15 December 2025

Inferno Lives Up to Its Name Through ‘Intense’ Body-Swapping and Roguelite Gameplay

By newsgame

Let It Die: Inferno, the sequel to 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 quickly, doing as much as you can in as little time as possible, and accepting that sometimes death is inevitable — but it’s okay, because you’ll respawn in a new body with an exciting new set of skills to try out.

Game Rant spoke to Let It Die: Inferno‘s Game Director, Hideyuki Shin, about the development process of 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 up and trying again when you fall in battle. Shin also provided some handy advice for players looking to survive the dangers lurking within 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”

Exploring Earth's wasteland - Let It Die Inferno

The combination of roguelite and movement-centric survival action gameplay in Let It Die: Inferno centers 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, with players having to make snap 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 a fast, but not impossible time trial:

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

Shin also encouraged players not to shy away from taking risks when participating in the combat-focused, carefully timed gameplay loop. “Once players meet the conditions to escape and find an Escape Pod, the urge to leave is strong,” he explained. “But pushing just a little farther can net bigger, 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 for balancing caution and risk-taking in Let It Die: Inferno, advising player “Do not push yourselves too far.”

PVP Combat Adds A Brand-New Element

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

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

Let It Die: Inferno expands on this by including both PvE combat, in which players fight the mutated monsters they will encounter within Hell Gate, and PvP combat, where players can attack one another to obtain vital resources such as the SPLithium needed to get out of 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 will die a lot, but that’s simply the life of a Raider. Stick with it, and you’ll eventually hit that moment of real 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

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

The world of Let It Die: Inferno is a brutal one, and, as Shin stated, players will find themselves dying again and again as part of the gameplay loop. However, when a Raider dies in Hell Gate, that is far from the end of their journey. Instead, Let It Die: Inferno’s players will be reborn into brand-new Bodies, which have been specifically designed to help them survive in this strange environment with valuable skills and abilities. Shin spoke in greater detail about the Body system in Let It Die: Inferno and how it works:

“Every Body shares the same core goal: collect SPLithium and survive. But each one has abilities that support different play styles, like focusing on combat or specializing in item collection. For example, an attack-focused Body has low health and limited item capacity, but its battle prowess is higher than any other character, making it appealing for players confident in their combat skills.”

Each time a player dies, they will lose some things — such as items they have collected, and the Body they were inhabiting. However, Let it Die: Inferno’s roguelite progression system ensures that there are a few things that carry over. In particular, resources that have been invested into the Body Mastery skill tree ensure that each successive Body becomes stronger and more capable. “They don’t disappear when you die, and every Body maintains its own set of points,” Shin explained. “Because the skill tree branches in multiple directions, you can chart your own course and shape your upgrade path however you like.”

Let It Die: Inferno is very different from anything the team had attempted in the previous games. “Turning a 3D close-range action game into a roguelite was our greatest challenge,” Shin revealed. The Body system was ultimately what they settled on to blend the fast-paced action with a progression loop that lets players keep some of what they obtained in a way that feels earned and real.

And, of course, the team always made sure to keep hold of the series’ signature humor and the eye-catchingly bizarre aesthetics featured in Deathverse and the original Let It Die throughout. When a player dies, their spinal cord is ejected from Hell’s Gate and shot into the sky. Shin explained why that particular rather bleak visual was chosen:

“We wanted to make the cycle of Raiders dying and swapping bodies feel real. It’s something you could never portray with an ordinary human, so we aimed for a visual that would truly represent what LET IT DIE is all about, even if it meant creating something shocking.”

Throughout the game’s development process, watching players react to that unique and now-iconic image has been one of Shin’s favorite moments. “Watching players react with surprise to that moment has been incredibly rewarding,” he ultimately concluded.