Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Basic game features like vanilla classes and races should not be locked behind a paywall. The base game gives you a handful of playable character types. If you want to be an orc, a druid, or many of the other classic d&d races and classes, expect to pay an additional $50 -$60 on top of the base game price to unlock them. Supporting companies that engage in these kinds of practices encourages more of this kind of behavior. Make your voice heard by refusing to buy

This is a well-made and refreshing take on the RPG formula. Admittedly, I've only played for 20-25h, but so far the game has managed to feel fresh throughout rather than feeling like a grind. In part, this may be because I'm new to the D&D 5e rules, but even if that is the case the game does a good job of implementing the ruleset in a manner that keeps combat interesting rather than mindless. The variation in available classes may be lacking compared to other offerings, but the choices you do have seem more meaningful and relevant. I'm also impressed with the way puzzles feel integrated with the system rather than feeling forced or out-of-place. The game embraces the 3rd dimension and several of the early puzzles are based on simply moving in a 3D environment. This is low-key compared to more traditional puzzles that requre activating switches or putting special things in special containers - but it feels much more integrated with the environment and make spells that enables special movement much more important and interesting. For example, I cannot recall ever considering "jump" to be a useful spell in a game before. The only downside I've seen thus far is the storytelling/acting. Mind you, I'm not saying it is bad - but it certainly compares unfavorably to many other games. Character models and especially faces aren't the best, and watching cutscenes makes me cringe slightly simply because most NPCs look too much like automaton rather than people. However, this is a point that I'm more than willing to overlook considering how the gameplay is very enjoyable otherwise. Bottom line - this game focuses more on balanced and interesting mechanics than on superficial looks. It breaks the mold and presents something limited but interesting, rather than massive and grind-y. It reminds me of Evil Islands in that the mechanics consistently surprise me by being deeper and more sophisticated than you might initially think.

It is a good, polished, game. As a player of the classics, I did enjoy this game for a while. I won't talk about the positives because I believe they are better represented in the other comments. What I didn't like was the lack of charisma of the NPCs. Creating all of your characters is also something that I don't like, as I prefer to know the characters through the story, their backgrounds, etc. I couldn't care about the game story either. The combat is a little dull, sometimes it dragged for a while. But this one could be my fault, as I have trouble focusing on anything lately. That's it. The game lacks a little charm and personality but it is a worthwhile experience.

Been playing this for 3 days and still can't figure out what it does to justify the hype and all the 5 star reviews. GFX: Worst in class. Models are NWN2 level (15 y/o), but even that at least displayed cloaks. And the facial hair, omg... it's first ventures into 3d level! They opted for this art style and botched it. Writing: Worst in class. Being in the same genre as the likes BG, MotB, Tyranny, PST and so on and so forth, this fall woefully short. The story, from what I've seen so far is meh, not awful. But the dialogues, jfc. Only Kingmaker is comparably hammy. And it's not helped by... VA: Worst in class. It's CRPG, if you can't afford good and consistent VA across the board, just get a few great ones and leave the rest as text only. UI: Horrific. Level up and anything around managing characters is a pain in the ass, stash and inventory management is a nightmare, no key binds for anything so lots of extra clicks. 1 example of this with something other games handle fine - you can't hit key to end turn, you have to click the UI, which moves. Design: DnD not giving them credit for. And even then, it's a bare bones implementation (there's 9 feats to rub together, lack of classes) and what's in is meh (crafting) or bad (food). What they did well is combat, action economy and jump&push gimmick. But they took it too far in level design and turned every level into "See what we did with this mechanic, check it out, try it, keep doing it" and not much else. It went from a feature to a chore. Gamebreakers: Ran into 2 and was close to refund until I figured out the cause. 1st wouldn't load a map, 2nd hid the UI in combat. Skip unless you've played everything in genre. Here's a small sample of games/series you can play before this: BG, IWD, PST, Torment, PoE, Wasteland, Fallout, Tyranny, NWN, Expeditions, Shadowrun, Battletech, DA, Stygian etc. Side note, what kind of idiot implemented a character limit on reviews, GOG?!

I have been a DnD fan since ADnD 2nd ed. I played it a ton during high school, power outages, and any other time I needed to scratch that RPG itch. I have been waiting a long time for a faithful simulation of the rulesets for the table top since the old MSDOS days when Stone Prophet and the like were big. This game truly gives that zen feeling I had when I sat down all those years ago with my compendiums and handbooks, and dice. The ability to create my own characters is a much needed respite from the tedium of the developer crafted, cookie cutter models we so often get with most AAA titles of this genre. The most impressive feature of the creation system is the way they handled AI personality for converstion, and the way they can interact with eachother during cutscenes if their personalities mesh; it's something truly special to behold. Certain personality combos will cause them to engage with witty banter, insults, etc. The rest of the game is your typical strategy RPG, using turn based mechanics, core rulesets, etc. to emulate the table top experience. The story so far as I have played is a pretty decent DnD campaign that is in it's own universe seperate from the overused Forgotten Realms. The graphics aren't the best I've ever seen, and most of that is due to the relatively low polygon count for characters; however, the texture graphics, shadows and lighting, and particle effects more than make up for this. This will most definitely go in my library as the top 10 favorites of any game I own.