By Solasta: Crown of the Magister, a game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons that closely adheres to the rules of the tabletop game’s fifth edition, appears to have launched prematurely. Despite receiving positive reviews upon its release in 2021, the RPG did not break into the mainstream. However, we now exist in a post-Baldur’s Gate 3 landscape, which made significant waves in the gaming sector (GameSpot awarded it our Game of the Year for 2023), and games reliant on dice mechanics are now receiving a level of attention they previously did not have. Solasta II is launching into a much more advantageous situation compared to its predecessor and seems to be an excellent option for those who enjoyed Baldur’s Gate 3 but are now looking for a title that aligns more closely with the experience of playing Dungeons & Dragons.
I played around an hour of Solasta II, and the most impressive aspect of the demo was how rigorously the game adheres to the guidelines of D&D 5e compared to a title like Baldur’s Gate 3. For instance, you cannot drink a health potion and perform a melee attack in the same turn. Baldur’s Gate 3 embraces a more commonly homebrewed rule (now established in the latest edition of D&D) that allows drinking a health potion to be considered a bonus action rather than a full action, permitting players to save their action for an attack and use the bonus action to heal within the same turn. This, however, does not align with the strict rules of D&D 5e, and thus, it reflects how Solasta II operates. This consistency seems to apply throughout Solasta II, and while I appreciate its strictness, it also emphasizes certain flaws present in D&D 5e that games like Baldur’s Gate 3 have adeptly sidestepped by modifying their mechanics.
Setting aside the comparisons to Baldur’s Gate 3, the combat otherwise feels fantastic. Understanding when to utilize my Rogue’s unique cunning action ability to allow a bonus action move, thus freeing her main action to attack an opponent being engaged by the Fighter (a scenario that enables me to apply sneak attack damage!) was satisfying. I was often rewarded for considering my actions carefully before engaging a target. Knowing when and how to use resources is crucial, as Solasta II tracks ammunition (meaning I had to keep count of how many arrows my shortbow-wielding sorcerer had on hand), and there seems to be a risk-versus-reward element tied to the resting mechanic, as the first time I attempted to camp to recover health and recharge the party’s abilities, one of the party members cryptically cautioned that doing so might consume too much time, implying I could potentially miss out on future quests. This added a layer of urgency to what initially seemed like an optional objective in the demo, but I am curious to see if this same urgency applies to parts of the main story and how generally resting might cause a player to miss a quest.
The main storyline involves taking control of four adventurers—a dwarf, an elf, a human, and a gnome—who are adoptive siblings. These brothers and sisters are traveling together on a quest linked to their adopted family name and the legacy they all share, which brings them into conflict with an ancient evil. It all seems like a classic narrative setup, although I only got a glimpse of this unfold in the demo. The voice acting feels strong, and although face models occasionally dip into the uncanny valley, they are generally more expressive and convey added emotion to the scene, which players can perceive even if all four protagonists fail their Perception checks.
I am particularly eager to see how the complete game tackles the role-playing aspect. Unlike other RPGs where you create a crew of characters with various strengths and weaknesses, where typically a single character speaks throughout discussions, all four members of the adventuring party in Solasta II are fully voiced and contribute to every conversation. The game presents all available dialogue options for each party member, indicating which bonuses each option provides to the dice roll—allowing you to see how the dwarf Paladin’s high Persuasion makes him more adept at convincing others while the human Fighter’s strong Perception enables her to discern if the individual you’re speaking with is deceiving you.
This is incredibly exciting and feels like it has the potential to mirror the essence of being part of a team rather than having a single proficient spokesperson leading a squad, reminiscent of Mass Effect’s Shepard or Baldur’s Gate 3’s Tav. The demo did not provide an opportunity to witness how conversation outcomes might evolve into consequences, preventing me from definitively stating that this represents the team-oriented, choice-driven dialogue I have long desired in my narrative RPGs. Nevertheless, I see the intriguing potential and am excited to see how it develops in the full game.
Each of the four characters can either be controlled as a group or individually using the keyboard instead of solely relying on mouse clicks outside of combat, making it more straightforward.