RELATED: Solar Ash Review
Rei, the protagonist of Solar Ash, has a very important mission: save her planet from impending destruction. However, players who rush through the game’s story might find themselves missing out on some of the more interesting aspects of its lore. From journals describing the last days of a doomed civilization to the final recordings of Rei’s fellow Voidrunners, there are plenty of hidden things players may have missed in their journey through the Ultravoid.
7 Journal Entries
There are several different environments for Rei to explore within the Ultravoid, each one pulled from a different civilization that was absorbed by the powerful black hole. One of these civilizations was built by a race of cat-like beings, and at least two members of this race survived the transition into the Ultravoid.
Tarragon Danderpaw was an intelligent woman, chronicling the lead-up to the Ultravoid’s destruction of her planet and the immediate aftermath. Unfortunately for her, the transition ripped the pages from her journal and scattered them all across the Ultravoid, though they do make for good reading if Rei can manage to find them all.
6 Voidrunner Caches
While Rei might spend the majority of Solar Ash on her own, she didn’t set out on this journey by herself. A team of Voidrunners was sent into the Ultravoid, but every other member has mysteriously gone missing and dropped out of radio contact.
Rei can determine their whereabouts by tracking down caches each team member left behind, all the while unlocking pieces of their Voidrunner suits in the process. Each cache also provides another clue in the mystery of the Voidrunner’s failed mission and explores the nature of Rei’s homeworld and the very reason she’s on this mission.
5 Side Quests
The Ultravoid feeds on planets, ripping them apart in its high-pressure grip, but pieces of these worlds linger within its swirling, cloudy innards. A few people from different races have managed to eke out an existence on these small scraps of land, and are dealing with some issue that Rei is uniquely equipped to solve.
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These quests involve exploring every area of the Ultravoid with great care, and will sometimes task Rei with traveling to other regions in order to progress. Each quest has humor and heart, dealing with how different people cope with survival in the face of losing everything they hold dear.
4 Remnants Of Lost Civilizations
While some elements of the planets that the Ultravoid has swallowed still linger, much of its world is filled with the decayed remnants of what used to be. There are books and abandoned toys, weapons left behind after a failed battle, and the remains of those who fell to the creatures that inhabit the Ultravoid.
There’s no way to track these scraps of information or relics of a dead world, but Solar Ash is littered with them. It’s a subtle method of building out the story of a world that no longer exists. Seeking them out is well worth any player’s time if they want to fully experience the world.
3 Plasma Crystals
Plasma is one of the most vital resources in the Ultravoid, as it allows Rei to upgrade her maximum health. Plasma isn’t necessarily hard to find, but the cost of each health unit goes up with each unit she already has, so it’s always a good idea to have more on hand than is needed at the moment.
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Plasma crystals are hidden throughout the Ultravoid, and players should always take the time to smash one when found. They reward a bundle of plasma when broken, getting Rei one step closer to that next health unit without having to pick up plasma one glob at a time.
2 Shortcuts
Verticality plays a huge role in Solar Ash, with many of its best secrets hidden at the top of buildings or on just-out-of-reach outcroppings. Navigating to these places can be challenging, but in many cases, Rei can create a shortcut that will make getting back a cinch.
These shortcuts can be as obvious as activating a switch that unlocks a grinding rail, or as obscure as using mushroom spores to remove a barrier over a doorway. Players should keep their eye out for oddly placed blockades, as there will usually be a way to bring it down nearby.
1 Hidden Plasma Lines
The Ultravoid is a strange, exotic place that is unlike almost any other environment in gaming. Most of its surface is covered in a cloud-like substance that Rei can skate across, and the gravity is often inconsistent. This not only makes Solar Ash one of the most intriguing platformers of the year, but also allows Rei to skate around the underside of any cloudy surface.
Along the side of just about every region, players can find additional, hidden lines of plasma they may have missed their first time through. Plasma is one of the most important resources Rei can acquire on her journey through the Ultravoid, so it pays to pick up these easy, extra globs.
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