Sintopia review - Deviously Diverting Strategy Life Sim

Syntopy it will involve you in the science of souls and sins, a crooked crimson world ruled by bureaucracy and red tape. The basic premise of this strategy gem is that you control Hell and oversee progress through an overworld where strange little Humus creatures run (relatively) free. As with many other managers, your success depends on how you use strategy and budgeting to keep your business running smoothly. But is the business of life and death ever so simple?

When I started my new job as the administrator of hell, I was ready to sort out a few souls and play with the overworld, unaware of the diabolical drama that was about to unfold. Jumping straight into the campaign was a great introduction to what Sintopia had to offer, but it's worth noting that what they show in the tutorial barely reveals the overall depth of detail to be found. As time went on, it soon became apparent that I could potentially spend hours and hours on a campaign before I even unlocked all the available features. It's a dense and rewarding experience right from the start.

Welcome to Hell's Humus Resources Department

Of course, there's always Sandbox mode for those days when you want to have a free hand at every potential pleasure, with tons of customization options. I'm not a big fan of sandbox modes in games like this, I'm more driven by tasks and quests, so the Campaign and Challenge modes were more than ideal.

Despite being advertised as a game where you can “play god”, the guy (known here as the Chairman) is unfortunately still around, barking insults and wagging his pious finger before retreating to his throne in the clouds. What you are, instead of a high and mighty god, is an overworked branch of middle management that gets all the stress and none of the glory.

Lili, a sleek, sultry succubus, is around to help you out, tell you when you're wrong, and generally be wonderfully flirtatious. I think there could be worse working wives.

Anyone who has previously worked in an administrative job knows that good management is essential to the smooth running of a business. Someone who has the skills to oversee a team of hard working employees, build an efficient soul cleansing factory while being out of the office and occasionally visiting the world is essential.

Sinfully stupid and increasingly chaotic

Souls of Sintopia ghosts waiting in the graveyard.

Balancing the chaos of the overworld and maintaining the underworld is no easy task, and some things will inevitably slip. I often found myself getting too wrapped up in the little Hummus and their adventures on top and forgetting that my Imployees (yes, that's seriously what they're called) shouldn't be left to their own devices for too long. Upon returning to the underworld, I was greeted by a labor strike, long lines of increasingly frustrated souls awaiting sentencing, and an impending explosion of demonic energies.

One of the most surprising aspects of Syntopia was how easily it could snowball into chaos if balance was not maintained. One slip and the whole operation starts to collapse and you have to re-assess where you went wrong and correct your mistakes. This was often frustrating, but rising to the challenge is part of the fun. I would highly recommend saving often, especially after completing the in-game checklist tasks in case all hell literally breaks loose.

Lust demon Sintopia in short shorts and crop top.

In the overworld, your job is to use spells to help or harm the little Humus, make sure their ruler doesn't influence them in a way that would compromise your operations below, and sometimes protect them from demon attacks. Down in hell, all incoming souls should be sorted, directed to the correct building, and their sins should be reduced before being sent back to the overworld. If your underworld operations are efficient and properly organized, things will start to tick nicely and you'll start unlocking more sin cleansing stations.

The work is divided between two worlds, each significantly influencing the other. Sins must be cleansed in the Underworld before the Humus are sent back, or you risk their sinful nature spiraling out of control. We recommend that you regularly flit between the two worlds to maintain a balance that really enriches the experience and keeps it interesting.

Hell of a time

The character and world design often reminded me of Two Point Museum with its cartoonish yet detailed animated world rich in charm and humor. It's quite interesting that the Humus aren't quite as human as they look and speak, while gods and demons can easily be human, albeit superhuman with points to die.

The voice acting is excellent, giving the characters classic animation vibes when presenting each voice. Lili has the cooing, seductive tone you'd expect, the Imployees secretary brings a nasal quality to her voices not unlike a certain Janine Melnitz, and the god/chairman has a deep, booming voice that sounds like he could play Santa in another life.

The controls are intuitive and there is nothing clunky or difficult to master on PC. I found the only thing that annoyed me was not being able to zoom in to see the area as a whole; if you zoom out too far, you'll end up on the overworld/underworld screen. As an almost god-like overseer, I'd love to be able to pick up Humuses like I can pick up our imployees, but unfortunately they have a bit more autonomy.

I was thoroughly engrossed in the campaign, spending nearly ten hours enjoying the challenges of each mission and the story woven throughout, which was much more engaging than I ever expected. But then I'm crazy about a hell-based saga. The characters and the relationships between them draw heavily from classic religious stories, but with a cheeky twist.

I half expected to see a nod to Crawley somewhere in the underworld (King Of Hell from Supernatural or Aziraphale's beast from Good Omens, I'm not picky).

It should be clear that Sintopia does not mock religion, but satirizes capitalism and bureaucracy, using heaven, hell, demons, and sin as a vehicle. Of course, unlike other games, this isn't a long-winded narrative adventure with heavy-handed metaphors to beat you over the head with, but instead uses cheeky humor and plenty of charm to laugh with you at the absurdity of these systems.

The message is clear and easily conveyed. But it's not preachy or distracting from the main point of the game: to have fun. Sintopia is first and foremost a playful and fun game where you can see for yourself how (not so) easy it is to keep the balance of the universe.

Sintopia in the temple with humus offerings.

This immersive and rich strategy sim didn't have that many downsides, but if I had to point out something, I wish there were less game items locked during the first few missions after the tutorial. It would also be fun if your Humus was semi-autonomous, like the characters in The Sims 4, and had the ability to direct them towards something more urgent than whatever they were doing.

But when all is said and done, Sintopia is a much better game than its title suggests. Name Syntopy it sounds like someone came up with the name first and built a fabulous idea around it, but look past that and you'll get a deep, charming and constantly unpredictable experience that's well worth your time.