Hell is Us is a fascinating new action-adventure game from Montreal-based developer Rogue Factor. I spent the weekend playing the demo and enjoyed what was offered in this bizarre yet intriguing tale about a guy with a sword, which isn’t exactly new in today’s gaming landscape.
Still, there’s a thought lingering in my head that this could be this generation’s version of a classic God of War-style action game, and I’m all for it.
Gameplay and Progression
The gameplay is what I gravitated toward the most during my time with the demo. It’s not especially deep or complex like Devil May Cry, but it works well enough for every strike to feel satisfying and every encounter to feel dangerous.
Combat is tense, often overwhelming, as the game throws “Hollow Walkers” at you. These are strange, Lovecraftian entities that appear out of nowhere in its dystopian setting. There are multiple types, but in the demo, I only faced the early versions, and they proved to be pretty challenging even on Normal.
While the combat feels close to modern action games like God of War, Hell is Us adds its own twist by borrowing soulslike mechanics where stamina and healing management are crucial. Every attack and dodge consumes stamina, and being methodical in your approach is essential so you don’t burn through your limited health items. The game discourages button-mashing and reckless aggression, instead rewarding players who think before they engage. You can even use your Drone to distract one enemy while you deal with another.
There are multiple weapons to equip as well. In the demo, aside from the sword I seemingly looted from a corpse, I also had access to an axe. It’s quick and precise, but it’s not my cup of tea since I’ve always been more of a sword guy.
The game also plays like an RPG, with visible stat numbers and item rarities that can be discovered through light puzzle exploration. Progression is tied to how often you use your weapon, keep using it and it levels up, granting more attack power and defensive options. There’s also an Artifact system that boosts your other stats, adding another layer of customization.
The demo even gave a glimpse of puzzle mechanics inspired by Resident Evil. So far, they’ve been fairly simple, but since this is just a demo meant to showcase the game, it works. None of that takes away from how satisfying it feels to bring down these alien threats.
Story and World-building
Hell is Us leans into its bizarre science-fiction world, set against the backdrop of a massive war between nations. The protagonist, Remi, is a defector who mysteriously stumbles into an ancient tomb crawling with nightmarish horrors. The storytelling feels deliberate, almost hinting that time travel could play a role in the plot, though that might just be me reading too much into it.
The hour-long demo didn’t reveal the juiciest parts of the narrative (those are clearly being saved for the full release), but I can already tell it has the potential to stand out in the action-adventure genre, especially for fans of titles like Dante's Inferno and old action-adventure games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
It has potential, but…
Hell is Us shows a lot of promise. Its attention to detail, simple yet satisfying combat, and strange world that feels like it could have stepped out of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding universe. It wasn’t until later that I realized the developers drew inspiration from Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series, which was adapted in Netflix’s Annihilation, one of my favorite films from 2018.
By the time I finished the demo, I was left wanting more. There’s plenty to unpack in both its story and gameplay, though I do have some concerns about replayability, as some of the puzzles feel like filler just to increase playtime.
There’s also one other thing that I find lacking with Hell is Us and it’s the game’s intentional “no UI” approach to exploration, which I found unintentionally hilarious since the entire game is filled with multiple UI elements like quick-skills, interactable icons, and walls of text. While the marketing insists it’s a game that refuses to hold your hand, the world feels linear enough that it doesn’t really need to. Still, the gameplay itself has hooked me, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves when the full release arrives.
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