Inferni: Hope & Fear announced by new developer, Village Studio

A new developer made up of veterans of Sega and Rovio has announced Inferni: Hope & Fear, calling it the “world’s first battle royale deck builder”. The team includes Will Luton and Cyril Barrow, who met together working on the Angry Birds franchise, and are making this new title for the studio the pair have founded.

Village Studio says the game is “is a realtime card battler that features co-operative online play. Selected by Steam as part of their Deckbuilders Fest, Inferni sees eight players, grouped in teams of two, building their decks and slinging spells until one team remains”.

Inferni: Hope & Fear mixes elements of Magic The Gathering, Tetris 99, Slay the Spire and Vampire Survivors. The style is unapologetically nostalgic, with 90s fantasy stamped all over it. Yet gameplay provides a modern online play experience, inspired by indie battle royale and roguelike hits.

Following a yet unknown cataclysmic event, which sees our world’s balance of order and chaos destroyed, players choose from a range of strategically unique characters known as Waywards. Teams of Waywards are put to battle in The Arena, a forum of magical violence created by the enigmatic antagonist The Master. The winners of The Master’s cruel competition get to hold the World Seed and so the power of creation itself.

Players will hone their skills to climb Ranks: A league system that defines who is the best in the world. The smartest and most creative players will find glory as they develop and refine cutting edge plays.

Bring your friends to strategize, cast, manipulate and counter spells, kill rivals and climb the world leaderboards.

“For us, Village Studio is about making games that bring people together to compete in deep and innovative games they love for life,” says Barrow who oversaw EA’s SimCity BuildIt.

“As a lifelong Magic the Gathering player, Inferni is about adapting that experience from one-on-one to a game where I can play alongside, and not just against, my friends. This one comes from the heart,” says Creative Director Will Luton, former Associate Producer at SEGA.

Here’s some of the key features:

• Together and against: Battle with your friends and against other teams in a real time Battle Royale arena
• Strategy: Build your deck during the drafting and adjust your strategy as the session unfolds.
• Depth: Find complexity and strategy you can spend a lifetime learning.
• Nostalgia: Inferni is a love letter to 90s TCGs fused with modern real time battle royale and roguelike gameplay

Inferni: Hope & Fear is coming to PC.