Tactical role -playing games like Baldur’s Gate are very popular. With Solasta II, a top alternative can be tested. Meinmmo editor Benedikt Schlotmann fell into the adventure and was particularly surprised by crabs.
I am an RPG gamer of the old school, I loved the old parts of Baldur’s Gate. I put more than 1,000 hours alone in the first two parts of the series, plus dozens of hours in Pathfinder. I even dedicated some time to the rather mediocre Pillars of Eternity.
Now, after only 2 hours in the Solasta II demo, I can hardly wait to look at the new game. The first 30 minutes were boring.
But at the latest after a fight against harmless crabs, Solasta II then fully caught me. And that did not subside until the end after a good 2 hours. From the many demos of the “Steam Next” festival, none demo picked me up as positively as Solasta II-despite the tough start.
The Solasta II demo is currently free on Steam and definitely worth a look.
Here you can see the official trailer for Solasta II:
Solasta 2: Trailer for the demo for the role -playing game on Steam
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The boring “floodplain” and the first crisp struggle
At the beginning of the game you will be thrown into a beautiful world. A cute village that is a little reminiscent of Hobbingen in the “Auenland”. And probably just as boring. Graphically, the village and the surrounding area are really impressive: steep coasts with bridges that lead over deep gorges and connect the village. Ruins, in the destroyed windows the sunlight breaks. Water that claps against the rocks. What a backdrop!
But otherwise everything seems very sterile and almost too clean: yes, everything is damn pretty and looks great, but you can use almost nothing: walking around, but are not available, you cannot use the environment to defeat opponents or enter houses. As a result, the start looks very lengthy.
In the beginning I ask myself: Man looks great, but where does the gameplay stay?
But after a good 30 minutes the game wins at speed, because a little later I reach the beach, where I am surprised by several nasty crabs. And for a few harmless crustaceans, they can not only hand out quite a bit, but also to plug it in.
In the combat system, the game finally shows what it has to offer with the gameplay: I place my characters, use higher areas in a targeted manner or hunt my opponent a fire spell around my ears. In the first fight I also lose my thief because I overlooked that the stupid crabs have a ranged attack and can spit acidity. Unfortunately, the lady does not survive. After all, I can bring her back to life.
I attack a huge crab with my melee fighters next to be surprised by an area attack that I have not seen a little later. I survive the first fight with more luck than mind. After that it works much better.
After the fight you can make your first decision in the short demo. Because you have to decide how to solve the next quest:
I chose the third option. But the Goblins look a little as if they had watched too much Star Wars: I have the feeling of talking to Jar Jar Binks with the Goblins leader. I do not reveal what effects the conversation in the end.
By the end of the game I am employed for a good 50 minutes. The last fight of the game was particularly successful, where the developers have literally pulled all the registers. For those who want to play the struggle spoiler -free, skipped the next section:
Attention Spoiler: Here you can read what the end looks like.
You should defend a temple and have to defeat all opponents. At the same time, however, the shrine threatens to explode and the floor continues to dissolve each round. The opponents also have their own pitfalls again and surprised me as nasty as annoying crabs in front of it.
After the final fight, the game stops very abruptly, but I felt very well entertained by the final alone. So it was worth it not to give up the demo after 30 minutes
And that is exactly what I want for the final game: more of the crisp, great staged fights and run around less around with a pretty but much too sterile backdrop.
Empty game world, long -winded beginning and many questions behind the performance
Pretty but empty game world: After a good 2 hours, I feel very well entertained overall and look forward to the start of the Early Access from Solasta II. But there are also a few things that I don’t like.
The game world looks really great and is really handsome with the village, the steep cliffs and gorges. But at the same time everything looks so sterile and lifeless. I hope that the world is full of release. So far everything has been very scenic.
As a result, the beginning of the game seems very lengthy and does not encourage me to discover the world. Because I can’t use anything anyway.
If not yet mentioned: Solasta II looks really great. Here are three different views from around 2 hours of play. Pictures in WQHD resolution.
The technology could be a problem: And another thing that concerns me: the game relies on the unreal engine 5 and looks damn chic. The interplay between light and shadow is really great and the village on the coast looks really good. But in the past, all games that rely on the Unreal Engine 5 fought with bad performance problems (via vg247.com).
The demo ran great and stable at 60 fps, but at the start of the early access it could look different. In the end, it really depends on the optimization of the game by the developers.
Incidentally, I played with a Ryzen 7 7800x3d and an RX 6700 XT on an ultraWide monitor with UWQHD resolution. And here everything went without any problems with the highest settings on a stable 60 fps
What I couldn’t test either: the multiplayer. Because the demo is only available in the single player. Incidentally, it has significantly improved the predecessor. You can read more about the predecessor, Solasta, in the following article: The new co-op mode is exactly what Solasta needs on Steam-a real role-playing tip