Venture with me to the depths of Hell as we strive to conquer the desolate landscape and rule the underworld with blood, cruelty, and schemes.

Solium Infernum is a turn-based grand strategy game, developed and produced by League of Geeks, a Melbourne-based game company, and creators of a little game called Armello. If you haven’t checked that out yet, I encourage you to do so. I love Armello, and I still play it to this day, and if you like it as much as I do, you will also like Solium Infernum.

I was lucky enough to check out the preview version of Solium Infernum, where you take control of an Archfiend trying to take the throne of Hell after the prince of darkness goes missing. Fight against other Archfiends using your legion’s strengths and your cunning diplomacy skills, or you can perform a devilish ritual to hinder the rise of your competition.

As this is only a preview version, I was only able to play the tutorial part of the campaign and twenty rounds of the Freeplay skirmish. This gave me a taste of the gameplay, and I’ll try to simplify it as best I can so as not to overload anyone.

At least until I get to do the full review. My fingers are crossed. Every player and opponent starts with a home base and a legion of soldiers, and you move them around the board to claim tiles, expanding your borders for every tile claimed.

Taking Places of Power will give you Prestige every turn, and the more Prestige you have, the more you can rank up your Archfiend. This can help with diplomacy and Tributes to help crown you the winner, however, this also puts a target on your back, but you cannot just attack others. If you wish to do so, you must use diplomacy to insult or make demands of others, and if they refuse, you can start a vendetta against that opponent. Only then are the gloves off, and they stay off until it is resolved. You can also attack and claim the city of Pandemonium, but you then have to hold it while everyone comes for you.

You can collect currencies called Tributes that you can use to purchase stronger legions or Praetors who bolster the power of your legions and your claimed Places of Power. You will also use these currencies to purchase rituals and artifacts that each have abilities to help or hinder, or you can purchase power tiers.

The art department has done an amazing job, and all of the Archfiends look amazing, but just wait until you see the card art, it looks so good. They have created masterpieces. The landscapes, legions, and Places of Power are perfectly nightmarish, creating a wonderfully devilish experience. The music is very on par with the theme, using dark orchestral music accompanied by beautiful but ominous hymns.

So far, I am in love with this game. Just like Armello, you can spend hours and hours playing, and you’ll never get bored. My only issue is that I can only play twenty rounds currently. This, however, has not stopped me from trying to win within those twenty rounds.

I haven’t so far, but I have come close, almost taking the city of Pandemonium, and given I had a titan under my control, I think I could have held out. I can’t wait for the full release, and I will be spending most of my free time seeing the extent of a full match.

Written by: Adam Brasher