Inferno lives up to its name with "intense" body swapping and Roguelite gameplay

Let It Die: Inferno, the sequel to the popular 2018 game let it die recently released for PC and PlayStation 5. The game challenges players to delve into the depths of Hell Gate, a dangerous and mysterious facility filled with both mutated monsters and valuable treasures. Let It Die: Inferno is a game about moving fast, doing as much as you can in as little time as possible, and accepting that sometimes death is inevitable – but that's okay, because you'll be revived in a new body with an exciting new set of skills to test.

Game Rant spoke to Let It Die: Infernos Game Director, Hideyuki Shin, on the development process for the new title. He revealed why the game features tight 15-minute time trials that reward risk-taking, how the Body Swapping system works, and the importance of getting back up and trying again when you fall in battle. Shin also offered some practical advice for players looking to survive the dangers lurking within the Hell Gate and potentially retrieve the legendary “Eye of the Reaper” from its lowest depths.

Let It Die: Inferno's philosophy is “A Sprint, Not A Grind”

Explore the Wasteland of Earth - Let It Die Inferno

The combination of roguelite and movement-centric survival action game in Let It Die: Inferno revolves around speed and accomplishing as much as possible in a very short amount of time. In particular, the game's time trial mode is only 15 minutes long, where players must make quick decisions about whether to evacuate Hell Gate with their earned loot or die and be reborn into a new body. Shin explained how the team ultimately settled on 15 minutes as the “sweet spot” for fast, but not impossible, time travel:

“Let It Die: Inferno is a pretty intense close-quarters action game, so we kept tweaking and testing to find the right time that players could be fully locked in with the heightened tension.”

Shin also encouraged players not to shy away from taking risks when participating in the combat-focused, carefully timed game loop. “When players meet the conditions to escape and find an Escape Pod, the urge to leave is strong,” he explained. “But pushing a little further can bring bigger and better rewards. Deciding whether to take the risk or play it safe is always a tough call.” As for Shin himself, he is an advocate of balancing caution and risk-taking Let It Die: Inferno, advisory player “Don't push too far.”

PVP Combat adds a whole new element

Fight a bunch of bug-like enemies - Let It Die Inferno

The first one Let it die The title featured only player vs monster battle. Shin and team “explored the PVP side of the series” in Deathverse: Let It Die, which was released in 2022 and combined fighting games, survival games and action elements. Deathverse saw players forced to participate in a dangerous and potentially deadly in-universe TV show called “Death Jamboree”, with other players competing.

Let It Die: Inferno expands on this by including both PvE combat, where players battle the mutated monsters they will encounter within the Hell Gate, and PvP combat, where players can attack each other to obtain vital resources such as SPLithium needed to get out of the Hell Gate alive. Shin was honest with players that they will face death multiple times at the hands of both monsters and other players:

“You'll die a lot, but that's simply the life of a Raider. Stick with it, and you'll eventually reach that moment of true satisfaction. And in true Let It Die fashion, even when you fall or lose, just laugh it off and keep going.”

Let It Die: Inferno's players die and return in brand new bodies

Face off against a hammer-wielding enemy - Let It Die Inferno

The world of Let It Die: Inferno is a brutal one, and, as Shin said, players will die over and over again as part of the gameplay loop. But when a raider dies in Hell Gate, it's far from the end of their journey. Instead, Let It Die: Inferno's players will be reborn into brand new bodies, which have been specially designed to help them survive in this strange environment with valuable skills and abilities. Shin spoke in more detail about the body system i Let It Die: Inferno and how it works:

“Each body shares the same core goal: collect SPLithium and survive. But each has abilities that support different playstyles, such as focusing on combat or specializing in item gathering. For example, an attack-focused body has low health and limited item capacity, but its combat ability is higher than any other character, making it appealing to players who are confident in their combat skills.”

Every time a player dies, they will lose certain things – such as items they have collected and the body they inhabited. However, Let it Die: Inferno's the roguelit progression system ensures that there are some things that carry over. In particular, resources invested in the Body Mastery skill tree ensure that each subsequent body becomes stronger and more capable. “They don't disappear when you die, and each body has its own set of points,” Shin explained. “Since the skill tree branches in multiple directions, you can chart your own course and shape your upgrade path as you wish.”

Let It Die: Inferno very different from anything the team had attempted in the previous games. “Turning a close-quarters 3D action game into a roguelite was our biggest challenge,” revealed Shin. The body system was ultimately what they decided to mix the fast-paced action with a progression loop that allows players to keep some of what they got in a way that feels earned and real.

And of course, the team always made sure to stick to the series' signature humor and eye-poppingly bizarre aesthetic found in Deathverse and the original Let it die throughout. When a player dies, their spinal cord is ejected from Hell's Gate and launched into the sky. Shin explained why that rather gloomy image was chosen:

“We wanted to make the cycle of Raiders dying and switching bodies feel real. It's something you could never portray with a normal person, so we aimed for an image that would really represent what LET IT DIE is about, even if that meant creating something shocking.”

Throughout the game's development process, seeing players react to that unique and now iconic image has been one of Shin's favorite moments. “Seeing players react with amazement at that moment has been incredibly rewarding,” he finally concluded.