Foreign Sun Review - Not Quite A New Dawn
This is a game that has had me perplexed for most of the time I have been playing it. Of the time I have spent playing, one-third of it has been trying to figure out what the narrative is, one-third has been trying to figure out where to go and what to do, and the final third has been an internal debate on how to present a balanced review for a game that functions mechanically and narratively as intended. Yet these design choices had me quitting multiple times because of a lack of ability to engage with the game in the way the developer wants me to. This is not due to design flaws or restrictions within the game; it boils down to the fact that I am not the intended audience of this type of title.
Foreign Sun started as a revamp of developer Final Scene dev’s first game, Biomass, before evolving into its current form. As such, multiple characters and mechanics carry over from the original game, such as the factions you encounter, weapon types, key characters, and instances of NPCs repeating throwaway dialogue verbatim from Biomass. When I first started playing Foreign Sun, I was looking forward to a Metroidvania-style game where the player discovers new abilities that allow them access to different areas. The trailer on Steam reinforced this impression, with the added proviso that your choices will affect the game world and determine the direction of the narrative.
What I found playing it is something quite different.
Not only will players be confused about the ‘choice’ that they have inadvertently made when they failed to slay a boss character and locked themselves into a pathway, but the game also allows the player to continue without engaging with events in the correct order, or even at all. In my playthrough, I met two unknown characters who greeted me with familiarity, despite not having interacted with them before. From what I have been able to piece together from the forums, these are the children of a certain character that I was supposed to meet, but I was unable to find how to access the part of the map they were in. After an inadvertent death, I found myself trapped with no way back to the settlement this character was located in, with no other choice but to move forward in my journey.
Narratively speaking, it is there, but be prepared for a lot of confusion if you are not the sort to make meticulous notes and be prepared to do the multiple playthroughs required to really understand it. Apart from the general objective of “get to the tower with the weird ball of light”, there are so many bits of the game where you just seem to have no context given to you, like the random characters you encounter that repeatedly smash their face into the floor.
As challenging as the combat is, it comprises the best part of the Foreign Sun experience. Armed with a “Beam Sabre”, you will fight your way through hordes of robotic creatures and those of the different factions as you journey through the world. Fortunately for you, there is the opportunity to find the uniforms that will allow you to blend in with the different factions, providing you a reprieve from the combat and an opportunity to source information from your enemies. While it can feel like a bit of a drudge fighting your way from save point to save point, the combat and the variety of weapons your enemies can wield are one of the stronger aspects of the game.
While Foreign Sun is not a game that managed to draw me into its world, those who enjoy the prospect of brutal combat combined with having to experiment and dig to find how to trigger the different endings and the different ways events can pan out will be able to keep themselves occupied. If you prefer your games to give you a clear narrative, it may be best to skip Foreign Sun.
