While Baldur’s Gate 3 redefined the RPG genre, Solasta 2 looks to fill the “Tactical King” role for players that want a true tabletop experience. In this guide, we walk you through both games, comparing, contrasting, and explaining who should play Solasta 2 or Baldur’s Gate 3.
The Early Access initial launch for Solasta 2 is set for March 12, 2026. While Baldur’s Gate 3 entered their Early Access in October 6, 2020. Both games use the Dungeons & Dragons (DND) rulesets, though gameplay, versions, and combat feel wildly different. Having experienced over 1,000 hours in BG3, and playing the Solasta 2 Demo, we look to give you an overview from both games’ perspectives.
Introduction to the Games
The world of video games has never been more exciting for fans of role playing and tactical adventures, especially with the rise of RPGs built on the DnD ruleset. Two standout titles in this genre are Solasta and Baldur’s Gate 3, each offering a unique spin on what makes a game so much fun. Solasta, crafted by the team at Tactical Adventures, is a damn good game for anyone who loves tactical combat, dungeon delving, and the thrill of building your own party from scratch. Its focus on character creation and party-based gameplay means you’re always in control of your adventure, making every decision count as you explore a world filled with danger and opportunity.
On the other side, Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios takes a more cinematic approach, blending deep role playing with a rich story and expansive world to explore. Here, your choices shape not just your character, but the entire narrative, offering a level of immersion that’s hard to beat. Whether you’re strategizing your next move in Solasta or getting lost in the branching storylines of Baldur’s Gate 3, both games deliver a video game experience that’s as rewarding as it is challenging.
When it comes to production values, Baldur’s Gate 3 is top notch, featuring extensive cutscenes and voice acting. In contrast, Solasta’s presentation is more low budget, with fewer cinematic elements, largely due to its smaller development team and limited resources. This difference in studio size and experience means BG3 offers high production values, while Solasta delivers a more modest but still enjoyable experience.
In this comparison, we’ll break down the features, gameplay, and mechanics that set these two games apart, helping you decide which adventure is right for you.
BG3 vs. Solasta 2 Overview
Similarities
| Feature | Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) | Solasta 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Combat Style | Turn-based, initiative-driven tactical combat | Turn-based, initiative-driven tactical combat with greater emphasis on tactical positioning and mechanics closely aligned with traditional tabletop D&D) |
| Core Ruleset | Based on Dungeons & Dragons 5e (D20 system) | Based on Dungeons & Dragons 5e (D20 system) |
| Dice Mechanics (D20) | Constant dice rolls for combat, skill checks, dialogue, and exploration | Constant dice rolls for combat, skill checks, dialogue, and exploration |
| Learning Curve | Steep learning curve for new D&D players | Steep learning curve for new D&D players |
| Character Creation Complexity | Deep class & subclass options; mistakes can limit build power | Deep class & subclass options; mistakes can limit build power |
| Player Experience | Deep, story-driven RPG with high production value | Tactical, rules-faithful D&D experience with strong combat focus |
Both Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) and Solasta 2 feature turn-based style fighting and combat with DND ruleset. The gameplay mechanics center on the 20-sided die (D20), with rolls occurring constantly both while exploring and in combat. If you’re unfamiliar with DND, the RPG mechanics are wildly different than your standard run-of-the-mill game. You’ll have to manage resources like spell slots by taking a long rest at your camp, which seems odd, as well as weapon and armor requirements to use anything, and complex class and subclass choices. Not to mention, if you make a mistake in character creation, your overall build’s power will be limited. Resource management, including inventory and in-game supplies, plays a significant role in both games.
To put it simply, BG3 and Solasta 2 are both complex games. While new to DND players can experience and enjoy them, expect a steep learning curve.
Combat will also feel different with a turn-based, initiative-driven, tactical style. Expect slow, long fights, with methodical choices at every turn. The D20 dice rolls will either frustrate you or make for exciting moments. Fighting feels random, and it can be frustrating for players who want consistency, but remember, these games are designed for classic DND RPGs, not modern-day games. Notably, both games feature turn-based combat, but Solasta emphasizes tactical positioning and mechanics more closely aligned with traditional tabletop D&D.
Both games also feature massive amounts of NPCs, dialogue choices, and focus on branching narrative. If you love stories, reading text, watching cutscenes, and making choices, these games are incredible. The replay value is sky high considering every game gives you unique choices, making it feel fresh even its its your fifth campaign.
“If you liked BG3, Solasta 2 is one of the closest true D&D alternatives.”
Differences
| Feature | Baldur’s Gate 3 | Solasta 2 |
| Story Focus | Cinematic, Romance, Origin Characters | Dungeon Crawling, Tactical Puzzles |
| Party | 1 Player + 3 Companions | Full 4-Character Custom Party |
| Rules Version | 2014 D&D (5.0e) | 2024 D&D (5.5e / One D&D) |
| Environment | Interactive (Barrels, Fire) | True Verticality (Flight, Grid-based) |
| Reaction System | Toggle-based | Pop-up “Contextual” Prompts (more accurate) |
The biggest difference between BG3 and Solasta 2 is the budget and size of production. In Baldur’s Gate 3, you get seemingly endless hours of cutscenes, branching dialogues, and endings, with massive AAA production value. The use of cut scenes in BG3 is central to its storytelling, making the experience feel cinematic and immersive. Every time you play this sprawling three-act game, you discover new items, character narratives, and somehow the game feels similar yet different.
Meanwhile, Solasta 2 has around 30-50 developers, according to them. This is compared to 400 developers for BG3 worldwide at its peak. Larian Studios was also founded in 1996 with a long lineage of awesome games like the Divinity series. Meanwhile, the Tactical Adventures crew was founded in 2018 in a small Paris-based studio. However, they did create an indie hit with Solasta I, which gave them the possibility to expand and try a second game with Early Access rather than Kickstarter.
BG3 is story-first; Solasta 2 is systems-first.
When comparing the main campaign, BG3 offers a more cinematic and polished story experience, while Solasta 2’s main campaign is more straightforward and on rails, but is greatly enhanced by custom campaigns and mods. Both Solasta 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 allow players to create their own characters, but Solasta 2 emphasizes full party customization, letting you create all four party members. Solasta 2 also provides many more ways to customize your gameplay, from adjusting difficulty settings to modifying game mechanics and quality-of-life features. In fact, Solasta 2 offers more customization options for gameplay difficulty, allowing players to fine-tune their experience beyond the default difficulty tiers.
Baldur’s Gate 3 aimed to be a massive interactive story wrapped in a DND cloak. Solasta 2 aims to be a true table top experience just from a mouse and a keyboard. Let’s take some time to examine the specifics of how these two games vary.
D&D Rules Fidelity
| Ruleset Category | Baldur’s Gate 3 (2014 D&D 5e) | Solasta 2 (2024 D&D 5.5e / One D&D) |
|---|---|---|
| Core Rules Version | Based on 2014 D&D 5e rules | Based on 2024 Revised D&D rules |
| Ability Score Increases | Determined primarily by Race (now called Ancestry) | Determined by Background instead of Ancestry |
| Background Impact | Mostly flavor, skills, minor roleplay bonuses | Mechanically significant (stats, feats, proficiencies) |
| Ancestry (Race) Role | Provides fixed stat bonuses and abilities | Focused more on traits rather than stat optimization |
| Subclass Progression | Varies widely by class (some at level 1, 2, or 3) | All unlocked at level 3 |
| Paladin – Divine Smite Example | Passive damage rider when spending spell slots on hit | Requires a Bonus Action to activate |
I remember when BG3 first launched early access in October of 2020. I played many hours because I loved Divinity Original Sin 2. However, I quickly realized the rules and structure of DND made combat slow, terribly slow. I need to long rest constantly, and percentages to land attacks (in the early days) were 10%. The results were terribly frustrating combat and gameplay, which Larian Studios changed over time to make it less DND, and more DND-lite to speed up gameplay.
A key point in the Solasta 2 vs. BG3 comparison is rules fidelity. Solasta 2 aims to stay truer to the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset than Baldur’s Gate 3, which simplifies some elements for gameplay balance. The idea behind Solasta 2’s design is to closely follow DnD mechanics, providing a more authentic tabletop experience, while BG3 takes a more flexible approach for smoother gameplay.
Another important point is character creation. In Solasta 2, players can define their characters’ personalities, which can affect dialogue and interactions—a feature that is less pronounced in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Solasta 2 on the other hand aims to REALLY make you feel like a DND experience. However, it’s in-between the early days of BG3, where everything was super slow, and fast-paced BG3.
- Solasta 2: 2024 D&D (5.5e / One D&D)
- BG3: 2014 D&D (5.0e)
While both games use D&D rules, Solasta 2 uses the 2024 rulest while BG3 uses 2014. These changes are massive, making backgrounds super important rather than racial choices or now called ancestry. Also, some classes and subclasses received buffs and nerfs. The Paladin’s Divine Smite for instance now uses a bonus action rather than a passive addition to your attack. Thus, if you’re coming from BG3, don’t expect the same experience because the rules are different.
BG3 plays D&D-lite while Solasta 2 tries to remain true to Tabletop.
Combat Design
When it comes to combat, Solasta 2 aims for a more CRPG pacing. Meaning, it places more emphasis on positioning, verticality, lighting, and stealth. You can click an area and see if it’s in Darkness, which determines many factors specifically how likely you are to hit if you have Darkvision due to your ancestry.
Solasta 2 also features a detailed combat log that displays dice rolls, attack calculations, and other mechanics in real time, making the underlying D&D rules transparent and accessible. This enhances understanding and immersion, especially for players who enjoy seeing the mechanics behind every action. The game offers a lot of tactical stuff in combat, including a variety of gear, spells, and features that add depth and replayability. Solasta’s combat is widely praised for its tactical depth and strict adherence to D&D rules, making it feel more engaging than Baldur’s Gate 3’s combat.
Moreover, Solasta 2 uses a grid-based tactical combat, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics and other CRPG. BG3 on the other hand uses movement without grids to determine how far you can move. Moreover, BG3 limited verticality, whereas Solasta 2 wants the Flight spell, to truly feel like flight (going straight up).
One of the fun things to do in BG3 however is use the environment to cause chaos and destruction. The game is a lot more sandbox in this arena. You can drag barrels to a specific area, hit them with a Firebolt and watch everything blow up! You could use water bottle to spread water on the ground and a shock spell to trigger shock on enemies within the water. All this to say, the environment in BG3 was more malleable while Solasta 2 makes combat more tactical and CRPG focused.
Solasta 2 is tactical chess, BG3 is chaotic D&D improv
One of the fun things to do in BG3 however is use the environment to cause chaos and destruction. The game is a lot more sandbox in this arena. You can drag barrels to a specific area, hit them with a Firebolt and watch everything blow up! You could use water bottle to spread water on the ground and a shock spell to trigger shock on enemies within the water. All this to say, the environment in BG3 was more malleable while Solasta 2 makes combat more tactical and CRPG focused.
Companions & Party Structure
One of the biggest advantages BG3 has over Solasta 2 are it’s companions. Baldur’s Gate 3 companions are fully fleshed out characters, fully customizable, with deep personal quest. You can even play as them with Origin Characters, gaining their perspective on quests and your campaign.
Moreover, the romance options in BG3 are fantastic. It plays out like a soap opera where you’re balancing different party members, trying to get close to a specific companion while not isolating another. The interactions are touching, even on the companions who you think are hard as nails (Lae’zel).
Not much is known of how deep the companion system will work in Solasta 2. While it’s confirmed they will be fully voice acted, and they have some of the same voice actors from BG3, we aren’t too sure about the depth. You can expect much less cinematic companion interactors, as Solasta 2 focuses more on party synergy and tactical roles.
One thing that sets Solasta 2 apart is how your guys—the whole party—can participate in dialogue cutscenes. Unlike BG3, where the main character does most of the talking, in Solasta 2 all party members can speak during dialogues, making interactions more engaging and giving everyone a voice. This is especially noticeable in multiplayer, where each player can control their own character and see their personalities come through in conversations. During character creation in Solasta 2, you also get to define each character’s personality, which directly impacts their dialogue and interactions throughout the game. This approach lets your group of guys feel more dynamic and personal, contrasting with BG3’s focus on individual companion stories.
BG3 soap opera romances are core to the game, Solasta 2 wants to focus on tactics and party synergy
The First Solasta Game
Before Solasta 2, there was Solasta: Crown of the Magister – the game that put Tactical Adventures on the map for RPG fans. Released in 2021, the first Solasta game quickly became a huge fan favorite, especially among those who love classic dungeon delving and the authentic feel of the DnD 5th edition ruleset. One of its standout features was the ability to create your entire party of four characters, giving you full control over your team’s composition and strategy right from the start. This level of customization, paired with deep character creation options, made every adventure feel personal and unique.
Combat in Solasta: Crown of the Magister was all about dice mechanics, with a single dice roll often determining the fate of your attacks and skill checks. The game’s mechanics stayed true to tabletop roots, making every encounter a tactical puzzle. The inclusion of the dungeon maker tool was a big deal, letting players design their own adventures and share them with the community. The early access phase allowed players to shape the game’s development, and the Unfinished Business mod added even more content, keeping the experience fresh long after launch.
While the character models and voice acting were praised for bringing the world to life, some players noted that the graphics and animations weren’t quite as polished as other games in the genre. Still, the game’s focus on mechanics, party synergy, and replayability made it a damn good game for anyone who loves tactical RPGs. The first Solasta set a high bar for what a DnD-inspired video game could be, and it laid a solid foundation for everything Solasta 2 aims to achieve.
What Baldur’s Gate 3 Fans Will Love in Solasta 2
Honestly, if you’re a BG3 fan like me, you’re probably looking forward to Solasta 2. When I started playing Solasta, my initial impression was that the game offers a lot of depth in character creation and tactical combat, which immediately drew me in. I personally love BG3s branching dialogue, endings, but mostly the combat. Honour mode specifically kept me playing well beyond my first couple of campaign completions, while the branching dialogue intrigued me to restart just to see how the game would vary.
Solasta 2 will be similar to BG3 in both regards, but placing more emphasis on combat and tactics rather than endless branching dialogues. The character creation in Solasta 2 is expected to be deeper, allowing you to define your characters’ personalities, which impacts gameplay. For example, you can create a half orc fighter with a violent personality, and this choice will influence dialogue options and in-game interactions, making your playthrough feel unique. Customization options in Solasta 2 also include adjusting difficulty settings and enabling features like Karmic Dice to reduce the chance of bad rolls, enhancing the gameplay experience. Using a CRPG combat system, sticking to D&D ruleset, the game will feel familiar enough to BG3 that I can catch on early, but different enough where it’s not a clone.
While BG3 has modes and many updates and hotfixes from Larian Studios, Solasta I has a Dungeon Maker. Maybe this will come to Solasta 2 as well as mods, which are the lifeblood to sustaining a non-live-service game.
The Verdict
“If you play D&D for the drama and the dating, stick with BG3. If you play D&D for the strategy and complex combat, Solasta 2 is your new obsession.”
Solasta 2 demo and Early Access feels like an indie BG3. Maybe not as big, shiny, and robust, but it still feels like home. Even when I play RPGs from the past that are text based, without branching dialogues, I ask myself what makes them good? Is the world interesting, combat fun, and do I feel a constant sense of progression? If the answers are yes to all three, then I typically enjoy the game.
Solasta 2 has all the ingredients to be a BG3 lite: tactical combat, D&D rules for the most part, companions, and a cool world. Solasta: Crown of the Magister was already noted for its polished and enjoyable gameplay, with a strong implementation of D&D mechanics. However, the story in Solasta is considered linear, focusing more on gameplay mechanics than narrative depth, which some players may find less engaging. When it comes to build options, Solasta 2 continues to offer a variety of choices, including unique options like the Mana Painter sorcerer subclass.
The biggest worries I have for the game are, does it stay too close to the D&D ruleset like the original BG3 early access game did. Where every combat encounter felt like 2 hours with 90% of the gameplay being misses. Or does the game somehow not compromise the rule fidelity, but somehow speed up the action? Only time will tell!
We will be continuing to cover Solasta 2 on this website because it has great potential to be the next big indie RPG. And if this studio is anything like Keen Games, the developers of Enshrouded, then we expect it to get better and better over the years.
More Powerful Solasta 2 Builds!
Check out our complete list of powerful Solasta 2 builds to start your next adventure!
- Best Solasta 2 Builds List
- Battle Domain Cleric Build
- Life Domain Cleric Build
- Oblivion Domain Cleric Build
- Aether Warden Fighter Build
- Commander Fighter Build
- Oath Of Judgement Paladin Build
- Oath Of Liberation Paladin Build
- Scavenger Rogue Build
- Shadowcaster Rogue Build
- Mana Painter Sorcerer Build
- Star Child Sorcerer Build
- Court Mage Wizard Build
- School Of Ruin Wizard Build
