The story, or at least the first dozen hours, never builds much beyond exploring the Badlands-in generic D&D, it's always the Badlands-and fearing the return of an ancient race of powerful lizardfolk. There's a council of boring talking heads and several forgettable factions. Unfortunately they arrived in a land of orcs, elves, goblins, and dwarves that can't help but feel like off-brand D&D in a generic fantasy world. Humans arrived through a cataclysmic portal as refugees, creating a dangerous wilderness in its wake, rife for adventurers. The world of Solasta is entirely original and sets up a few interesting elements. We won't be adventuring along the Sword Coast and battling beholders, but we will be creating a custom party of four heroes using five familiar races and six classic D&D classes like Fighter, Rogue, and Cleric.
Solastsa adapts the 5e rules via the Open Gaming License, which doesn't include the D&D worlds or trademark creatures. While it may forever lurk in the shadow of Baldur's Gate 3, its crunchy, dice-heavy combat is just what I want in a lean adaptation of the tabletop RPG. This is a game where combat is on a grid, where every d20 rolls on screen, and where jumping away from enemies is a sometimes-treat rather than a regular part of every meal.
