Thus far, Solium Infernum appears to be a great game. If you come in with the right expectations. For some reason, the game is often marketed as a 4X or even a grand strategy. And it really doesn't belong to any of these genres. Nor does it offer significant singleplayer content to justify the purchase. What it does offer, however, is a deliciously devilry-flavoured multiplayer board game. Hell is other people, after all.

Basically, think a more complex Armello, but virtually every game interaction and system is some form of a subtle intrigue, betrayal or maniacal powerplay. That makes SI perfect for a group of friends with flexible and sophisticated understanding of the whole 'friendship' concept. You can't really spell "friend" without "fiend", let's be frank. But it's plenty fun with random people, too.

• Be an archfiend competing for supremacy in Hell, where honesty is considered impolite and mercy is plain scandalous.
  
• Train legions of steel and fury. Watch them march into swamps of peril and death as your rivals forge the unit orders.
  
• Collect powerful artifacts. Feel powerless as they get stolen by some conniving bastard.
  
• Be a conniving bastard and kick off a blood feud between your neighbors by sending false insults claiming Beelzebub's mother is a hamster.
  
• Summon The Devourer, a literal enormous walking maw capable of swallowing entire strongholds. Go bankrupt trying to provide enough forage for it.
  
• Challenge rival praetor to a ceremonial duel. Defend your honor. Bribe the judges.
  
• Take part in an election process even more convoluted and serpentine than US elections.
  
• Win the game only to belatedly find out a certain shadowy puppeteer stood behind you helping, guiding you this whole time, and you didn't actually win.

It's a highly customizable experience. Ranging from 2 hour-long sessional games to asynchronous affairs potentially lasting weeks if players only have spare time for a couple of turns per day. But the learning curve is slightly steep, and the tutorial doesn't cover the peculiarities of rules in their entirety. In-game rules encyclopedia comes to rescue.

Aesthetically and thematically the game is top-notch for my taste. I mean, endless wasteland of dust and char? More of that, please. Characters are distinct in their unique brands of vile, wicked and warped. UI could use a bit more tuning, though. Particularly, adding the option to close any windows with a click anywhere on the map and adding a camera scroll speed slider would be neat. Overall, really hoping SI does well and stays healthy for years. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to go into real politics to satisfy my dark manipulative urges. And real politics is yucky. See you in hell.

Thus far, [b]Solium Infernum[/b] appears to be a great game. If you come in with the right expectations. For some reason, the game is often marketed as a 4X or even a grand strategy. And it really doesn't belong to any of these genres. Nor does it offer significant singleplayer content to justify the purchase. What it does offer, however, is a deliciously devilry-flavoured multiplayer board game. Hell is other people, after all. Basically, think a more complex [b]Armello[/b], but virtually every game interaction and system is some form of a subtle intrigue, betrayal or maniacal powerplay. That makes [b]SI[/b] perfect for a group of friends with flexible and sophisticated understanding of the whole 'friendship' concept. You can't really spell "friend" without "fiend", let's be frank. But it's plenty fun with random people, too. [list] [*]Be an archfiend competing for supremacy in Hell, where honesty is considered impolite and mercy is plain scandalous. [*]Train legions of steel and fury. Watch them march into swamps of peril and death as your rivals forge the unit orders. [*]Collect powerful artifacts. Feel powerless as they get stolen by some conniving bastard. [*]Be a conniving bastard and kick off a blood feud between your neighbors by sending false insults claiming Beelzebub's mother is a hamster. [*]Summon The Devourer, a literal enormous walking maw capable of swallowing entire strongholds. Go bankrupt trying to provide enough forage for it. [*]Challenge rival praetor to a ceremonial duel. Defend your honor. Bribe the judges. [*]Take part in an election process even more convoluted and serpentine than US elections. [*]Win the game only to belatedly find out a certain shadowy puppeteer stood behind you helping, guiding you this whole time, and you didn't [i]actually[/i] win. [/list] It's a highly customizable experience. Ranging from 2 hour-long sessional games to asynchronous affairs potentially lasting weeks if players only have spare time for a couple of turns per day. But the learning curve is slightly steep, and the tutorial doesn't cover the peculiarities of rules in their entirety. In-game rules encyclopedia comes to rescue. Aesthetically and thematically the game is top-notch for my taste. I mean, endless wasteland of dust and char? More of that, please. Characters are distinct in their unique brands of vile, wicked and warped. UI could use a bit more tuning, though. Particularly, adding the option to close any windows with a click anywhere on the map and adding a camera scroll speed slider would be neat. Overall, really hoping [b]SI[/b] does well and stays healthy for years. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to go into real politics to satisfy my dark manipulative urges. And real politics is yucky. See you in hell.