There’s A Secret Horror FPS Hidden In Nine Sols

Nine Sols is the most difficult Metroidvania we’ve played in a while — yes, tougher than Silksong — but it isn’t exactly known for Easter eggs. But there’s one huge secret the developers added to the game long after the initial release date.

By using the game’s beta tab, players have discovered a fully 3D horror FPS where your character explores a deadly (and very dark) series of chambers. This is truly bizarre, and it’s all part of an ARG the Nine Sols community have been engaged with for a while. It’s one of the strangest, most surprising secrets to a game we’ve seen, and you can check it out for yourself now.

How To Play The Nine Sols Secret FPS

The bizarre FPS minigame can be downloaded through Steam using the game’s Beta tab. Here’s how to download it if you own Nine Sols on Steam.

• Right-click Nine Sols in your Steam Library and open Properties.
• Go to the Betas tab and add this text: shanhaiarchive

Select the beta from the drop-down menu and the FPS will begin downloading. The entire FPS sequence has been played through by Youtuber ShadowKing58 — the video is linked above — and showcases just how completely different this downloadable addition really is.

Instead of playing from a 2D perspective in a cartoony stylized world, you’ll be exploring a dank dungeon full of traps — there are rolling death balls, crusher rooms, and areas where the lights go out. You’ll want to plug in a controller and test every button to see what they do. There’s no tutorial in this spooky FPS with oddly realistic graphics. So, you’ll need to learn all the functions yourself. For example, you can bring up a small device with a light source when the ruins go dark.

There are no monsters here, so while this does technically count as horror, it’s really more of a creepy experience — it’s all set in the Nine Sols universe, even though you’re playing as a regular human. You can tell because your FPS character does reveal their hands, and they’re not furry at all. The run through ancient ruins with technology similar to the games is revealed to be a simulation at the very end — but you’ll have to figure out yourself what this all means for the canon. Is this a tease for a future game? Will we be getting a fully 3D FPS in the Nine Sols universe? Personally, I think that’s pretty doubtful. There’s no way to know for sure, but this seems like a pure ARG move. Weird FPS experiments don’t require as much animation work, and the ruins here don’t exactly have a lot of different textures. This was made quickly — but with love — with the full expectation only a tiny fraction of the audience will play it or seek it out.

That’s why everyone that owns Nine Sols should download this weird beta and give it a try. And if you don’t own Nine Sols — get on that.