Originally announced three years ago,Hell is Uswas this mysterious entity that had a lot going for it. Even now, coming up on its release in a handful of months, Hell is Us looks to fill a void with action melee combat that refuses to hold your hand. We were invited out to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to check out what Rogue Factor has been cooking up and were left impressed with the results. This is a huge undertaking for Rogue Factor, being a five-year project that’s bigger than any of their past projects.
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Creating an Immersive Story
Hell is Us takes place in the 1990s where a fictional country of Hadea is currently going through a civil war. The story revolves around a young man named Rémi who was originally from Hadea but grew up abroad. Fate brought him back to his homeland where he’s looking for his parents in this war-torn environment, but there’s something amiss. Alongside the disturbing stories of neighbors and friends killing one another for little reason, there’s a demonic invasion that’s occurring as well. The hollow creatures are the embodiment of emotion itself, with them revolving around four different emotions from the Plutchik Wheel: Rage, Ecstasy, Grief and Terror.
One aspect that really appeals to us is just how little the game holds your hand, which unfortunately, will likely turn a good number of players off. During the event, we were given a notebook and a pen to keep track of our side quests, passwords and hints. You need to listen to every piece of dialogue because you never know if there are clues or important pieces of information. You can’t rely on a quest marker to appear or codes to magically appear on the side of your screen. Everything you need to know needs to be taken note of, as otherwise you will quickly get lost. There’s no map that magically shows where you are or a compass at the top of the screen, with you having to figure things out on your own with the tools given to you.
One aspect that really appeals to us is just how little the game holds your hand…
Get Your Pen and Paper Ready
An example of a short side quest is that you will meet Abbot Jaffer, a priest who has been tied up. You learn that his family has been killed, but his niece, Rebecca, was able to survive, and he asks you to check on her. Instead of giving you an indicator of where to go or even writing down in a journal that this is a side quest, he’ll simply tell you that she’s in his brother’s home. Where is his brother’s house? Well, it has a treehouse, so the player will have to go looking for a home that matches this description. Even when you find this house, you need to scour it in search of the child who is hiding in the attic. With this, you will learn more about what happened here and even where the Blacksmith, a character you’re looking for, was taken.
Then there’s another where you meet a “Despondent Woman” who used to be a teacher, but was caught up in the civil war and was even part of the mob that hung her neighbors and friends. She offhandedly mentions she wants to remember back before all of this happened. Normally you wouldn’t think much of it, especially if nothing was written in your journal, but if you’re able to obtain a photo, which is part of another subtle quest from a man drinking away his problems, then you’re able to complete the questline. There’s a long line of linked side quests that you’d never know were part of a chain unless you explore and experiment.
Stiff but Enjoyable Combat
The world is persistent, so although you will respawn in a certain spot after you die, the world will remain as you left it. This makes suicide runs all the more viable because once you kill an enemy, they’ll be gone for good. There’s an extreme mode that will reset your XP and respawn enemies upon death, but that’s for the hardcore of the hardcore players. Because the enemies are difficult to take down to begin with, having them permanently die makes things a lot more playable, considering you’ll die a considerable amount. This is significantly harder than anything FromSoftware throws at you, as enemies are both tanky and hit hard, making going up against more than one ill-advised. Because there’s only a limited number of healing items, it makes figuring out whether you want to use an item or die more of a strategic play. With that said,Hell is Usdoes have a healing pulse system, so the more aggressive you are with your attacks landing, the more you’re able to heal afterward. This all comes down to timing a heal pulse after your assault, but you have to be cautious because an enemy attack, whether it hits or you block it, will interrupt this pulse.
Speaking of which, combat is straightforward but offers layers of variety the further you dig deeper into the systems. For the most part, it’s all about swinging your weapon around, all while timing a parry or block. But there’s an added selection of equipping Glyphs to weapons to improve them or add specific effects, or finding Defensive Gear or Active and Passive Relics to help in combat. Then there’s the little drone that can equip various abilities, like offensive skills such as propelling Rémi forward through groups of enemies or defensive ones in that it can distract an enemy for a given amount of time. The latter in particular comes in handy quite a bit, especially when you find yourself up against more than one enemy.
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The only thing that has us concerned is the lack of feedback that’s given when striking an enemy. Most enemies tend to shrug off attacks as if their poise is at the maximum value. There’s no good feeling you’re doing any real damage to them outside their HP dropping and they’ll simply power through and attack through your combos. It’s a matter of understanding this and timing your own blocks and parries accordingly, but we wish there was more feedback on the enemies themselves, because it mostly amounts to hitting them once or twice, and then preparing for a counterstrike.
Dungeon and Aesthetics
It’s not just the large open areas that Rémi will be moving through, as there are various dungeons spread throughout the world that will help expand the story and offer various rewards as well. We went through one during our play session, and it took us more than an hour before we got to the boss. There were various puzzles that needed to be overcome, along with strong mini-bosses and traps throughout. It felt like a traditional dungeon with a fun, terrifying spin on it as these Hollows come in various shapes and sizes.
From a presentation standpoint,Hell is Usstands out from the rest of the industry. It’s being built on Unreal Engine 5 and Rogue Factor has done a magnificent job capturing the horrors of both some sort of demonic invasion and a civil war. The design of the Hollows is chilling, as they are something you’d expect to see out of a horror movie. It helps that their sound design is masterfully done and was a highlight of our experience. The developers have created an atmospheric environment where these Hollow Walkers and Hollow creatures have horrific and terrifying sounds, especially when they scream directly at you. We do wish there was a way to turn off the death sound effects, though, because, as much as we understand how it ties into the story, it’s a loud screeching effect that will catch you off guard at first and then make you want to mute afterward.
From a presentation standpoint, Hell is Us stands out from the rest of the industry.
Hell is Usis a one-of-a-kind game, offering intense third-person melee action all while implementing some of the unique enemy designs we’ve seen. We would still like to see the gameplay being tightened up as it felt a bit stiff in spots, and there’s little feedback when attacking Hollow Walkers, but for the most part, there’s a large amount of variety and enjoyment. The aspect of not holding your hand has been taken to the extreme, in the best way possible, as you’ll have to keep track of every little thing and actually listen to what’s being said to you. It’s a refreshing change of pace from your typical formula of following a marker around the world.
Hell is Uswill be available September 4 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC.
Hell Is Us
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