Solasta II

I didn't suffer and I've finished the early access fairly quickly. Nevertheless, it had several major flaws that made me doubt I'd finish the full game, unlike Crown of the Magister: 1. The writing was bland. I know we're supposed to be playing for tactical adventures and the updates in the game system were nice, but if you're voicing the entire game and have so many cutscenes your dialogues need to be better and your characters should demonstrate some personality, not just randomly chosen accents (they have many scots in Solasts, apparently) and one defining personality trait. Even the villains were boring caricatures. Crown of the Magister didn't have great dialogues either, but they demonstrated a sense of humor that is severely absent here (Yes, I've played with the "jester". He was more whiny than funny). 2. Performance - massive battles tend to significantly slow down the game or get stuck. It might be my aging desktop, but the battles were not that different from crown of the magister and I had no such issues there. 3. Inventory management was the same drag it had been on Solasta 1, minus the bags of holdings. ...But really, the biggest issue here was the writing and narrative design, such as there was. When you ask gamers to stick around and don't let them know what is their main quest (the mysterious "covenant" they were blackmailed into), it's extremely lazy writing. If the characters are not really riveting and their banter is repetitive it gets old fast and highlights every other repetitive aspect of the game. Somebody thought these details were not important and somebody was very, very wrong.

I'm furious. I did not play the demo for this. I hate getting involved in a game just to have it cut short. Once it was released in early access I purchased it, huge fan of Solasta I and any game of this genre. First time I tried to play I couldn't even create a male character, so waited a couple of months and came back. Still buggy and unpolished. This I would overlook, but the game was over before my party could rest to reach level 4. Ridiculous to have a demo period and then release this as early access. I would refund, but at 15 hours I can't. Very disapointed. I will not purchase anything from this studio in early access again. seems I am still able to request a refund, which I have done. This is not an early access game, this is a very short demo.

TLDR: For Early Access this is decent. Already massively better than the first game in every way. Keep in mind that I'm comparing this to the first game, not on its own in a vaccum. - Ben Starr and Devora Wilde's characters are interesting, despite the latter looking like Millie Bobby Brown in Season 5 of Stranger Things. - More optimised than the demo (I ran it on Ultra) up until a certain point where the performance seems to tank massively and inconsistently. - In addition to your squad of four, it seems like Solasta 2 has more frequently-usable NPC companions. Helps pad out your team and adds very useful DPR. - Game now has actual cutscenes which makes it leaps and bounds better than the first one. - Faces are not perfect, but they're not melted-clay with lego hairs and are actually quite good. CC is not the Sims but surprisingly more customisable than Baldur's Gate 3. - Great implementation of 2024 rules. A few of my other complaints apart from performance are that there are a lot of class features that are unimplemented i.e. Rogue bonus action hide and a few encounters are hilariously overtuned. There's a specific fight that comes to mind which is the last fight of EA. In my playtime, it was near-unplayable and almost softlocked me. My game either bugged out and couldn't use the last long rest camp of the act or that last camp was designed to be unusable. Either way, after leaving the last dungeon it places you in front of a bafflingly hard encounter after taking away your npc companions. Thankfully I rolled well and finished it, but I would say it's something to look into for the devs.

Game is full of bugs, do not try to push any enemy that has some condition on it, that will freeze the fight so you can't continue. half of the time you enter a fight where you cant see an enemy and then it gets stuck. the animation is sluggish at best. the sync between action and their effect is non-existent. I bought this game the second I've seen that it exists, as I played the first one and enjoyed it very much. this game should not have come out yet. as a developer myself, I would be embarrassed to have a product like this out.

Just feels like several steps backwards from the first game we all loved.

Came to this game not expecting too much, especially for early release, but I've been blown away, and I'vw only played for under 3 hours some highlights: fully voice acted, even your customised character full animated scenes each of your characters have individual personalities, making their dialogue options unique the customisation is so good very each to get a hang of the controls (similar to BG3 I found if you've played that) combat is cool the lore seems cool too! I would definitely recommend this game, and I have a feeling full release will somehow top what's already amazing

Solasta II is an open-world top-down RPG. Right now, it plays more like a cool tech demo rather than a finished product, as the game heavily lacks unique mechanics or memorable quests—out of my 6 hours of playtime, I can only recall a single quest. [b] The Short Answer: Is It Worth Buying? [/b] There is way too little content right now. I’d only grab it for the future if it hits a massive 40%+ sale. If you actually want something to play right now, just stick to Baldur's Gate 3. [b] Playtime [/b] 1/10(Only for EA) In its current Early Access (EA) state, it took me about 6 hours to get through. I assume the full release will easily pull around 100–120 hours, much like BG3. [b] Story [/b] 4/10 The Shelter is gone, and the Goddess told us to get to work. She slapped brands on us because the sun is still high in the sky, but nobody actually bothered to explain what we are supposed to be doing. [b] Music /10 There isn’t much music in the game yet, but what is there sounds pretty cool. [b] Graphics [/b] 7/10 For the most part, the visuals look similar to Baldur's Gate 3, although high-quality textures aren't present everywhere. [b] Mechanics [/b] 7/10 Party management is handled just like in BG3. The combat feels pretty good, and the core D&D mechanics work as intended—though you will occasionally get those classic XCOM moments where you manage to miss a 91% chance shot. You get to completely build your own heroes. While customization options are quite limited right now, it’s really nice that the entire party is yours to create from scratch instead of relying on pre-generated companions. On the negative side, the inventory management feels incredibly clunky and poorly optimized, whether you are transferring items between characters or buying and selling at a trader. The game also lacks interesting variety in terms of skills. The skill management system itself is very bizarre; it drastically lacks a unified hotbar where all your skills are visible at once, forcing you to click through menus and subcategories constantly. And this is a tedious issue at just levels 1–4, so I can only imagine what a nightmare it will become later on. [b] Personal Take [/b] The cutscenes are absolutely superb—there are tons of them, they do a great job telling the story, and you won't even want to skip them. However, the game desperately needs some unique features to stand out. [b] Overall Score: [/b] 73/100

If you hunger for more DnD after Baldur's Gate 3, this is the pick for you. Interesting story, intriguing world building and likable characters. Good combat mechanics, if a little wonky at times. But it's still early access. Can't wait for more!

As a longtime D&D tabletop player, Solasta II has really clicked with me so far. The interface, both in the menus and in game, is clean, minimalistic, and stays out of the way. There are a couple of little quirks that made me think, "Dang it," the first few times, but after an hour or two your muscle memory takes over and they stop being an issue. I'm only a few hours into the game, but the tactical combat has been excellent. The encounters have felt well balanced and rewarding. If you want more of a challenge, the game gives you a surprising number of difficulty options. You can adjust enemy health, damage, death and resurrection rules, and several other settings to make the game easier or much more punishing. Positioning really matters. You are rewarded for taking the high ground, controlling choke points, and keeping your squishier party members behind your tanks. The game doesn't let you simply charge into every fight expecting to win. Good tactics are rewarded, and poor positioning gets punished. That is exactly what I want from a tactical RPG. I also like how magic and resting are handled. If you've played tabletop D&D, the system feels immediately familiar. Managing spell slots, deciding when to use your more powerful abilities, and choosing the right time to take a long rest all feel very much like sitting around a D&D table. Resource management actually matters. Picking up additional party members feels natural instead of feeling like the game is simply handing you companions because the story requires it. The dialogue has been engaging enough that I actually want to listen to it. I'll mention up front that there is quite a bit of dialogue, but it has been well written and the cutscenes blend naturally into the gameplay instead of constantly interrupting it. The world travel has been one of my favorite surprises. If you grew up playing tabletop D&D, the hex-based travel immediately feels familiar. It captures the feel of moving a party across a campaign map remarkably well. I also appreciate that travel isn't completely scripted. There is a randomness to the encounters that keeps exploration interesting. You can reload from an earlier save and may or may not run into the same ambush you encountered before. That unpredictability makes the world feel less like it's running on rails and more like an actual tabletop campaign. Overall, the mechanics feel like playing D&D, just greatly sped up. You lose the tactile feel of rolling real dice, of course, but the game captures the spirit of the tabletop experience remarkably well. The graphics aren't trying to compete with the biggest AAA games, and honestly I think that's perfectly fine. They're clean, attractive, and most importantly they never get in the way of the gameplay. If I had one criticism, it's the dialogue animations. The characters' mouths sometimes move more like a ventriloquist's dummy than a real person. It's noticeable at first, but after a while I found myself paying attention to the conversations instead of the animations, and it stopped bothering me. I can't really comment on the game economy yet because I'm still early in the campaign. Crafting also isn't part of Early Access yet, so I don't feel there's enough there to judge those systems one way or the other. One thing I would love to see, assuming it isn't already planned, is a richer multiplayer experience. Tabletop D&D has always been about getting together with friends, and Solasta II already captures so much of that feeling. Expanding the multiplayer features with more cooperative options, persistent campaigns, or tools that make it feel even more like gathering around a table would take an already enjoyable game to another level for me. So far, I'm impressed. If you're looking for cutting-edge graphics and Hollywood-style cinematics, this probably isn't your game. But if you enjoy tactical combat and want one of the closest digital experiences to sitting around a D&D table with friends, Solasta II is off to a very promising start. I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves through Early Access.

It's pretty early in early access but the game is shaping up well in my opinion. It's standard-fare D&D where you make a party of heroes and send them to maps to fight monsters, disarm traps, solve a puzzle or two, and come out carrying a pile of 18 shortbows to sell to a merchant. Compared to the original Solasta, there are many quality of life changes including default options on level-up for those who don't know the D&D rules, better visualization of odds and limitations, and a clearer character sheet. The story is acceptable and the voice acting for the NPCs is often excellent. Maps are pretty and some of the places are imaginative and fun to travel through. If you like this genre it's a must-have I think. I thought I'd spend the rest of the review responding to the negative comments I've seen about the game for those on the fence about picking it. Here are my views about various complaints: COMPLAINERS: Nothing Is Good Here vs. Me: Lots of Good Things and Updates OK, look, it's D&D with tactical combat, but they now show the limits of your movement on the screen, give you hit percentages so you can pick wisely without doing the math yourself, auto-cast light when you're in the dark, and let you cast guidance when it's helpful. The world map is now a hex grid and it tells you whether a square was explored or not, and the dungeon maps -- while often funneling you along a single path -- are entertaining. I enjoyed the cutscenes and think the voice acting is much, MUCH better than Solasta I. I'm genuinely curious to find out what's up with Deorcas and whether the Beacon are secret bad guys or not. By moving us to a new part of Solasta, they bring back the magic of exploration, with new antagonists and cultures to enjoy. Some parts are genuinely magical like the Ka'Umm's magic wind chime devices. I will definitely play the rest of the campaign when it's done. RAGERS: My Characters Are Ugly! vs. Me: Check Out My Freckles and Soul Patch For all the hate on the creation tool you'd think there were no options there. You do need to click to see some of the advanced options for faces if you want to totally resculpt your look, but you have a lot of choices here for shape of the face, eye and hair color, and markings like scars, face tattoos, and freckles. It has a neat tool where you can reposition and rotate the markings so the same tattoo can look like a little skull on your cheek or paint your entire face with a skull mask. It takes some effort to learn it but my characters looked good. You can also skip that stage if you want by picking more generic defaults. Right now if I had a complaint it's that there are too few hairstyles, but it's early access, and the ones that are there aren't bad. I have a girl with curly black Minnie Driver hair and a fellow with a hippy gray long cut and a halfling who looks like an uglier Sendhil Ramamurthy with a soul patch. It's good enough for me. HATERS: It Is "Dumbed Down" vs. Me: And Thank God It Is. A lot of choices are made so that the game is more accessible by default and picks things for you or makes suggestions about, say, having someone who can use lockpicks in your party. If you played Solasta I you know it could be pretty inaccessible to non-D&D nerds, and they've got the distance on making it playable for them while still allowing you to do all the wonky min-maxing yourself if you want. I appreciate the tutorials on light and how weight works. In Solasta I, I honestly restarted a few times when I realized my characters were missing key skills or spells. This time it seems more forgiving and there are smart changes like showing a progress bar with a dumbbell next to it to show how much loot you have left before getting encumbered, line-of-sight markers that show amount of cover during battle, and estimates of your hit percentage when attacking or casting. All these interface upgrades are great. Similarly, the ability to repick on rest your cantrips and weapon proficiencies mean it's less likely you pick longsword (b/c who doesn't) only to find that the best weapon you find is a vorpal glaive guisarme +4 that you can't use. It seems less punitive and I think that's a good thing. THAT ONE POLISH GUY: It's Sooooo Woke vs. Me: Who Hurt You, Bro? Anyone who has played games knows that there's always that one guy who thinks the game is super-woke because there a bit part with a gay NPC and you can make your characters have brown skin or use she/her pronouns with a masculine body. You can also make all blonde guys with no hair and metal tattoos if you'd like. If this is a huge deal to you then maybe you need to go outside. French game designers correctly understand that games will sell better if you market them beyond the most alt-right online troll on earth. Their audience is "human beings who buy games" and that is a larger group than you personally. WHINERS: "It's Too Hard / Easy!" vs. Me: Difficulty Is Calibrated If you played Solasta I, you quickly learned never to stand next to ledges in the dark because Soraks are gonna bump you off the ledge while your blind-ass humans roll at disadvantage for darkness. Those dang things are hangin' off walls and pushing boulders on you and leaving a hundred traps on top of a jumping puzzle. Solasta II has a few hard battles (notably one with a bunch of spectres that fly and prevent you from healing) but playing on the "authentic" difficulty I was able to beat most fights the first time, albeit with some unconscious characters by the end. Like most D&D games there is a tension between saving your items and spells when you can't rest and the times you need to burn everything to beat a hard encounter, and this is sometimes not telegraphed well. For the most part in Solasta II you will be long resting after most fights so you can afford to use all your spells and abilities. You can also set the difficulty level down, and some people honestly should do that based on the comments in the Steam discussion board. Characters should be min-maxed with few exceptions and if they're not, use a lower difficulty to simulate an easier DM. In sum, I am enjoying it a lot and while no game is perfect (especially in early access), Solasta II is a worthy D&D adventure so far. I hope they will keep fixing bugs and expanding the story, which currently goes only to 4th Level. I'll also be curious to see whether they add back in some of the missing ancestries and classes from the first game, or those will be relegated to an expansion pack. Time will tell. For now I'm taking a break from the game but I'll return to it when more of the game is finished.