Developer Piraknights and publisher Team17 have announced Sintopia, a management sim in which you must oversee a nightmarishly bureaucratic vision of Hell.
In a press release, Team17 and Piraknights describe Sintopia as a “God simulation game”, although “Satan simulation game” might be a more appropriate description. Rather uniquely, it promises an asymmetrical dual-world style of gameplay.
Your time will be split between the Overworld and Hell. In the Overworld, you’ll watch as future Hell recruits “damn themselves by committing a host of sins”, and then in Hell, you’ll punish those souls and use them to fuel your empire.
The premise reminds me quite strongly of Red Tape, but rather than zooming in on a particular damned soul’s journey through Hell, this is what it looks like when the camera is pulled back and the whole sordid business (literally) is on display.
This being a management sim, you will, of course, be able to shape and mold Hell to your darkest desires, building facilities and placing them wherever you want. After all, who’s going to stop you?
You’ll also have to watch out for your souls building up the sins they accumulate throughout their lives. Too much sin could result in what Piraknights calls a “demonic invasion”, and that doesn’t sound like something you’d want to deal with.
You can check out the debut trailer for Sintopia, which shows off the game’s devilishly humorous take on the world below, right here.
It’s also likely that Sintopia is inspired by the likes of 2003’s Heaven and Hell, and it’s got overtones of Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius about it as well.
Sintopia is due to land on PC via Steam Early Access sometime next year. We don’t have a more concrete release window for the game yet, unfortunately. Stay tuned for more.