Ya’ll ready for some proper spookums? Well, settle in as I play through and review Inferno, a game of hellscapes, ancient evils, and naughty sinners on a biblical (heh) scale. If you like the darkest of themes, the bleakest of tones, the most horrifying of concepts, or just have a penchant for 14th-century Italian literature, then this is a one-of-a-kind game just for you… But let’s tick off the basics first.
Dante’s what now?
For those unfamiliar, The Divine Comedy is a poem written by Dante Alighieri in Italy in 1321, as he spent his final years hopping from one city to another after getting booted out of Florence following some political shenanigans. The work is held in high regard as an all-time classic and makes for exceedingly interesting (if somewhat difficult) reading in the modern era.
I am going to TLDR this for you at breakneck pace by glossing over almost everything and then translating what’s left into a tone suitable for a silly little Hasvik article. Spoilers, I guess, but the book has been out for about 700 years, so don’t come at me. In short, The Divine Comedy is about:
Some dude (Dante) takes a short city break in Hell and pairs up with a local tour guide, Virgil, the Roman poet. Together, they jaunt through nine circles of the abyss, each dedicated to increasingly awful sins, like a poorly thought-out theme hotel. At the end, they take a quick selfie with Satan, then climb back up to the surface to find some Wi-Fi signal to upload their holobob snaps to Insta. The work covers themes of justice, redemption, human nature, and travel blogging.
So Inferno is based on the version of Hell depicted in The Divine Comedy. While I will point out that this version of the underworld is not considered biblically accurate, so should be considered more fantasy than religious in theme, it certainly contains elements some players may be uncomfortable with. In essence, you take charge of a corrupt dynasty, accumulating infamy and helping to administer the eternal suffering of the damned. Like running a parking enforcement company, but with the thermostat turned all the way up. All that said, this game could be an uncomfortable subject for some, so it may not be your top pick this weekend. I, on the other hand, am already applying the red make-up for my Legend cosplay. RIP Tim Curry.
The gates of Hell
Now I’ve got you up to speed, it’s time to break the divine seals and open this unhallowed box. First off the bat (out of Hell), we need to talk about the quality of these components, because they are exceptional. As seasoned board gamers, we’ve seen meeples in all shapes and sizes by now, but Inferno has something quite special. Each sin is represented by a corresponding unique soul meeple, with an icon cut out of its chest that represents that sin. We’ll get to what these are for later, but I had an overwhelming need to point these out to the world and say, “More like this, please.” The vibrant colours also really pop against the otherwise dark and gritty board. Speaking of…
The main board and Guardian cards have that grimdark aesthetic you’d find plastered all over a Dark Souls case cover, which pairs well with the game’s themes and overall tone. Some of the artwork on the main board makes it a little difficult to distinguish between what is a gameplay element and what is just aesthetics, but it’s manageable in a well-lit room. Generally, the theming here sits well alongside the sinister themes of the game.
What sits less comfortably are the adjacent Fraud cards and player game boards, which are in a more traditional Euro/German style that would be more at home in a game about managing a flock of sheep to maximise your wool trouser output. Once you see it, it jars a little, which is a shame. I don’t mind either art style in appropriate games, but I’ve never seen them sat next to each other.
Beyond that, the rest of the game is cardboard tokens galore. These are all nicely produced, but again, some are leaning into that FromSoftware vibe, while others are a bit more like German trouser tokens. The card stock is thick, though, and the printing is of high quality. There are a few nice touches, too, like the florin and drachma coins having unique art on each side.
A good time in Hell
So, how does the game actually play? Well, you manage your machinations in turns, with each turn split into two phases.
Phase one: Nudge a sinner along their pilgrimage of punishment down the layers of Hell, or, if there are none to move, pay the ferryman (yep, that one) and port a new sinner across the River Styx. Sinners move along specific paths through a narrowing web of options. When a sinner lands at their destined layer, they unpack and stay for good. You score points based on how deep the layer is, and the sinner blocks that space for the rest of the game, but future sinners can leapfrog them. The important element here is that each space has one of four icons representing actions in Florence, so wherever you place the sinner will determine your options in Phase Two.
Phase two: For each of the four symbols you can land on in the Hell phase, there will be two associated locations in Florence, which are randomised at setup. For example, if I move a sinner onto the wheel symbol in the Hell phase, I will then be able to visit either of the locations in the wheel quarter in the Florence phase.
Phase Two works like a more traditional worker placement game. You have a small number of family members and can recruit urchins as extra legs. You’ll place one family member per turn at a location to take its action. Some special locations also have a requirement for placement, such as a monetary cost before you can take the action. Locations will give you gold and goods, let you adjust your player board, recruit urchins, etc. If you’ve played worker placement games before, then this will feel very comfortable.
BUT, you do have an alternative action you can take instead of placing your worker in Phase Two: accuse a sinner. We’re into the biscuits now, as this is where the gameplay really lifts off. So, bear with me, but each location also has a colour. When you move a sinner and select which quarter you will visit in Phase Two, if you already have a worker in one of the two corresponding locations, you may make your accusation. Thematically, this is you grassing up some dude and getting him executed, thus speeding up the process of his eternal damnation. Accusing is the only way to recover your workers and allows you to add a soul to the banks of the River Styx, ready for the next cruise to Hell. But what’s really fun is that accusations let you progress on… the sin tracks…
The Devil’s in the details
So, with the two phases explained, let’s poke around in some of the surrounding mechanics, and you’ll start to understand how Inferno has even more layers than Hell. Chief among these supporting mechanics are the sin tracks, which correspond (in colour) to a location and sin. For example, the bank location corresponds to the greed track. Plus points for theming here. Each tick up a sin track grants you a bonus of some kind unique to that track, such as gaining coins or points. But what’s REALLY cool is how the sin track interacts with the Phlegethon cubes. Side note: we couldn’t pronounce Phlegethon, so just called them the Phlegm cubes. I am all up for thematic terminology, but I’m not learning another language as well as the rules.
You see, over on the Phlegethon track, we have a cube for each sin track. There are a few ways to dial these cubes up or down on their scale from 1–5 throughout the game, but their only direct impact is on scoring. When you get to the end of the game, you will, amongst other scoring measures, receive a score equal to your progress on each sin track multiplied by the position of the Phlegethon cube for that track. Right, so, if I am on position three on the greed track and the greed Phlegm cube is on position two on its respective track, then at game end I will score 3 × 2 = 6 points for Greed, and then continue to score all the other sins in the same way. This feels like playing tug of war with the devils’ abacus, and that’s a phrase I’ll be adding to the “gives me the ick, but I don’t quite know why” list.
So, you’ll be thinking ahead about how you can accuse a sinner of a specific colour to advance on that sin track, while also looking to progress the associated Phlegethon cube up its track to maximise your score. But you’ll be really hoping your opponent doesn’t notice what you’re up to and start nudging that same cube down on their turns… while also panicking as your opponent progresses up a different set of sins as they try to do exactly the same thing. This gets a little chaotic, and more than a bit cheeky, in a four-player game, too.
You can also nudge yourself up the sin tracks using Fraud cards. Certain locations will allow you to play Fraud cards, of which you start with two, or you can play from three revealed Fraud cards available to all players. Every Fraud card has one instant and one end-game scoring effect, but you’ll only receive these effects if you have the associated goods on your player boards. What do you mean I haven’t mentioned goods??
See what I mean about layers? Truth is, there are plenty of mechanics I haven’t mentioned. There is a deck of cards that spawns more souls ready for their boat ride, two (of four selectable) Guardians who amble around Hell causing mischief, a buildable tower on your player board, a River Styx mechanic serving as a cheat code for nudging up your sin tracks in exchange for a wee bribe, and plenty more still that stack on top of each other like a sinful lasagne. While I want to avoid chewing up and feeding you the rulebook like a baby bird, there is one last mechanic I need to discuss.
Dante! It’s ya boy! Every time a sinner is accused, Dante takes a little trot along his path to the big man himself. As he goes, he dispenses diplomas?! Which is yet another mechanic tied to the sin track. Every time Dante moves down a layer, the player with the highest score on the associated track earns a diploma. Thematically, Dante gives you a diploma because… I don’t actually know. It makes no sense to me. Anyway, diplomas affect end-game scoring, so more on that later. On he trundles along his route until he reaches the very bottom of Hell itself. When he does, you’ll finish a round so everyone gets the same number of goes, because Satan is fair, apparently, and then it’s off to scoring.
Judgement Day
Okay, so let’s go gently here, as there is a fair bit to unpick, with a lot of different ways to rack up brownie points with Satan.
The score track – This will already be populated with the odd points you pick up from the sin track and getting souls to their preferred (or worst imaginable??) final resting places. This will act as your basis for adding all other final scoring on top of.
Fraud cards – Next, you’ll be tallying the end-game effects from all your Fraud cards, which will get you points for things like how far along a particular sin track you are. It’s not difficult to rack up a few of these cards, so grab as many as you can, as they’ll give you a healthy score total.
The sin tracker and Phlegethon cubes – As explained above, you’ll finally get to see what sums you’ll be running for every sin track based on the position of the cubes on the Phlegethon track. As the track is visible throughout the game, you’ll have an idea of where this is going by this point, but prepare yourself for some big jumps up the score track. HOWEVER, you’ll only score points for a track if you have a diploma in that sin. These are handed out by Dante or obtained in a few other ways as you play the game. If you don’t have a diploma in that sin (LOL?), you don’t score that sin at the end of the game.
Coins – You’ll also score your remaining florins. This shouldn’t make too much of a difference, as you’ll likely have been spending money to nudge everything else along throughout the game, but it could be the clincher if scores are close.
Odds and sods – Then there is some final admin to do. Repay the undead loan shark if you didn’t read the small print, get a special prize if you had the tallest tower, the biggest family, the best tomato sauce, etc. These are minor adjustments and will only affect the podium if it’s neck and neck.
Where all Hell breaks loose
So, we’ve seen how the mechanics function and how the game scores, but how does it play? Well, Phase One will stimulate your strategy glands, particularly in the mid-to-late game, when you have plenty of sinners on the board and can start hopscotching over those who’ve locked in at their final Airbnb. The game gradually evolves into snakes and no ladders as you try to zoom your naughty Italians down to their corresponding layer as fast as possible, while also still landing them on an icon that helps you in Phase Two in Florence. Chef’s kiss.
The Florence section is perfectly serviceable as a worker placement game, but it feels like a secondary mechanic bolted onto the Hell board to give it more depth. That’s absolutely fine, and I think part of the reason I say that is that the Hell board in Phase One is such a strong and interesting mechanic that it overshadows the rest of the game a little bit. That said, it pairs nicely because the familiar worker placement mechanics make for an easier teach for experienced players and let you really explore the more unique elements.
The other side mechanics all add depth and opportunities for diversifying your scoring path. Nothing felt obviously optimal, with the only exception being hoarding street urchins. As with most worker placement games, having more workers = more actions. More workers also help you spread out across Florence locations, making accusations easier and having to give your family a scolding less likely.
The theme follows the artwork in that it’s a little inconsistent. I still don’t really understand why I am guiding souls through the afterlife while simultaneously roleplaying a family in Florence going to the bank and buying barrels of goods. The rulebook makes a vague connection to the ancestors of the family being involved in shuffling souls along in the spicy basement, but that’s about it. This is more a characteristic of medium-to-heavy-weight Euro games rather than an issue with Inferno. Some people see the Matrix and care not what pictures are on the cardboard, while others, like me, enjoy a bit of motivation as to why I am killing people.
Some elements drip with theme, while others feel like butter spread over too much abyssal bread. That’s a shame, too, because when Inferno succeeds, it does so devilishly well, but it can feel a little let down when other aspects don’t reach the same depths, like ending up in a different layer of eternal damnation from the one you were hoping for.
It’s also worth noting that this is not a light game and plays over about “two” hours, but it took us three hours both plays. The game relies heavily on iconography though so I can see how things speed up when you have learned the dark speech and don’t need to reference the rules every 4 minutes. Also, in the common tongue, Inferno has a lot of moving parts. You’ll need to calculate your path way in advance and do your best to adapt when the other players mess up your plans. That means that, to give yourself the best chance of being the best (worst?) Italian, you’ll need to be watching other people’s games, too. TLDR: Inferno is a big-brain game.
Endless torment
Quick chat about replayability, then. Inferno has a strong degree of adjustability to keep it fresh for more than a handful of plays. At setup, locations are placed randomly, and you’ll start with different Fraud cards in hand each playthrough. Starting souls are randomised, and you can add shortcuts to Dante’s path for a tighter, shorter game. You also have four Guardians to choose from each game, and there are even some suggested rules variants in the back of the rulebook. None of this completely changes the gameplay but it all allows for a gentle tailoring for an experience more suitable to your preferred style of play. Good job, Satan.
The final Judgement
So, there is a lot to like here. The naughty soul slip-and-slide is great fun, obviously. Even if the rest can feel like set dressing at times, it all adds depth and weight to the decisions at the core of the game, and that works out just fine. While I will say the artwork and theming are inconsistent, excellent at times and disconnected at others, that doesn’t stop me wanting to hang around in Hell a little longer with the worst people imaginable, and that is quite an endorsement for the game, I feel.
