Hell Is Us Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Hell Is Us from developer Rogue Factor is an eye-catching grab at innovating against the tide of typical video game design while also skimming close to some of the most popular genres in the medium. 

A Soulslike game in appearance and combat, Hell Is Us riffs on that heavyweight genre in some respects. But it also fights back against the usual world maps, quest icons and endless checklists that put many games on an autopilot of sorts. 

An atmospheric romp that takes some risks and treads deep into very mature themes, Hell Is Us has the potential to be one of the sleeper hits of 2025, though for some of those very same reasons, it won't be for everyone. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Hell Is Us features a fictional European civil war backdrop that is tragically gloomy and depressing, in which ancient monuments and statue-like enemies come to life, and environmental storytelling is profound and oftentimes disturbing. 

The game looks great in most respects, looping in strong lighting with stylistic, convincing characters and plenty of detail. By far the most impressive, though, is the story told by the world. 

Thanks to an extremely convincing setting and layers of detail, nothing feels out of place, either. The game takes players from mystic-feeling swamps to cities ravaged by war and even into labs that border on science fiction futurism. 

If there's a complaint, it probably falls on the sound design, where some of the voice-acting feels what some might classify as stiff. 

While it won't be for everyone, the game prides itself on not throwing endless video game-like markers at players to follow around like drones. It does this through what it calls "player-plattering," effectively dishing out hints and context clues. 

While Hell is Us appears at first glance to be a game similar to Demon's Souls and others in that brutal genre, there's a heavy dose of unexpected investigative work players must do. It demands players pay attention to hints thrown out in conversations and contextual clues in the environment to do something as straightforward as, say, find a path through a wooded area. 

It's a little staggering to see how simply removing the typical video game markers to follow around can make the simplest of tasks more engaging, yet not necessarily frustrating. 

As a whole, this investigative approach to storytelling and exploring strikes a surprisingly good balance of giving players enough to go with to make it feel rewarding, while never leaving players stuck in one spot for long. 

Combat itself runs the expected gamut of dodges, blocks and light and charged attacks. What's interesting is how the game encourages aggression: Attacks landed on enemies can puff healing particles into the air. If a player times a button press properly to match it, they recover some health. 

There are standard healing items in the game too, albeit not many. The idea is to push the pace, enabling more healing. 

Of course, also factoring into the equation is a stamina bar that is a little oddly tied to a player's remaining health. Players must consider that, as well as a handful of equippable weapons and perks before battle, depending on the situation. 

Stealth is a small option too, or at least throwing out a distraction while attempting an escape via a drone companion.

For those hankering for more of a Soulslike experience, a Death Penalty option that revives enemies upon game exit is there.

Hell Is Us looks like a straight-up Soulslike, but death just isn't a primary gamelpay mechanic. It's fun, if not a little awkward, and enemy variety is low, so the difficulty is a sheer uptick in number of enemies as players progress, but it manages to complement the game's narrative well. 

Story and More

Rémi returns to his homeland that he was initially smuggled out of as a child, only to find it besieged by civil war, propaganda and brutality that is more uncomfortably realistic than shock-value. 

Truly, there are events and themes in this game that won't be for everyone, so discretion is advised. 

And it's not that it isn't fun to play, as the world is just interesting enough to want to see where things go. But there's an awkwardness to it, as well, which starts right away with how the main character gets his weapon and cloak. 

Little bonus and even side missions encourage world exploration and given some of the unlockables in those that can lead to strong builds, it's hard to undersell just how worthwhile this can be. 

Simply put, Hell Is Us' world is sort of a character in its own right and will stay memorable with players for quite a while. Hearing the sorts of tales and moments non-player-characters produce slots into that same category. 

Where Hell is Us struggles is with players who slant more completionist. Certain side missions for NPCs have a strict timeframe attached to them, yet that isn't explicitly stated in the menus. Looping back only to realize a player has already failed a mission can be problematic. 

The game boasts a big list of options, highlighted by robust difficulty modifiers, including the ability to tweak outgoing and incoming damage. It tends to run well, too. 

Conclusion

Those going into Hell Is Us looking for a Soulslike experience haven't been paying attention. The combat can be tough and dialed up even more through settings, but it shares more in appearances with those games than actual execution. 

Rather, Hell Is Us is a unique outlier for the mature themes it tackles. It nails the atmosphere of a setting, too. 

By far the crowning achievement, though, is walking back decades of open-world checklist-handholding conditioned into players. The cleverness of subtly laid context clues to gently push players in the right direction while never leaving them feeling hopeless drives immersion. 

We aren't about to see a new wave of single-player games that require players to jot down notes as they go by any means. But Hell Is Us is special in this sort of new niche it has crafted and with any luck, there will be follow-ups from the team here and inspiration drawn and applied to other games from other developers in the future, too.