I’m quietly amazed by Solasta 2. Here’s a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing experience like Baldur’s Gate 3 that actually seems on a par with Baldur’s Gate 3, for a change. The clarity with which French studio Tactical Adventures has transposed the hefty Dungeons & Dragons ruleset is astonishing; I actually prefer parts of this interpretation, which is a hell of a thing to say, given the quality of Larian’s game. And I don’t say that to foster an air of competition, but to stress how accomplished this is.
Presentation-wise, it impresses, too. In my preview build, there’s sumptuous detail in the Shire-like village environment, which is all hazy sunshine and swaying meadow flowers, and there’s high drama in the rocks and cliffsides suspended as if by magic around them. The characters look nice – this may be the most appealing interpretation of a halfling I’ve seen – and the kobolds bring humour with their harsh cockney accents and relentless wisecracks. I can’t stress enough how much this feels like playing Baldur’s Gate 3 – heck, Solasta 2’s main villain is even voiced by Baldur’s Gate 3 narrator Amelia Tyler – and for the team of 50 or so people making it, that’s incredibly impressive.
But let’s rewind a tiny bit because Solasta 2 hasn’t come out of nowhere. The studio’s previous game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister (which is very much the same thing), came out in 2021, and it amassed a lot of praise and goodwill for being a faithful video game recreation of Dungeons & Dragons. There’s pedigree here, then, but there are big changes afoot, too.
For starters, co-op multiplayer is the big new thing here, though it’s not in the game yet and probably won’t be until nearer its full 1.0 release. The plan, as it stands, is to launch into early access later this year. What I play (and what you can try in a Steam Next Fest demo) is a tiny two-hour-long pre-alpha portion of a presumably much larger game – and how much of the overall experience has been completed so far, I have no idea.
Nevertheless, I like what I see. It’s small details I appreciate, such as how all of your party members are included in conversations rather than just one of them. When you talk to someone, all of your team will proffer a response, often based on their individual strengths – charismatic characters might try to persuade someone or deceive them, whereas stronger characters might try to intimidate. This works a lot like in Baldur’s Gate 3, by the way: you’ll see their plusses and bonuses and decide which you want to use. Dice rolls, too, are done out front, with a big d20 die spinning on the screen as in Baldur’s Gate 3.
But I also like the confidence Solasta 2 shows in occasionally deviating from Dungeons & Dragons rules to provide a better video game experience. Take stealth, for example: it’s a subtle change, but when you enter stealth, a wobbly circle appears around a character to denote their noise radius. Heavier armoured tanks will usually have large circles around them while nimble rogues will have small ones. There’s also a notice-you gauge that fills before opponents actually notice you. Neither of these things are in the Dungeons & Dragons rules as written, but both make for a better and more intuitive playing experience, I think. There are a number of other “homebrew” rules pulled in like this (all of which are clearly labelled) and there are a number of homebrewed subclasses introduced, too. I’ve only read about these in blog posts, though, as it’s a level of detail the demo doesn’t offer yet.
Generally, though, Solasta 2 is a rigorously researched and meticulously implemented Dungeons & Dragons affair. And on that note, there’s a not-insignificant chance it will be the first major D&D video game to use the updated 2024 Dungeons & Dragons rules. Tactical Adventures is waiting on the official Systems Reference Document 5.2 to be released, which is expected to arrive within weeks of the 2025 Monster Manual coming out, the latter of which launched just this week on 18th February.
Everywhere in Solasta 2’s demo there is detail and expertise to appreciate. The characters have strong personalities and decent voice work – the dwarf is posh and not Scottish! – and there are multiple approaches to solving situations you’ll find yourself in. Do you talk, do you fight, do you sneak? Pathfinding is swift, with toggle-able click-to-move or direct-move controls, and you can jump and swim with the press of a button rather than having to select it as an ability, as in Baldur’s Gate 3. There’s a lot to like.
But there’s a lot to wonder about as well. I’ve seen but a glimpse of the game here, and I’ve no idea how much beyond this nicely realised area has actually been built. How much choice and consequence will there be in the wider world, for example, and how reactive will the story of the world and my companions be? All I know is there’s an evil villain on the loose and that me and my pals are all orphans with the same (later-given) surname – none of which strikes me as particularly interesting or original. But perhaps it will be: it’s so hard to tell. There’s so much left to see.
One thing is for certain though: there couldn’t be a better time for a game like this to slip into the void left by Baldur’s Gate 3. It arrives in a world both prepared and excited for exactly this kind of experience. Solasta 2 could do very well indeed.
