Solaris

Solaris
Creator	Donker19
Map pack	Solaris System
Strawberries	26
Difficulty	Intermediate-Expert
Soundtrack	01  •   Building 02  •   Main Menu 03  •   Rubedo 04  •   Bonebottom 05  •   power cycle 06  •   Planet 07  •   End of the Universe 08  •   Gameplay 2

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Solaris is the first (and until the Dark Side Update, the only) map in the Solaris System, made by Donker19 and released sometime in 2020. The map contains 26 strawberries, a lot of jelly juggling, a sun-themed setting, and a story featuring Madeline and Badeline with appearances from Madeline's mom and Theo at the end. In August 2023, the map was updated to add the "Better Times" subchapter. Said subchapter features a modified version of the setting with a lot more green, a secondary story taking place three years after the main one, and the B-Side cassette of Solaris (which doesn't really do anything due to the lack of a B-Side).

Stories

Warning: The stories featured in Solaris mention a suicide attempt and self-harm. If you are sensitive to these topics, you may wish to not play the map or expand the sections below.

Solaris

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[To be added]

Better Times

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Madeline dreams of an area similar to Solaris, but with more grass and stone and some of the background objects colored a bright green. Badeline wonders where they are this time, with Madeline answering that she doesn't know. Badeline then suggests that they go find out, which they do. “Having loud dreams again, are we Madeline?” ~ Badeline Between each gameplay room is a room with an easy-to-reach strawberry, which are the same type of strawberry as the ones in Solaris. After a few rooms, Madeline remarks that the area looks familiar, as if they've been there before in a distant, fleeting memory. Badeline is concerned about if this dream will be good or bad, and Madeline wonders if it's bittersweet and if they might find the meaning of the dream if they continue on. She then asks if Badeline will be okay if they keep going, with Badeline answering that she will. Madeline then remarks that discomfort can sometimes be productive, and Badeline thanks Madeline for asking. They continue on. Some rooms and strawberries later, Madeline and Badeline observe that the area is very beautiful, though something feels sad, as if the place is bringing them some sort of peace that they lost long ago. She then wonders if it's from when they attempted suicide three years back (this attempt causing the plot of Lunaris and Solaris), or even if it's before they met on Celeste Mountain. Badeline thinks it's a nice, although sad, feeling. She then asks if Madeline would be okay if they kept going, with Madeline answering yes. “It's very beautiful... with the vibrant grass... and the white clouds racing above us along the blue sky... but... something feels sad.” ~ Badeline A few rooms later, Madeline encounters a black spring variant which is far more powerful than a normal spring. After this, Madeline questions why they miss the past so much. Badeline doesn't know, and Madeline theorizes that maybe it isn't them missing the past as it is a desire to rewrite their various mistakes. Badeline asks what they'd have learned if it were possible to rewrite those mistakes. Madeline gets distracted, observing that the strawberries are very pretty and have stars in them. “A return to the past feels so warm and inviting, promising us a chance at a better life... but... it's impossible. And that's why this is so bittersweet.” ~ Madeline [to be added]

Gameplay

Start

The first two rooms of Solaris are fairly straightforward, with little to no jelly juggling involved. The third room introduces the only custom mechanic in Solaris: a triple-dash crystal, which changes Madeline's hair to a dark blue while she has three dashes. Resprited zippers and switch gates first appear here. This checkpoint ends in an area teaching the player how to do jellyvators, adding that the technique can let you go higher if you grab the jellyfish later.

5 strawberries are located here. These strawberries have been resprited to fit the theme of Solaris.

Anger

This subchapter is less straightforward and more difficult than Start, with jellyvators and jelly juggling being commonplace. Resprited springs and spikes (the latter of which now looks like fire) appears here. Its rooms are also significantly larger, due to the openness and large amount of jellyfishes that this subchapter has.

5 strawberries are located here.

Bargaining

This subchapter takes place inside a Mirror Temple-esque structure, with the area itself becoming duller. Instead of jelly juggling, this subchapter mainly contains yellow bubbles (which force fast bubbling by killing Madeline if she stays inside for too long) and resprited swap blocks. Neutral jumps are introduced and taught here, though they are mostly just used in this subchapter and the next one.

4 strawberries are located here.

Depression

After Madeline exits the temple, the background shifts from a dark sky with stars and clouds to an Event Horizon-like black hole, with the purple area around it being recolored into orange. The area gets even darker and duller, and blue glitch tiles and decals start appearing. This subchapter mainly contains cassette blocks of four colors, making it similar to Stubbornness.

2 strawberries are located here.

Acceptance

This subchapter has the scenery change one last time, with it becoming brighter and the stars and clouds reappearing, though the glitch tiles remain. Jelly juggling returns, being even harder and more confusing this time. Badeline starts helping you here in the form of Badeline boosts. A new technique is taught here, detailing how to get past zippers while holding a jellyfish without losing said jellyfish. Resprited dash switches and gates first appear here, and are used for the rest of the level.

1 strawberry is located here.

Perseverance

This subchapter is more or less a continuation of Acceptance, though with power boxes and resprited (bluer) lightning. Throughout the subchapter, the vortex around the black hole gradually becomes a brighter shade of orange. It ends in a large room with the Crystal Heart at the end, though this is not the end of the chapter.

There are no strawberries here.

Freedom

This subchapter is the final room of Solaris, containing every resprited entity so far (with the exception of fire). It begins with a difficult jelly juggling section, which ends in a Badeline boost and an appearance of space wind (a stronger, unused variant of upwards-blowing wind). This space wind section lasts for a large part of the room, even after Madeline loses the jellyfishes, leading to a "falling" section. After the space wind section ends, the room is mostly over, and the path to the power box is mostly straightforward. After breaking it, Badeline boosts you up to a small floating "island", where you can then dash into the final Badeline boost and end the chapter.

This subchapter contains no strawberries, but it does contain the Sunberry, which is a resprited Moonberry. Instead of going right and up, the player can go left, leading to the Sunberry path. This path is similar to the Moonberry path in Farewell, though significantly harder. Like in Farewell, this path leads to a secret and difficult room which ends in the Sunberry and a Badeline boost that takes you to the end of the chapter.

Better Times

Better Times is a lot less open and more vertical than Solaris itself. Its clouds are entirely a bright green, and the stars and other background decoration have a lot more green in them. The tiles themselves have a lot more grass, with some stone added in. Fire and ice walls also appear often. Significantly more powerful black-colored springs also appear in the final rooms of the subchapter.

9 strawberries are in this subchapter, with all but two of them obviously placed in rooms between the gameplay rooms.

Trivia

• The Bird appears in Solaris a few times, some of which have it standing on spinners. It doesn't seem to do anything there, though.