The RPS-beloved turn-based strategy game Solium Infernum is again from the useless. Announced earlier as we speak on stage at EGX London 2022, Armello creators League Of Geeks shall be resurrecting and reimagining the game in 2023. Originally launched in 2009 by solo dev Vic Davis and his studio Cryptic Comet, Solium Infernum solid you as an Archfiend hoping to stake a declare for Satan’s empty throne. With a robust emphasis on political intrigue and Machiavellian backstabbing over taking issues by drive, this strategy game from hell was a agency RPS favorite again in the day, spawning an eight-part diary sequence of the staff’s play-by-email multiplayer adventures. Alas, it by no means fairly discovered the viewers it deserved again in the early 2010s, finally inflicting Davis to close up store fully in 2015 and pursue a profession in tabletop.
League Of Geeks are right here to vary that, although, and after talking with studio director and co-founder Trent Kusters (each at EGX earlier as we speak and through a hands-off presentation of their pre-alpha demo late final week), it is clear the staff have taken nice care in bringing Solium Infernum updated for contemporary audiences. It leans into all the similar sorts of thoughts video games as Cryptic Comet’s unique, and its simultaneous flip construction continues to be very a lot intact – simply with lusher 3D visuals, and all-new, revamped menu screens. And it appears to be like devilishly good.
First issues first, although. If you are questioning why League Of Geeks are the ones reviving Solium Infernum, it seems this strategy game has a lot deeper ties with Armello than you may suppose.
“It was an enormous inspiration for Armello,” Kusters tells me. “Back once we had been prototyping Armello on paper, one of the precise variations of the prototype that was the one which made it type of all come collectively, was when Ty [Carey], our [studio] director and inventive director on this game, really introduced in some components from Solium Infernum which he’d been taking part in a bunch of a pair of years earlier. And so it appears like a pure step for us. People at all times ask us if we’ll do Armello 2, however this sort of appears like Armello 2, you understand?”
Indeed, as our demo begins, the most evident connection to Armello lies in its animated playing cards. Most of Solium Infernum performs out in 3D, however its spells, artifacts and legion armies all have their very own lavishly drawn playing cards connected to them that lay out their stats and skills. Solium additionally has heaps of huge, characterful personalities to decide on from when choosing your participant character as nicely, reminiscent of Armello’s clutch of hero animals. The two video games additionally share the similar composer, Michael Allen, though Solium’s ‘Moog Requiem’ music, as Kusters calls it, is understandably a far cry from the hovering orchestral rating Allen made for Armello.
Kusters has chosen to play as Andromalius, the blonde, fallen angel from the reveal trailer, for this specific match, however he is not alone on this ashen hellpit. Butting up towards his territory of golden hexagons are three different AI gamers all vying for the similar aim: to take management of Hell’s capital, Pandemonium, and declare the Infernal Throne for themselves. The map itself loops in all instructions, that means you are at all times surrounded at the begin of a match. With all fronts open to invasion, you will must pay shut consideration to all 4 compass factors when you hope to succeed. For the sake of simplicity, although, my demo contained the purple lands of the demonic dragon prince Astaroth to the south, the blue plains of the chimeric Belial to the east, and the inexperienced realms of the feathery harpy Lilith to the west.
Like the unique Solium Infernum, the ultimate game will assist as much as six gamers when it comes out subsequent 12 months, however for now we have simply obtained a four-player match in progress that is about 20 turns in –roughly an hour’s value of play, Kusters tells me. He’s not doing too nicely at the second – his status stage amongst the different demons is a bit on the low aspect, and he is solely obtained one legion military in play. However, over the course of the subsequent 5 turns, Kusters says he will flip the match round for Andromalius, and all with out shedding a single drop of blood besides.
“We play in that energy vacuum the place Lucifer has vanished and the Archfiends, the excessive demon lord rulers of the nice homes of Hell, vie for energy,” he says. “If you think about that Civilization is, say, 80% of your time spent on the board, and 20% with the leaders, Solium is the inverse of that. Solium is absolutely into reputation contests. You are working with and towards, typically underhandedly, all of your opponents and foes in Hell.”
To do that, you will be spending lots of time in the Diplomacy menu. Here you may view every faction’s diplomatic state – who’s warring with who, who’s mates with who and so forth. You also can click on by to conduct diplomacy with characters individually, resulting in characterful portrait menus the place you can also make particular calls for, insult, extort or humiliate them, and even ship emissaries, type contracts with them, or enter right into a vassalage with them. If you’ve got ever performed Shiro Games’ Dune: Spice Wars, you will really feel proper at dwelling right here.
In our demo, for instance, Lilith presently has a vendetta towards Astaroth, whereas Astaroth has one towards Andromalius, leaving Belial as the solely character not in open battle with anybody. This is vital, as you may’t bodily assault different gamers or invade their claimed hexagons until you declare a vendetta towards them. As such, most matches will seemingly start with gamers making a beeline for his or her nearest Place Of Power. These are landmarks that assist collect the crucial sources you will want on your rising armies. Andromalius has laid declare to the Garden Of Infernal Delights, for instance, whereas Astaroth (maybe considerably fittingly) has the Great Wheel Of Pain to his title, and the Tree Of Woe. He’s been accumulating fairly the little military throughout the course of the match, boasting three legions to our one.
His territory can be proper up towards the fringes of Pandemonium at the second, which is posing a bit of a menace to our likelihood of profitable. But all shouldn’t be misplaced. There are two modes of victory in Solium Infernum: you may win by status by enterprise the Trial of the Chosen and having the overarching Conclave of Hell declaring you’ve got earned the requisite quantity of tokens, or you may win by usurping the throne by drive and holding the metropolis for 5 turns.
Astaroth appears to be like set to do exactly that as we get into the meat of the match, however Kusters has different concepts. First, he strikes Andromalius’ sole legion onto a bridge at the outskirts of Astaroth’s territory to halt his progress. These 100-strong models are represented in full in Solium Infernum, portray a a lot grander image of the sorts of infernal battles you may wage. Unfortunately, Astaroth’s military minces ours in a matter of seconds, partly as a result of he is put in a Praetor to assist lead it, a champion of Hell he is recruited throughout the course of the match. These Praetors also can duel in single-combat to assist settle disagreements between completely different Archfiends, Kusters tells me, however sadly I did not get to see any of these fights throughout my demo.
With our legion gone and actions spent, Kusters now turns his consideration to the flip log. Turns happen concurrently in Solium Infernum, and “that is actually the place a lot of the game occurs,” he says. “I really cannot see what all the different Archfiends are doing throughout their turns, so at the finish of each flip, that is the place we see what’s gone down.”
“It’s a game of paranoia. You’re at all times making an attempt to outsmart and outwit your opponents.”
At the high of our log, we will see we have clearly misplaced our legion, however we have additionally been focused by a border paperwork ritual, and one of our hexagons has now been assigned to Belial. However, Belial himself is probably not straight accountable for this motion, Kusters tells me – he solely seems to be, in accordance with the flip log.
“In Solium Infernum, nothing is because it appears. You can really masks rituals and body [other players]. This may be Lilith framing Belial as a result of she has a related stage of prophecy or destruction, so it is a game of paranoia. You’re at all times making an attempt to outsmart and outwit your opponents.”
These rituals are darkish spells that are available in all styles and sizes, and with the intention to carry out them you will must stage up your Archfiend’s 5 powers: Wrath for waging warfare, Deceit for trickery and the capacity to mislead, Prophecy for gaining hidden data, Destruction to study darkish magic, and Charisma for attracting well being and favour. Andromalius is presently fairly nicely up on the Deceit and Charisma tracks, however rating up his Deceit to Lv.4 will earn him one other ritual of his personal to carry out. After plugging in the crucial souls, hellfire, ichor and darkness sources to unlock it, the improve will get queued up in our motion tray, and can come became playable card throughout the subsequent flip.
There’s nonetheless another motion we will take earlier than that, although, and to check our principle that Lilith is presently making an attempt to border Belial for our border dispute, Kusters opens up Belial’s diplomacy menu to demand some sources from him. You can ask for 2, three or 4 tribute tokens per demand, however you will must wager some of your status with the intention to achieve success. If Archfiends concede, you will get each your requested sources and your wagered status again, but when they reject your demand, you will lose that status, and be given the choice to declare a vendetta towards them in the subsequent flip.
With our motion tray now full, Kusters ends the flip and awaits the end result. As numerous models jostle into place, the Infernal Conclave takes this second in time to set off a world occasion – an unholy campaign towards Heaven’s Ramparts. We do not need to take part on this occasion, however the game warns us that “those that don’t provide a legion shall be judged accordingly”. Presumably, by knocking our status tally down a couple of pegs. Obviously, we have now no legion to supply at this level, however Kusters is not involved. He dismisses it, saying we will come again to it later.
With management now again in our palms, it is time to use that new ritual. It’s a Pilfer Artifact spell, and Kusters casts it on Lilith. Earlier in the match, you see, he used a prophecy spell to get somewhat glimpse of one thing that may be helpful to Andromalius, and as he clicks Confirm, his guess was appropriate. Lilith has been harbouring a Devourer Statuette artifact, which is now ours for the taking.
“A Devourer is a Titan,” explains Kusters. “We have our legions in the game, however what’s new to the Solium Infernum we have created is we have taken some of the strongest and devastating legions from the final game and we have created these Titan models which are distinctive of their look and have this large presence on the board – and this Devourer is the strongest unit in the game that the participant can management. By taking this artifact from Lilith, which is a magical merchandise, I’m going to have the ability to set up that artifact into my ritual chamber, into one of the slots, after which I’m going to get a ritual referred to as ‘Summon Devourer’, after which once I solid that ritual, that darkish magic, I’m going to summon it into the game – and I do not suppose Astaroth will actually be a lot of a menace to me after that.”
Each of these steps comes with its personal related useful resource price, of course, however Kusters has ready for this nicely upfront, coughing up the requisite quantity of souls and hellfire with out taking a lot of a success. Before we transfer to seal Astaroth’s destiny, nonetheless, Lilith has taken the alternative to insult us earlier than the Conclave, in all probability as a result of we nicked her profitable trump card. Like Demands, there are two methods Insults can play out. We can both settle for it and lose some status, or we will reject it and take in that status for ourselves. However, whereas demand rejections gave you a alternative of initiating a vendetta on the subsequent flip, rejecting an insult will drive you to declare a vendetta as a matter of course. As such, you will want to think twice about whether or not it is value the danger. With victory just about inside our grasp, nonetheless, Kusters accepts the insult – which Andromalius visibly rails towards in the backside left nook of the display for some added drama.
For our ultimate motion this flip, we might in all probability do with a brand new legion – simply to be on the protected aspect, so Kusters heads to the Infernal Bazaar, an public sale home contained in one other set of menu screens. Here, all Archfiends can place blind bids on completely different models, Praetors and artifacts. All of the legions you may bid on are from the unique game, Kusters tells me, albeit with some a lot snazzier paintings in tow. The playing cards are lovely issues behold, even after they’re named issues like, and I quote, “10,000 Screaming Bastards” and “Vile Apostates”. Naturally, Kusters places a bid on the Bastards (which once more, prices a bunch of sources), and ends his flip.
“At any time limit and any flip, any Archfiend may very well be bidding on something on this public sale home.”
“At any time limit and any flip, any Archfiend may very well be bidding on something on this public sale home,” he says. “We don’t know. So generally you are in right here bidding strategically, like, ‘Ah, I do not need Lilith to get that artifact or one thing’, otherwise you may bid larger to make sure you have that likelihood of getting issues. But it has been fairly quiet in right here this game, so I feel we’ll be okay with the minimal reserve bid on that.”
As everybody makes their strikes, the flip log brings lots of welcome information: Belial has accepted our demand, giving us two souls and two hellfire for our coffers; we received our bid on the 10,000 Screaming Bastards (huzzah); and we’re lastly capable of set up our Devourer Statuette in our ritual circle. It shall be one other flip but earlier than our Titan seems on the board, however there’s nonetheless extra we will do right here to assist claw some status again in the meantime – comparable to capturing one other Place Of Power landmark that Belial is beginning to hone in on.
Technically, the landmark belongs to Astaroth at the second, which makes us marvel why Belial appears to be making a play for it. Last flip, he was vendetta-free, however he is clearly obtained machinations of his personal underway. As flip 24 begins, Belial hurls an insult at the dragon prince to provoke his personal vendetta towards him, which might then enable him to enter Astaroth’s cantons and declare it on his subsequent go. We’ve obtained no beef with Belial at the second, however we additionally need that landmark for ourselves. Rather than provoke a full-on battle, nonetheless, Kusters merely manoeuvres his Bastards in entrance of the landmark, successfully reducing off Belial’s invasion route until he begins a vendetta towards us as nicely. It simply goes to indicate you do not at all times want to make use of drive to get what you need.
Finally, although, it is time to summon our Titan and reap the rewards of our scheming. As Kusters alluded to earlier, the Devourer is a gigantic determine on the map, standing as tall as our stronghold as its gaping maw and rows upon rows of tooth roar loudly on the battlefield. Alas, earlier than I get to see what occurs subsequent, the demo attracts to an in depth. Still, the conniving machinations of these 5 turns have definitely whet my urge for food for this reimagining of Solium Infernum, and I’m wanting ahead to attending to grips with it myself when it will definitely comes out subsequent 12 months. I like the slow-paced nature of all of it, and the must suppose two or three turns forward all the time jogs my memory of some of the greatest board video games I performed with friends in the earlier than occasions. I did not suppose the brilliantly tense second-guessing of the Battlestar Galactica board game might presumably be replicated in video game type, however Solium Infernum appears to be like set to do exactly that in 2023 when it releases on Steam. Here’s hoping hell would not freeze over in the meantime.
