Hell is Us Hands-On Preview: Hell is... Quite Refreshing, Actually

Hell is Us wasn't really on my radar when it was announced, if I'm honest. I've not played Death Stranding, so a man wearing a grey poncho didn't immediately send me back to fond gaming memories, and I think there's a growing slump people get in their shoulders when they see another third-person action game hit the release calendar of a given year.

The Soulslike craze does feel as if it has passed its zenith, and from trailers alone you'd be forgiven for thinking Hell is Us slots into the genre. But, after playing it at BigBen Week, I see now why Rogue Factor wants to distance itself from the Soulslike label and instead pitch Hell is Us as more of an old-school adventure game.

Hell is Us takes place in a fictional country, isolated and consumed by civil war. You play as Remi, a former citizen of this country who was bundled out of it by his parents, who stayed behind. He's returned in the hopes of finding them, and instead finds a broken land filled by strange, hollow creatures. The central mystery of the premise serves as a great introduction, throwing you into the world without reservation, and keeping a lot of question marks over your head from the beginning, especially with the opening cutscene focusing on Remi being interrogated by a man with a seriously elongated chin.

As well as the central mysteries of Remi's parents, the creatures, and the civil war, Hell is Us throws plenty of smaller puzzles at you in its 50/50 split between exploration and combat. Exploring the war-torn country around you proves to be a greatly rewarding experience, from our time with Hell is Us. Rather than just searching for better weapons and upgrades, you're mostly unravelling the mysteries of the game, piece by piece, and can discover things that feel unique to your experience. It was interesting to speak with other people at the playtest following it to discover what they had and hadn't found, each of us claiming some lost artefact or area of a dungeon like we were schoolkids trading video game secrets and cheats at the playground.

Puzzles vary in their difficulty, with some apparently taking place over multiple areas, but it never felt like I didn't have the tools in front of me to deal with the obstacles ahead. The dungeon we got to explore as part of this session was particularly enthralling, as I found myself engrossed with opening every door, making sure I didn't take any object or hint for granted. It might be a game worth keeping a notepad or Steam notes tab open for. Rogue Factor has certainly captured the old-school adventure feel here. The lack of objective markers doesn't hamper the experience, and despite there not being a magical compass, you can get your bearings fairly easily. Compact areas assist with navigation, too. There's a strong sense that you're in charge of this adventure, and yet you don't get FOMO from deciding to just follow the main path, which is a welcome, refreshing feeling in modern gaming.

Combat makes for the other major aspect of Hell is Us, and at the time of writing, it's something Rogue Factor is working on fine-tuning. The developers would like this to be a "midcore" game, but as hardcore players, the difficulty can be quite awkward to get right for them. Encounters weren't too tough in our preview build, and we didn't have to turn down the difficulty. It's especially nice that enemies don't respawn once you've killed them, even if you die and have to return to a save point. Inspiration has clearly been taken from the Souls games, because it's difficult not to with a third-person melee action game nowadays. You swing, block, dodge, but there's a nice, unusual rhythm with the healing pulse mechanic, allowing you to gain back some of your health after a successful hit or combo. It takes a moment to get the timing down, but once you do, it's vital to survive.

Largely, that's because Hell is Us gets increasingly difficult the more damage you take. This is by design, as Rogue Factor wanted more of a realistic approach than an anime protagonist ready to go all out when they have 1HP left in the tank. As your health goes down, so does your stamina. This could lead into a losing circle, if not for the healing pulse and the fact that enemies won't respawn unless you leave an area in its entirety. Right now, even with things I like about it, combat isn't quite as enjoyable as the game's exploration. The adventure doesn't feel like it needs such a strong focus on parrying, dodging, and keeping combat engaging, as the mysteries are enough to keep you locked in. The different weapons and designs are all very cool, though, and the drone feels like a useful ally, despite his attachment to Remi feeling a little jarring.

Remi is perhaps the only piece of the puzzle I don't quite understand. The exploration is great, the combat needs some work but is mostly engaging, and yet I'm not sure the character of Remi fits in with it all. His character is defined by a unique setup, and yet his early dialogue sees him come across as the usual badass you'd expect from this type of game. Also, in order to get access to the drone and weapons you see in the trailers, as well as the outfits, Remi just robs the clothes of a random woman who saved his life. I'm willing to give Remi and the story time, especially thanks to the intrigue set around him retelling his story to Mr. Megachin, but aside from his hairdo, I worry Remi is a forgettable part of a more interesting whole.

Hell is Us might not have been on my radar before, but I'll be keeping an eye on it from now on. The not-Soulslike (that still has some Soulslike elements) does feel like it's doing something very different, but like the majority of its puzzles, it remains an enigma until we get all the pieces this September.