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0 I recently got an early sneak peek at the Solasta: Lost Valley DLC and the upcoming addition of online multiplayer. Tactical Adventures set up the session to show off what they have been working on and it didn’t disappoint. I joined Mathieu Girard (CEO & Creative Director), Pierre Worgague (Marketing Director) & Emile Zhang (Community Lead) for an hour-long hands-on experience. I came into the session having played & reviewed the base game last year. Playing the turn-based fantasy RPG again was a pleasant reminder of what I enjoyed about Solasta in the first place.
Get ready to roll!
Alongside the DLC is the release of the online multiplayer for Solasta. Playing online co-op felt just as good, perhaps even better than similar games e.g. Baldur’s Gate 3 & Divinity Original Sin. Playing alongside Mathieu, Emile and Pierre was a fun experience especially as their friendship and fondness for Solasta were clear. And it reminded me of playing D&D in real life, both mechanically and communicating with the other party members.
Both the DLC and multiplayer are coming out on April 14th on PC.
The titular Lost Valley is a brand new setting with your party’s arrival kicking off the events of the adventure. The goal is to escape the valley which is under the rule of the Dominion, headed by the tyrannical Orenetis, by whichever means you see fit. However, in the meantime, there is a lot to discover in this long-forgotten region of the world. As well as dealing with Orenetis and those under his command, there are the various factions with whom alliances can shape your success. An alliance with one group can ruin your standing with the others and if it gets bad enough they may even attack the party on sight.
First thoughts
I sat down (via MS Teams) with the developers and they told me that player feedback was a driving force in the direction of the game. Solasta: Lost Valley is more open and has branching paths compared to the Crown of the Magister campaign. I played some of the swamp areas for almost an hour and feel I only saw a fraction of the content of the Lost Valley campaign. I enjoyed that it is more open and the freedom of the branch paths available, much like playing D&D and other tabletop RPGs. As well to a new setting, the DLC brings 9 new subclasses, one for each player class. I did ask and warlock & bard are a possibility in the future too. As for the new monsters such as the dryad queen, as for the others, I won’t spoil the surprise.
As a D&D player, the addition of the online multiplayer was welcome news. Solasta is the most similar video game to 5th edition I’ve played and so I felt very much like D&D. This was in large part to the very positive dynamic between Mathieu, Emile and Pierre. I saw the sort of shenanigans between the three like in a D&D session e.g. chasing a player with a moonbeam spell. Playing online felt seamless to set up and join games, both open and private. And as long as the host has it, all content including DLC is available to the players.
I learned first-hand exactly how the cooperative elements work here as multiplayer is included and retroactively for the base game. Levelling up is synchronised and so waits until everyone is ready. Also during combat, being able to see what the other players are doing felt like planning my own move was more efficient. And just like in a tabletop RPG session, travelling to new areas happens when the whole party is happy to go. I would be remiss to not mention the new content in the dungeon maker. You can now use the new locations e.g. the jungle and ancient city as well as custom encounters, rewards and more.
I have enjoyed each time I have played Solasta and the event with the Tactical Adventures team was no different. I am really looking forward to seeing what they bring next. And whether that is in the world of Solasta or a brand new license I can’t wait. If you want to read more about Solasta, check out my review of the base game right here (spoiler I gave it a gold thumbs up). Sadly I couldn’t find a trailer for the DLC but hopefully, the one for the base game will get you excited.
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