Greeting Archfiends!
Exciting news today! We have created a totally new and updated demo for Solium Infernum that anyone who hasn't purchased the game can play free of charge on Steam.
But What's In It?!
This new demo includes the complete tutorial from the game, allowing prospective buyers (and Archfiends) to not only get a feel for whether Solium Infernum's particular breed of strategy game is for them, but to experience the mayhem of a full, open-ended 50 turn match!
It also includes access to the full Encyclopaedia Infernum - Solium Infernum's in-game codex and manual.
What's Not In It?
All multiplayer functionality, as well as Singleplayer chronicles and Skirmishes are not available in the demo. Naturally, this means that the only playable Archfiend is Astaroth.
It is literally just the complete tutorial and the Encyclopaedia Infernum. But still, that is 2-3 hours worth of open-ended content, and almost every Legion, Titan, Artefact, Event, and more could find its way into that tutorial match.
We've worked hard to find the best balance of giving people a very generous treat in regards to playtime, being able to finish a full match, and learning the ropes, whilst ensuring there's still seven more Archfiends and dozens and dozens of hours of value still remaining in the full game.
Why Release a Demo Now?
Great question. We did this for two reasons:
Onboarding Your Friends
Many of you from the community have asked many times, "how do i convince my friends to purchase this game so we can play together?"
While we can't magically make the game free for friends, cut the price in half permanently or offer four packs, we can provide your friends with this free demo.
Now your friends can not only try Solium Infernum for free, but because the demo is the complete tutorial from the full game, when they're done they will have all the basics down pat and ready to dive straight into a game of multiplayer... where you can then swiftly and mercilessly destroy them.
Best of all, because the tutorial is open ended, for those of you who are super invested, once Belial has released them into the wild ashen plains of Hell, you now have the opportunity to step in and guide them (via Discord or over their shoulder, etc) through the mid and late stages of an entire game of Solium Infernum.
Educating the Unitiated, Before They Spend That Moolah!
It makes us incredibly proud to say that Solium Infernum is one of the highest reviewed games of the year. Critics love it. And the vast majority of players love it. However, we do get reviews like, "Too slow for my taste," or "most boring game i've played," or "extremely infuriating," or my favourite... "Starcraft 2 was released without a single player campaign."
These are all real quotes from negative reviews. lol
Because Solium Infernum plays so differently to almost every strategy game ever made, it has always been incredibly hard to properly educate folks and set expectations of what they're getting themselves into. We were able to do this for the press with some success, and we invested heavily in content ahead of launch like Between Two Infernos to help educate players, but it's clear that there is a small number of folks purchasing Solium Infernum who probably should never have done so in the first place.
If Solium Infernum is absolutely your kinda game and you still don't end up liking it for whatever reason, that's a bummer, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. But it bums us out way more to think that these folks (and a bunch of others) purchased a game that they would never have been into in the first place.
And we'd like to help those people keep their hard earned money - or spend it on a game more up their alley!
We're not here to sucker people into a purchase, so though we'll no doubt lose a few sales upfront this way, we feel that ensuring people who purchase Solium Infernum do so knowing (and excited for) what they're getting themselves into is a long term investment not only in the health of our community, but in the review scores you see on our Steam page.
Solium Infernum just isn't for everyone. And that's okay.
How Long Will It Be Available For?
Considering everything I've explained above, our plans at this stage are for the demo to stay online and available for free in perpetuity.
Obviously, these plans may change should the demo negatively impact sales in a significant way (always a risk with demos), though we're quite confident that shouldn't be the case here. Quite the opposite actually, hence why we're doing this.
Alright, that's about it.
For those of you who have been trying to get your pals into the game, here's your chance. The game's currently 40% off and there's less than 48 hours in the Summer Sale so now's the time to pounce! Go, go, go!
And don't forget to vote for the Solium Infernum OST in the World Soundtrack Awards! Details on how to vote can be found here.
See you in Hell!
<3 LoG