INFERIUS – Preview | A Descent Into a Different Kind of Hell

Developer: Lucid Rain Studios | Publisher: Lucid Rain Studios | Release Year: TBA – 2027 | Genre: First-person horror roguelike deckbuilder | Platforms: PC

INFERIUS is one of those games that is difficult to define with a single label. Lucid Rain Studios is attempting to combine first-person horror, exploration, stealth, roguelite progression and deckbuilding in an experience inspired by Dante’s vision of Hell, with strong Lovecraftian influences and a Tarot-based system handling the combat.

After spending time with the available demo, what stands out first is not necessarily the complexity of its mechanics, but just how clearly INFERIUS has already managed to establish an identity of its own.

It does not feel like just another horror game with a card system added simply to make it different. Exploration and combat have been designed as two distinct sides of the same descent into Hell. One is built around fear, uncertainty and the management of limited resources, while the other demands more calculation and careful use of your deck. The question is whether those two sides will ultimately manage to achieve the same level of depth.

INFERIUS Has Already Given Its Hell a Distinct Identity

Players take on the role of a Pilgrim, a soul trapped somewhere between life and death who must descend deeper into the Inferno and confront the Rulers governing its different Dominions.

Its structure is loosely based on Dante’s nine circles of Hell. Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery form the game’s main regions, with each one featuring its own Ruler, creatures, environment and rules.

Lucid Rain Studios is not attempting a faithful adaptation of The Divine Comedy. Instead, it uses Dante’s work as the foundation for its own nightmarish world. The Lovecraftian influences are immediately apparent, while the visual direction leans towards something distorted, organic and almost diseased rather than a conventional depiction of Hell.

The creatures are perhaps one of the strongest elements of this approach. INFERIUS avoids relying on familiar demonic designs and instead creates bodies that look fundamentally wrong even at first glance. Creatures made from fingers, limbs positioned where they have no business being, and figures that can barely be described as human create a persistent sense of discomfort.

More importantly, they do not rely exclusively on jump scares. Their presence is communicated much more effectively through the environment, their movement and, above all, sound.

Sound Design Builds Much of the Tension

The audio design is one of the strongest elements of the demo so far. INFERIUS fills its environments with noises that are difficult to pinpoint. Movement somewhere beyond your field of vision, distant sounds, creatures whose exact position you cannot determine, and surroundings that almost never allow the player to feel genuinely safe.

That matters because the first-person side of the game is not built around conventional combat. You are not walking through Hell carrying a weapon and waiting for the next enemy encounter. Instead, much of the experience revolves around avoiding creatures, understanding their behaviour and choosing the right path through each area.

INFERIUS works best when it allows the environment itself to create tension rather than trying to frighten the player through a predetermined scare.

The Lantern Is a Fundamental Part of Survival

The lantern plays a central role in exploration. At first glance, it serves as your primary light source, but in practice it is also tied to one of the game’s most important resources. It requires Soul Essence to remain active, while the same Souls can also be used for other actions within the environment.

This creates a relatively simple but effective dilemma. The more you use the lantern, the more safely you can move through the darkness. At the same time, however, you are consuming a resource that may be needed shortly afterwards to progress or interact with something in the environment.

Darkness is not merely an aesthetic element either. It is connected to the Pilgrim’s Sanity, and the longer the character remains without protection, the more their perception begins to deteriorate.

The system is interesting, although the demo does not always make it completely clear how significant each change in Sanity actually is or what all of its consequences are. It is a mechanic that could develop into a meaningful part of the overall experience, but it still needs to communicate its effects more clearly to the player.

The lantern itself is not perfect in terms of handling either. At times, using it can feel slightly more cumbersome than you would expect from a mechanic that plays such a central role. It does not undermine the experience, but it is one of those smaller areas that could still benefit from refinement before release.

Tarot Completely Changes the Way Combat Works

When actual combat begins, INFERIUS almost completely abandons the logic of its first-person horror gameplay. Major encounters take place at a card table, with the system built around the Major and Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Players build a deck, draw cards, generate Action Points and use their Arcana to gain control of the encounter.

Up to three Major Arcana can be placed on the board, while cards are used both for direct actions and to generate the necessary Action Points. Turn order also plays a role, while encounters introduce a degree of time pressure, forcing the player to finish the battle before the available window runs out.

As a concept, this is where INFERIUS distinguishes itself most clearly.

The transition from dark first-person exploration to an almost ritualistic card battle against a Ruler is unusual and fits the game’s overall atmosphere surprisingly well. It does not feel like a conventional menu that suddenly appears on screen, but rather like another physical part of the world itself.

This, however, is also where the biggest question surrounding the demo begins to emerge.

The Card System Still Needs Improvement

The fundamental idea behind the card battles is not weak. Quite the opposite. There is clearly room for combinations, different decks and strategic decisions built around the Major Arcana.

The problem is that INFERIUS tries to explain a considerable amount of information within a relatively short period of time. There are moments when players are expected to understand placement rules, Action Points, turn order, card properties and exactly what can be placed in each position all at once. When something cannot be played, the feedback is not always as immediate or clear as it needs to be.

This can lead to a strange situation where you win an encounter without feeling entirely certain why your strategy actually worked.

For a roguelite deckbuilder, that is an important issue. The satisfaction does not come purely from winning. It comes from understanding why a deck works, recognising what you did correctly and knowing how you can improve it during the next run.

The tutorial already has a considerable amount of information to communicate, and certain parts of it would benefit from introducing the mechanics more gradually. The same applies to the pace of some turns, which can occasionally feel slower than necessary.

The positive side is that these are precisely the kinds of issues that can be addressed through a better introduction to the core mechanics, clearer feedback and improved balancing of the card system.

Is There Enough Depth for a Full Roguelite Structure?

This is ultimately the biggest question left by the preview build. The deckbuilding is interesting, but it is still difficult to judge just how deep it will become over the course of a complete run.

The demo can introduce the core mechanics, but it cannot prove on its own whether different decks will genuinely produce different strategies, whether the Major Arcana will allow for meaningful builds or whether the different Rulers will demand adaptation rather than repeated use of the same approach.

That distinction matters because the horror side of INFERIUS already feels remarkably clear in what it wants to achieve.

It knows how it wants to look. It knows how it wants to sound. It knows what kind of feeling it wants to create.

The deckbuilding, however, still has to prove that it can reach the same level.

Death Is Part of Progression in INFERIUS

The roguelite structure connects the two sides of the experience. After death, the Pilgrim returns to the Abyss and can use what has been acquired to strengthen future attempts. Major Arcana can be upgraded, while Brands provide passive effects and different options that gradually allow players to create more powerful builds.

There are also Sigils and other forms of progression that affect the deck and influence how each new descent is approached.

The structure of the different areas does not rely exclusively on completely random generation. The environments have a deliberately designed foundation, but encounters, routes and creature placement can change.

This is particularly important for a horror roguelite. If every run placed exactly the same enemy around exactly the same corner, the tension would disappear quickly. That variability helps INFERIUS retain some degree of uncertainty even when players return to areas they already recognise.

INFERIUS Has a Strong Identity, but Still Needs to Prove Its Depth

After our first hands-on experience, INFERIUS leaves a more positive than negative impression. Its art direction is distinctive, its creatures are genuinely unsettling, the sound design supports the atmosphere exceptionally well, and the lantern adds another layer to exploration beyond simply moving forward and hiding from whatever is hunting you.

Most importantly, INFERIUS is difficult to confuse with anything else.

That alone is an achievement for an indie horror game in a market filled with titles using the same environments, the same mechanics and frequently very similar ideas.

The area that still requires the most work is the deckbuilding. Not because its foundations are poor, but because it is expected to carry a substantial part of the overall experience. It needs a clearer introduction to its mechanics, more immediate feedback and, most importantly, enough strategic depth to ensure that each new descent does not simply become a repetition of the previous one with a different set of cards.

INFERIUS has already proven that it can create a world you want to enter despite everything inside it telling you to leave.

What remains to be proven is whether, once you sit across the table from its Rulers, the Tarot can be every bit as compelling as the Hell you had to cross to reach them.

INFERIUS is currently in development for PC, with its release planned for 2027. A playable demo is already available through Steam.

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