This game has a native multiplayer / Lobby system that does not require Galaxy or another wrapper to work, which means that Crossplay with other stores works flawlessly. However, there doesn't seem to be a "direct connection" option, so when the lobby servers are inevitably taken offline, MP will be lost. My only other gripe is that there occasionally are desyncs, which result, in my experience, either in item misappropriation / ghosting, or stuck battles where the client falsely keeps waiting for the host. Probably instead of TCP they use UDP for game traffic, which is ill-advised for internet use. On the plus side, since you can save anytime, this is easily remedied. Another reviewer found that the banter / dialogue is too long or overly verbose, I find it quite enjoyable, the perfect balance both between too minimalistic "go there, get this" and being a litany, and between too serious and too light-hearted. It is possibly the choice of different character traits that influences the latter, though. In fact, occasionally I find some quests end a little abruptly, where I'd at least have expected a closing remark from the respective NPCs the next time being talked to. Also, the voice acting is very good, I've not encountered any severely unfitting intonation or emphasis, which is rare. I'm using the english language, so other localisations may vary in quality. And while it's true that there isn't a lot of depth to the RPG side, there is enough story and "in-between" to keep people like me interested, who are neither keen for nor against tactical, battle-oriented games. If I were to play it solo, then maybe the lack of meaningful choice would be detrimental? Additionally, such games often suffer from graphical neglect (low-poly models / bland textures), which Solasta clearly doesn't. Speaking of tactics, sadly it's often hard or impractical to get opponents into places where you could "use the environment", but possibly mind control spells would work here, so YMMV.
The title states it. I bought this SOLELY for multiplayer but even while having Galaxy running, even having installed NG through Galaxy, it insists that I am "not connected". Has been through several updates since then and also through two Galaxy updates, no change. No version of Galaxy, even the old 1.2.x, has worked. All other titles multiplay just fine, and obviously my internet connection is working, otherwise Galaxy would have failed to download this in the first place. Changing the region ingame only makes things worse because it gets stuck in a server finding loop and greys out even the singleplayer "Bifrost" campaigns until the game is restarted. There is no meaningful error message, no log, nothing to help me diagnose or remedy or at least point out the cause of the issue. Very bad coding practice, makes debugging near impossible. This is on Windows 7 which is listed as being supported. -2 stars for not working MP -1 star for lack of error diagnosis -2 stars for requiring Galaxy at all Zero stars in total, but I seem to have to give at least one, so +1 start because it at least starts.
The game has an interesting setting and the visuals are very well executed, the voice acting is very good and the characters are believable (playing in english). The lore is presented through messages, posters and letters that can be found and read. The atmosphere is rather dark and there is no shortage of maimed bodies in later chapters, the preview images didn't do it justice IMO. Sadly, the special architecture and grandness are often drowned out by that, possibly intentionally. The more technically inclined should not look too closely at the devices presented, but the "artistic freedom" doesn't show as boldly as in other titles. There seems to be a collectible system judging from messages when finding some objects, but you cannot look at the collection from ingame. Sadly, there seems to be no way to rebind controls, which makes it hard for me to play, especially during the occasional "action scenes". Screen resolution is detected OK but not applied properly (1280x1024 in my case). Thus, the main menu text is offscreen, but once you find the correct entry you can set it to windowed and adjust the vertical resolution until it fits horizontally (in fullscreen mode, the videos are OK with horizontal bars, but the game runs in max. vertical size and scales off screen horizontally). Another common issue is that the intro is quite long and unskippable, even after having an ongoing game. This is just not good design practice. The intros are cool, but after the first five times I'd still like to skip them most of the time. Loading times are long, but that's on max. settings running off an old harddrive on my Athlon X4 950 with GTX 760. It's struggling, but playable with some major stutters, even the "action scenes" are doable (but not pleasant). I'm not sure they actually add to the game, but they're not too bad (until now at least). Lastly, the game only autosaves, and only at certain points, like old console titles, so you cannot play in short sessions (not good)!
It's the original version with the latest official patches applied, so old savefiles and mods should work (mine did)! In 2022, the Wolfs Lair and Dagda bugs have been !! FIXED BY THE COMMUNITY !! (EoC Community Patch - 22 September 2022), see this link: https://i-war2.com/downloads/download/4-patches-fixes/435-eoc-community-patch-22-september-2022 Up in the link hierarchy you can get the missing CD drive fix as well in case you require it, and full HD cinematics. https://i-war2.com/downloads/category/4-patches-fixes Just don't use any whitespaces or other special characters in the folder name for the mod: it will be shown and selectable, but won't actually load and not stay selected (probably applies to all mods). The game itself is, as Beckett wrote, on the hard side because only being able to save in the base can be very punishing (I've lost countless hours due to that). The keyboard setup (no mouse outside of menus!) is, while not horrible, not great, and it cannot be changed. Also, in-flight menu navigation replaces ship info, and some keys overlap, so you'll have an unnecessarily hard time changing ship settings during a fight. Targetting via the contact list is hit and miss as contacts scroll through depending on proximity, so you will be hunting the target both in the menu as well as in space. There's hotkeys for enemy contacts but not for the juicy freighters. ;) The original game box included a keyboard reference card, which should have been added to the digital-only version. You can get a scan here: https://i-war2.com/downloads/download/34-goodies/260-i-war-2-keyboard-reference-card Print it (maybe a second screen works), as the game black screens if you tabb out of it (at least for me). In the home base, your navigation buttons are on the tiny side when using present-day resolutions. The autopilot also needs to be carefully observed: when set to "approach", it'll try to go right to the center, nevermind the hull size. Still, a very solid game IMO!
