I’m afraid of Cryptic Comet. They’re an unapologetically hardcore indie developer specializing in brutally complex turn-based strategy games. The studio’s first game was the critically acclaimed Armageddon Empires, which scared the living daylights out of me with its awkward interface and bewildering array of strategical options. Now Solium Infernum has been released and it’s a very similar title; albeit one which takes place in a drastically different setting. Instead of dystopian ultramodern warfare the player gets cast down into a ferocious and dirty battle for dominance over…well, Hell itself, actually.

As a (custom-built) member of Hell’s nobility it’s your objective to accumulate enough Prestige to claim the Infernal Throne. While combat on a hex-based map is one of the ways in which this goal is accomplished, there are plenty of slightly more subtle ways to get ahead in the race to the top (or perhaps I should say bottom), and clever use of resources, cards and the back-stabbing art of diplomacy is amply rewarded.

As with Cryptic Comet’s previous title the game’s interface as well as the actual gameplay mechanics are not at all easy to get into, and since there’s no tutorial the player is required to read the manual’s 50 pages carefully and experiment with various in-game elements in order to learn how everything works. I have a feeling that those who do will be able to look forward to many hours of amazingly deep and unabashedly PC-centric strategy gaming. And oh, unlike AE this game has multiplayer as well…

Download demo and buy full game (29,99$) at:
http://www.crypticcomet.com

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