Solar 175

I went into Solar 175 cautiously: it is a Kickstarter from a company whose releases have disappointed me in the past. Still, the theme and the prospect of a legacy game were enough to stop me from passing it by. Thankfully, my first encounter with it gave me no reason to regret that.

At its core—at least at this early point in the campaign—it is a simple area-majority game. The introductory session uses a basic ruleset, but there is already quite a lot to keep track of. We have not scratched the surface yet, but the foundation works, and that first play did not leave us with a bad impression.

The legacy element works in a way that recalls Charterstone: regions and rules are added from game to game. So far, every new addition comes with its own scenario, a little like tutorials in a souls-like ARPG: before the next thing can open up, you have to play the scenario that introduces it. It is a fairly straightforward approach to a legacy campaign and, so far, it has not become tedious.

My major concern remains rules bloat. If even the initial ruleset already contains plenty of information, I can very easily imagine that four or five plays later it will be a full-on circus. For now, though, I am not delivering a final verdict: I want us to continue, see where the rules and the story go, and find out whether the game earns everything it keeps putting on the table.

Updated session

After the second play, my opinion has not substantially changed. The campaign still has me interested, the gradual additions have not become tiring yet, and I want us to pick it up again from September. The question is simply clearer now: will it grow into something worth exploring in depth, or will it end up as uncontrolled feature bloat? In for a penny, in for a pound.