Hell is Us

The first trailers, and especially the first gameplay deep dive in the company of some of the leading figures behind debutant Rogue Factor's Hell is Us, were downright striking. Not only was their vision of an intersection between Death Stranding-esque sci-fi and the far more real horrors that arise from a vicious, bloody, and protracted civil war immediately exciting for anyone who saw it, their mission to hold the player's hand and guide them as little as possible was also timely and apt.

I have now been in Hadea, I completed the game in just over 27 hours, and even though there are certainly kinks that Rogue Factor has not managed to iron out in this first round, and that Hell is Us therefore unfortunately does not quite live up to its towering ambitions, this is still one of the most ambitious gaming experiences of 2025. Where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the rosy tale of a studio punching well above its weight, but through finesse, strategy, and careful manoeuvring producing a masterpiece, Hell is Us is a little more messy and not quite as precise a tool, but the two studios belong to the same story. And there is probably no higher praise than that this year.

Hell is Us is, first and foremost, not a Soulslike. Don't worry, even though the market is flooded with increasingly shameless clones that are determined to copy FromSoftware's success by mirroring their design philosophy, Hell is Us takes a different path. You explore Hadea in third person and, admittedly, have to defeat scary monsters along the way using melee-based combo attacks while keeping an eye on both your stamina and the number of enemies in the field, but this is faster, a little more forgiving, and cut from a more Western design tradition. There are a number of open zones filled to the brim with enemies, each of which pushes the game's overall narrative forward, but which also offer resources, side missions in the form of so-called "Good Deeds", and crucial exposition about the world you are entering and trying to understand.

And what kind of world is this? Hadea is difficult to find a parallel for, but as I moved through this war-torn, deeply morally compromised landscape, I thought of both the genocide in Rwanda and the various conflicts that arose as a result of the collapse and break-up of Yugoslavia. This is vicious. The country is divided between two factions, the hard-working Sabinians and the more religious Palomists. This is vicious in a way that games rarely are. Mass graves with corpses and weeping parents who have only found parts of their blown-up children, elderly people with blown-off limbs who must be fed while sparsely lit lamps flicker under enemy bombardments, and schoolchildren covered in ash from artillery shells searching for their parents. Hell is Us ends up focusing a lot more on sci-fi, and maybe it's worse for it, but the narrative tapestry held together by the terrible conflict that has ravaged Hadea is, no matter how awful it all is, a memorable backdrop.

You are Rémi, a soldier who was taken out of Hadea as a boy, but who now returns to track down his father and mother. It is in the midst of this search that these strange, eerie creatures suddenly emerge from catacombs, caves, and underground temples beneath the land in a mysterious way, complicating Rémi's quest, and this is how Hell is Us pushes you forward.

It's not a story without its flaws, and one of the main points of criticism is that precisely because Hell is Us is more open in nature, the story can lack momentum in certain sections. Like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, exposition, set pieces, and exploratory dialogue are delivered in chunks, but even though there isn't the bang-up ending Kojima pulled out of his sleeve, Hell is Us has the advantage of being fascinating just to be in Hadea, and even though the plot tends to idle a bit, it's a testament to a good mystery. In addition, Elias Toufexis delivers a solid performance here as the somewhat emotionless Rémi, so overall there is plenty of narrative motivation to be found, even if it all reeks a bit of unfulfilled potential.

As mentioned, Hadea consists of zones that you travel to via your stolen APC. You explore these zones, encountering desperate souls along the way whom you can choose to help, while also slaying mysterious monsters that provide you with resources to upgrade your weapons and equipment. Add to that some easy but satisfying puzzles, and you have a pretty decent, if not traditional, package, right? It's in the game's complete lack of helpful, guiding user interface elements that it becomes more interesting. There is no map, no markers to follow, no index of everything you have learned. It's all up to you, and if you come across a key shaped like a snake, it's usually up to you to remember where the snake-shaped lock that fits it is located. Each of the game's Good Deeds, side missions if you will, consist solely of listening to what the people around you need and then thinking about them yourself as you pick up what they have mentioned earlier. Codes for doors, solutions to physics-based puzzles, and hints can be found in the documents you collect, and they are not gathered in a more manageable way somewhere in the game's user interface. It's not that it takes a Robert Langdon to decipher these puzzles, nor do you need to sit with a homemade reference book like in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, but Hell is Us forces you to think, even if it gets annoying.

And it does get annoying at times, because the game's categorical rejection of even the slightest note-taking can often break the realism rather than enhance it. If a soldier needs a specific type of medicine, Rémi would probably remember it or write it down. But when you find this medicine, he has no idea what to do with it. Some will probably find all aspects of this design philosophy refreshing, but it's as if Rogue Factor has gone a little too far, even though the idea is rock solid.

The combat system is also solid, if not a little monotonous. There are quite a few weapon types, each of which can be upgraded with resources from a special blacksmith, plus four runes that give you a sea of different abilities, and four additional slots for your drone. There are types such as Ecstasy and Rage, and this applies to both weapons and runes, which push you towards specific play styles. If you play on a harder difficulty level, it requires you to be on your toes and have a clear vision of how to attack each set of enemies. It's faster, more responsive, and more agile than a Soulslike, and it usually feels pretty good. The problem arises when you realise that your buildcraft options are somewhat limited, but perhaps mainly because the game really only has five enemy types, which are pretty much tackled in the same way regardless of level. This means that you develop one approach, one modus operandi, and you stick to it from hour 3 to hour 25. It's not a dealbreaker, because the fights feel good throughout, but the progression could use an overhaul, and the enemies in particular could use more variety.

Disappointing progression and buildcraft should not be overlooked, and it does have consequences for the game's overall rating. But at the same time, it's worth noting that Hell is Us really does try out new strategies and explore new horizons with its setting, its narrative technique, and its strange combination of very realistic tragedies and more striking science-fiction. This is also reinforced by the rather attractive aesthetics from start-to-finish, which, while not quite delivering Naughty Dog-level detail, create atmospheric, effective, and at times downright beautiful surroundings. Hadea could never exist in reality, but one feels naturally drawn to the gigantic mountains, the deep flower-covered valleys, and the burning villages. In addition, Stéphane Primeau delivers a pulsating score that fits well with the striking combination of civil war and deep sci-fi; it really works.

Hell is Us is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious games of the year, and it is recommendable for that reason alone. It only gets better as Rogue Factor actually achieves many of their central goals here, creating a striking setting, a well-functioning combat system against enemies with deep mythology behind them, and a fantastic visual profile as well.