League of Geeks’ Solium Infernum has achieved strong reviews on debut, with critics praising its style, atmospheric flourishes, and its implementation of sharp strategy gameplay. It’s seemingly earned the eye of critics and general audiences alike, with its Steam reviews trending Very Positive, and multiple critical scores landing above 8/10.
“Solium Infernum regards strategy as a game of intellect, patience, and observation. Put into those terms, it might sound dry, but its visual flair combined with the ingenious ways it turns abstract ideas into tangible, comprehensible, and thrilling game mechanics make it irresistibly playable.,” reviewer Ed Smith wrote in PCGamesN‘s 9/10 review.
Writing for GLHF / Sports Illustrated, critic Marco Wutz also praised the game, particularly in its approach to satisfying multiplayer gameplay, and its gloomy, atmospheric vibes.
“No number will be able to properly describe everyone’s experience,” Wutz said. “Jump into a game with people you know … and Solium Infernum is a magical experience that will provide an unending stream of funny anecdotes and memories to recount later.”
Read: League of Geeks initiates significant layoffs, Jumplight Odyssey shelved
Over on Steam, players have shared many reviews recounting tough, “devilishly clever” combat encounters, and all the pleasures of plotting and scheming.
“Playing it feels very reminiscent of games like Twilight Imperium, Dune (the old one), and Eclipse – flexible political free for all, brutally punishing and decisive combat, with just the right amount of randomness and uncertainty,” Steam user NP-Tryhard said. “Every decision feels critical and impactful – there’s never enough times or actions to do everything and be in a perfect position, which makes the game incredibly tense.”
Others have shared tall tales of facing down demon armies, pulling off tricky military manoeuvres, and finding just the right strategy to succeed. While the high level of complexity in the game is a common theme in some reviews, it does appear dedicated strategy players are mightily impressed with Solium Infernum, and its many layered challenges.
The early review cycle will likely come as a major relief to League of Geeks, the Australian-based studio behind the game. Ahead of launch, the initial Solium Infernum team was gutted by layoffs, with the final stages of the game’s development handled by a small crew.
As part of these changes, League of Geeks also halted development on sci-fi management game Jumplight Odyssey, in the hopes that work on Solium Infernum could continue – and that the game could thrive.
“There were only two possible scenarios with the money we had left in the bank account; Pause development on Jumplight Odyssey so we can release Solium Infernum as planned, or cancel both games immediately and shut down LoG for good,” studio co-founder Trent Kusters said at the time.
The decision to shelve Jumplight Odyssey was multi-faceted – but choosing one game over the other reportedly came down to the amount of work required to finish Jumplight Odyssey.
“JLO was set to launch in 6 months, and SI is two months from launch,” Kusters said. “The amount of money required to complete JLO is 2-3 times as much as SI, not to mention the complexity of console development compared to a game that is coming to PC only.”
As part of this blog, Kusters also revealed there is enough development funding for Solium Infernum to get a “couple updates” and “hopefully a DLC too” but the future of the game depends on its reception and public support. For now, it appears the studio has achieved the success it aimed for – and that the future of Solium Infernum, and League of Geeks itself, is looking slightly brighter.
