Following the release of Solasta: Crown of the Magister in 2021, Paris-based indie developer Tactical Adventures continued to release content and fixes for its tactical cRPG based on Dungeons and Dragons’ SRD 5.1.
The Primal Calling and Inner Strength DLCs added the Barbarian, Druid, Warlock, Bard, and Monk classes (with four subclasses each), the Half-Orc and Dragonborn ancestries, and the Wanderer background. The Lost Valley DLC added a new replayable campaign for level 1-12 characters, separate from the main game’s story, and also introduced new subclasses and various improvements to the dungeon maker tool.
But the biggest DLC of all, Palace of Ice (priced at $14.99), is yet to come. Today, Tactical Adventures announced that it’ll release on May 25th for PC and Xbox, delivering a massive campaign set immediately after the end of the story of Crown of the Magister. This time, the Soraks have infiltrated the Snow Alliance in the Gallivan region, and they’ve made a deal with demons to succeed in their goal. Needless to say, players will have to stop them and allow the Snow Alliance to freely elect a new Speaker.
The campaign is meant for higher level characters (10-16). Players may either bring their previous characters (provided they aren’t modded or level 13+), create new ones, or select from a list of pre-generated characters. Two new ancestries have been added, Gnomes and Tieflings, completing the list of races available from D&D’s SRD 5.1.
Backers of Solasta from the Kickstarter campaign will be happy to know that Vigdis Kaikonnen from the Ruins of Telema demo will return in Palace of Ice as a playable companion to the group, as I was able to notice in a play session with the developers. Another change due to the harsh biome is that players must be mindful of the biting cold and find fires or use other items to stave off the cold’s effects, including conditions like disadvantage on rolls.
Beyond the aforementioned demons, there are also new Sorak foes to deal with. The Krathshar spellcasters, for instance, can extinguish nearby lights, which is particularly annoying since Soraks have big bonuses for staying in the dark.
After a taste of battle on a snowy bridge, the developers loaded another environment. The Snow Alliance is actually comprised of several clans, including Wood Elves and their signature tree-based settlements and underground Dwarven cities, so it won’t just be snowy peaks. Dungeon makers will also get new biomes (four in total: Mountain Caves, Dwarven Settlement, Dwarven City, and Snowy Hills) for their custom campaigns and new monsters with the DLC, not to mention other free additions to the base game such as the world map, the NPC follower system, and character portraits for dialogues. Some of the modders already have their hands on Palace of Ice, which bodes well for the timetable of their future work.
The campaign of Palace of Ice will be very challenging, as most demon foes have a lot of resistance, especially against spells. However, Tactical Adventures promised the loot would be great, and players have access to many new subclass features and spells as they level up over the previous cap of 12 (which, by the way, is being expanded to 16 as part of the free update that also includes six new faces for the Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Half-Elves races). These include D&D classics like Finger of Death, Conjure Celestial, Firestorm, Dominate Monster, Earthquake, Spell Ward, Sunburst, and Thunderstorm.
Palace of Ice is also going to be pretty lengthy. The developers estimate around 25 hours of playtime without counting the side content, though they clarified that’s more like side objectives than side quests for this campaign. There’s even a degree of replayability, as players will be asked to make choices in the branching storyline.
Before the end of the play session, I asked Tactical Adventures what would come next from them after Solasta and Palace of Ice. I was told that they have lots of further ideas for the Solasta universe, but at the same time, it’s time for a new project as some of the most common complaints on the game, like animations and character faces, aren’t easily addressed with Solasta as is.
This would point to a sequel, although they did not confirm it in any official capacity. Either way, it’ll be a while before that happens, but Palace of Ice and the many user-made custom campaigns are sure to prolong the life of Solasta: Crown of the Magister by a considerable amount.
