One of 2024's Best Metroidvanias May Be Coming to Consoles

Nine Sols is on its way to consoles, according to a newly emerged regulatory rating. The evidence pointing to the game's console ports emerged online some ten weeks following its Steam release.

Developed by Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games, Nine Sols is an action-packed metroidvania that tasks players with completing a revenge-fueled quest set in a distinct fantasy sci-fi land. The game debuted to an immense critical reception, with some reviewers arguing that Nine Sols set a new standard for the genre in terms of combining intricate level design with immensely polished combat. As of August 2024, the game boasts a "Mighty" rating on OpenCritic, based on its aggregate score of 84 and a perfect 100% reviewer recommendation rate. This makes Nine Sols one of the best metroidvanias of not just 2024 but this entire decade.

Nine Sols Console Versions Rated in Taiwan

And while it's currently a PC exclusive, Red Candle's critically acclaimed game may soon make its way to consoles, as suggested by some content ratings that were recently published by Taiwan's Digital Game Rating Committee (DGRC). The listings, first spotted by Gematsu, reveal that the DGRC rated Nine Sols for the PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X/S. The classifications themselves were published in early August 2024. These ratings are the first conclusive piece of evidence suggesting that the widely lauded indie metroidvania might extend its reaches beyond PC, as Red Candle hasn't yet mentioned anything about its potential console ports.

While the newly surfaced age classifications indicate that console versions of Nine Sols are indeed in the works, they don't imply anything about their current development status. Like most similar regulators around the globe, the DGRC doesn't usually play the games that it rates, but issues classifications based on their content descriptions, meaning ratings can be obtained long before any given game is in a playable state. Even so, most publishers don't start applying for ratings more than a year ahead of their targeted release window.

These prospective ports of Nine Sols would mark a return to console development for Red Candle after six years. The latest game that the Taiwanese company ported to consoles was its psychological horror Detention, which reached the PS4 and Switch in 2018. In between that title and Nine Sols, Red Candle also released the psychological horror Devotion in 2019, but that game was never made available beyond Windows and macOS.

Console owners who fancy themselves metroidvania fans are likely to find Nine Sols to be very much worth the wait, regardless of when it reaches their gaming system of choice. Between a beautiful hand-drawn world that combines elements of cyberpunk and taoism and extremely tight combat mechanics inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Nine Sols has been widely lauded as one of the best metroidvanias in recent memory.