Solasta - Features Trailer & Previews

Enjoy a first look at how to create a fully customized party, by choosing among a wide range of races, classes & subclasses, background stories & abilities, to maximize synergies and potential while adventuring. Wizards of the Coast has granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 content and rules in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

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As we move closer to first-person photorealism in games, making it hard to differentiate real life from the life gamers live on-screen, a specific genre is moving in a different direction. The golden age of top-down RPGs is now with games such as Divinity: Original Sin II, Wasteland 3, Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate III exciting an audience broader than many previously would have expected. A newcomer taking centre stage on this particular scene is indie studio Tactical Adventures and its game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister. While plenty of things set it apart from its competitors, the one that will surely get people the most excited is the fact that it has the license for the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 ruleset (a whopping 95% of the rules from the 5.1 have been implemented). This means that not only is the developer looking to wow the fans and potential players of top-down RPGs, it also has the chance to welcome the tabletop and pen & paper crowd with an experience that's faithful to the well-loved source material yet also brand-new.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister lets its players experience the depth, intrigue, tactics and deep storytelling elements of tabletop games without needing a set group to play with. You'll be controlling four characters, all of which you yourself get to build. Being a fantasy RPG, Solasta has plenty of options for you to pick from and we got to see five, three of which had subraces to choose from (hill dwarf/snow dwarf, high elf/sylvan elf, and marsh halfling/island halfling), with the two left being half-elf and human. Each race has special features as well so if you're dead-set on playing the game in a specific way, you need to pay attention to which features you end up with. The one we picked, high elf, had stat alterations based on being an elf first and foremost; this meant that she had a base dexterity of +1, an advantage against the 'Charm' debuff, immunity to 'Magical Sleep', had the stat 'Dark Vision' that let her see normally in dim light and see natural darkness as dim light. For the high elf subrace, she received a base intelligence of +1, proficiency with longswords, shortswords, short bows and longbow, had the ability to choose one wizard cantrip and intelligence as the spellcasting ability. We thought the race options were grand to start but more are set to arrive as development progresses.

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During the course of the preview, Girard gave us the option of deciding which character and class we wanted to see shown off. After choosing a Snow Dwarf Cleric, Girard informed us, "You actually chose very well, because Dwarves and Clerics have the most customization options in the game so far." He wasn't wrong either as Clerics in the game have a range of different gods to choose from, which provide them with different skills and spells. There were many options for designing a character's looks as well, including different beards and hair styles.

Tactical Adventures has remained faithful to 5th Edition when it comes to backgrounds, but also adapted them into Solasta: Crown of the Magister in new ways. "Each background is going to define a story arc for this character, so players will have four different story arcs for their party. Each one will give the player a sidequest that unlocks a different part of the game," explains Girard. Just like in D&D, backgrounds grant players different skill proficiencies and abilities. Solasta also has a new system called "personality flags." Depending on what alignment and background the player chooses, they will receive specific personality traits that influence how the character behaves during cutscenes and narration. There will also be different dialogue options based on what a character's personality is.

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While it's still a bit early to tell how well Tactical Adventures' weaves its tale, it is evident that the team has spent a wealth of time making fallen Manacalon look unique. Hopefully, that quality will carry over to the quality of the exposition. As a party entered into the depths of a murky dungeon, there was some elaborate visual work, showing deteriorated limestone tiling and frail scaffolding undoubtedly left by previous explorers. Beyond evocative lighting emitted by campfires and hanging lanterns, both interior and exterior locales exhibited an abundance of verticality. Pleasingly, illumination isn't just for mood. Purportedly,

The multitude of staircases and ladders weren't just there for visual variety. Early on, Girard pitted a party against a bridge full of marauders. While some died from melee or ranged attacks during the snappy, turn-based battle, one unlucky foe was pushed off the bridge and tumbled helplessly to the ground below. This seemed to be a recurring theme during encounters. Staying true to their name, Tactical Adventures offered a multitude of ways to dispatch foes, and it was hinted at the campaign would shun being a liner affair.

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gabrielarantest said:

Looking good. They could only improve the UI that still very ugly.

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rune_74 said:

When is the release date for this?

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rjshae said:

Initially I got the impression this was just going to be a dungeon crawl, but adding outdoor elements definitely gives it a bigger scope. I like what I've seen of it. The vertical features reminds me of the implementation in D:OS2; it can add more tactical possibilities to an encounter and make exploration more interesting.

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Arkadia7 said:

I didn't think this game was very impressive in the demo, and still not impressed, tbh.
I guess I just don't understand the appeal of "verticality! wooo hoooo, everything is vertical!" and why I should be excited for that.

Indeed, it makes me wonder why everything in this world seems to be based on being vertical, and that seems weird to me. No flat land or places where there are no platforms and/or stairways? Huh. Maybe its just me, but not feeling the thrill of the basic concept of verticality.

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SSIGuy said:

Aesthetically, I love the UI - think it looks really good.

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