Hell is Us

For a game that tells a fictional story, Hell is Us feels unusually familiar. My only comfort throughout the game was the fact that I managed to save a few NPCs from a horrible death, everything else was incredibly bleak. This is a mature game that treats serious topics like war, hate, violence, torture, politics extremely well. Aside from the fact that you’re facing strange creatures, little else is fictional about this game, and that’s very scary. That said, Hell is Us was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and after finishing it three times, I strongly believe it was well worth the wait. It’s an experience that you don’t want to miss.

Hell is Us bet on being an “out of the box” game—and it nailed it. Its bold choice to present wide, open environments without a map or any straightforward navigation system adds a nostalgic feel, even flirting with the essence of classic soulslike experiences from the Souls series. However, the combat makes a point of showing it’s something entirely different, introducing a system that may seem complex at first but gradually turns into a secondary element as the game progresses.

Rogue Factor have created something truly special in Hell is Us, combing head-scratching puzzles with fun, challenging combat. This is an unexpected treasure.

Hell is Us initially hooked me with its horror vibe and cool-looking action. After a fifty-hour playthrough, I’m happy to report that the combat is indeed cool and the vibes are indeed horror-adjacent, but Hell is Us is much more than that. It tells a story, rooted in realism, about the effects of war and how people become divided. It’s also a supernatural mystery with extremely elaborate lore and worldbuilding. One that you can spend hours diving into. Hell is Us trusts the player to investigate and uncover the mystery of Hadea without any guidance, and it’s a mystery worth solving.

Hell Is Us feels like a game that can't quite decide whether it wants to be a soulslike or not, but the result is still a fantastic experience that is compelling and worthy of high praise. The game borrows FromSoft's excellent combat and dark world-building to create a solid action-adventure game with a twisted real-world setting, filled with memorable moments and stunning - if bleak - vistas. I just wish there was a little more substance; a lack of weapon and enemy variety, plus an all-too-short finale, hold it back from true greatness.

Hell is Us revives old-school exploration by removing maps and handholding, rewarding observation, note-taking, and genuine discovery across a haunting, war-torn Hadea. Striking UE5 visuals, a tense soundscape, and stable performance support a Souls-inspired combat system where timing restores health and stamina, creating real momentum. Limited enemy variety and scarce boss encounters soften the difficulty, yet the world’s mysteries and powerful side stories carry the journey. A bold, content-rich adventure that stands out as one of 2025’s most memorable surprises.

Hell is Us is an amazing accomplishment, and will easily remain one of 2025's best games, though it falls short of amazing, and reaching the status of some of its influences. With a rich atmosphere, stunning visuals, deep lore, wonderfully realized characters and a fairly solid combat experience, it's not a game to be missed.

Not without its minor flaws, but certainly one of the biggest surprises of the year: If you like to explore freely and don't want everything spoon-fed to you, you shouldn't miss Hell Is Us.

Hell Is Us is a darkly engaging adventure puzzle game that blends the uncanny character vibes of David Lynch with exploration elements found in Fromsoftware games without its punishing difficulty.

Outside of its fairly derivative, sometimes repetitive, and not quite finely-tuned combat, Hell is Us has a unique identity. Its emphatic insistence on patient and meticulous puzzle solving and careful exploration creates a satisfying experience, even if its obtuse execution can frustrate on occasion. The game’s narrative, characters, and setting feel darkly surreal. Its ultimate message about humanity caught in endlessly repeating tragic loops has some weight. For gamers willing to take on its challenges and solve its mysteries, Hell is Us has a lot to offer.

Hell is Us is a third-person action adventure that combines semi-open exploration and Souls-like combat. There are no maps or indicators: the level design guides the player through areas connected by environmental clues and dialogue. The combat system relies on stamina and light or heavy hits, and as hit points decrease, so does stamina, creating a vicious cycle that can be broken with the Healing Pulse, a technique that converts damage dealt into healing. The KAPI drone adds variety with support functions, while fights against Hollow Walkers and Haze offer a mix of interesting but not always varied patterns. The highly evocative atmosphere is marred by monsters that don't live up to the setting.

An unsettling action-adventure game dealing with war and humanity, that still has some minor technical issues.

Ultimately, the thing about Hell is Us that ties it all together is the title. The combat and exploration are merely a distraction from the real conflict happening in front of the player’s eyes — humans on both sides of the civil war (and those manipulating the war from behind the scenes) have committed far worse atrocities than the creatures ever have.

Hell is Us isn’t something you see every day. It’s a thought-provoking adventure that dives deep into the barbaric nature of humans, all while putting together a compelling mystery behind the supernatural elements. On top of that, it’s as much of a puzzle game as it is an adventure, truly testing a player’s will and patience as nothing is guided. There are no waymarkers pointing Rémi in the right direction or a map that shows him where he is. Instead, we have to find everything on our own and remember it, be it putting it in our memory bank or recording it. With that said, Hell is Us isn’t perfect. As enjoyable and surprisingly well-varied the combat is, it mainly boils down to the same formula through most of the lengthy journey. It’s the incredibly detailed and elegantly put-together world and lore that will have everyone immersed. At the end of the day, even with a couple of quirks, Hell is Us is a memorable and rewarding experience that’s a breath of fresh air.

Though its markerless questing mechanics are not as revolutionary for the genre as the game says they are, Hell is Us still plays as a very good Soulslike. Its narrative may be weird in places, but its solid mechanics and incredible setting more than make up for it.

Hell is Us is much more than it appears during the first few minutes. By cleverly combining action and adventure with the solving of arduous puzzles, the game plunges us into a dark and mature atmosphere, characterised by violence inspired by humanity's darkest moments. The themes it addresses are relevant, and it adds a supernatural and mystical dimension to the whole. Hell is Us is not without flaws — that's a fact. Its old-school approach is raw and unembellished, and will clearly not suit everyone. However, its magnificent artistic direction, worked level design and successful soundtrack take precedence over its weaknesses. We were absorbed for several dozen hours in our quest for answers in a war-ravaged country. It's a nice discovery for a game with certain potential.

Hell is Us is a great action-adventure game taking inspiration from Resident Evil, Souls games, and Tomb Raider. With a strong story and awesome puzzles, its overall inconsistencies and frustrations could be overlooked, though they take too much away from the experience to be ignored.

Hell is Us is a game that offers something unique, but that same challenge might turn away a lot of players looking for something with a more streamlined experience.

Hell is Us boldly carves out its own path, favoring a slower, more contemplative experience that rewards patience, curiosity, and a taste for the unconventional. It’s not trying to appeal to everyone—and that’s precisely the point. This is a game for those who find meaning in silence, in suggestion, in the space between things. It seeks to provoke rather than guide, to immerse rather than entertain. For some, it will resonate deeply; for others, it may feel distant or impenetrable.

Despite some obvious flaws (especially in the combat department), Hell is Us is a good action-adventure game that shines particularly brightly thanks to its atmosphere and its ability to surprise the player. Rogue Factor has managed to create a rather unique blend of exploration, action, and puzzles, supported by a technique that commands respect. In short, if you're looking for a game at the crossroads of the genre, we recommend it. Be careful, however, if you have high expectations in terms of action-RPG or puzzles.

Hell Is Us makes bold choices: no hand-holding, no maps, no shortcuts. That design philosophy is both its biggest strength and its biggest frustration.

Hell is Us' rich world and gorgeous design prop up its uninventive structure and simple combat.

There are dozens of puzzles, with a Resident Evil-like fetishism for clicking locks and mechanisms. [Issue#416, p.112]

The story and haunting world of Hell is Us overshadow most shortcomings, and Rogue Factor’s message is a powerful one. The team’s refusal to hold the player’s hand may frustrate, but it also creates a unique sense of immersion and discovery. Hell is Us is meant to unsettle and provoke thought, not just entertain, and where it stumbles in one area, it succeeds in another. For players willing to overlook missing variety and conveniences, and who value atmosphere over a perfect presentation, Hell is Us offers a journey well worth taking.

Hell Is Us is a genuinely interesting game that many will adore for its commitment to letting you spend your time exploring mysteries and unlocking lore. The fact that you'll want a notepad near you will send some of you rabid, and that's great. For me though, Hell Is Us is a game that looks beautiful in every respect, but ends up feeling a little bit too paint-by-numbers when it comes to the actual mechanics at play. I like Hell Is Us well enough, but I don't know that I'll remember it.

Rogue Factor's action-adventure succeeds in leading players through its brutal world without any guidance, despite some rough edges.

Hell is Us is a bold and original adventure game that refuses to hold players' hands and relies on their intelligence, memory, and willingness to immerse themselves in a raw story full of real-life war horrors. While the adventure and puzzle elements are excellent and the story is very suggestive, the action feels more like unimaginative boredom.

While I was left dissatisfied by the narrative conclusion of Hell is Us, its journey to that point was pleasantly engaging. It was refreshing to not just follow a quest marker through a story, but also a relief that I was never spun around for hours on end wondering where I needed to go next. This balance is what made traversing Hadea and experiencing all the horrors it contained a rewarding one, making each new step feel earned rather than routine. It's backed up by an imperfect but engaging combat system that's only let down by some shallow enemy variety and imprecise control, but never to the point of outright frustration. If Hell is Us is developer Rogue Factor's first stab at a new type of third-person action game and although it's less revolutionary than the initial promise might suggest, it is one that still managed to stay surprising until the end.

Hell is Us is another title that would have been better suited to being a movie rather than a game. Rather than focusing on Souls-like action or puzzles to offer solid gameplay, it attempts to combine these two radically different genres, and the result is disappointing. Finding an audience looking for both of these experiences at once is difficult enough, but they have also been treated superficially, even clumsily, because of this ill-advised compromise. It is therefore unlikely that they will satisfy the majority of players. This is all the more unfortunate given that the overall production is of fairly good quality and the atmosphere is sometimes incredible. Hell is Us confronts us with the horrors of war in a way that few games dare to do, but its message risks being lost in the wanderings of the gameplay.

Brilliant idea, solid framework—and yet an adventure that falls short of its potential: much of the detective work in Hell is Us is more tiresome than engaging.

Overall, Hell Is Us has all the makings of an incredible game but is let down by clunky combat, a meandering main quest and lack of direction. However, it must be praised for its environmental storytelling and attention to detail when it comes to art direction and world building. If you don’t need direction and objectives to enjoy a game, this could still be the one for you as curiosity will always be rewarded in Hell is Us.