Fort Solis is the video game equivalent of a play – a somewhat interactive experience that is largely supported by its performances and visuals. The game falls into the category of a walking simulator not unlike the Dark Pictures series of games and even borrows the same suspenseful vibe of those titles to support its 4-hour experience. Without a lot of gameplay elements to rely on, though, the story, the visuals, and the performances in Fort Solis need to do a lot of heavy lifting.

First introduced by Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2) and Troy Baker (Joel in The Last of Us) at Summer Game Fest 2022, Fort Solis makes it clear that its performances are a priority and it shows. Alongside video game newcomer Julia Brown, Clark and Baker create nuanced and dynamic characters who, despite the game’s short run time, feel like fully fleshed-out individuals. Credit to the game’s development team, Fallen Leaf, for allowing these three actors to develop their characters through everything from exploratory banter to video logs. Clark and Brown spend the most time interacting with each other, and their exchanges feel like old friends who bicker, poke fun at, and genuinely care about each other. Baker, meanwhile, is asked to toe the line between concern and madness and does so with aplomb.

Those who just want to see three actors embrace the challenge of Fort Solis’ setup, where a lot of the “scenes” are basically monologues or two characters interacting over radio, and deliver incredible performances will find the game exceptional. Baker and Clark have already shown they can carry a story and bring a ton to their role, but Brown holds her own as well. Even smaller parts that might be a one-off video or a short audio log are treated with the care of a feature film.

Of course, strong performances are only worth seeing if the story is good, and although Fort Solis has a lot of intriguing elements in its narrative, it struggles to stick the landing. Clark’s character, Jack Leary, is finishing up his last day working as an engineer on Mars when an alarm goes off at the distant Fort Solis. Leary goes to investigate while one of his colleagues, Jessica Barton (Brown), regularly chimes in on his radio to assist where needed. Barton eventually becomes more involved in the story but the early parts of her role are as a friend for Leary to bounce his outer monologues off of.

Leary discovers that the alarm is more than just a simple call for help and Fort Solis is hiding some secrets. It’s a premise that isn’t entirely unique, even for a video game, but the story initially unravels in a way that is compelling and well-paced. Leary’s discovery of what really is going on at Fort Solis allows for tense exploration, some jump scares, and a few bits of action; it’s just the resolution that fails to successfully put things together. There are definitely some reveals in Fort Solis that are unique and surprising, but a story like this typically lives and dies on how everything wraps up. And for Fort Solis, the ending doesn’t have the type of punch that it feels like the narrative is building up to. Motivations become muddled and confusing, and the last few moments fall flat.

Visually, Fort Solis is an impressive-looking game with lots of sharp detail in both the design of its Mars terrain and the interiors of the Fort itself. Because players will spend a lot of time walking from point A to point B, the game needed to do a lot with its environmental storytelling and thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 5 it does. Sound effects maintain the sense of unease that is crucial to the thriller genre and pops of music fit the mood nicely. Set dressing will only get you so far, obviously, but there’s no denying the game looks and sounds good.

That being said, the facial animations aren’t as strong as some of the games that Fort Solis looks to for inspiration. It’s not as much of an issue because a lot of the game is spent looking over a character’s shoulder, but during video logs or cutscenes, there is a disconnect between the emotions present in the performances and the game’s ability to fully portray those emotions in its characters’ faces. Under normal circumstances, the facial animations wouldn’t be as much of a concern, but when so much attention is placed on the actors’ ability to breathe life into their characters, those shortcomings become more obvious.

Fort Solis’ gameplay is its weakest element and might be a turn-off to a certain portion of gamers. Walking simulators have their fair share of fans but the genre is as divisive as they come. For Fort Solis, the gameplay largely consists of exploring a derelict station, watching or listening to a lot of logs, and then doing some light puzzle-solving or object interaction. While getting the next bit of story is engaging, the gameplay largely isn’t, and it doesn’t help that the player character only walks from place to place.

And although the game is fairly straightforward and intuitive in its interactivity, the quicktime events were troublesome during our playthrough. For starters, the window to complete the action is so short that if players aren’t absolutely ready they will have a good chance to fail them. On top of that, there were instances where it felt like we hit the right action in time and the game still registered the quicktime event as a fail. Mind you, failing a quicktime event only changes the action of the scene and doesn't result in a Game Over screen, but it’s still frustrating to miss them.

It feels strange to put gameplay at the bottom of the list for any video game, but Fort Solis clearly made performance and visuals a priority. With a cast consisting of two video game A-listers, the game showcases what a difference hiring talented people can have on the impact of a story. Disappointing conclusion aside, the visuals, tone, and the acting are strong enough to satisfy some people. However, the gameplay is rarely fun and occasionally frustrating, even if the mood is tense and the desire to see more is compelling. Fort Solis is a hard game to recommend for a mass audience, but there is a specific subset of gamers who this game will really resonate with.

Fort Solis

Fort Solis is a single-player third-person thriller set on the far side of Mars. Engineer Jack Leary responds to a routine alarm at Fort Solis, and finds the outpost to be unnervingly dormant. As the night grows longer events begin to unravel and spiral out of control.

Fort Solis releases August 22, 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Mac. Game ZXC was provided a PS5 code for this review.