The land of Neokos is in danger once more, or at least, it will be in the future, as Solasta 2 is enteringEarly Access in 2025. Fans will get an early look at the game when a demo is released duringSteamNext Fest, but DualShockers had a chance to try it for the first Solasta 2 preview.
Set decades after the events of Solasta: Crown of the Magister, the new game follows four orphans who share the name Colwall. They travel to the fishing village of Tor Wen, to seek out an old friend.
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Unfortunately, the town has been attacked by a black dragon and suffers from repeated earthquakes. The four orphans decide to help the beleaguered townsfolk, only to encounter an ancient and terrible being from the past, revived in the modern day to cause havoc once more.
Gathering Your Party Before Venturing Forth
For those unfamiliar with the series, the Solasta games use theD&D 5e SRDas the basis of their gameplay. The TLDR explanation is that it uses the same rules asDungeons & Dragons 5e(also seen inBaldur’s Gate 3) but cannot use certain aspects of D&D’s lore and content. This is why it uses a unique setting, rather than plopping everyone in the Forgotten Realms.
The demo gives the player a set of four pre-made characters: Joralas the Elven Sorcerer, Daisy the Halfling Rogue, Neyra the Human Fighter/Cleric, and Knut the Dwarven Paladin. Whenever a dialogue begins, each is present and able to share their opinion, with all of their conversation skills applicable at once.
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Anyone who has played D&D or the original Solasta will be at home here, as it’s a faithful recreation of the 5e rules, right down to things like magic item attunement. For the newcomers, a robust tutorial system is in place to get them up to speed.
This means combat is turn-based and uses an action economy system. At the same time, character skills and dice rolls resolve many things outside of battle, including favorable responses in conversation and sneaking around enemies.
Exploring The New Dungeon
The Solasta 2 demo is broken into two sections: the fishing village and the caves beneath them. The village itself is pretty much a straight line, with alleyways cut off by obstacles, shepherding players towards the lone shop and a handful of NPCs.
There isn’t much in terms of dialogue choices or things to look at in the town, owing to the demo representing a vertical slice of gameplay that’s so early in development. It’s pretty much a straight run to the main quest.
One thing that can be said is the quality of the voice acting is leagues better than the first game. While it’s unclear exactly how the final game will handle the various party members, the NPCs are bursting with character, even if there currently aren’t many ways to influence them.
The dungeon section is more interesting, as it presents a handful of situations that can play out in different ways. The first is an encounter with aKobold dragon cultwho are holding a hostage, and the second involves fisherfolk who have become trapped further in the caves.
The Kobold camp has a few solutions, with the player able to just massacre them outright or try and convince them you’re on their side. This does have a tangible effect on the story, as the Kobolds can be allies later on.
The fisherfolk quest is less interesting, as it mostly involves punishing the player for taking a long rest, as this will leave them to die at the hands of crab monsters. As the Solasta 2 demo doesn’t provide experience points, the choice to save the fisherfolk has little bearing on the story or gameplay, though the final game will have a faction mechanic of some kind.
Those expecting to gothe Dark Urgeroute and become lords of evil will be disappointed, as the developers revealed in an interview before the demo launch that the game won’t have a villainous route. Players can certainly lean into the murderhobo stereotype, but ultimately, you’ll be playing a hero.
A New Age Of Evil Begins
The Solasta 2 demo has multiple battles, mostly involving giant crabs, as the Kobolds are optional. These large crustaceans don’t exactly provide interesting tactical battles, acting merely as cannon fodder for the player to get used to the rules.
The final two battles are more interesting, as they involve protecting a magical Nexus that is breaking apart. Here, the players must fight powerful corrupted Kivuli warriors (think Dragonborn from D&D), who explode when they die, similar to Draconians from D&D’s Dragonlance campaign.
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The second half of the final battle involves protecting the Nexus from a wave of Kivuli, with players needing to spend Actions to slow down the Nexus’ decline, while magical energies break apart the arena. This is an excellent way to conclude the demo and it shows the exciting tactical battles that can be done using the 5e rules.
Without spoiling the ending, the demo also concludes on a huge moment, perfectly setting up the full game’s events. Those who have played a certain other game will also notice something familiar about the ending, which we won’t spoil here…
The Baldur’s Gate 3 Question
Unlike its predecessor, Solasta 2 launches after Baldur’s Gate 3, and the comparisons between the two are inevitable, thanks to both using the D&D 5e rules.
It’s a big shadow for Solasta 2 to stand in and it’s unfortunate for the developers that they’re in this situation. However, it’s impossible for me to not bring it up, not when Baldur’s Gate 3 is the most acclaimed video game of all time, and I’m watching dice rolls for Charisma checks in Solasta 2.
So, to get it out there right now –the main comparisonbetween Solasta 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 is the D&D ruleset. It’s not attempting to be the same game, so don’t expect deep character interactions or bizarre run-throughs accomplished only by a massive number of player options.
Solasta 2 is closer to a standard dungeon crawl experience than Larian’s game, and I’m 100% on board with that. As a huge Dungeons & Dragons fan, I’m always hungry for more single-player CRPG experiences that emulate my favourite genre and worlds.
The Solasta 2 demo promises a much more epic experience than its predecessor, one that naturally expands the game world and the player experience alongside it. It’s just a shame that it’ll likely take several years before we can see the finished product, as we’re just now seeing the first steps to greatness.
TheSolasta 2 demo will be released on June 30, 2025, during Steam Next Fest. DualShockers was provided with a PC code for the demo for the purposes of this preview. Solasta 2 enters Early Access in 2025.
