Sol Invictus Review

As the sequel to Cubus Games’s surprisingly good if tough Heavy Metal Thunder, you should know what to expect of Sol Invictus. It’s an adventure game book not unlike the kind of things we’ve seen from Tin Man Games. You play a human fanatic from the Black Lance legion, as you explore the solar system and recruit followers to your cause. Plenty of choices means there’s plenty to do here, as well as some reason to keep coming back for extra sessions.

There’s plenty of text to read here, and while sometimes the quality dips a little Sol Invictus is mostly an entertaining read. Sci-Fi fans will enjoy the direction it takes, offering plenty of choices but not to the detriment of the storytelling.

Interaction comes through various means. Sometimes it’s just a matter of picking an option, with some as innocuous as a direction to take, and others may affect what unfolds much more dramatically. Other forms of interaction arise through battles with enemies, although these aren’t quite as frequent in number as the likes of Fighting Fantasy. Skill checks are also required, invoking a few rolls of a dice. There’s luck to it of course, but it’s a reasonably forgiving system. Succeed and you gain a hero point, which can then be used to circumvent failing a later skill check.

Sol Invictus is divided up into chapters with plenty of checkpoints so you’ll rarely lose much progress, solving the issue of difficulty that affected its predecessor. This also means that you always have a rough idea of just how far into the game you’ve gotten.

It’ll take you a while to finish Sol Invictus, and more importantly you’ll want to come back for more. It’s a particularly fine start to the year for adventure gamebook enthusiasts.