Solasta: Crown of the Magister Review (Alvin the Elf)
Lacks polish, but still fun
Disclaimer: I played after the Palace of Ice DLC was released, so my review reflects the present state of the game, not how it was on release.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a faithful adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset, but the game focuses more on combat and exploration than the role playing elements, which may be fun for some and disappointing for others. I myself had fun with the campaigns and building characters, but it's difficult to overlook how rough it is around the edges.
I'll go over the different aspects in brief here.
The Good:
1. The combat is easy enough to get into but might be a challenge, especially later on, and in higher difficulties. The enemies are varied and unique. You have to learn about them and be careful about their strengths and weaknesses. This, along with the different classes and sub-classes in character creation, opens up a lot of different tactical styles and opportunities. The utilisation of light sources is one aspect I found very interesting.
2. Exploration can be rewarding. While the best gear are often crafted and not found (at least in the CotM campaign), you will still need to find the recipes and materials. The magic items you find around the world are randomized, so you might get lucky and find something that would carry you throughout the majority of the game.
3. The setting of the story is not too unique, but it is still enjoyable. The lore is simple yet intriguing. It is deep enough to keep you invested but not so deep that you feel utterly lost and clueless.
4. The built-in dungeon creator is excellent. It has helped creators to make a good number of custom dungeons that might keep you busy for a long time. And you can always try to create your own stories and host your own games for your friends.
The Bad:
1. The graphics isn't the greatest. And I'm not talking about realism. It's the art style. The environment is fine, but the characters look bland and soulless. The beards look fake and glued on. There isn't enough variety in weapon and armor models.
2. There is little to no scope for actual role-playing outside combat. Most of the skills are next to useless. The conversation skills may be used to skip a few fights, but that's it. And that feels counter-intuitive when you realise that combat is the only well-designed part of the gameplay.
3. There is very little player agency. Most of the quests will be linear with no choice. Even the factions don't matter other than the gear you want to buy from them.
4. Your choice of ancestry (sometimes known as race) or class is never mentioned in the campaigns except once in one of the DLCs, even that is only a mention of whether you are an elf or not. It feels very jarring because NPCs will mention their feelings about your ancestry to your face while never acknowledging that you are from that ancestry.
The Average:
1. The personality tags are an excellent idea in theory, but in practicality it can be unreliable. During character creation you can give your character certain parameters, which they are supposed to maintain in conversation, but it doesn't always work. My heavily altruistic and kind Cleric ends up suggesting that the party should be selfish. My cynic and pragmatist Rogue thinks they should be respectful to people's blind beliefs. But I still believe this particular idea has merit and could be developed more carefully in a future game.
2. The overland travel is fun at first, when you run into occasional bandit or goblin groups, but it soon loses its charm and the random encounters trigger so often that it becomes a chore, especially when you are just trying to submit a quest quickly and run into a group of high level undead monsters.
3. While there are many possible fun character builds, the game lacks the more interesting feats and sub-classes from 5e. Thankfully there are mods for that.
Conclusion
Despite the drawbacks, Solasta can be a fun game to relax and unwind with, just as long as you don't expect something along the lines of Neverwinter Nights 2, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, or Baldur's Gate 3. The writing is not the game's strong suit. But if you miss your old high school D&D parties and want to have a quick adventure into the Badlands with a group of trusted but flawed characters, you'll enjoy this game quite a bit. I know I did.
Final verdict: 07 / 10