Solium Infernum has combat, armies, and its own hellish equivalent of tech trees – all the staples of the strategy genre – but what it’s really about is silence. Civilization 6. Cities Skylines 2. Age of Empires. Between the building, the turn-based battles, and the keen resource and people management, you can see all the mainstay influences, but the upcoming opus from Jumplight Odyssey creator League of Geeks truly comes to life during the moments in between, the steady beats of soundless, foreboding contemplation that exist at the end of each move. As of right now, you can try Solium Infernum’s superb multiplayer mode for yourself, thanks to a new trial period. But let me explain.
So, this is Dante’s classical vision of Hell. Nine circles. Baroque architecture. The works. Playing as one of eight archfiends, who each represent different sins and vices, your goal is to claim the infernal throne after Lucifer, mysteriously, disappears. Solium Infernum has a mission-based single-player mode, which you can also try thanks to its previous demo. But multiplayer is where its most unique and devilish attributes really come to life. This is a strategy game that wants to get inside your head. Leave your friendships at the gate with Cerberus.
First of all, Solium Infernum can be played asynchronously. If you’ve always wanted a long-form, multiplayer 4X game, but never been able to find the time for complete matches, you can log in, input your turn, and Steam will notify the other players that it’s time to make their moves, too. Hours, days, weeks, it doesn’t matter – in fact, the longer it goes on, and the bigger the gaps between turns, the more Solium Infernum starts to get under your skin.
See, the focus here is not on martial power, although that is an option. To be victorious in Solium Infernum multiplayer, you need to become a conniving, backstabbing, manipulative fiend. Although the game ebbs and flows on the battlefield, the most significant sea changes take place within the Infernal Conclave.
Here, you and the other players will regularly meet to trade insults, forge allegiances (or rather, ‘allegiances’), and generally attempt to outscheme, outplot, and outweasel one another in a bid for political power. Shakespeare’s Iago. Littlefinger from Game of Thrones. Regina George. Power in Solium Infernum is proportionate to your skills as a gossip, a traitor, and a trouble stirrer.
It’s those silent periods between each turn, when you’re forging your plots, your opponents are doing the same, and everyone’s paranoid of one other, that Solium starts to feel like nothing else you’ve ever played. You can try the multiplayer for yourself right now, thanks to a huge, open test that runs until Sunday January 14.
Intrigued? The full Solium Infernum release date is on its way. In the meantime, you can also try some of the other best grand strategy games available on PC.
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