Stories from Sol: Gun-Dog is a Great Adventure Game

Stories from Sol: Gun-dog is a point-and-click adventure game inspired by 1980s computer games and giant robot anime. Think of Macross, Gundam, or any other anime with giant robots fighting in space, and you’ll get the idea. I really like the setting.

I kept thinking about what anime this reminded me of. There are so many of them that I haven’t watched, and it feels like I could get lost while trying to see them all. Stories from Sole seem to borrow plot points from Gundam. Most of the action is focused on the crew and investigating things.

Because this is a point-and-click adventure game, the gameplay is minimal. There are a few puzzles, dialogue options, and a selection of options to choose from. This is less of a visual novel and more of an adventure game like Uninvited, Déjà Vu, and Maniac Mansion.

TLDR: A Fun Point-and-Click Adventure game with an Awesome Story.

Narrative

For the most part, I like the story. The game has a great setting, the characters are awesome, and I enjoy most places this story goes. I thought I had figured things out, but the ending went in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

We get some backstory that explains everything. The Earth has colonized Mars and some of the moons of Jupiter. A civil war breaks out where Mars and Jupiter team up against and defeat Earth. Your character was a mech pilot during the end of the war.

Your squad went on a mission, and an equipment malfunction stopped you from launching. They get ambushed, and most of them are killed. The other survivor hates you because of this. After the war, you get promoted and become a security officer.

The woman you are dating gets you transferred to the Gun-dog. This ship of misfits reminds me of my time in the Nave. It is a small crew, and everyone pushes the boundaries of military discipline. Here is a list of the crew members and what their job is:

• Cassandra (Cassie) – The Executive Officer/Second in Charge and your girlfriend.
• Merys – The Captain. She is an alcoholic and has a story that you can explore.
• Vanessa – She is the Operations officer and third in command. This is the lying, manipulative bitch of the group.
• Rosarium – The Doctor
• Dylan – He is the Gunner
• Haru – Pilot
• Hansen – He is the surviving squad member who hates your character. Hansen is the other pilot on the ship.
• Dalton – Engineer
• Mackenzie – Chief Engineer
• You – This is your character. You have to create a name for this character, and it is the security officer.

The Gun-dog is heading out to meet with another ship, the O’Brien. Something happens, and everything goes to shit. From here, you must perform some tasks to save your ship and investigate what happened.  

As the story unfolds, you have several choices to make that will change how the story goes. I’ve only done one playthrough, so there might be other endings than the one I saw. Having these options gives you a good reason to play the game again.

Overall, I like the story quite a bit. The setting is great, and I like most of the characters. I would love to see more stories like this, and I hope it gets turned into a series.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty simple. There are a few spots where you need to remember what the characters have previously said to advance the plot. Most of the gameplay is dialogue options, but there are some quick-time decisions and simple puzzles to solve.

Like a lot of adventure games, you’ll end up collecting an inventory of items during the game. These are items like keys, guns, and computers. These are standard things for a game like this.

The puzzles are very simple. I only encountered two scenarios that I considered to be puzzles. They involved arranging the flow of electricity to open a door. I’m not sure what they are called, but they involve flipping tiles to control the flow of something.

The quick-time decisions didn’t really matter much. They came up when there was a “time of crisis” in the plot. You would have a timer of a few seconds where you needed to select a dialogue option. I didn’t run into a problem where the timer came up.

I liked the gameplay in Stories from Sol: Gun-dog. This is a simple game that is trying to tell a fun and entertaining story. It isn’t too different from the visual novels I’ve been playing, but it adds some things from point-and-click adventure games. It is an interesting and fun take on the two genres.

Visuals

I like the graphics. They remind me of Metal Marines. I know this is a bit of a deep cut, but the characters and the game’s presentation look similar to me. Both games use an anime art style and a side panel with actions for the player to take.

There are three graphical settings. Two of them look like Game Boy or Apple II graphics. It makes everything look like it is pea soup. I stuck with the third setting, which looks like an early 1990s PC game. It was a personal preference.

The animations and character reactions are great. When you need to use an item, the icon will flash for you. Things that can be interacted with will be highlighted when you hover the mouse over them. I don’t know how this works on consoles, so this might differ depending on your platform.

Everything in the game looks very good! I didn’t have any issues with how the game looks, and I don’t think the visuals impact the gameplay. Stories from Sol: Gun-dog is a great looking game.

8/10. This is a very good point-and-click adventure game. The story, setting, and characters are great! The gameplay isn’t something I like that much, but everything else is great.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Fun Gameplay
• Awesome story

Cons

• Weak Ending
• Linear

Conclusion

I don’t normally like this style of video game. Point-and-click adventure games tend to annoy me because I’m not good at them. That style of game is something I get lost in as I try to advance the plot.

I didn’t run into this issue too much with Stories from Sol. This is an easy game that lets the player focus on the story. The ending was a little disappointing, but it leaves things open for a sequel or DLC, which I would love to see.

I’m not sure if there is a New Game+ or alternate endings, but that is something I look forward to finding out. This is a fun adventure game. I like the story overall, and I enjoyed playing the game.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on indie games, such as Grizzly Man and Urban Myth Dissolution Center.