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If you already thought Inferno was intense, well… it can get worse. In a good way. Or at least in a way that makes you sit up a bit straighter.
Inferno 1348 is a modular expansion. You can add one part, the other part, or both, depending on how much extra weight you want that evening. It brings two main modules, the Great Pestilence and Merchants of Ravenna, plus some smaller additions that change scoring and setup in the background.
It doesn’t replace the base game. It doesn’t try to repair anything. It just adds more on top. More pressure. More decisions. More chances to say, “why did I do that?” I mean, that’s kind of on theme anyway.
👥 1-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 120 minutes
📝 Designer: Fernando Eduardo Sánchez
🎨 Artwork: David Benzal & Cristian Casado Otazu
🏢 Publisher: Red Mojo Games (prototype copy provided)
📌 Before we dive in, a small note: the Gamefound campaign currently features Inferno 1348 Deluxe and a Deluxe Reprint of the Inferno Base Game. So if you don’t own the base game yet, this isn’t just about the expansion. They’re offering both together in upgraded form. If you want all the details on what’s included in each version, their Gamefound page gives the full overview.
The base game, quickly
In Inferno you run a Florentine family trying to gain infamy by condemning sinners and sending their souls deeper into hell. Yes, it’s heavy. It’s also very satisfying when it clicks.
Each turn has two phases. First you move a soul down in hell. If it reaches the circle that matches its colour, you score points. The deeper, the better. Where that soul ends up decides which district of Florence you’re allowed to act in. Unless you pay to ignore that, which you sometimes absolutely need to.
Then comes Florence. You either send a family member to a location to do something useful, or you accuse a sinner where you already have someone standing. Accusing moves Dante forward, adds a soul to the graveyard, and advances a sin track. Those sin tracks matter a lot because they’re tied to diplomas, and diplomas are serious endgame points.
Meanwhile you’re managing money, guests in your tower, barrels, fraud cards, loans, safe passages through hell… It’s already layered. In a good way, but still.
Inferno 1348 keeps this structure. The two phases stay. The core stays. It just adds new problems.
The Great Pestilence
Let’s start with the rats.
Whenever Dante steps on a plague tile after an accusation, a location in Florence becomes infected. The first time, you can choose any location. After that, the infection spreads next to already infected places.
When a location flips to its infected side, it becomes stronger. Accusations there can send two souls instead of one. You can advance further on sin tracks. So yes, infected places are tempting.
But here’s the cost. If you send a family member to an infected location and there are rats left there, you take one and put it on your personal scaffold. And that’s where it starts to feel uncomfortable.
The scaffold is a vertical board next to your tower. Rats climb up in a zigzag pattern. If they reach certain spaces, you trigger misfortunes. You might lose a guest. Lose a barrel. Lose a family member from your tower. In the worst case, you demolish a floor of your tower.
I mean… that hurts.
Now, rats are not purely bad. At the end of the game, you score points based on the highest rat on the right side of your scaffold. So you’re not just avoiding them. You’re deciding how much damage you’re willing to accept for points later.
For us, that push and pull works. You stand there thinking, do I go into the infected market for that stronger action, knowing a rat is coming home with me? Or do I stay away and miss out?
Not everyone will enjoy this. The palace and market infection effect can swing hard. You gather all guests or barrels, randomly return half, discard the rest. It can feel rough. If you prefer very controlled games where plans unfold exactly as expected, this might feel like the board just coughed on you.
Still, because infection spreads in a structured way, it doesn’t feel random. You can time accusations to push Dante onto plague spaces when it suits you. And yes, that increases direct interaction. Sometimes a bit mean. But never accidental.
Merchants of Ravenna
If pestilence makes Florence worse, Ravenna gives you a different direction.
There’s a new map board connecting Florence to Ravenna. After your hell phase, you can send one family member from home to the map. You gain florins equal to the total number of family members already on the map, including your own. Then you choose a pact card. And your turn ends. No Florence phase.
So you are giving up a city action to invest in this journey.
Once on the map, that family member stays there for the rest of the game. You don’t get them back. From that moment on, you’re playing with fewer pieces in Florence. That means more pressure on your remaining family.
Each pact gives you a specific trigger for movement. Maybe it’s taking loans. Maybe it’s accusing with a certain guest. When you fulfil that condition, you move along the roads between villages. You can move forward or backward along connected roads, but you can’t go back to Florence.
Villages give trade charters. These are small tiles that let you repeat actions, double scoring bursts, gain extra advances, even take extra rats. Used charters flip but still score at the end. If you reach Ravenna, they’re worth more.
Reaching Ravenna itself is a small race. First gets more points. Later arrivals get less. And once you’re there, further advances just give you two points instead of movement.
For us, Ravenna feels more like a long-term investment. You sacrifice something now, hoping it pays off later. When it works, it feels satisfying. When it doesn’t, you look at that family member sitting halfway on the road and think… well, that was optimistic.
It absolutely adds weight. There’s another board to watch. Pact triggers to track. Charter timing to consider. In a group that already finds Inferno heavy, this might be too much. I guess it depends on how comfortable you are juggling several things at once.
Smaller additions
Besides the two big modules, you also get alternative phlegethon scoring tracks, new tower floors with different bonuses, and a set of edicts that change the endgame objectives. And that’s not even everything. There’s more included in the expansion, but for the full overview I’d suggest checking their Gamefound page, where they list all components in detail.
I like these more than I expected, honestly. They’re not flashy. You just notice, halfway through the game, that you’re aiming for slightly different things than usual. The edicts especially can shift what everyone cares about at the end. That means you can’t just fall back on the same plan every time.
For us, that’s nice. It keeps the base game from feeling predictable without adding extra weight. No new subsystem, no extra board to track. Just a small twist.
Sometimes that’s exactly enough.
Artwork and components
We played with a prototype, so things might change.
Visually, it fits the base game perfectly. Same parchment tones, same medieval flavour. The wooden rats are chunky and very visible. They are also, slightly annoyingly, kind of cute. Which feels wrong, given what they represent.
The scaffold boards are clear. The infected locations are still perfectly readable. The map to Ravenna has a softer, old map look, which makes it stand apart from Florence without clashing.
When you use both modules, the table presence increases a lot. Rats climbing, family members travelling, charters flipping… It looks full on the table, in a good way. There’s a lot going on, but it still feels organised.
Our experience
With pestilence, the feeling of the game changes. Florence feels less stable. You’re planning, but you know something might shift under you. That creates moments where you hesitate longer than usual.
Sometimes it felt a bit unfair, if I’m honest. Especially when misfortunes stack and you lose multiple things in short succession. It can create a kind of downward slide. I know some players will not enjoy that at all.
Ravenna feels more like building a side plan. You invest early, give up tempo, and hope it pays off. When it works, you feel good about it. When it doesn’t, you realise you’ve reduced your options in Florence for very little return.
Together, both modules make the game more demanding. Not just in rules, but in the number of things you’re tracking. More triggers, more interactions, more scoring layers. If you already found Inferno intense, this will not make it lighter.
For us, that’s fine. We enjoy that kind of puzzle. But I wouldn’t automatically recommend playing with everything on your first expansion game.
Final thoughts
Inferno 1348 doesn’t change what Inferno is. It just pushes it further. Pestilence makes Florence harsher. Ravenna adds a longer arc to think about. And the smaller modules keep things from becoming too familiar.
I like that it’s modular. You can add only pestilence if you want a harsher Florence. Only Ravenna if you want more development outside the city. Or just the alternative scoring for a subtle twist.
It’s not for everyone. The added swings and occasional rough moments won’t suit players who prefer tight control. The increased complexity might push some groups over their comfort line.
But if you already enjoy Inferno and you want it to feel a bit more unstable, a bit more layered, and yes, slightly more punishing, this expansion does that.
Just maybe don’t invite the rats to dinner. They always bring friends.
📝 We received a prototype copy from Red Mojo Games.
