How are you doing, adventurers?

After learning about Neokos, you may think exploring it will be a leisurely stroll. Sure, you may run into a few bandits and monsters, but nothing a good walloping can’t fix, right? WRONG! As your party grows stronger, the various factions of Neokos will seek to know about your… dispositions. Are you friends? Or foes?

Simba bellyrubs only unlock after you're done with the Feline faction questline. Now get to it!

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A powerful mage once said I am a Beacon of knowledge blazing out across a black sea of ignorance - oh wait, “wrong game” I’m being told. Regardless, one could argue that members of the Beacon probably regard themselves as such.

Originally established by a large expedition from overseas, the Beacon was named as such as they were “bringing the light of the Manacalon Empire” to the savage lands of Neokos. Their expansion efforts started with carefully prepared intelligence work, staging local revolts to destabilize the established Siklas empire while the main forces landed. With strong arcane prowess and military might bolstered by the massive army of slaves Manacalon is known for, the Beacon quickly wrestled almost half the continent away.

This aggressive expansion was suddenly halted by the Cataclysm - in the ensuing chaos, most of the slaves they brought along escaped their shackles and turned onto their masters. The Beacon, suddenly losing massive amounts of manpower and access to their most powerful tool, arcane magic, had to quickly retreat. With the inability to get reinforcement from Ferendragh and the fall of the Manacalon Empire, the Beacon ended up confined to the northern peninsula of this continent, with Caer Mar as its main fortress.

Over the centuries since the Cataclysm, the Beacon has switched to a more diplomatic approach. Everyone knows it would take too much bloodshed to completely wipe them out due to their fortified position and geographic advantage - and with the tenuous relations between the other factions, the Beacon’s existence is… mostly accepted.

A remnant of Manacalon, Caer Mar is still governed by strong laws and guards posted on every wall, ruled by a certain Lady Anabasia with a silken glove wrapped around an iron fist. However, the great city has long since opened its doors to travelers and merchants - these days, it is not rare to find people from other factions perusing wares or sampling ales in the streets of Caer Mar… although one wrong word and you could quickly find yourself rotting in dungeon cells for a long, long time.
Named after Argad Ironfist, the main leader of the massive slave revolt following the Cataclysm, the Argad Republic is an aggregation of folks of any kind, from anywhere, who value personal freedom above all. Its people refer to themselves as Argeides, Argads or even “The Free” - which is a perfect reflection of the fact that the Argad Republic is not a monolithic faction.

In fact, it is a faction full of contradictions. While they value freedom and equality, they also tend to have militaristic tendencies against those who do not share their view of the world. That same equality which is paramount to an Argad often only applies to other Argads, not to outsiders. And while they loathe slavery and lordship, their pursuit of wealth and land often means some people end up… more equal than others, to say the least.

You will find many kinds of worship in Argad. As they like to say, “You can never have too many gods looking out for you!”. That being said Misaye is favored amongst other deities, with most major Argad settlements displaying Copper Tablets of “The Declaration of Misaye and the Free” in their central market square - a permanent and visible declaration of Argad freedom.

Argad politics can be extremely volatile with frequent clashes and arguments. Between the 2 appointed Consuls in charge of Civilian and Military matters, the 13 Senators supporting them and the Tribunes of the Hundred ratifying each proposal, discussions tend to be very lively - to the point that most end up retiring after a while due to stress. Unsurprisingly, this structure led to the formation of two major political groups, one in support of more militaristic measures while the other favors commerce.

Interestingly, Bard Colleges are an integral part of the Argad Republic as many who follow this path share the Republic’s love of freedom and individualism. Beloved by common folks and naturally roaming the lands to share music and stories, these Bards tend to accumulate a lot of information which they then share to uncover corruption, infiltration and other nefarious plots. This allows the Republic of Argad to remain fairly protected against outside interference even without a strong central government.
Very likely the most non-aligned faction on Neokos, the Combers are a loose organization of freelancers specialized in finding and trading all sorts of goods. If it sounds similar to the Scavengers, it is not by chance! The founders of the Combers created the guild after hearing about the Scavengers from a rare sailor hailing from Ferendragh, and decided to organize in a similar fashion on their own turf.

Combers are an eclectic group of people who mostly left their former allegiance at the door. They don’t ask too many personal questions, they do not judge your appearance, all that matters is that you can hold your own when it comes to work. In the past, many Combers would actually delve into ruins themselves in search of rare treasures - but with many dying to traps and monsters they slowly settled for safer options, letting adventurers take the risk and providing services for a smaller cut of the profit.

Some would belittle the Combers and regard them as mere junk gatherers, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When you need a specific item found, you go to the Combers - they are the ones who could find a needle in a haystack. An unbelievable amount of items, valuable or not, go through their hands, and they have a knack for sifting through them to make sure each finds the right buyer.

The Combers also have a fair share of researchers and scholars, who pour time and effort going through every obscure document found by others. It is not rare for a party of adventurers to find hidden doors or secret rooms thanks to Comber help - though of course, rarely for free. To be fair, do you really want to spend the next few days excavating each valuable item from the ruins you just cleared?
Claiming to be the oldest dwellers of Neokos, the Ka’Umm are a collection of nomadic tribes of varied origins who roam the lands following a path known only to them. They claim to have no enemies and live a simple - although dangerous - life centered around traditions, the pursuit of wisdom and understanding of magic.

The People, as they call themselves, can be found all over Neokos. The vast majority of them are physically fit as they mostly travel on foot, with some even pulling wagons by hand when not enough draught animals are available. They have a strong affinity with magic, with most tribes having at least a druid or a wizard amongst them.

Ka’Umm tribes are not only defined by blood or legacy - one can freely leave their tribe to join another. Tribes can split if internal tensions arise, or if they feel like they became too large, with most consisting of about 50 to 150 people. They value friendship and knowledge above all; one is considered rich not by the amount of gold they possess but by the wisdom they share and the number of friends they can count on. Gold and silver are but a decoration, and they trade through barters, gifts and favours.

Interestingly, although their culture predates the Cataclysm, the Ka’Umm have taken to the worship of Arun and Maraike alongside their native belief of the Dream Song - a huge tapestry of resonance and harmonic sounds that they believe holds the universe together. Most Ka’Umm idioms reflect this, with phrases such as someone lacking harmony denoting a person’s poor character, or giving praise by calling someone a good listener.
Those four are not the only ones you will run into during your journey on Neokos, but we do not wish to reveal all of them just quite yet - where would be the fun in that?

We will just leave you today with the knowledge that… Yes, there once was a Siklas Empire, and yes it was destroyed. And no, they are not the only endemic ancestry of Neokos.

Alright, that’s it for today. Look out for more news of Solasta II… very soon!

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

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Look sharp adventurers!

Does everyone have their backpack ready? Ration check? Alright, it’s time to head out into the wild unknown! Join us today on a trek to discover Solasta II’s World Map - and the vast freedom of exploration you will enjoy (especially compared to Crown of the Magister). Let’s go!

To adventure we go, follow Emji and fortune will follow! (possibly. maybe.)

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A new fantastic point of view! Alright alright, let’s stop lest we anger the great rodent god from beyond. Although we revealed Solasta II’s brand new world map on stream a few weeks ago, we wanted to do a little deep dive for those who might not have been here to listen to us yapping for almost 2 hours about it. Behold!

Oh boy, where do we even start! If you played Solasta: Crown of the Magister, you’re already seeing a lot of differences with the first game. First is the fact that the world map is now in 3D, and no longer a 2D illustration upon which the party travels. Which allows us to do this!

You can zoom in quite far to appreciate each landmark you come across and get a slight idea of what’s awaiting you inside if you enter. Forests have trees, coasts have sand, and most importantly - you are no longer limited to traveling from location A to location B. That’s right, this is a hex-based map that you can uncover one tile at a time! 

That’s also why you’re seeing a Movement bar on the bottom of the screen - with 4 Regular Move points, and 4 Forced March points. Depending on the terrain you’re crossing, you will burn a different amount of movement points - forcing you to take more time when not sticking to the roads between major settlements.

As you can see here when hovering the neighbouring tile, you are informed of the type of terrain as well as its movement cost (Grassland, 2 points). It’s also warning you that attempting to move will trigger Forced March, which is a nasty condition that can really ruin your day if you happen to get into a fight while exhausted!

As you can see here, after moving through two different tiles under Forced March, some of my party members gained a level of exhaustion, decreasing the result of all their D20 rolls by 2. One even gained two levels, meaning they’re getting a -4 penalty! If that wasn’t enough, they also move slower in combat by 5 feet per level of exhaustion.

But what’s this? Is it night time?

It absolutely is! When moving under Forced March, you will no longer be traveling under the sun and will be relying on the stars to guide you instead. This means encounters could get more dangerous… Is it really a risk you’re willing to take in order to save time and food rations?

Remember when we showed you Random Encounter Maps and told you that you might come across these small combat arenas during your travels? Well, the good news is - Solasta II does not limit its World Map Events to combat encounters!

When roaming the map, you have a chance to stumble upon random events. Some of them only appear under certain conditions, such as being confined to a particular biome, time of day or even depending on the outcome of some previous encounters - which makes exploration that much more interesting! 

In this example, you can see that during Forced March (since we’re at night), our party has spotted a kettle of vultures circling the skies. You have several different options to choose from, some of which may result in combat!

Here we decide to roll a Perception check to learn more about the situation. Uh oh, turns out these might not be “just vultures”. Had we approached immediately, we could have been in some serious trouble. Maybe we should just steer away for the night, and not risk a combat encounter while exhausted.

Some of you may have noticed that our little scene here takes place in the forest - that’s because our party is currently traveling through a forest tile! Had it been a coastal tile, or a grassland tile, the background wouldn’t be the same. We have made several little scenes in each biome to give random events a little more life as you travel, so you get to see your party not only during fights but also while they roam the lands.

Alright, that’s it for today! As we’re creeping closer to the release of Early Access, we’re back to a steadier rhythm of two news per month - so expect more from us very soon. Don’t think our Galaxies Trailer is all we were going to give you! 

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

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Alright folks!

With the release of the Twitch Galaxies Showcase Trailer and the announcement of our Early Access release window, many of you have a burning need for answers - many of which we provided in our Community Stream earlier last week! Here is a recap of the most frequently asked questions, as well as some more specific ones that we noticed during our livestream.

Sherlock has answers if you have coins...

For those who wish, you can also watch the VOD of the livestream available on YouTube, where we not only answer questions, but also reveal Solasta II’s World Map in-game for the first time!

When you say Early Access in early 2026, do you mean Q1 2026?
Yes! As Q1 is more of a business term, we opted for early 2026 instead to avoid confusing people. For those who may not know, Q1 means 1st fiscal quarter, which stretches from January 1st to March 31st. This gives you a little more information on when to expect the Early Access to hit the Steam store page!

Can you give us the release date then? Pretty please?
Hahah no, that’s as much information as you’ll get for the release date. That said, we have a lot more prepared, so keep an eye out - you will find out more in the coming months!

Any chance we get Spanish localization?
Absolutely! We are happy to announce that we will have Spanish localization ready for the launch of Early Access. I know we have many passionate (and vocal) Spanish fans, so this one is for you folks out there! We also have a few more languages in the pipelines that were not available in Solasta I, but these ones shall remain secret for now…

What about consoles?
We are aiming for console releases around the launch of 1.0! So no consoles during Early Access, but (hopefully) no waiting a year or two after the full game releases to join your PC compatriots either this time!

For those who want to support you, will there be a Supporter Pack at launch?
Yes, just like in Solasta I we will release Solasta II with a $10 USD / 10 euros Supporter Pack. And just like in Solasta I, we want to remind everyone that this DLC is absolutely not mandatory, and is just there if you want to give our relatively small team a tip. There is very little value in getting it for the content, which will be a few cosmetic items - and yes, while they will look very cool, they will not impact your gameplay in any sort!

Will we have Ready Action?
Yes! Funny story, Ready Action is among the many reasons why we moved the release date back a bit as it’s a costly feature that we originally planned for 1.0, but after going through the demo feedback decided to implement in Early Access instead.
On top of that, we spent some time upgrading the feature - unlike in Solasta I where you could only prepare Melee / Ranged Attacks and Cantrips, the new Ready Action in Solasta II can be triggered with most actions - such as preparing Guiding Bolt or even Cure Wounds to heal the next wounded ally who moves next to you.

What’s actually in the Early Access launch version of Solasta II?
At launch, the Early Access will feature more than 10h of gameplay and a max level cap of 4, with access to the Character Creator to build a full party. The six classes available immediately will be the Wizard, the Sorcerer, the Paladin, the Fighter, the Rogue and the Cleric, with the four ancestries being Human, Elf, Dwarf and Halfling. And yes, you will be able to multiclass!

When can we expect the remaining classes to be released?
We aim to have all the classic tabletop classes to be available at the 1.0 launch, however we can’t promise that yet as game development can be very tumultuous. Ideally we want to release new classes alongside our Early Access updates, and hopefully by 1.0 all of them will be ready!

Will the game have co-op multiplayer?
Yes it will! Our plan is to release co-op multiplayer as an Early Access update so we have more time to fine-tune it before the 1.0 release of the game. Meaning you’ll be able to play with your friends sooner rather than later!

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

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Well met adventurers!

Our new trailer is finally out, and oh how we’ve been waiting to show you this one! We hope you’re as excited (if not more!) to set foot on Neokos now that you’ve watched it - and if you haven’t already, just scroll down a bit and you’ll find it here.

The cat is out of the bag, Solasta II’s Early Access is coming early 2026! You heard that right, we’re taking a few more weeks (months?) to polish everything - we want to make sure we give you the game in a state we can be proud of.

Now, I’m sure some of you will still have questions for us. Which is why we’ll be here with our CEO Mathieu to answer any questions you have live next Tuesday Oct 28th with a special Community Stream. We’ll also be showing off the actual overworld map travel in-game, so if you’re curious about how it looks and plays, don’t miss it!

Make sure to join us on Tuesday October 28th, 10 am PDT / 1 pm EDT / 6 pm CET (careful, the start time is slightly different than usual!)

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[www.twitch.tv]Article by Tactical Myzzrym

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Hello there folks!

We can see many of you wondering “Is it Early Access yet?”, and my answer to you is… a little more, just a little more! I promise you we will have something to announce soon, so please bear with us a little more. Oh how we wish we could simply reveal everything right now, but some things must remain behind the DM screen. Now this doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to show - let us share with you our monthly allocation of development tidbits!

Don’t look at me like that, I told you already I can’t reveal the Early Access date yet. No, not even to you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/
After our very surface-level delve into The Temple of Elemental Evil, we’re now back to more Solasta II content! This time we’re doing something a little different by inviting our Art Director Thierry to sketch live on stream while we discuss lore and world building with our Game Director Xavier - namely to know more about the Siklas! Strange and mysterious folks native to Neokos, what secrets do they possess?

We will be holding giveaways during the livestream to give out the drawings as they are being made (we estimate there will be three in total), which we’ll then send via postal service in the following weeks. Please note that French shipping services unfortunately can’t deliver mail to Syria, Yemen and Haiti. We will also be giving away 3 Steam Keys of Solasta II over the course of the steam, which will give you access to both the Early Access and the 1.0 version of the game once it is released!

Make sure to join us on October 9th - keep in mind it’s a Thursday and not a Friday this time!

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tacticaladventures
  
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TacticalAdventures/streams

[www.twitch.tv]And with that out of the way, it’s time for some Development news!

Adventuring is a hard life, full of dangers and uncomfy nights spent in the wilderness - which is why every so often you will need to head back into town to unwind… and more importantly, sell your trinkets and baubles that you looted legally acquired along the way!

Where did we get those paintings? Errrr turns out one of the bandits we took care of was an art collector, yea sure let’s go with that.

Speaking of looting, we’ve also added a grid view to the inventory following feedback from the demo, as many of you were concerned about having to scroll endlessly to find your items once you start carrying a bit more stuff in your backpacks.

More items! MORE!

Similar to Solasta I, your journey into Neokos will see you roaming through the lands in light and darkness alike! Make sure your party has at least one member with a good Perception score, you wouldn’t want to end up ambushed during your rest…

A nice clearing by day…

Can become a deadly trap by night!

Remember that Solasta II will allow you to explore its world freely, unlike our previous game where you could only travel to and from known locations. But with freedom also comes danger - take care not to go too far, lest you run into some nasty monsters you aren’t prepared for…

Say, are you sure this is the right way? I don’t believe our contact said anything about crossing the desert…

Now all this is nice and beautiful, but what about the nitty gritty stuff? Well we’ve got something for you today. A new feature that we didn’t have in Solasta I, which is the ability to swap damage types! Some spells such as True Strike use this, but more importantly it’s the Sorcerer’s Transmuted Spell Metamagic’s whole shtick. Take a look!

Another thing we’re currently working on is… well, what is it you see?

These footsteps don’t look human… Be on guard, we won’t be facing bandits it seems.

We’ve shown you a few spells in the last updates, it is only fair that we show you some class features in return. Let’s take a look at Solasta’s Paladins today, with two Channel Divinity powers: Purge Corruption, which removes a negative condition from an ally within 30’ - and Blinding Castigation, from the new Oath of Liberation, which blinds an enemy for up to 1 minute.

The battle is not yet over, keep fighting my friend!

You find the battlefield a little dark? Here, let me help you.

Thought we were going to leave you with that and nothing about spells? That’d be forgetting that our CEO’s favorite class is Wizard, and somewhere in the contract is stipulated that one must talk about spells in each and every article posted.

Look at all these spell icons, how much easier to understand they are compared to before!

As always let us end this news with a new outfit to share - this one being not for the players but for the sand-dwelling travelers that you will come across!

That’s it for today! Keep an eye out as we will have more… much more to share soon! And see you on Thursday at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 6 pm CEST for those joining the Live Art stream giveaway!

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

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Well met adventurers!

As summer is on its last leg, we’re finally seeing cooler days ahead. Huzzah! And that also means we’re creeping ever closer to the release of the Early Access, doesn’t it? Soon my friends, soon! Let the cooks in the kitchen the time to finish preparing your meal, as we want to give you something meaty - even if it’s “just” an Early Access and not the final release! We know you want to see more, hear more, learn more about Solasta II and we can say - we want to share more about the game too. We’ll have to wait a little more for that - but know that once the floodgates open, they won’t be closing back!

A new adventurer has joined the party! Say hello to little Sanpo, level 1 kitten now part of the Marketing Team.

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After wandering around the hamlet for about an hour and a half, our party is now ready to face the wilderness! This Community Stream will mark our second (and likely last) stream of The Temple of Elemental Evil, one of the original inspirations for the Solasta franchise. Come and witness yours truly Myzzrym fumble around the 3.5 ruleset that he has forgotten most of and watch him lament his subpar decision-making skills as his party dies in horrible ways.

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tacticaladventures
  
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TacticalAdventures/streams

[www.twitch.tv]After this stream, we’ll go back to Community Streams that are 100% focused on Solasta II as we’ll be getting closer and closer to the release of the Early Access!

What started as a fun little homebrew spell that we made in Crown of the Magister to shore up our lack of variety and number of cantrips slowly turned into one of the more beloved spells in the entire franchise (we have JoCat to blame for that). Annoying Bees is a cantrip that deals a guaranteed 1d4 piercing damage and gives the target disadvantage on Concentration Saving Throws until the start of your next turn, making it the bane of spellcasters.

Who would win? One venerable wizened wizard, or a bunch of jacked-up magical bees? (Art by JoCat)

Now forever part of the Solasta franchise, we couldn’t simply forget this silly little cantrip on the sideline. We proudly present you, Annoying Bees, Solasta II edition.

Oh my lord they even properly follow you around for the entire round now, what a nightmare! Also, we should probably call it Annoying Bees now, seeing how many bees there are. If you’re wondering about why Joralas is charmed, he isn’t (although he wishes he were) - it was just a placeholder condition while we worked on the Concentration Saving Throw disadvantage part.

Now, wizards aren’t the only ones eating good today. Divine spellcasters behold, a new homebrew cantrip for you as well! Holy Conduit is a melee spell that deals 1d6 radiant damage on hit… and then explodes, dealing an additional 1d4 radiant damage to all enemies within 5 feet if they fail a Constitution saving throw.

Boom goes the baddy! While this cantrip may seem powerful with its AoE effect, remember that on a single target it deals at most 1d10 damage, requires you to be in melee range, and that’s if you both succeed a spell attack roll AND they miss a Constitution Saving Throw.

If you’re wondering why we’re making homebrew spells (especially as the Solasta franchise tries to remain faithful to the tabletop ruleset as much as possible), the reason is fairly simple - there are just not that many cantrips / spells available in the SRD in some cases, and we still want players to have the ability to choose between different options.

We’ve often had players asking if we would keep Verbal Components for spellcasting in Solasta II; and while we have already answered that we would, a video will probably speak (hahah, get it?) better than ever could.

As a reminder, the way spell incantations are broken down:

• The source of the spellcaster’s magic: Divine, Arcane, etc
  
• The school of the spell: Evocation, Divination, etc
  
• The effect of the spell: Healing, Damage, Utility, etc

Ahhhh, we can’t forget about good ol’ Game Over when working on a video game! So far, we didn’t have anything yet on that end - so even after losing a character you could keep running around, breaking all the quests and dialogs in the process and ruining your save file in the process. This era of the wild wild west is now over! When one of your characters dies, you will be prompted to resurrect them or reload a save file.

Make sure you stock up on scrolls of Revivify if your party members have a tendency of not being too careful!

As you walk the peaceful coast of Neokos, your sixth sense starts to tingle. When was the last time you saw any animal? Should the seaside be this quiet? You look around you, your companion taking note of your sudden realization. Everything seems as peaceful as could be, yet you feel like you should be on guard… What’s your passive perception again?

Here is a first glance at one of the many random encounter maps that will be in Solasta II - for they will be sorely needed, considering the amount of travel you will be doing on the world map! Whether it is fighting monsters or encountering traveling NPCs, you will soon get to see more of them on your own.

And in bonus, steal a glance at another upcoming level that will be included in the Early Access! All the grass!

“More armour!” the people clamored. Then more armour we shall deliver! Take a gander at this magical half plate armor, a 3D version of the studded leather armor we showed last month and some priestly garbs worn by religious figures.

Oh and, lest we forget - we’ve also got a 2D draft of the shields we are going to start producing!

And that’s it for today! Come back next time for more news about the game, and see you on Friday at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 6 pm CEST for those joining us on our September Community Stream.

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

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Good day to you, adventurers!

How is summer treating you so far? Are you accruing levels of exhaustion through failing the onslaught of heat-induced Constitution saving throws, or did you manage to find a place safe and hidden from the almighty Sun (CR Unknown)? We at Tactical Adventures are pursuing the development of Solasta II through what we colloquially call the “Summer Cheese” (hon hon so French) - with a schedule full of holes due to people taking a long rest with some well deserved vacations. But worry not, yours truly remains here to share new project advancements!

New project advancements AND cute animal pictures, I know some of you come for that sweet dose of serotonin.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/
A new month means a new Community Stream. Join us this Friday to discuss everything Tactical Adventures and Solasta II… with a little something more! We’ll be diving back into some of Solasta’s original inspirations - starting with revisiting The Temple of Elemental Evil!

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tacticaladventures
  
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TacticalAdventures/streams

[www.twitch.tv]For those who may not know this game, The Temple of Elemental Evil (or ToEE) is a D&D 3.5 game released in 2003 by Troika Games, who also made both classics Arcanum (2001) and Vampire Bloodlines (2004). It is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG with full party creation which was arguably the most faithful representation of the 3.5 ruleset at the time. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Turns out I still had the game box in French lying somewhere in my house. Perception check, success!

Last month we showed you scalding hot geysers, this month we’ll show you a bit more of the traps we’re currently adding to the game - starting with magical runes that will lay in wait for greedy pillagers venturing into long forgotten ruins

If you’re thinking “well obviously let’s not walk onto the glowing sigils”, first of all congratulations you’re probably smarter than the average adventurer who likes to touch everything that glows and eat anything that grows, but just know these magic symbols will NOT be visible to you unless you succeed on a Perception Check.

Many of you let us know that you enjoyed seeing the various armors we’re working on, so we’ll be sharing a few more today! Here are researches we’re doing on magical versions of the Studded Leather Armor and the Hide Armor.

We’ve also had a few questions regarding Wondrous Items and if they would appear on your characters when equipped. We are happy to say that some items such as gloves, bracers and boots will be visible on your character! Smaller items such as rings, bracelets and necklaces won’t be as they are a little too tiny to be visible most of the time so we prefer spending time working on other things instead. Headgears are also a little complex so they are not planned at the moment (as always, a smaller team means choices must be made…)

As we’ve said in the past, Neokos is vast and varied in biomes and environments - all of which will need to be visible on the world map. We’re continuing our research on how to make your exploratory journey through the continent an interesting and visually pleasant one!

But the world map alone isn’t enough to make for an exciting adventure, so we’ve started creating smaller levels for random encounters! Did you ever wonder how they look very early on before we start adding all the visual fluff? Let me draw back the curtain for once.

Oh boy there isn’t much to see here! Are those spherical green blobs native to these lands?

Yes, every single location you’ll be walking through in the final game has started looking somewhat like this! But with just a few strokes of our talent level builders (alright I lied, more like a few days to a few weeks), all these barren levels soon become like… this!

While we obviously can’t show you TOO much, we’re of course also working on adding new features on the gameplay side! For example, some of you noticed that in the Solasta II demo items wouldn’t stack properly - this is no longer a problem.

That aside, we’re also slowly adding new class features and spells to get ready for Early Access. Today we’re sharing with you the new Innate Sorcery power of the Sorcerer! Starting at level 1, they can use a Bonus Action to enter a heightened state during which their Sorcerer spell DC increases by 1 and they gain advantage on their Sorcerer spell attack rolls.

Oh and before we close this article, here are some fun facts from the survey!

• Although no longer officially in the 2024 edition, the Half-Elf ranked amongst the most popular ancestry! The Half-Orc, not so much. Also, most of you would prefer us to keep their gameplay bonuses as close as possible to the 2014 version.
  
• Among the classes that won’t be implemented at the start of Early Access, they were all surprisingly close in ranking, although the Warlock does eke out a win here.
  
• The Ready Action is your top choice among the combat features you’re looking forward to.
  
• Unsurprisingly, one of the things you look the most forward to in future post 1.0 launch content is a higher level cap (it’s also the hardest to do because of the implications, but hey never say never!)

And that’s it for today! Come back next time for more news about the game, and see you on Friday at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 6 pm CEST for those joining us on August’s Community Stream.

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

Follow us on:

• Discord[link.solasta2.com]
• Twitter / X[link.solasta2.com]
• Bluesky[link.solasta2.com]
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• Twitch[link.solasta2.com]

Praise the sun, adventurers!

Actually scratch that, it’s been getting a little TOO hot for comfort lately. Summer do be hitting hard, and we poor developers have not yet developed resistance to fire damage (oh how we wish we did). On a more serious note, today we’re returning to the roots of our Dev Updates - just like we did on Crown of the Magister, it’s time to take a look at what we’re working on!

Strategically positioned between the keyboard and the screen in order to stay close to the fan, 3 INT my left buttcheek.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/
For those of you who want to chat directly with us, July’s Community Stream is right around the corner! Join us this Friday to discuss everything Solasta II. We’ll notably be tackling the worries some shared about using the 2024 Ruleset before moving back to talking about the development of the game itself, so don’t hesitate to come talk to us if you still have questions about that topic! And as promised, we’ll be live both on YouTube and Twitch from now on.

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tacticaladventures
  
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TacticalAdventures/streams

[www.twitch.tv]While we all love a good round of fisticuffs whacking monsters without a care in the world, the battlefield may feel a little bland without environmental hazards. So… we’ve been working on implementing a few!

He hates those indeed.

Those hot, scalding water spurt will ruin your day if you stay close to them as they explode upward. And they also work in combat of course, not just during exploration - with their very own turn at the start of each round where they will show signs of pending activity. If you don’t pay attention, you might find yourself missing a fair chunk of HP when the next round comes around!

Marvel the beautiful bicolor tiles of our battle test map.

Of course, geysers are not the only traps you will run into during your travels. Good old spikes and dangerous magic runes are already making their way into our Early Access build, with of course more to come as we get there!

Beware your feetsies, kobolds very smart make bestest hidden traps, yes yes!

And boy do they look good. We often forget about the little things, but there’s always someone behind everything you see in-game. Let’s take a closer look at some WIP environments!

We’ve shared some beauty shots in the past on our socials, but you might be more interested in knowing about how it would look to someone playing the game. Here’s a sneak peek of a location which you will be able to visit when Solasta II goes live!

Ahhh, the great outdoors! With a very recognizable “gather your party” behind the tree.

Exploring the caves, please ignore the minimap being all borked for now.

And even deeper inside with the Light spell coming handy!

We’ve also been working on adding new armors to the game so you can look dapper while roaming the countryside searching for monsters to slay and loot to… well, loot. Adventuring would be pretty bland if you didn’t find any gold, items and other doodads to play around with, wouldn’t it?

And for those wondering if they look the same in-game, we've included that on the right!

And that’s it for today! Come back next time for more news about the game, and see you on Friday at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 6 pm CEST for those joining us on July’s Community Stream.

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

Follow us on:

• Discord[link.solasta2.com]
• Twitter / X[link.solasta2.com]
• Bluesky[link.solasta2.com]
• YouTube[link.solasta2.com]
• Twitch[link.solasta2.com]

Hey there folks,

Two weeks ago we announced that Solasta II was switching to the 2024 Ruleset! Unsurprisingly, that led to many questions being asked - with the usual whys and hows, but also a large amount of more specific ones such as “what will happen to the Half-Elf ancestry” or “How will the Fighter’s new Tactical Mind feature work”? We’re here today with answers!

Temperature too hot please just end my entire existence.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/
Before we jump into the Q&A, here is the VOD for those who missed the Community Stream from June 10th with our Creative, Game & Technical Directors joining me (your faithful Community Lead) to talk about the 2024 Ruleset Update. You can watch it on YouTube below!

Also remember that there’s still a Survey going on[link.solasta2.com] to give us your opinion on what you want to see in Solasta II - so don’t forget to fill it out if you haven’t already. And with that out of the way, let’s dive into the questions!

[link.solasta2.com]
What is this 2024 Ruleset Update & what does it change?

We’ve already answered that in our previous article, which you can read here: https://www.solasta-game.com/news/208-solasta-ii-is-switching-to-the-2024-ruleset. To make it simple: Think of it as a massive balance patch! 

Is it possible to have both the 2014 & 2024 Rulesets available in the settings menu?

Unfortunately that will not be possible, as explained previously there are just too many adjustments that would need to be made for Solasta II to support both Rulesets. We would rather focus all our time on making a game using one ruleset than split our attention on making two different versions (which would mean less overall content).

Why didn’t you include a 2014 vs 2024 question in the survey? You could have asked us before switching.

That’s a fair thing to ask. When we send you surveys, we want to ask questions that can have an impact on the game. Seeing which ancestry you’d like us to add first. Which class. What features are most important to you. What future content you would want us to work on.

While we do often ask our players for their input, you have to remember that we developers are also individuals with our own passions and ideas. Switching to the 2024 Ruleset is an important decision, one which we looked at for quite some time before deciding to do just that. 

It was something we wanted to do. We’ve carefully read through the new ruleset, started a new campaign on Tabletop, experimented with the options… and we found ourselves enjoying the changes it brought. Sure it’s not perfect - after all, no system ever is - but we like it! We want to bring it to life in a video game, just as we did the original 5e ruleset when we worked on Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This means including a 2014 vs 2024 question would serve very little purpose as we do not want to mislead people into thinking that we would potentially switch back to the 2014 ruleset.  

Now, we fully understand that part of the community would have preferred it if we stuck to the 2014 ruleset, and there’s nothing wrong with disliking the 2024 ruleset - as with every new edition, some people will prefer the previous one. I (Myzzrym) remember being super against 4e myself back in the 3.5 era. And even when 5e first came out, it took me years before finally giving it a fair chance (what can I say, I liked my crunchy numbers). So who knows, maybe in the future you'll play 2024 some more on Tabletop and change your mind - and if not, that’s okay too. 

Will you be adapting the full 2024 Ruleset to Solasta II?

We will try to be as faithful to the 2024 ruleset as possible (after all that’s one of the franchise’s promises to our players!), but just like in Solasta I there might be features that need to be slightly adapted to work more smoothly in a video game. 

For example, the Fighter’s new Tactical Mind feature which improves their utility outside combat would normally allow you to expend a use of Second Wind in exchange for adding 1d10 to an ability check if you were going to fail it. However, if implemented as such you would see a pop-up going “Do you want to use Tactical Mind?” every time you fail an ability check, slowing down the game significantly (and making it feel like you’re browsing the Internet in the early 2000s). 

Instead, we changed it to give you +1d10 to your ability checks for the next minute - which is more powerful as you can use it for multiple ability checks, but also less flexible as you need to proactively use it and the use of Second Wind isn’t refunded if you fail the roll. Hurray for less pop-ups! 

Will you update Solasta: Crown of the Magister to the 2024 Ruleset as well?

Nope! We don’t intend to change what already exists, the development on Solasta: Crown of the Magister (and its DLCs) is over so it will remain under the 2014 Ruleset. 

Will you update the Solasta II Demo to the 2024 Ruleset?

Updating the Demo to the new Ruleset would take a fairly significant amount of time, which would in turn delay the release of the game. As you can imagine, that’s something we don’t really want - we’re focusing on working on the Early Access! 

Isn’t the Demo going to be different from the actual game then? 

A little bit, yes! Keep in mind that there is no character creation nor leveling up in the demo, and you’re playing a pre-made party of low level adventurers. The differences between 2024 & 2014 rulesets are thus fairly limited there (even if they do exist!), and the demo remains a good representation of what Solasta II aims to be - a Tactical RPG using a familiar Tabletop ruleset where you play as a party of 4 adventurers.

Any chance of adding the Artificer?

Quick little reminder, we’re using the SRD not the full D&D ruleset! That means there are quite a large number of things that we can’t add to Solasta II (unless WotC grants us a special license). The Artificer class is one of them, but another example that we’ve seen being asked is the Aasimar ancestry. 

Will the 2024 Ruleset Update delay the release of the Early Access?

For now we’re still aiming to release our Early Access in 2025. Keep your eyes peeled for future announcements later this year! 

Will the Half-Elf & Half-Orc still be playable in Solasta II?

That will depend on our players’ answers in the survey[link.solasta2.com]! We won’t be able to include all the available SRD ancestries, so we want to know which ones you prefer to see if we can work on those first. Just keep in mind that some are harder to implement than others (Dragonborns are much more complex to add than Gnomes)!


Speaking of Demo, do the Demo protagonists survive?

Well their situation didn’t look too good now, did it? Remember that the Demo is a standalone adventure featuring an alternate reality of the party you would be playing in the actual game. It’s not like Solasta I where the Ruins of Telema Demo featured a totally different party of adventurers (that you actually end up meeting in the Palace of Ice DLC). 

How will the World Map work in Solasta II?

Unlike in Solasta I, you will be able to travel and explore tiles the old fashioned way! We are giving the World Map more love in this new opus, as events won’t be limited to random combat encounters anymore. Look forward to lore events, skill checks, friendly NPCs and wandering merchants on top of the usual monsters attempting to gobble you whole!

This new hexcrawl worldmap is also more modular, which means that if & when we finally manage to release a Dungeon Maker mode, you should no longer be limited to using the official campaign World Map and instead would be able to make your own by swapping tiles around. 

Will you have player-submitted Community Quests?

This is something we considered back in Solasta I and we came to the conclusion that it is simply too complex to do, as quests are fairly long and difficult to implement even if you’re familiar with our tools already - so trying to make a quest without knowing the possibilities and limitations of the game engine make it even more of a headache. 

However, as our World Map develops over the Early Access, we intend to host Community Contests to add player-submitted events to let your creativity shine through your imagination and writing. Stay tuned!

Will you have Custom Backgrounds in Character Creation?

That would need to be discussed, but it might conflict with how Backgrounds could influence dialog options. But that would be cool, yea!

Will we see Soraks in Solasta II?

Haven’t you had enough Soraks already? Here, have a Basilisk instead.

​Article by Tactical Myzzrym

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

Follow us on:

• Discord[link.solasta2.com]
• Twitter / X[link.solasta2.com]
• Bluesky[link.solasta2.com]
• YouTube[link.solasta2.com]
• Twitch[link.solasta2.com]