An unheralded press release slipped into my inbox the other day, and after regarding it with due consideration, I came to the conclusion that I would like to know much more about the game in question than I was able to glean from the text before me.
And so, with impressive speed and efficiency, the team at Lucid Rain Studios responded to my request for further details, going above and beyond to return the below answers in time for me to hit the same embargo as everyone else.
With that in mind, I’m delighted to introduce my last minute interview with studio co-founders Delena Martens (Creative Director), Rosche Rheeder (Art Director), and Ricardo Rheeder (Tech Director), wherein you will find everything you need to know about their studio’s intriguing debut game…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game quite like Inferius before. Pray, tell us how this otherworldly abomination came to pass?
INFERIUS actually started life as a little game jam project called Harvest back in 2023. After a couple of rounds of iteration and long, long nights, we had a simple idea, “what if you fought your way through the nine circles of Hell with a deck of cards you built as you travelled throughout these infernal depths.”
That jam was very barebones, but it had a spark. Over the months that followed, we polished that idea, layering in first-person horror exploration, a roguelite structure, and a narrative that reimagines The Divine Comedy through a psychological horror lens. Somewhere along the way, it became something much stranger and far more ambitious, it became INFERIUS.
– Delena Martens, Co-founder, Creative Director
As far as source material goes, it doesn’t get much more iconic. Is it daunting to be breathing new life into such a classic piece of literature?
Absolutely! We treat the source material of The Divine Comedy with a lot of respect. We’re not trying to retell it beat-for-beat, but rather to explore what it feels like to be a soul trapped in that world. Our team has been studying the literature to make sure we’re weaving in authentic elements while still taking creative liberties to make it our own. This depiction of the Inferno will have the player go through the trials of the 9 Dominions (Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery), each governed by their respective “Rulers”. The objective is to honor the themes of power, corruption, redemption, while asking how they resonate in a modern sense.
– Rosche Rheeder, Co-founder, Art Director
How are you blending the first-person aspects with the deckbuilding elements?
You will explore in first-person, uncovering the lore and secrets of the Inferno, collect and acquire new cards that directly shape your deck and playstyle. Throughout each Dominion, players will need to survive against the creatures preying on their soul, until reaching the card tables, where they have the option to engage in card battles to acquire better cards and upgrades. After you’ve survived each Dominion, you will be summoned to the Throne Room, this is where you will challenge the Dominion’s Ruler in a card battle directly.
In INFERIUS’ lore, the card games, battles of strategy and wit, are the primary way of duelling or challenging the Rulers in power. As every character in the game is already technically dead (we are in the underworld after all), players must resort to other methods of besting their opponents. Strength, manipulation, bribery… your card battle strategy evolves with each opponent you face.
– Ricardo Rheeder, Co-founder, Tech Director
There sounds like there is a bunch of interesting systems at play, but the eye-catching one – literally in this instance – is the lantern mechanic. What can you tell us about how it works?
The lantern will act as your lifeline in the Inferno. It keeps you safe from the creatures within the darkness. But, the flames slowly die over time. You will collect and use soul orbs as batteries to power both your lantern and mechanisms throughout the dominions. If your light is down, your sanity starts to fade, and once your sanity is depleted, you will fall back to Limbo and restart the trial. The lantern is part resource management, part environmental interaction, and part psychological warfare against the player.
– Rosche, Co-founder, Art Director
I also want to ask about the stealth mechanics. I love a good stealth actioner, but this doesn’t look like one of those. How much stealth is there in the game and how does it fit in?
Stealth in INFERIUS isn’t a dedicated playstyle, it’s more of a survival tactic. Certain dominions, like Lust with its spiders, the “Finger creepers”, demand that you keep quiet, stay hidden, and time your moves carefully. Other areas are more aggressive, depending on the Dominion, pushing you into confrontation. There’ll be moments where you have to be still and patient – feeling suffocated and trapped. That’s the sort of dread players will need to brave through to reach the end.
– Ricardo, Co-founder, Tech Director
This is already a polished-looking game, and so I’m guessing a project that has been cooking for a while. What is it like to be talking about it now?
Honestly, surreal. We’ve been going through internal playtests and iterations. We still consider INFERIUS to be in its infant stages since we have so much ambition for it. But to finally be able to share this world with fans of the genre feels like a weight off our shoulders. The best part will be seeing if fans discover the small lore hints and design details we scatter across the Inferno, it gives players something to hunt for.
– Delena, Co-founder, Creative Director
What’s the plan ahead? For example, I saw the Kickstarter badge on the Steam page, and I’m interested to know if you already have plans beyond PC?
Right now, our focus is on nailing the PC release, but we are planning to target consoles and Steam Deck soon afterwards. We’ve had interest from publishers who’d like to help make that happen, so it’ll certainly happen. We’ll also be running a Kickstarter later in 2026 to help us deliver the game exactly how we envision it, and to deliver some unique rewards to fans!
– Ricardo, Co-founder, Tech Director
Finally, when can we expect to get our hands on Inferius?
We’re targeting Q4 2026. Between now and then, there’ll be demos, festival appearances, and plenty of ways to get an early taste of the descent and interact with the development team. Gives everyone time to prepare for the full pilgrimage through the nine dominions.
– Delena, Co-founder, Creative Director
