Solasta: Crown of the Magister [User Campaign] Morrows Deep – Lizard Revenge

Welcome to another review of Artyoan’s three-part campaign series for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This time we talk about Morrows Deep, and much like its predecessor it’s a campaign with a heavy focus on combat. However, the writing is much better than in Forsaken Isle, and overall, the story has an improved flow comparably. Locations also make much more of a logical sense in the world – like enemy placements and the environments in general.

Morrows Deep is a 1-15 level campaign, and while the four-man version is the standard way of playing the campaign, I went for the six-man version this time around. In Forsaken Isle, I felt a lack of companions and interesting combat combinations that come with that. So, I thought why not give the six-man version a go? I can’t say I regret my decision. The added party members change the dynamic of the group and make for a much more enjoyable experience. It also allows for experimentation with different classes since you can afford to go outside your personal preference, something the four-man version lacks. You don’t have to worry about balance issues, as Artyoan has designed this version specifically for an increased party. Essentially, engagements have a ton more enemy units trying to claw your eyes out (and probably eat them).

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [User Campaign] The Forsaken Isle – Wrath of the Gorillas

The Forsaken Isle is a 1-12 level user campaign that you can download from Steam Workshop for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. It’s made by Artyoan and is the first campaign in a series of three, of which two are available. The third one is still being made, as I understand it. This campaign requires that you own the DLC Inner Strength for it to be playable. My overall opinion is that it’s a pretty good campaign, both in the sense of gameplay and story, but its combat is hard as nails. I will go into more detail after we have talked about the story a bit.

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Aliens: Dark Descent – The Lethe Bug Crisis

In space, nobody can fix your bugs. Besides the fairly buggy nature of Aliens: Dark Descent, it is somewhat of an unexpected sleeper hit of the year. The gameplay, and general mechanics work well, and are clearly thought-out, which together with the visuals and audio creates a very nice Aliens experience. It truly feels like the movie when you slowly skulk the poorly lit and narrow space colonial corridors – then for it to suddenly switch from tension to high-octane action when your badass Marines with their cool outfits and iconic weapons open up on the deadly and terrifying Xenomorphs. It actually resembles Aliens to a fault, as it becomes a little too much familiar in the narrative. Seemingly, there is only one way to write games based on the Alien franchise.

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Stasis: Bone Totem – Atlantean Rumble

What do you get if combine meaty body horror, Lovecraft, and Atlantean mythology sprinkled with Blade Runner, The Descent, and Alien? Well, you get Stasis: Bone Totem. This is the Brotherhood’s third game in the Stasis franchise – a point & click horror adventure series that doesn’t shy away from showing the macabre and the gruesome in all its glory. So far, so good, and you can read the thoughts of the developers in an interview I made with them here. However, it saddens me to say, that there are some problems with this title. While it maintains the horror in both atmosphere and story, the game falters and stumbles in the feature most critical to gaming: the gameplay.

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [DLC] Palace of Ice – Soraks Forever

The evil Soraks are back, and they are meaner and greener than ever! Palace of Ice is another story DLC for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Unlike Lost Valley, this one is a direct continuation of the original campaign instead of being a standalone adventure. This means that you get the chance to import your old dungeon-crawling crew if you still got the save file laying around. I had to start up an old computer of mine to find the save as it was a long time since I played it. And thank the Lord I found it. The thought of going through the main campaign again just to experience Palace of Ice would have been very demoralizing. Not that the main adventure is all bad, but one take was enough for me. And yes, you are allowed to create a new party, but my weird gaming autism would have prevented me from doing so.

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