Solium Infernum remake

[Infinitron]

 

[std::namespace]

what other games have music clashing with the video content in trailers?
suspiria 1977
my best cs1.6 fragmovie
bocu no picu amv
gears of war
dragon age

 

[Space Satan]

 

[Harthwain]

I played one match.

Besides single- and multiplayer matches the game offers scenarios that require specific conditions to win, which is a nice way to get accustomed to a specific playstyle of each of the Archfiends.

I took Mammon (pretty much the first scenario from the top). While the AI was weak (at least in that particular scenario, although this could be the sign of broader problem with AI not being up to the task of playing the game versus a human player), I had fun.

At first I failed to catch any of the Places of Power. So I started gathering Tribute to increase my stats and started buying artifacts. First was Talisman of Greed, aptly enough (+1 to Tribute Quality). Then I got Hand of the Executioner. I mainly wanted it for Prestige generation, but it also increased my Wrath power and I wanted to heal up by wounded starting Legion AND get prestige from doing that (I got a scheme that gave 15 Prestige for healing up a legion for 3 hit points). This made leveling up Wrath easier. Then I snatched Ark of Damnation and put it on my starting Legion. +6 to Infernal and 2x Infernal damage? I started going even deeper into Wrath tree, because one of the schemes allowed me to make sure Infernal will always go first and there was no enemy in the game that could withstand this much firepower.

But my goal was to take the Mines of Gehenna and it was behind a river to the north or deeeep into Murmur's territory. Very out of reach. So I got myself the Puzzle Cube. But then I had to level up my Prophecy to equipe the Cube AND start using a Ritual to actually make use of it, to send my Legion over to the Mines of Gehenna.

When I got enough money I got a second Legion - Adamantine Guard. Their main downside is their speed (1 movement), but with the Puzzle Cube that became a non-issue. I also gave them Great Scythe. +2 to Melee AND healing 1 hit point her point of damage dealth in Melee Phase (so they could heal up damage taken in Ranged Phase)? Sign me up!

After that it was cakewalk.

The only nerve-wrecking moment was when Abyss Leviathan appeared next to the Mines of Gehenna and took it away from me one turn before the Conclave was finished with the voting. Thankfully it was enough for me to be the Prince, if the requirement was to hold the Mines of Gehenna AND be the Prince, then I'd have lost the scenario due to a very unlucky coincidence.

But there is one important change the old players will probably not like: the lack of custom Archfiends. Each has set personality, stats, a unique special power, legion and stronghold. You can, however, customize their starting relics. This can shake up the early game (and, in some cases, even the endgame). The important bit is bit as these relics are secret.

The changes to skill trees are good: even being Wrath and Prophecy focused (with a touch of Charisma) - which is not usual for Mammon's personality - I didn't feel like I was playing against the character or taking useless skills.

If someone cares; Andromalius and Murmur have the title of Baronex, all the other Archfiends are titled Baron or Baroness respectively. But other than that, I didn't notice any more signs of wokeness.

One word of warning: there is a set time limit (between 25+ and 70+), but even 40 turns can be a plenty, because the game won't end at 40 turn mark. It merely means the countdown for the vote at the Conclave BEGINS after 40 turns and it can end somewhere between 5 and 13 turns (I am guess it is decided randomly). I think I ended my game after 53 turns, and it was decided pretty much looooong before that.

All in all, this is a solid boardgame for multiplayer and asynchronous setup is brilliant idea to keep the matches going.

 

[Tyranicon]

While the AI was weak (at least in that particular scenario, although this could be the sign of broader problem with AI not being up to the task of playing the game versus a human player)

The AI does seem to be weak. There doesn't appear to be any kind of AI settings, so the game is clearly made for multiplayer.

I only played one short match on a small map and easily bullied all the other archfiends as the dragonknight, taking the lion's share of Places of Power, destroying their legions, spawning abyss walkers. It was a lot of good fun but wasn't especially challenging.

There are a lot of mechanics seemingly to stop you from steam-rolling a win if you're far ahead, but they don't hamper you too much. Some of the crown relics are also extremely powerful (an extra action per turn when you only start with two and won't get another for some time? Very strong).

 

[Galdred]

While the AI was weak (at least in that particular scenario, although this could be the sign of broader problem with AI not being up to the task of playing the game versus a human player)

The AI does seem to be weak. There doesn't appear to be any kind of AI settings, so the game is clearly made for multiplayer.

I only played one short match on a small map and easily bullied all the other archfiends as the dragonknight, taking the lion's share of Places of Power, destroying their legions, spawning abyss walkers. It was a lot of good fun but wasn't especially challenging.

There are a lot of mechanics seemingly to stop you from steam-rolling a win if you're far ahead, but they don't hamper you too much. Some of the crown relics are also extremely powerful (an extra action per turn when you only start with two and won't get another for some time? Very strong).

The original one was made because Vic thought Armageddon Empires wouldn't be suitable for MP, so he built Solium Infernum specifically for this purpose iirc. As it is meant to be a game of alliances and betrayals, it is even worse to make AI work well without being too obnoxious (let's pile on the first player, which should happen to be the human).

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

what other games have music clashing with the video content in trailers?
suspiria 1977
my best cs1.6 fragmovie
bocu no picu amv
gears of war
dragon age

fallout 1

 

[Malakal]

So you guys getting it? We could do a Codex game like the one for the old.

I am on the fence because AI is apparently brain dead so its a MP game.

 

[Silva]

I'm betting everyone here will eventually find this better than the original. You heard from me first.

 

[std::namespace]

I'm betting everyone here will eventually find this better than the original. You heard from me first.

im confident its because it will be more balanced
the original is a meme that lives of player interactions - the rules and meta dont matter much - lots of rng, bunch of diplomacy (the game)

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm betting everyone here will eventually find this better than the original. You heard from me first.

It's a good game, thoughtfully designed and I haven't run into any bugs that I noticed.

But I wish there were more single-player options such as AI settings. A few dev notes (such as the WIP one on the UI scaling) gives me hope that content patches are on the way.

 

[Harthwain]

So you guys getting it? We could do a Codex game like the one for the old.

I am on the fence because AI is apparently brain dead so its a MP game.

I need to play some more games to get a better feel at how the Archfiends play, but it should be a brilliant game for the Codex and I would be up for playing. If that fails, I guess I will try to line up a game or two via Solium Infernum's Discord.

But I wish there were more single-player options such as AI settings. A few dev notes (such as the WIP one on the UI scaling) gives me hope that content patches are on the way.

The community manager said the developers want to improve on the AI. We shall see if it does something for the singleplayer (or mixed multiplayer).

 

[Beowulf]

Count me in for a codex game. I'm already in a couple async games, but would like to do one with us doing a AAR here on the forums as well.
Some changes are bad, some are good and were needed (like decoupling the income from Charisma). I just wish the 3D part was less cartoony.
Apart from that the remake is good and the additional objectives in the challenges scenarios make even for an entertaining single player experience.

 

[Space Satan]

The game is super multiplayer-oriented. And it will hurt it in a long run. Because there is no place for single player runs as you should put an effort to NOT win here. By turn 50 you usually have about 400 prestige with other struggling to get 100. Players instantly know op legion-praetor combos etc. Oveerall, game lacks scale - map is tiny for a reason and several PoP are few. Unless there will be a substantial mp community with regular sesions the game is doomed to a narrow niche fate. They had 1,108 players at PEAK. And most of them are either notalgic middle aged guys who have little free time or those who try it for the first time.
I never thought I will say it but this game is actually should be more like a Civ. Game took too much from tabletop and A SHITTON of mechanics could be simplified and tweaked to help gameflow and replayability.
Anyway, a decent indi game.

 

[Harthwain]

I never thought I will say it but this game is actually should be more like a Civ.

It was supposed to be a remake of a classic multiplayer game, not "a Civ" game.

Players instantly know op legion-praetor combos etc.

There are ways around "op legion-praetor combos".

 

[sser]

Is the async via PBEM? How boardgamey is this compared to say, Armello or Goblins which I think are nice PC adaptations.

 

[Beowulf]

Is the async via PBEM? How boardgamey is this compared to say, Armello or Goblins which I think are nice PC adaptations.

Basically Armello level with more depth. It would be a terrific boardgame.
The async is basically handled by the game client and it sends your game data to the server, which churns the turn and sends you back the results automatically. It has seamless steam integration, so no need for shared folders or emails.

 

[Galdred]

Is the async via PBEM? How boardgamey is this compared to say, Armello or Goblins which I think are nice PC adaptations.

Basically Armello level with more depth. It would be a terrific boardgame.
The async is basically handled by the game client and it sends your game data to the server, which churns the turn and sends you back the results automatically. It has seamless steam integration, so no need for shared folders or emails.

Does it mean I get a notification on Steam when my turn is up?

 

[Harthwain]

Is the async via PBEM? How boardgamey is this compared to say, Armello or Goblins which I think are nice PC adaptations.

Basically Armello level with more depth. It would be a terrific boardgame.
The async is basically handled by the game client and it sends your game data to the server, which churns the turn and sends you back the results automatically. It has seamless steam integration, so no need for shared folders or emails.

Does it mean I get a notification on Steam when my turn is up?

Yes. The game actually asks you to provide data for the purposes of asynchronic sessions.

 

[Tyranicon]

Found this while looking through the store today. Check out the review number

 

[Infinitron]

Shutting down: https://leagueofgeeks.com/blog#gone-fishin

Gone Fishin'!​

Hi there friends!

With over 13 years under our belt as an entirely independent studio, and the economic situation in games being what it is right now, we have made the decision to put LoG into hibernation for the foreseeable future and take some extended time off.

The vast majority of our team have moved on to exciting new endeavours and those who remain are going to take a well deserved break over the next few months.

We’re not sure when (or if) we will resurrect this great beast, but we’re incredibly proud of all we’ve achieved, both in the experiences we’ve crafted together, the great developers who made LoG a world-class development environment, the peers we inspired along the way, and of course, those community members who believed in what we made, how we made it, and supported us fiercely in those convictions.

Now it's time for rest, some play, and other opportunities.

As for our games… They will remain online and will be supported during this period.

Solium Infernum remains in Open Critic’s Top 10 games of 2024 (#20 on Metacritic!), and we are incredibly proud of where the game is now. Unfortunately, its sales revenue cannot fund further active development or DLC.

However, we do love our Hellish strategy game and have a couple of treats up our sleeve still, some bug fixes and minor content. So I’m sure we’ll find an opportunity to get a lil update or two out.

Jumplight Odyssey has, as of this point, not found workable and timely investment that would reinstate development on the title. We would love nothing more than to see this project finished, but unfortunately, development will remain on hiatus. We are aiming to bring it out of Early Access at some point in the next 12 months. This is unlikely to be the fully realised v1.0 release we had originally planned, though we will try to find some way to tuck the game in with our limited, remaining resources.

In brighter news, we will be releasing the Jumplight Odyssey OST for FREE, complete with expanded and remastered tracks, on Steam (and other platforms) in the next week or so!

Armello will continue to cruise along as it has for the past few years, rotating seasonal content and providing a hit of heroism for our furry adventurers.

The Armello Board Game won't be affected in any way by this. That's in the caring hands (paws?) of King of the Castle Games and we're around for anything they need. Though admittedly, they're all over it!

You can find posts with more information relevant to each game in their respective Steam communities.

Makin’ videogames is hard, excruciatingly hard these past few years, but the smart, lovely people we got to do it with, both inside LoG and out, made this crazy business worth it every single day.

For our industry friends, we’re around. Let’s chat. <3

See y’all on the other side!

<3 Trent, Blake & Ty
Co-Founders & Directors

 

[Tyranicon]

Why can't the "economic situation in games" kill studios I hate instead of ones I kinda sorta like?

 

[chuft]

I am curious why making video games is so hard now. In the past you needed physical discs to be manufactured, manuals, boxes, you needed distribution into physical stores with all the publishers and middlemen and retailers. Now it seems you can just sell a game on Steam and there are game engines you can leverage, unlike in the past where you had to code everything from scratch. What is making things so hard now? Genuinely curious.

 

[Tyranicon]

I am curious why making video games is so hard now. In the past you needed physical discs to be manufactured, manuals, boxes, you needed distribution into physical stores with all the publishers and middlemen and retailers. Now it seems you can just sell a game on Steam and there are game engines you can leverage, unlike in the past where you had to code everything from scratch. What is making things so hard now? Genuinely curious.

If gamedevs were the same caliber of gamedevs 20/30 years ago, they would be making money hand over fist.

But they're not. Those people have all retired or otherwise drummed out of business.

They've been replaced with corporate yes people.

One of the top-played games on steam right now is literally clicking a jpeg of a banana. And most of its playercount are bots.

Welcome to the lol.