Welcome to Solium Infernum, the “Dark Souls of strategy games”

pcgamesn.com:

“Hell is other people.” Trapped together in a small room, the central characters of Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ gradually learn that being watched, observed, and scrtunised by others is a special kind of nightmarish punishment. When writing about videogames, it’s not often you get to reference French philosophy or the pains of psychological pressure, but enter Solium Infernum, a new strategy game, set in Hell, where manipulation and deviousness are much more dangerous than guns. With influences including Doom, Civilization, and Dark Souls, Solium Infernum pits you against human players (though single-player is still available) as you contend for the infernal throne – Lucifer has vanished in mysterious circumstances, and a new ruler of Hell must be chosen. It all started back in 2009.

“The original version of Solium Infernum was developed by the enigmatic Vic Davis of Cryptic Comet,” League of Geeks co-founder, and (the new) Solium Infernum’s creative director, Ty Carey, explains. “It was an incredible achievement for an indie solo dev, with no prior experience in the game industry, who was experimenting within the ‘digital board game’ space. It was never released on Steam, only being sold through Vic’s website. It was clunky in terms of appearance and interface, but hidden in there was a diamond in the rough.

“Solium Infernum did strike home, though, with a core group whose love of board games, indie strategy games, and bizarre hell-things seemed perfectly triangulated,” Carey continues. “This was an experience I really wanted to share with the world. So, I kind of… stalked Vic, a little, sending yearly emails asking him what was up with the licence. When we had a team available looking for their next job, we pounced.”