Review: Early Access Solasta II - A Promising Start

Solasta II has a complicated mission. Being an isometric RPG with characters, based on tabletop RPG rules with friends, and winning over the audience even before the campaign truly kicks into gear. All of this in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world!

But of course, it has plenty of potential and unique features that could help it stand out among RPGs like Pathfinder, Baldur's Gate, and Divinity. You can tell things are still being adjusted, some rough edges here and there, but at the same time, you can already sense that something good is happening.

The game doesn't try to hide that it's still in development, and maybe that's one of its most honest qualities. It invites you to try it out, to understand what already works, and to imagine how far it could go once complete.

From the very beginning, it's clear that the goal isn't to please everyone. Solasta II (official website) doesn't chase being fast or packed with combat. It wants you to think, to pause, to observe every move before acting. And that already says a lot about the kind of experience it aims to deliver.

Let's talk about the first impressions of Solasta II, and if you have any questions, leave a comment.

The story places you in the middle of a group of orphans. You and your siblings are returning home for your adoptive mother's funeral.

But here comes one of Solasta's first differentiators compared to other games. There's no fixed party. There's no rogue like Astarion or a cleric like Shadowheart. There are, of course, predefined characters, but they aren't the focus. Here, you can build your entire group from scratch.

Want to make a party of only dwarf bards? Recreate the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon group? Or maybe an all-male or all-female party? Want to make the Fellowship of the Ring? Want to recreate characters from Baldur's Gate or another game and put together a group? Anything goes. You can assemble the group however you like.

After setting up your group—whether from pre-made characters or building everyone from zero—you and your siblings set off on a journey. Along the way, you learn how the game works, whether by exploring the map, dealing with traps, or getting into your first battles, all very naturally.

Midway, you meet one of your other sisters, and she loses her head during the funeral, starting a ritual to try to bring her mother back. As you might guess, this goes very (very) wrong. Strange creatures appear, the temple descends into chaos, and in the midst of it all, a goddess appears, basically demanding that a "pact" be fulfilled. The scene is chaotic, but it works because it shatters any expectation that this would be just a calm introduction.

In the end, the group gets thrown into another continent, marked by this goddess, and burdened with the responsibility of understanding and completing this so-called pact. The story isn't incredibly deep yet, but it already has that hook that leaves you curious. The game clearly hasn't fully developed all of this yet, and much could change, but the beginning already shows that something interesting is being built there.

As mentioned earlier, one thing that stands out is the freedom to build your entire group from scratch. You're not locked into ready-made characters; you can create everyone the way you want, mix classes, invent combinations, and put together that classic RPG party or do something entirely different. That's very cool because it gives you that feeling of truly crafting your own adventure, but it lacks that one character who's the franchise's 'Pikachu'.

But not everything works that well. The character creator, especially the visual part, leaves something to be desired. Options are quite limited: few races, few classes, and almost no freedom to adjust the characters' bodies. Even hairstyles are reused identically for both genders, which gives a sense of something made with little effort. It works, it's usable, but it's far from exciting.

On the other hand, on the mechanical side, it does its job well. You can build a balanced group, test combinations, and explore possibilities, even if it doesn't yet have as much variety as it should. There's that feeling that the foundation is right, but it still needs more content and polish to truly shine.

If there's one area where Solasta II shows it knows what it's doing, it's the gameplay. It truly embraces D&D rules and doesn't try to simplify everything just to make it easier. That might even intimidate those who aren't used to it, but at the same time, it's what gives the game its personality.

One very interesting thing is how the game handles details that many games (and tabletop DMs) ignore: the use of metamagic components to cast spells.

Here, you actually need to have the necessary items in your inventory, which completely changes how you play and shop. You can't just go around casting spells; you need to prepare, buy things, keep them in your inventory (not in the camp chest), pay attention to what you're carrying, and that significantly changes the dynamic.

Another thing that makes a difference is the control option. Being able to choose between using WASD or clicking all the time seems simple, but it greatly improves the experience, especially during moments that require more control and faster reaction times.

Some people prefer exactly this more organized style, closer to games like Diablo. So it's not clearly a mistake, but it's the kind of choice that divides opinion. And the game doesn't try to please everyone on this point; it sticks to its own idea.

Even with the inevitable comparison to Baldur's Gate 3, you can see that Solasta II doesn't want to be just a copy. It tries to bring its own ideas, like the hexagon-style map, which strongly resembles those tabletop RPG maps.

Another interesting feature is the group dialogue system. Instead of just one character speaking, the entire group participates, with different personalities that can even conflict. This makes conversations livelier and less predictable, as if you're actually dealing with a group of different people rather than just controlling everything alone.

These details show that the game has its own identity. It might lag behind in some more cinematic or narrative areas, but it compensates in other ways that end up being even more interesting depending on what you're looking for.

Visually, the game has improved compared to the first one, but it still doesn't impress. There are moments when everything looks quite nice, but at other times, strange things pop up, especially in the character models. Sometimes faces look somewhat broken, as if something isn't working right beneath the skin.

The voice acting has also improved, but it still sounds a bit overdone at times, as if it's forcing too much emotion. It doesn't ruin the experience, but it stands out. And of course, as with any Early Access, bugs appear. Nothing absurd, but they're there, constantly reminding you that the game isn't finished yet.

There's also something important missing, like multiplayer mode, which will be added later. So, besides polish, there's still plenty of content to be added.

In the end, Solasta II already shows it has plenty of potential. It gets a lot right in gameplay, brings its own interesting ideas, and already delivers a solid foundation for those who enjoy this type of RPG. But it also makes it clear that there's still quite a bit missing, especially in content and polish.

If you were already interested in the game and like this style that's more faithful to D&D, you'll probably have fun even now. But if the idea is to get something more complete, it might be better to wait a bit. Because as it stands, it's more of a "teaser" than a fully finished experience.

And honestly, after playing or seeing all of this, there's that feeling that if they get the rest right, this game could grow quite a bit still.