Based on the Open Gaming License SRD for D&D 5th Edition – the publicly available ruleset that lets designers build new experiences on the DnD 5e engine (and gamers to play D&D for free) – Solasta is a classic party-focused RPG with turn-based tactical combat (similar to what you’d find in something like X-Com or Wasteland 3). What’s unique is how it integrates the concepts and mechanics of a tabletop game into the digital realm, and in some cases the clever ways in which it has to tweak those dice-rolling norms to fit into pixels.

And, as with the tabletop RPGs on which Solasta’s original world is lovingly based, it’s all about the dice. From social interactions to combat, almost everything in Solasta is determined by luck. Your wizard may have never held a sword in their life, but can still fell an orc in one hit thanks to a miraculous critical. Likewise, your smooth-talking rogue may have all the Charisma points in the world, but could still fail a Deception check thanks to an unlucky roll of the die.

It’s easily the closest I’ve seen a digital property come to properly emulating the experience of playing a tabletop game. The active-pause systems of Baldur’s Gate I & II (and newer titles like Pillars of Eternity) is an old standard, but is far more hectic to manage than the actual turn-based rounds of combat around a table, and other turn-based RPGs like Divinity still don’t quite nail the contextual actions Solasta offers, like shoving someone off a ledge or utilizing the Rogue’s bonus actions in combat. It’s as close as I’ve come to rolling dice in person – the only thing missing is other people.

And Solasta finds clever ways to try and bring that charm to the table as well. There’s no doubt that part of the fun of any tabletop game is the variety of personalities that different players bring to the game, and that’s something that can be difficult to reproduce in a single-player experience. Solasta’s solution to this is one I find both clever and true to form: it focuses the narrative around your party rather than one specific hero, and offers you choices in dialogue based on who’s in your adventuring company.

For example, the aggressive response to an NPC that would result in an Intimidation check will come from your Fighter, while the sarcastic retort designed to bluff your way through a situation is going to be handled by your Rogue. It still bases the skill checks on who has the best stat for each skill, though, meaning that you’ll never be at a disadvantage when trying to talk your way through a social encounter.

All that said, for as much as I enjoyed my demo of Solasta, I’m sad to say it won’t be playable any time soon. Tactical Adventures, the (very) small studio developing Crown of the Magister, says it’s still got at least a year or two in development in order to leave ample time for community feedback as well. They’ll be launching a Kickstarter for the game starting on September 3, 2019, along with a public demo of the build we saw here at Gamescom – but IGN will have an exclusive extended look at the demo on September 2nd, so be sure to check that out as well.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for more D&D-inspired awesomeness, check out everything we know about Baldur’s Gate 3, or how to start playing D&D (for free!) if you’re keen to give the tabletop experience a try for yourself.JR is a Senior Editor at IGN and doesn’t mean to throw any shade at Larian or any of the other D&D digital teams, but… damn. He’s probably gonna talk a lot more about this game on Twitter, where you can follow him if you like.