Sid Meier's Civilization 7, the latest entry in the hallmark 4X strategy franchise, is coming soon to PC and console platforms. For players feverishly anticipating its release, while turning to the older entries in the franchise for a refresher may be enticing, the strategy game genre is flush with a variety of subcategories and unique offerings that may equally suit fans of the series.

One such game is Solium Infernum, a 4x strategy offering in which players take control of an Archfiend and try to gain the upper hand in a leaderless hell. While it differs from Civilization, Solium Infernum is an overlooked but fantastic strategy game that offers the same core feeling of accomplishment for each meticulous strategy that comes to fruition. While players await Civilization 7, especially with previews looking good, now is a fantastic time to try out the well-reviewed Solium Infernum on Steam.

Solium Infernum Has Devilishly Excellent Visuals and Thematic Design

Forget History, Solium Infernum Takes Place In A Beautifully Depicted Hellscape

While not the most important factor of a strategy game, Solium Infernum is certainly ed by stellar visuals and thematic design. The art has a melodramatic flair, with detailed and imaginative renditions of events, magical artifacts, and legions of hell that look straight out of a Dante's Inferno picture book. The map is another example, taking a cue from the creative ways in which Civilization handles the fog of war; it repeats as the player scrolls along the edges, creating a feeling of confusion as it paints hell as a sort of infinite prison for the playable Archfiends.

While perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, the visuals are but one factor ing the stellar theme of Archfiends vying for control of hell. Where thieving, plotting, and backstabbing are understated features of Civilization, often occurring throughout games but always coming with some degree of shame if discovered, this component of strategy games takes center stage in Solium Infernum. In fact, these more devious principles seep into every system present. Here, players are free, if not encouraged, to win the game by a mixture of these tactics, wherein no player and no strategy can be trusted.

Take diplomacy, where the two primary options are insulting and demanding, or war, which has its own fitting twists. Hell, of course, binds its occupants to a certain degree of rules. Players cannot attack each other or invade borders at their whim. Instead, they must create vendettas from rejected insults or demands, which function as a contract in which a player decides the length and objective of combat.

These twists extend to every aspect of Solium Infernum, where the art and systems work in tangent to capture the scheming nature of its eight playable archfiends truly.

Tight Action Economy Makes Every Decision Matter

Leaning Into Its Restrictive Nature Reveals A Truly Elegant Game

One of the primary differences between Civilization and Solium Infernum is the importance of actions. This is present in Civilization, of course, as players decide what to build, when to expand, or when to fight. However, Civilizationmore readily captures the feeling of a sandbox, and though Civ 7 is trying to reduce micromanagement, every turn of Civilization still comes with a bombardment of decisions and actions.

Solium Infernum puts a tight grip over this sandbox with a much more restricted action economy. Players begin the game with only two order slots, allowing two actions per turn. At first, players may feel restricted by the limited number of actions they can take. Pushing through that immediate reaction reveals a truly elegant system that extracts deep decision-making at every turn.

Part of this elegance is in the understanding that rival archfiends are met with those same restrictions. If a player purchases a powerful legion from the bazaar, a shared auction house, it is important to recognize not just the purchase itself, but what exactly the player has given up to make it.

Why Civilization Fans Will Love Solium Infernum

Civ Distilled Into Precious Few Hours

There's no question that Civilization and Solium are quite different games. However, Solium Infernum does an expert job at distilling some of the pivotal and memorable moments of a Civilizationmatch into a three-hour experience. It's important to note that Solium Infernum's AI is not the finest, so its two-faced diplomacy is at its best with rival players on the other side of it. Yet Solium Infernum, particularly if played with friends, is one of the best 4X games on the market.

Solium Infernum can be likened to a decisive version of Civilization. One bad turn can shape a game; one action in the incorrect order, one underestimation of a players' strength, or one well-timed purchase can completely swing matches. While Solium Infernum likely can't compete with the sheer breadth of content within Sid Meier's Civilization 7, each system is maximized to its full, exhilarating effect, making a game truly worth experiencing before Civilization 7's release.