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“Before the Cataclysm, there were no Gods on Solasta. No Humans either. Then the rift opened. Some say it was a magical accident... or the work of an evil god. No one knows for sure. The cataclysm destroyed the High Elf empire - Manacalon, they called it – and twisted the land beyond recognition. Now, only the brave and the foolish go there, in search of ancient treasures. But something is happening, deep in those badlands. Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”
Starting a new adventure, you will have to choose four new level one characters from six characters on offer. Although should you not like what’s on offer you can create four new characters. Firstly, you will have to choose your Ancestry, you have the options of Hill Dwarf, Snow Dwarf, Human, Half-Elf, High Elf, Sylvan Elf, Marsh Halfling and Island Halfling. Depending on which you choose will have an effect on their stats such as Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Languages and other abilities.
Next is to choose a class for each of your characters, you have the options of Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard. Each class grant certain features such as Saving Throw Proficiencies, Fight Armour Proficiencies, Fighter Weapon Proficiencies, Fighter Skills, Fighting Style and Second Wind for the Fighter Class. Each Class comes with a set of equipment which you can customise to your preferred liking.
Next is the Background selection, here you’ll decide your characters backgrounds, their alignments, personalities. There are eight backgrounds to choose from, they are Academic, Acolyte, Aristocrat, Law Keeper, Lowlife, Philosopher, Sellsword and Spy. After you’ll choose two Personality flags from your chosen background.
You have Six Core Abilities which define your characters, they are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Depending on your characters Ancestry, Backgrounds etcetera you may already have some points in these categories. However, now you’ll roll six dice ranging from Three to Twenty to determine your characters Ability Scores. After rolling the dice and seeing the dice scores, you then place the dice and their score into the ability of your choosing.
Afterwards you will need to choose your Fighting Style, there are six options on offer, Archery, Defence, Dueling, Great Weapon Fighting, Protection and Two Weapon Fighting, each will come with some sort of bonus. Next you have Proficiencies, you can choose proficiencies in Skills, Tools, Feats and Languages depending on your Ancestry, Class and Background. Finally, once you’ve decided all the prior options you enter the Character Creation stage. Here you’ll customise your characters look, Hair, Beard, Male, Female, Shape, Hair Colour.
Your adventure begins in a tavern where your four characters are drinking the local Donkey Piss as you wait to hear from Lord Carran about the Council job. While waiting each of your characters will tell a story about them which you will play out. As you proceed any new information about how the game works will open a window and will explain the ins and outs of the game. After visiting the Council, you will need to gather some supplies before heading out on your mission.
When venturing out into the wilderness from one location to another, you click on your destination on the world map. You will then start traveling to your destination, it can take some time in reaching your destination, three or so days depending on how far you have to travel. You will move automatically across the map to your destination with details of your travel in the Travel Journal in the bottom left corner of the screen. This Journal details everything from who caught some partridges, who you met, when you setup camp and anything else which your party did while traveling. Moving from location to location will allow you to Fast Travel back and forth between known places.
Sometimes you will encounter surprise attacks while camped, if this happens then you will have to defeat the enemies before moving on. Having been surprised you will miss the first turn of battle. Because you’re camping after the battle you’ll rest up, so, you can use any powers or spells you have to defeat the enemy and have them replenished after resting.
Battles will take place over an area depending on your surroundings, they could be lush green fields, within buildings or mountain paths. You can move your characters so many tiles depending on their Ancestry, Class etcetera. Should you have a ranged weapon you can attack from distance. Melee weapons for when you get up close and personal and want to see the colour of their eyes as you run them through. Using spells or any powers you may have are also an option while in battle and all can be found at the bottom of the screen. Using your surroundings can provide you with some cover from enemy attacks. Once you have finished with your character you need to end your turn, this will then move on to the next character. After your last character’s turn, it will shift to your enemy’s turn.
After a battle you’ll gain Experience Points which will level up your characters. A bag of Loot will appear in place of the defeated enemy. You can check the loot left behind, taking what you want or you can leave the bags behind and then members of the Scavenger’s Guild will collect any loot left behind. They will then split the earnings from the loot with you, this is great when there’s too much loot to carry or you don’t have many slots left in your inventory. Although I would check the loot first just in case there’s some decent gear and cash which would be better off in your inventory than being split between you and the guild.
In the settings you will find the options for Audio - Master Enabled, Master, Music, Effects and Voice Volume Sliders. Graphics - Fullscreen Mode, Resolution, V-Sync, Target Framerate, Quality Level, Custom Quality, Shadow Quality and Shadow Distance, Texture Quality, Volumetric Lighting Quality, Cloth Simulation Quality, Depth of Field, Ambient Occlusion, Anti-Aliasing, Brightness, Contrast.
Game - Texts Language, Display Tutorial, Reaction Timer, Reaction on Trap Detection, Focus Camera on Battle Actions, Preserve Randon Seed, Group Monster Initiatives, Prepare Spells in Portrait, Display Banter Text Above Characters, Autosave and Quicksave Count. GUI - Confine Cursor to Window, Only Show NPC Icon on Mouseover and Time Display Mode. Dice - Dice Visibility and Dice Style. General, Character Control and Camera Control.
The graphics are good, the sounds are fine and so far, the game has run with no problems. With the multiple ancestries, classes and fighting styles you’ll be able to create plenty of different characters to suit your gameplay. The dialog between the characters is good and funny with a little French here and there. The game is Early Access but so far, it’s looking good.
Positives
+ Lots of character customisation
+ Looks and runs great
+ Fun game
+ Crafting
Negative
- No achievements currently
- No cards currently
Lead four heroes into the badlands and solve the mystery of what is happening in the turn-based RPG game Solasta Crown of the Magister
7/10
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Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes via THE CPT FROGGY CLUB!
Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!
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