Hell Is Us has been turning heads ever since its initial reveal, thanks to a simple but exciting premise: what if the third-person action adventure formula was augmented by a near-total lack of handholding? Mainstream open-world games have increasingly taken agency away from players in the name of appealing to the widest possible audience. Hell Is Us promises to correct this overreach by putting the burden of accomplishment solely on the player — not on a bloated quest list or marker-crowded map. The result is an intriguing, engaging and enjoyable experience that feels confident and competent, despite some gameplay shortcomings that prevent it from reaching the highest of heights.
Developed by Rogue Factor and published by Nacon, Hell Is Us is a third-person, story-driven action adventure title set in a semi-open world, with a particular focus on exploration, puzzle solving and combat. Of those three pillars, exploration has the most novel execution thanks to the absence of an interactive map, no quest markers and no missions list. While key information is still stored in a database to revisit if you get stuck, the emphasis is placed entirely on paying attention to the world and the conversations had with its inhabitants. This trust in the player is refreshing, and scratches an itch for truly immersive exploration — a feature too often jettisoned in modern titles due to unnecessary handholding.
To complete quests and advance the story, players must pay close attention to visual clues in the world and the conversations had with its inhabitants. Every conversation has the potential to point you where to go next, and the visual clues in the landscape are mostly well placed without feeling unnecessarily obvious. The investigate aspect to exploration is brilliantly tuned to require more from the player without becoming frustrating.
The same can be said of the many puzzles on offer; they’re a big part of the gameplay loop and provide some refreshing challenge without ever becoming impassable. This rings true throughout most of the experience, with only a couple of hiccups in which protagonist Remi’s next steps were a little more ambiguous than they should have been. For that reason, this reviewer strongly recommends using a notebook IRL to keep track of the main quest, key characters, and side activities to avoid anything becoming lost to memory. Far from being a burden, this is also the most enjoyable way to play Hell Is Us, doubling down on the immersion and providing a greater sense of accomplishment with every solved mystery.
Hell Is Us takes place in fictional Hadea — a war-torn and hyper-religious nation suffering from an endless civil war between two of its peoples. Naturally, this makes it a bleak, grim and seemingly hopeless place, and this tone is exceptionally well captured and crafted. As Remi navigates the world in search of his parents, he’s confronted with the chilling consequences of a nation torn apart by violent hatred, and the sombre tone is deftly elevated by a wonderfully eerie soundtrack and a clear sense of identity. It’s certainly not a feel-good time, but it’s delightfully engaging and compelling all the same.
Hadea’s civil conflict is supplemented with a dark paranormal flavour, with wraith-like beings prowling the landscape and moving in an unnerving dance as they close in and attack. These are Remi’s central adversaries, requiring him to get in close with melee attacks while his drone companion offers additional support. There’s an interesting, risk-based approach to healing that fans of Bloodborne may enjoy: with every attack Remi makes without taking damage, his missing health is pooled and can be restored with a well-timed press of the right bumper. It demands that players stay on the front foot in combat, getting in blows without taking them and paying close attention to the visual pulse that indicates the right time to heal.
Alongside the strong exploration and puzzle elements, the combat sadly falls flat; although initially flashy, tight and solid overall, it’s betrayed by a simplistic system that lacks the depth required to sustain the experience throughout its runtime. Remi can attack with light and heavy hits, dodge, block, parry and use items mapped to a hotbar — a formula that will feel familiar to anyone who’s played an action game in the last ten years. Aside from the healing pulse mechanic, there’s sadly not much innovation here. The sparse enemy variety only deepens this disappointment, resulting in a lack of novelty and challenge in the late-game.
Still, the enjoyment found in Hell Is Us’ opening half is largely enough to sustain the experience, as is its well-crafted exploration and puzzling. There’s an intriguing central mystery to solve, with a world and tone that are so deftly realised and engrossing despite how bleak it all is. Such an experience is rare, but it must be said that the story — like the combat — peters out somewhat towards its conclusion. Nevertheless, it’s supported by strong voice acting and a gritty realisation of its central themes that maintain its appeal despite some limitations, and the world of Hadea is remarkably well realised, justifying a visit to this war-torn land despite the shortcomings.
