 | Digital Release | PC July 16, 2007 – Online April 16, 2021 – Steam |
| Delisting | Between Nov 27, 2022 and Dec 05, 2022 – Online | |
| Developer | Cryptic Comet | |
| Publisher | Cryptic Comet | |
| Available On | Steam | |
| Links | Armageddon Empires homepage [Archive] Wikipedia page |
Delisting
Designer and developer Vic Davis of Cryptic Comet announced on January 3rd, 2015 that he would be moving away from digital games. Sales and support of his PC games Armageddon Empires, Solium Infernum, Six Gun Saga, and The Occult Chronicles were promised “for as long as they keep running”.
I’ve been selling computer games for over 7 years and it’s been a great ride. Selling games directly from this website has been an increasingly difficult task. My programming skills are so tied to an aging and abandoned development platform that making even a niche title like my previous games is a dubious proposition at best. So I’m leaving the digital space and moving over to the card board arena where I hope my design skills can shine.
It’s a natural transition since my games have all been very board game like. I hope that has been part of their charm. I will naturally continue to support all my customers with tech support and downloads of lost purchases. And I will continue to sell my digital games and support them as well for as long as they keep running. God Bless windows compatibility mode. 🙂
Vic Davis – January 3rd, 2015
Davis would go on to release Armageddon Empires himself on Steam in April of 2021 adding at the time that The Occult Chronicles may join it in the future. Davis also stated that he would like to adapt Solium Infernum for a Steam release, something that would soon come to light albeit not at his hands.
Thanks! everyone. It was a long time coming. Soren actually convinced me that I could do it on my own. 🙂 I’m going to try and get Occult Chronicles up once I fix a difficulty issue that I can address by changing the data files. I’d like to get Solium Infernum up too, but that looks to be much more difficult. I would have to make some significant changes with my own key system and things get messy for a variety of reasons.
Vic Davis on Quarter to Three forums – April 16th, 2021
On September 22nd, 2022 Davis would publish the last blog post on the Cryptic Comet homepage, announcing that developer League of Geeks would be releasing a Solium Infernum remake on Steam in the future. That version would eventually launch on February 22nd, 2024 and is not considered a relisting.
Can’t tell you how excited I am to finally be able to announce that League of Geeks has been handed the infernal torch. The game couldn’t be in better hands. This reboot is going to take the best aspects and core mechanics of my original design and add the steady professionalism, clever creativity and ambitious talents of League of Geeks. It’s a marriage made in Hell.
Vic Davis – September 22nd, 2022
The Cryptic Comet website would then go offline between November 27th and December 5th, 2022. This meant that Cryptic Comet’s games — including the original release of Armageddon Empires and Solium Infernum, as well as the only versions of Six Gun Saga and The Occult Chronicles — were no longer available to buy. Worse still for those who had previously purchased the games, the ability to re-download them had also reportedly been removed around this time.
According to reader Inaba who submitted the games to the site, they and others like them were unable to download their previously purchased titles through email receipts from BMT Micro. This is the software distribution platform that provided Cryptic Comet’s games and as of June 2024 it lists them as “not available for purchase“. Errors in downloading past purchases reportedly began appearing within “a few days” of the September 2022 announcement.
We’ve reached out to Cryptic Comet for a response on the availability of their games. It is worth noting that demos of the four original titles as well as update files from the Cryptic Comet support page can still be downloaded as of June 2024.
About the Game
In the year 2025 human civilization makes first contact with not one but two alien civilizations. The Machine Empire and the Xenopods have been enemies locked in a death struggle for over 10,000 years. As the battle for control of the solar system and the earth rages with unimaginable fury, neither group pays the insignificant natives of the planet much attention. Within a month of first contact, 99% of the human race is exterminated by thermonuclear fire, kinetic weapons strikes, genetically engineered plague and starvation.
The survivors scurry like cockroaches to stay out of the aliens’ way. A little over 20 years later the fighting stops as suddenly as it started. A shift in the tide of battle moves the front to other star systems and all that remains on the devastated planet are scattered groups of human survivors and the abandoned remnants of the aliens’ fighting forces. They have been left to fend for themselves until the system can be reoccupied and the stranded units withdrawn. The earth smolders like an ash heap and the once blue green jewel of the solar system has been transformed into a brown scorched wasteland.
That was 300 years ago.
Now you must take charge of one of four factions and build a pocket empire on the bones and burning metallic hulks of your enemies. Gather resources, deploy armies, and crush your foes without mercy. Only then can you rule the wasteland!
Thanks to Inaba for submitting this game to the site