Solasta 2 Preview – A brief glimpse into Solasta’s new DnD adventure

For those of you who aren't familiar with DnD-like RPGs, here is how they work: you explore the world, make questionable decisions, and possibly become heroes (or villains), all while rolling dice to determine the outcomes of your actions. Now, Solasta is exactly like that, and it lands close to other popular RPG titles such as Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder, and Divinity. We've had the pleasure of getting an early preview of the Solasta 2 demo, and here is what we think about it.

Solasta 2 Demo Preview on PC

If you were a fan of everything that Solasta: Crown of the Magister was about, you'll be happy to hear that Solasta 2 won't veer off that recipe too much. Here are my first impressions of the game after experiencing the demo.

First, if you're a player that likes to be the hero and loves justice more than the Justice League, you'll love the fact that in Solasta, there are no really evil playthroughs, or at least that's the way it is in the demo. Instead, you're set to save the world, and depending on how well you play it out, it will probably be saved to a higher or a lower degree.

Now, if you're a DnD fan who likes to partake in occasional war criminal-type activities and see the world burn, then you will be disappointed unless the full game gives you more options to abandon your heroing and become the one true villain. The story of Solasta 2 as of now, however non-linear it may be, seems to be hardcoded to be that of heroes.

A potential issue is that there is very little glimpse of romance options, which we can all agree is something that you simply have to have in a DnD campaign. I mean, if an assassin starts flirting with me to reach an insanely important character, it should be within my right to overthink the whole situation and start fantasizing about wifeing her up and us settling down in Assassin Town and raising baby assassins, right?!

Well, the reality is that because there is no such thing yet in Solasta, you won't have to overthink it, and you will have almost no opportunity to sell out your whole playthrough for a chance to get action with a flirty homicidal maniac or whatever else you might fancy. I'm keeping my fingers and my toes crossed for more once the full game comes out.

The demo can't convey what the whole game will actually be about, so we'll have to wait and see how the story and dialogue will change and evolve. Instead, let's take a look at what makes those DnD sessions, as well as RPG playthroughs last for hours, and that's combat and exploration!

These haven't changed too much from the original Solasta, though the UI and the variety have been improved. Also, there is a bunch of new homebrewed content, including new spells, items, and whatnot. The only thing you might find lacking is the interaction between objects, terrain, and spells, which is often present in RPG games. For example, throwing oil on the ground and then hurling a fireball won't produce a much-anticipated blast.

Solasta 2's combat is really intuitive, and it gives you a lot of freedom when it comes to targeting and movement. Plus, abusing certain combat mechanics feels very natural, making even the newest of newbs into a DM-resented min-maxer in no time!

The last thing we should talk about is the world in which Solasta 2 takes place and how well that world will run on your machine. You'll see that even in the demo, the world is massive and incredibly detailed. However, it feels a bit empty when it comes to interaction, with not many chests, NPCs, and other things to steal... ehm... collect loot from. Still, this is probably a demo thing.

Now, regarding optimization, the Solasta 2 demo didn't feature DLSS or FSR, and all those world details will make even the best GPUs sweat to pull out solid framerates with everything maxed out. However, considering that the game is being made using UE5, implementing all the popular supersampling technologies later shouldn't be a problem.

That concludes our preview of the Solasta 2 demo. It seems promising to become one of the best options for any RPG fan out there, with a few more tweaks and a lot more story (on my hands and knees begging for romance).

If you're looking to play other RPGs, you can check out some of our guides such as Pathfinder WotR: A Dance of Masks Walkthrough – All choices & outcomes here on Pro Game Guides.