding them with their favorite fruit. Another function that will be available in the game is to play the guitar: by placing a series of 4 chords in a row we will be able to obtain particular results at an environmental level, a bit as if the developers wanted to induce us to reflect our mood. This radically transforms the environment: we will be able to change the weather from sunny to dark and rainy, and go from a colorful world to a black and white one.
Unfortunately, the highly repetitive structure of Solo it particularly undermines its enjoyment, making it a hybrid with an unclear and little incentive rhythm. Answering the questions of the totems in a sincere way, as if it were a diary, is certainly the part that most stimulates the enthusiast to continue, but the puzzles (sometimes not made ad hoc on a technical level, like the game world) are extremely heavy. Artistically, the title is more able to communicate thanks to the words, than to the graphic design, which, however enjoyable, accuses an exaggeratedly simplistic style. The best way to play Solo could be to face it several times and with a fresh mind, to solve puzzles that are perhaps too complicated, but this strongly contrasts the desire to continue and answer all in one breath to the dozens of questions posed by the totems. On some occasions we will meet a sort of spirit, representing a hypothetical loved one (yes, the one in your mind), who will confront you with the consequences - never good - of what would happen if you act as you told the totem pole. One of the other fundamental flaws for the users of our country is the lack of localization in Spanish, which reduces usability even more, limiting it to those who know one of the supported languages (English in primis).
