I love shoot em ups, but I must admit that I was never a big fan of Psikyo’s entries in the genre barring a few exceptions. One title I knew very little about was Sol Divide – Sword of Darkness, released originally in 1997. All I knew about this game was that it was very different, and I can see what they meant now that I have gotten a chance to play it for myself.
Sol Divide – Sword of Darkness is not a typical shoot em up but instead a hybrid game. It combines shooter elements with melee combat and RPG elements. This has been done before by other games admittedly, but Sol Divide – Sword of Darkness was particularly inventive in how it handled things. The different characters you could choose to play as would immediately affect the game, not just in terms of story but also in what levels you would play. This is not even mentioning the branching path system as well, which really showed off Sol Divide as unusually content rich. Of course since this was originally an arcade game, the game is difficult and you will die several times. This is all part of the joy however, since when you finally succeed in beating the game, it feels like you earned it.
While I am not a fan of the music in the game, the artstyle is something I enjoy. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous and even when playing on the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode, I was shocked by how well the game’s visual style has held up. I would also say the game in general has held up extremely well due to a lot of replay value because of the different storylines for each character and each character playing differently. It actually feels worthwhile to go back and play the game again with each character just to experience the full story the game has to offer. If you can play this game, I suggest you check it out. It was recently made available on the Switch where I played it, and that version was well done. Although there were some strange choices in the emulation, the experience was all there and was one I truly enjoyed.