Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog Impressions – A 90s Anime Mecha Dream Adventure

It’s always strange when a game is announced that has everything that I love. Developer Space Colany Studios doesn’t know anything about me, yet, judging by their newest game, Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog, you’d think we were kindred spirits. The studio has essentially created an ode to the PC-98 using a retro 90’s anime presentation, mecha, and adventure systems. After playing the opening of the game, my interest has extended past its presentation, and I’m now heavily invested to see where this adventure goes.

Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog opens with the beginning of the end of the Solar War. The nameable protagonist has suffered a significant loss and maybe a bit of embarrassment after a ship malfunction kept him from battle. After the opening, we catch up 4 years later as the protagonist acts as security on the Gun-Dog, a ship sent on a mission to track a signal in deep space.

While our protagonist is new to the ship, his girlfriend, Cassandra, is also a member of the crew. It was an interesting choice for a visual novel to put the player in a relationship right from the start of the story. Typically, these games let you build your relationship around who is best girl, but here, there is a relationship path assigned from the start.

There are some choices to be made during dialogue, but I never felt like they affected the story too much. I’m interested to see how these choices alter later scenes in the story. However, there are plenty of adventure elements where players can look around environments, interact with objects, collect items, and solve puzzles to progress.

One helpful feature allows you to view what the current quest goals are and any time. This way, you are just roaming around, hoping to trigger a scene. Further, there’s a convenient, fast travel system to get around the ship with ease.

The playable demo served as an introduction to the game’s core cast and story. There’s some drama brewing surrounding the crew’s current mission, which will likely be revealed at a later point. Still, I felt like the crew encapsulates a range of personalities that make the conversations interesting.

One of the stand-out features of the game is its retro graphics that mirror what you’d find on the PC-98. To double down on the experience, players can choose between two different visual styles that help with providing that extra dose of nostalgia if they want it.

There’s also a great soundtrack to set the mood of the scenes. While the opening is lighthearted, it creates a nice atmosphere that I’d like to hear more of as the story becomes more emotional.

Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog takes the retro adventure visual novel aesthetic and brings it to modern gamers. The story is ripe with 90s mecha anime themes supported by a strong cast of characters. It seem like no corners were cut with this experience, and I’m eager to see this mission through until the end.

We’ll keep you updated on the development and release of Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog,  which is currently in development for PC via Steam.