Hell is Us Review

When I first heard about Rogue Factor’s latest title, Hell is Us, I thought it looked like another soulslike hack-and-slash. So, when the time came for me to play through the game, I thought I knew what to expect. However, I was honestly surprised by what it was that I found, and not always for the better.

Hell is Us takes place in the fictional country called Hadea, which is in the midst of a civil war between two groups of people based on an age-old grudge. You take the role of Rémi, a United Nations Peacekeeper sneaking into the country to find his father and mother, who left him alone long ago. Unfortunately, the country of Hadea has more than just people fighting, as a horde of demons has awoken in an event called the Calamity. 

As plots go, it’s interesting, especially the backdrop of a civil war, which has the hallmarks of a great story. It would be easy for Hell is Us to simply go down the route of good vs evil, but both sides of the conflict have done terrible things. It’s dark, it’s depressing, and it’s a wonder to explore. The problem is that you have to play as Rémi. See, while the voice acting is fantastic, Rémi is a self-proclaimed sociopath, who feels no fear, guilt, sadness or… anything really. Sure, this means it makes sense that he’s so blasé about everything, but it also cuts a lot of the feeling from the experience.

With that said, he does start to show some genuine moments later in the game, but the reality is that the opening few hours have him be a bit of a blank slate. Also, and this is a bit of a minor issue, but it’s one I can’t get past, I really hate his hair. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it did.

So, why has this been likened to DARK SOULS or other games of that ilk? Well, the combat is based around stamina management while mixing attacks and dodging. However, there are a couple of added tweaks. Every time you attack, you have a chance to activate the Healing Pulse ability, which restores a section of your health. How much you heal can increase by performing a longer combo. If you hit it too early or too late, you get nothing. In concept, this is a great idea and cuts out a lot of reliance on medpacks (which also exist), plus, as your stamina is tied to your health, you want to keep it as high as possible.

There is one issue, however, in that the timing can be a bit hard to gauge at times. There are two indications of when you can get health back: a white ring that solidifies around your character, or the replenished area of health flashing white. The issue is that you end up focusing more on these visual cues rather than the fight, which feels like it ruins the point a bit. Also, don’t even bother trying to play Hell is Us on a keyboard and mouse. I tried, but some of the controls just aren’t worth the hassle. It is much easier to play on a controller, which greatly improves the experience. 

With that said, the combat is fun as the movement and combos all feel fluid. You also have a great selection of weapons that you can level up as you fight; each one moves differently, with my favourite being the polearm. On top of levelling them up, you can also upgrade them to incorporate one of the four Lymbic spheres: Rage, Ecstasy, Grief, and Terror. Doing so does more than upgrade the power; it also changes how the weapon looks while also affecting what glyphs you can utilise. 

These glyphs, which you’ll find around the map, allow you to perform special moves like a rage-based explosion or healing. You can find some that are neutral, which you can install on any of your weapons' four glyph sections, but the more powerful ones are based around a specific sphere. Finally, you also have your drone, which can help Rémi perform different attacks or stun enemies based on which modules you install in it. Overall, the combat is deep, and it’s engaging when you get into the flow of it. 

However, there are a couple of problems that need to be addressed: firstly, there’s not a lot of enemy variety in the early game; in fact, for the most part, you’ll be fighting the same five “Hollow Men” enemies, and it takes a while before you have to deal with anything else. The presence of the linked enemies, which release a haze that you have to fight before you can damage the Hollow Man host, does break it up a bit, but not by much. Secondly, Rémi doesn’t really level up; instead, it’s his weapons that do, but you’ll have the same health and stamina for much of the adventure. Considering the stamina goes down quickly, you’ll need to perfect the Healing Pulse timing to make sure you survive bigger fights.

Graphically, Hell is Us is an interesting-looking game, and some of the environments look fantastic. The enemies, even though they lack variety, are certainly gorgeous to look at, but the same can’t always be said for the human characters. Most of the time, Rémi looks great in videos (apart from the hair), but the issue is that when you’re talking to a character, they look a bit off and a little cartoony. 

Speaking of talking to people, we should probably look at the biggest part of Hell is Us: exploration. Firstly, there is no map and no clear objectives that you can follow. Instead, you’ll need to explore and talk to people while investigating all the clues you find. It’s engaging, but at the same time, it’s really frustrating. For instance, there are time loops that exist in each map. These loops can be accessed by killing several Time Guardians. However, there’s no indication of where these enemies are, plus they look the same as every other enemy. I killed several of them in one map, and still did not indicate if this was enough.

I understand the idea of having a player explore while giving them in-universe clues of where to go. Most of the time, this works fine as there are clear indications in conversation and other clues on where you need to go. For instance, someone tells you that the person you’re looking for went west, so you use your compass (the only guide you have) and head in that direction. However, you’ll find numerous randomly locked doors or crates that need keys or other puzzle items. Because there’s no map you can access, you can’t set an icon on where these are, so if you need to leave or can’t stay for long, you’ll be hard-pressed to remember where they are.

With all that said, Hell is Us is a game with a lot of parts that all come together to really make a unique title. There are issues, sure, and more than a few annoyances, but at the same time, the game is incredibly fun to play through. If you’re looking for something engaging, with a deep plot, then you can’t do much worse, but be aware of what is expected of you.