Summary
Fort Solisis a narrative-based walking simulator developed by Black Drakkar and Fallen Leaf. Released in August 2023, the studios’indie gamedebut was met with somewhat mixed reception, currently sitting at 60% and 6.9 critic and audience scores respectively on Metacritic, though with mostly positive ratings on Steam. The title featured a trio of recognizable actors, with Troy Baker (The Last of Us), Roger Clark (Red Dead Redemption 2), and Julia Brown (World on Fire) providing motion capture and voices for the main characters.
In December 2023, it was reported thatFort Soliswould be receiving both film and TV adaptations through production company Studios Extraordinaires. According to an interview with co-directors Andre Hedetoft and Andreas Troedsson, after watching the trailer and playing through it, they decided thepsychological horror game’s stylings would be a perfect fit for adapting into live-action versions and expanded stories. While this is exciting news, there are also various factors that may present some hurdles for the project, chiefly among them being a new property having to compete against a number of recent high-profile game adaptations and others that are in the works.
As they are still in early production, specific details like whether any ofFort Solis' castwill reprise their roles in either adaption are currently unknown.
Spoilers forFort Solisbelow.
Fort Solis' Sci-Fi Story
Channeling works such asAlienandSunshineas well as adjacentgames likeThe Invincible,Fort Solisis in many ways a classic horror framework, containing both grounded aspects while veering into more terrifying sci-fi territory in the course of events. On an isolated Martian mining station, assisted by his partner Jessica Appleton (Brown), lead engineer Jack Leary (Clark) must respond to an alarm at the titular installation. The planet’s volatile weather is about to bring a massive storm that will disrupt operations and endanger the crew if preparations aren’t properly in place before it strikes.
Naturally, what starts as a simple task soon turns into an unsettling discovery when it’s revealed that science officer Wyatt Taylor (Baker) has been secretly growing food in the Martial soil, which has contaminated it with a new and deadly virus infecting anyone who consumes it. A tense and thrilling game of cat-and-mouse ensues as Jack and Jessica attempt to track down and stop Taylor from continuing his unethical experiment and prevent it from reaching Earth, with the outcome left vague as to how successful they were.
Fort Solis Has Some Stiff Competition in Other Recent Adaptations
Fort Solis' release was perhaps timed unfortunately, as2023 was replete with hugely popular horror games,including theDead Space Remake,Resident Evil 4 Remake, andAlan Wake 2, just to name a few. It was thus by and large overshadowed by this field. On top of that, there have been multiple game adaptions along with upcoming ones that threaten to again eclipse it due to being well-established franchises with wide existing fanbases versus a fresh IP. Among others,The Last of UsandFalloutas well asBorderlandsandGhost of Tsushimaare all generally more recognizable thanFort Solis’indie status, and this likely creates a disadvantage in terms of its expanded works' potential visibility and reach.
Under these current circumstances, the endeavor seems a bigger risk than it might otherwise have been, and it will probably be quite a challenge for them to endear audiences toFort Solisin the way some of the above have for their respective IPs. Still, Studios Extraordinaire has experience working on these types of adaptations, notably with a plannedfilm adaptation ofMartha Is Dead, a game that shares many core designs withFort Solis. Hopefully, the effort pays off with engaging versions that may then reignite interest inFort Solisand its rich world-building, sparking an increase in attention from fans of sci-fi psychological horror, and perhaps drawing in viewers who weren’t previously familiar, but would also enjoy the expanded narrative and direction.
Fort Solisis available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Mac.
