Fort Solis – Mystery Abandoned [Review]

Put on your best space boots, because we are in for a walking-sim on Mars. Fort Solis can best be described as an extremely cinematic Telltale-type of game, with even less gameplay, but arguably better presentation. I don’t mind the occasional walking sim if the story is good—so the question stands: Is Fort Solis worth it?

Vacation on Cydonia
You play as Jack Leary, living your best life on Mars with your colleague Jessica Appleton, when the neighbors suddenly send out a distress call. You respond, of course, and from here on out, the mystery starts on the harsh planet of Mars. The initial premise is pretty damn good, and very atmospheric, having you investigating the seemingly abandoned base of Fort Solis. It’s clear something weird was going on here—something involving an alien growth compound to help plants grow faster. It’s a mystery told with a set of certain expectations, but in the second part of the story, it leaves all that in the red dust of Mars. I will explain, as it comes with frustrations, but I will have to spoil the plot. So skip the next part if you don’t want the story ruined. 

Start spoilers!
As it turns out, one of the crew members of the abandoned base snapped due to isolation, paranoia, his friend dying, or it could have something to do with the strange compound. The problem with the plot is how ambiguous it becomes, because it could be any of the above—with none of it really mattering. Especially since, when the crazed slasher killer dies, the game ends. Everything interesting about the research, the e-mails, and video logs you can read and view while searching the station is just thrown up into the air to scatter in the Mars dust. Now, I’m not against leaving a story up for viewer interpretation. However, the switch from corporate conspiracy mystery and intriguing alien stuff, to one guy just going space-bonkers killing his crew was very anticlimactic and deflated the whole story. Especially when the action QTEs (quick-time-events) do not matter at all for the outcome. Those deemed to die by the story, must do so. As the eternally disgruntled Hercules would say: disappointed!
End spoilers!

Gameplay, what gameplay?
Fort Solis is much more akin to a movie than a game, so it has even less gameplay than a Telltale game. And that is saying something! I think there is one puzzle that might require a few synapses firing, otherwise, Fort Solis is entirely linear and very easy. The pacing is high, maybe a bit too high, as you can finish the game in three hours or so. No, this isn’t too much of a problem in general, but I get the impression that this was some kind of prestige, possibly even a personal vanity project—by someone with a lot of money to burn on making a movie as a game, with very little concern for actual mechanics. I have always found these projects fascinating, in a kind of weird curiosity for eccentricity. How do they even happen, seeing as they go against every trend out there when it comes to gaming? It’s almost like the FMV (Full-Motion-Video) slop of the past, but now confined to Unreal 5.

Mars is brown
Visually, the world and characters look and move great, but seeing as you don’t do much more than walk and look at things, my amazement comes with limits. However, there is no denying certain areas look excellent and are very atmospheric. The Mars station has that Dead Space charm with blinking screens and clinical steel, but without the necromorphs looking to disembowel you. Sound, music and voice acting are also quality, as serious money went into the voice acting, considering the number of celebrities: Troy Baker, Roger Clark and Julia Brown among others. While they do a good job, I can’t help being fed up with hearing Troy Baker. He is in just too many games and sounds about the same in all. This is another reason I think this is someone’s prestige project, because it’s a hell of a presentation for an indie studio’s first game. 

Conclusion
Fort Solis could have been an intriguing sci-fi thriller if they committed to the initial idea of the Mars base, but instead they focused the story to something more grounded and so killed off the mystery vibe. Real shame, because it showed potential for a cozy horror tale in space. Alas, it was not to be. That said, it’s not entirely bad, as it’s very moody in places, but in the end it feels like a waste—a story that will be quickly forgotten, left to rot on the endless shelf of underutilized cool ideas. 

Thanks for reading.

– Thomas