From Neon to Night City, there are plenty of dense cities of highrises and megacorps out there for gamers to make their way through. Abraxa, the city at the heart ofthe new visual novelSolace State, uses that familiar setting to tell a story at the roots of the cyberpunk narrative: young, marginalized people coming of age.
InSolace State, the player steps into the shoes of Chloe, a young reporter looking into an unusual situation in Abraxa. The Zircon Hill neighborhood has fallen under the heel of a militaristic lockdown unprecedented in the city’s history. To further complicate matters, Chloe’s mentor and dearest friend Rebecka has gone missing in the Zircon Hill neighborhood. Chloe will need to use her unique abilities to navigate the systems of power in thecyberpunk cityof Abraxa and answer her questions. The director and executive producer ofSolace State, Tanya Kan, explained the situation on the ground in Abraxa and who the protagonist Chloe really is in a recent interview with Game Rant
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A core piece of Chloe’s narrative is her iconohacking ability–that is, the ability to use quantum tunneling to hack more than just computers. For instance, another iconohacker named Torrent is able touse his abilities for teleportation. However, it’s her history with Rebecka that drives her forward.
“You actually start off in a flashback scene. You’ll get to know her childhood, and she’s working through a few things even at the beginning of the game. You really get to examine her relationship with her best friend named Rebecka. She’s older than her. She’s her mentor, as well. At the end of Act 1.0.1, you actually wake up and you realize, ‘Hey, I’m looking for my missing friend, Rebecka. I’ve shared all of this history with her. She’s so important to me.’ And then you enter Abraxa, because you’re really concerned for your missing best friend.”
Rebecka and Torrent are joined by Chloe’s ex Alden and the activist Sueli as major figures in Chloe’s story. From the checkered history with Alden to the dedication Sueli has for her cause, Chloe’s connections in Abraxa are the heart ofSolace State. From the central district of Axial to the middle-income Fathom Piers to the occupied and oppressed Zircon Hill, Abraxa will show Chloe the central role that the marginalized have in cyberpunk stories and shape her future. Sueli, Torrent, Alden, Hakim, and Rebecka are part of that. But the ultimate question ofany coming-of-age storyis who the hero will become, and soSolace Stateis truly the story of Chloe.
“As the story progresses, you really do get a chance to see how Chloe has an avenue to her friends. Will she become an activist of her own right? How does this relate to her previous experiences in life? How does this relate to great intergenerational trauma? So a lot of that really comes to the fore no matter who you end up dating … And there are some light-hearted moments that I think, like if you want a coming of age journey game, is definitely for you.”
Of course, this being a coming-of-age story,romance can play a big part in forming those relationships. And among the options, Torrent is an early fan favorite, Kan says.
Getting Torrent’s personality right was important to Kan. He’s kind and quiet, but preventing him from being too reserved was part of his design process. Being of Asian descent, Torrent’s shyness had the potential to play into tropes that don’t sit well with many in the community Torrent is supposed to represent, somore complexity to his character was crucial. To this end, players learn about Torrent not just as the helpful fellow iconohacker, but through the lens of his family as well.
Kan is also particularly proud of Sueli.Solace Statewears its politics on its sleeve, and Sueli is in many ways the purest expression of that. She’s a Zircon Hill local focused on getting medical care to underserved people and is focused so intently on her cause she may take time to warm up to Chloe. Sueli is interested in getting to know Chloe, though, and offers a juicy tease here and there to encourage Chloe. She also has a sharp sense of humor Kan attributed to co-writer Ashley Cooper.
Just like many of Chloe’s struggles mirror those experienced in the modern world, so too does Sueli mirror real-world activists. Kan spoke about the history of queer women in activism and how, despite being largely overlooked, people like Chloe and Sueli are instrumental to political movements, especially the kind of egalitarian efforts that are part of the nature of thecyberpunk genre. Her humor, too, was important to properly portray her as an activist according to Kan, and it permeates the entire narrative.
“There’s definitely some humor scattered along the way because that’s what we need, I think, as activists. That’s what a lot of activists say as well. We often see activists making fun of tyranny and the tyrants, and I think the same is true here as well. So there’s actually a lot of humor scattered throughout this game.It’s not all grimdark. We’re not a grimdark science fiction or cyberpunk game. I wouldn’t throw an ex in there if that was the case.”
Who Chloe romances, who she becomes, and what happens to Zircon Hill are all in the hands of the player. Being a visual novel, it’s the player’s choices that matter most.
Solace Stateis available on Steam and Xbox Series X/S.
