I Hate This Place

I Hate This Place does a great job of creating an 80's vibe with a classic action-horror atmosphere. The story is interesting and dark, the protagonist kicks ass, and the action is fun and visceral.

You won't hate "I Hate This Place", but you might actually like this survival game set in a spooky wilderness. It could have been more expansive, and certain aspects could have been improved, but it plays well.

I Hate This Place is recommended for those seeking authentic, edgy, and uncompromising survival horror, and for those willing to endure frustration and disorientation in exchange for an intense, disturbing, and artistically unique experience. An uncomfortable, imperfect journey, but precisely for this reason profoundly consistent with its title and its vision.

I Hate This Place has an incredible setting and fun enough, if not all that impressive, survival and combat mechanics, but could do a better job of introducing players to its world and story. I think the game will certainly find an audience, and those players will likely find themselves drawn to the comic-book franchise the game is inspired by.

I Hate This Place is one of those projects that leaves me in the camp of "not hating it, but not loving it either". The campy '80s vibe is definitely there and I Hate This Place is easily one of the most accessible isometric survival horror games I've played in a long time, but the apparent lack of optimization and real narrative depth (and quirky bugs) are holding Rock Square Thunder's title back from being a real contender.

I Hate This Place is a well-constructed game that provides a decent level of entertainment, especially for those who love a creepy cult setting or a ghostly mystery. While the narrative isn’t the most compelling story ever told, and there are certain aspects of the gameplay that could have been improved on, the overall experience is enjoyable enough that players might be able to look past them and enjoy taking in the atmosphere and charming visual style.

I Hate This Place has some interesting ideas inspired by its comic-book origins, but its moment-to-moment gameplay is dull at the best of times and deeply frustrating at the worst.

I Hate This Place is close to being a really good fusion of base building and isometric shooter, but never quite nails the game feel. Stealth is mostly a case of sneaking through vents, combat is repetitive and becomes too easy with more powerful weapons, and the base building parts function more like an idle game. To top it off, the story kind of fizzles out and the game ends just as the mechanics start to get established. There is a fun pulp horror experience here, but it doesn’t meet its clear potential.

In terms of comic book immersion, the pulp horror style of I Hate This Place does a great job to suck fans inside the cartoon frame. It looks darkly delicious, right down to the KAPOW!-style crackles, snaps and crunches that pop out of the screen to highlight crafting fires, underfoot glass or dynamite fuses. For serious gamers though, it’s little more than an enjoyably creepy distraction with its main story largely a (crouched) walk in the park. Side quests are fun but anticlimactic while crafting and RPG elements are pretty much redundant.

I Hate This Place has some great visual flair and interesting lore but unfortunately it's bogged down in an obtuse and often uninspired survival stealth adventure.

An aesthetically punchy survival horror game that hides its underdeveloped gameplay behind over-complicated mechanics and some frustrating busywork. Not a disaster by any means, but nor is it a shining example of the genre.

I Hate This Place has good ideas, but its execution misses the mark. A lacklustre story, not enough horror, and disjointed mechanics likely won’t appeal to survival horror fans.

Some clever sound design and a very haunted forest can’t fully redeem this uneven horror game.