When we learned in late 2018 that former Amplitude Studios CEO Mathieu Girard had founded a new studio in Paris under the somewhat generic title Tactical Adventures in order to create an RPG "inspired by Baldur's Gate and XCOM", few imagined it would turn out to be as big a deal as it has. Thanks to its unpretentious approach and adherence to the 5th Edition D&D ruleset, which have positioned the game as the underdog versus Larian's upcoming Baldur's Gate 3, Solasta: Crown of the Magister soon became one of the Codex's most anticipated titles. Twenty months after its Kickstarter campaign and seven since it launched on Early Access, the final 1.0 version of Solasta has been released (although Kickstarter backers have actually had access to it since two weeks ago). Here's the launch trailer:


There aren't many reviews of Solasta. The reviews it has gotten are generally positive but critical of the game's boilerplate fantasy plot and slight jank. To which I say, meh. But here's the list:
Solasta: Crown of the Magister is available on Steam and GOG for $40 with a sizeable 20% launch discount until next week, and it's also available with Game Pass at the Microsoft Store if you're subscribed to that. With this release, has the Codex GOTY for 2021 already been determined before even half the year has passed? We shall see.