Management sims, big and small, haven’t gone anywhere in recent years despite the struggles of other strategy subgenres. For example, god games are among those that haven’t been enjoying as much success. Now, Piraknights Games’ Sintopia aims to revitalize the Black & White DNA by mixing both.
It’s not often that I get to preview an (early access) game that feels as polished and fine-tuned as Sintopia. Exactly one month before it welcomes veterans and lost souls alike, it may be on track to become one of my favourite strategy releases of the year. Mind you, we still have to receive a number of huge management sims before 2026, but this break from the hottest RTS games of this year contains everything I wanted from an engaging and modern god simulator.
Sintopia is a game of two halves (or two layers, depending on how you look at it): First, there’s the Overworld, a floating island in the middle of the cosmos – one of many, God (aka The Chairman) says – where the Humus live, die, and reincarnate. These are goofy, cartoony humans. There’s also a sentient species of lizardmen that hates the Humus, but for the most part, they’re the only ‘smart’ living beings created by God. If you wonder why I speak about God in the third person, it’s because you don’t actually play as him. Instead, you’re a nobody who applied for the job of Hell’s Administrator after whoever held the position before you was “exiled from Creation.”
Obviously, there’s a sense of humour permeating the whole game, but it’s thankfully not overdone. In the age of a few too many video games exaggerating the satire and sharp commentary, Sintopia never tries too hard to make the player laugh. In any case, most of the laughter will come from abusing the Humus when Hell needs more souls. It’s all justified as ‘just work’ to make everyone happier, and Humus barely remember a thing when they respawn after some time in Hell, but yeah, you’re kind of abusing these beings to make the line go up.
You see, Hell (and the entirety of Creation, it seems) is an enterprise. There’s money to be made and quotas to hit. This also involves huge amounts of bureaucracy, yet Sintopia doesn’t bite too much. In fact, even as I expanded my operations in the preview build’s Challenge mode – completing objectives here opens up the meta progression too – the gameplay loop never became stressful. Beyond defending the central Temple that makes resurrecting and spawning new Humus possible, all the other objectives are tame. Even after messing things up terribly, bouncing back never seemed out of reach.
On the Overworld layer, it’s difficult to interact directly with the Humus and what they do with their time on this chunk of the Creation. You’ve got unlockable god-like powers (here’s where the Black & White flashbacks come in) that can ‘motivate’ them or just ‘accelerate’ their visits to Hell, but they’re doing their own thing otherwise. This is why you want to save those powers for situations where they might need a bit of divine (or hellish) intervention not to go extinct. No Humus means no one protecting the Temple, which is bad for everyone. Better Humus (or Humus who possess certain traits) can be ‘made’ with the right therapy down in Hell, so that’s how you directly influence their evolution as a society besides zapping, burning, or throwing them around.
Below the Overworld, in Hell, the rhythm is busier and more hands-on. Souls aren’t very intelligent and just march forward, so guiding them with the right pathways and through the more adequate treatment buildings for their sins is key to making money (sorry, we can’t escape capitalism) and keeping all the Imployees happy. The building-placement and planning aspect of Sintopia is simple and satisfying in an old-fashioned way, especially as new options and decorations, which actually have an impact on both Imployees and souls, are unlocked. As for the management, it doesn’t disrupt the mostly relaxed vibes of the game, but figuring out some of the sin-fixing requirements and the correct ways to lay out paths can take a while.
The big twist is that Overworld and Hell aren’t separate phases of the game. They move and progress at the same time, so things might get hectic even if the consequences aren’t as dire and definitive as in other management sims. On top of the delightful presentation – Sintopia oozes style even at this stage of development – Piraknights Games’ attention to the UI and menu navigation is excellent. Even if countless tweaks and QoL changes are to be expected in the coming months, this is a fully functional game that’s far more readable in its current state than too many full 1.0 launches. When you’re juggling two different worlds with different needs at the same time, watertight design on that front is key to not feeling overwhelmed.
As we march deeper into the second half of the year and countless releases loom on the horizon, there’s still plenty of room for surprises, and Sintopia looks ready to shock the management sim crowd when it beams down next month. Colour me impressed, as we don’t get many of these anymore, much less this clever and pleasing.
Sintopia will open its gates on September 4, 2025, on PC (Steam) via early access. It’s not expected to hit 1.0 before Q2 2026.
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