Solasta 2 Early Access Preview

Solasta 2 is entering Early Access on March 12, and DualShockers had a chance to preview this build ahead of launch. While the game shows incredible promise, it's currently held back by a ton of design and technical issues, signaling that it needs a bit more time in the oven.

The original Solasta: Crown of the Magister was an RPG that used the Dungeons & Dragons 5e rules, with some new subclasses and spells in the mix, and a unique setting. While Solasta: Crown of the Magister wasn't exactly known for its deep storytelling or lore, it offered a fix for anyone looking for some D&D/tabletop adventures, and it especially scratched the itch for those who love the combat & exploration aspects of the game.

I previewed an even earlier build of Solasta 2 over a year ago, one which offered a tiny slice of the game: a single town and dungeon. The Early Access build is much longer and far more in-depth, offering character creation and a glimpse of a much bigger story. Unfortunately, this increase in scope has brought a ton of technical issues that are too big to overlook.

Solasta 2 Has a Way Better Story & Setting Than Its Predecessor

I'm still struggling to remember the story of Solasta: Crown of the Magister. The whole experience was a threadbare excuse to visit dungeons in an escalating power curve. The same cannot be said of Solasta 2, which has an amazing story hook that had me way more invested in its opening hour than the entirety of its predecessor.

The player creates four siblings. They're all members of the Colwall family and were adopted into the same clan, explaining why they can belong to different fantasy species. The game starts with a funeral, as the party returns home to see off their mother, where they encounter her biological children, Rickard (Ben Starr) and Deorcas (Devora Wilda).

During the ceremony, Deorcas attempts to use necromancy on her mother's corpse, causing strange lizardlike beings to show up. What started as a normal funeral ends up with everyone being teleported to the other side of the world, arriving in Neokos, an uncharted continent with its own factions and ruling class.

Things take a turn for the worse when a goddess appears and forces the party to continue the "Covenant," a mission their mother was supposed to fulfill but died before she could. Each character is given a Mark of Oblivion, a bright tattoo on their arm to remind them of their mission, forcing them to take on a quest that's a mixture of the fal'Cie brand from Final Fantasy XIII with the Blood Oath from The Order of the Stick.

The game truly kicks off with the party stuck in an unknown land, with the wounded Rickard, as they follow the trail of Deorcas and learn the truth about the quest they've all been forced to take. This entire setup had me dying to learn more about the story, especially after seeing the events of the first preview, where an ancient evil returns to Neokos. I'm mad that I'll have to wait years before I can experience the full story.

Solasta 2 is Using the New D&D 5e Rules for Its Characters

Anyone who has played Baldur's Gate 3 or the original Solasta: Crown of the Magister should feel right at home when making their party in Solasta 2, as it's based on Dungeons & Dragons 5e rules. However, there are some differences. See, Wizards of the Coast released an update of the Dungeons & Dragons rules in 2024, which introduced several key changes to the game.

Firstly, Backgrounds are way more important, as they determine some of the bonus points you can put into stats, as well as give you an extra Feat from a list of weaker abilities called Origin Feats. These Origin Feats can make level 1 characters a bit more durable and even give them some extra spell options.

Secondly, there's a brand-new system called Weapon Mastery, which is used by the warrior classes and the Rogue. You select several Weapon Masteries when you level up or rest, and if you use that weapon in combat, it'll have an extra effect, such as longbows having the Slow ability, which reduces the enemy's movement speed. This introduces a major shake-up to which weapons the player will use and encourages more tactical thinking, especially for the Fighter.

The classes have all been changed to varying degrees. Sorcerers gain more powers that make them temporarily stronger, as well as gaining access to a powerful, exclusive Cantrip. Rogues acquire the Dead Aim ability, giving them Advantage on an attack if they don't move. Clerics can use their Channel Divinity for one-off attacks or healing spells, etc. Pretty much everything has new abilities in Solasta 2.

The Early Access build of Solasta 2 only has six classes (Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard) and four ancestries (Human, Dwarf, Halfling, and Elf), but there's already plenty of scope for diverse builds and party mixtures. It'll be exciting to see what can be accomplished in the final release.

One key system involving the party members is introduced early on: family roles. During the funeral, the player has to select the relationships the party members had with each other growing up, such as the golden child or the prankster. These are later reflected in dialogue options, injecting a ton of character into what would otherwise be four blocks of stats.

There's a Huge World Just Waiting to Be Explored

After arriving in Neokos, the party is quickly taken into custody and learns of the continent's warring factions. All is not well on Neokos, with rebels sabotaging a brutal regime, all while evil cultists and wild beasts roam the land. To secure the party's safety (as well as that of their wounded brother), they're drafted to help the regime, though they can help out the other factions on the sly.

Solasta 2 has a Faction system, similar to the Fallout games, where completing quests and having positive interactions with its members earn rewards, such as exclusive shop items, while also alienating warring groups. The Early Access build only offered a taste of the wider system, but its potential had me curious about how the story could potentially branch out.

As soon as you step out of the starting city, you're greeted with a hex map with uncharted territory, which the player maps out by exploring each area. This is very much my jam, having loved similar mechanics in Tomb of Annihilation and the exploration in the Pathfinder video games.

The party can move a certain number of hexes before they must rest, and they have a finite rations supply, though it's possible to forage for food. There are random encounters on the road, usually involving a skill check to resolve. The ones in the Early Access build weren't fascinating: most just involved fighting mobs of enemies, but this is a system I'd love to see fleshed out more.

The world map is a huge improvement over the first game, and I'm genuinely excited to uncover the secrets of Neokos once the game is finished, especially once the level cap is higher – it only hits 4 in the current build, which shouldn't take too long to reach.

Solasta 2 Isn't Even Ready for Early Access

Unfortunately, all isn't well with Solasta 2. The Early Access build, in short, is a mess. It's way less polished than the earlier preview, likely because it's so much bigger. By far the most prominent issue with Solasta 2 was a recurring glitch that caused a crash to the desktop whenever I left an area, preventing me from finishing the current Early Access build. It became unavoidable over time, despite my efforts to mitigate it.

Outside of that gargantuan technical hiccup, the Early Access build is rife with bugs, such as enemies standing around doing nothing or attacking walls. There were also countless visual issues, but these are more forgivable, as they don't affect the core gameplay experience.

There are also some design flaws that need to be resolved, the first of which is a system involving Aether Pearls. See, in Solasta 2, the game doesn't let any of the party members stay dead after a fight. Luckily, Aether Pearls can bring them back to life, but if you run out, it's game over.

This system needs to be removed, or at least have a toggle in the normal difficulty. It's no fun having to start over a lengthy battle due to the enemy getting lucky critical hits in a row, and the party not having enough pearls to save everyone. Just explain it as the Mark of Oblivion saving everyone from death's door, and only have a game over if everyone dies in the same battle.

The other issue is enemy speed. The battles in Solasta 2 can involve lots of foes at once, and their turns can be agonizingly slow. I often found myself switching to another tab or my phone when several enemies acted in a row. The game badly needs a fast-forward or a swarm action function for enemy turns.

One minor but recurring flaw is terrain blocking ranged attacks. The game doesn't indicate whether an attack will automatically miss due to the enemy being too high/low, or if something is in the way. This feels like an easy fix, and hopefully will be gone from the game soon.

Solasta 2 also adheres to the Dungeons & Dragons rules a little too closely at times, such as needing an Arcane/Divine/Druidic Focus for spells. This can be frustrating for people who take the Origin Feat that grants access to Cantrips, as the player can't actually use them without using equipment slots. This is another system that should be optional.

Solasta 2 has me extremely excited about the final release. It's a huge step up from its predecessor in terms of narrative and engaging systems that exist alongside the usual Dungeons & Dragons adventures. However, it's not ready for Early Access, and players might want to hold off for a few more patches and updates before diving in, as the technical issues are holding the project back. I don't expect the full release to arrive for a long time.