Rogue Factor’s new third-person action-adventure game Hell is Us is enigmatic, bleak, and frequently sublime. Loaded with intricate worldbuilding and downcast wartime themes, it oozes effort and apparent depth, even if this effect can be smudged by the game’s combat shortcomings, occasionally shallow puzzles, and burdensome backtracking. Regardless, as a modern AA title, Hell is Us punches well above its weight, offering a slow-burning sci-fi mystery you can lose yourself in.
Directed by Jonathan Jacques-Belletête – whose artistic vision helped make the 2010s Deus Ex duology so essential – Hell is Us will appeal to weird-game aficionados, and its load-bearing lore and unusual structure hearkens back to those halcyon days stumbling around Lordran on a blind Dark Souls playthrough, an effect which few other games convincingly conjure.
War & Pieces of the Puzzle
Hadea is A Gorgeously Grim Landscape to Learn and Explore
Rémi is a refugee from Hadea, a fictional Soviet-Bloc-like nation devastated by a provincial civil war and reality-rending event known as The Calamity. His parents smuggled him out of the country as a young child, but now he sits drugged to the gills and connected to bizarre machines with only a grotesque interrogator for company. His apparent crimes unclear and true motivations unknown, the bulk of Hell is Us presents as Rémi’s reluctantly told confession, a tortured twist on the narrative conceit of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
That’s so far as I’ll spoil it, though the game’s central plot is less remarkable than its conversational detail, audio logs, and many colorful scraps of lore, all of which bring the wider world into focus. Hell is Us’ trumpeted absence of map and tracking icons somehow supports its air of mystery, with no obvious targets to blithely pursue via the HUD. Commendable and gutsy in theory, the effect is alleviated by a handy Pip-Boy-like Datapad which constantly refreshes with items, character info, and connective plot leads, so you’ll rarely be hopelessly disoriented.
There are other mechanics to discover as you go, and Hell is Us is strongest when your quests are stacked high, weakening in its back half as you desperately search for the one thing you missed. A collection of cyphers, puzzles, and elaborate key hunts resolve accumulated side-quests the game dubs as “Mysteries,” just don’t expect anything remotely close to Blue Prince’s rapturous brain teasers. There’s usually a direction to pursue, but a few brute force approaches and area retreads proved unavoidable in my playthrough.
More Puzzles And Less Combat, Please
I’d Rather Be Chasing Clues Than Hollow Walkers
Sadly, those retreads often mean more combat. It’s exciting at first, this scrabbly Soulslike stamina-baiting movement against eerie phantasmal hollow-face demons, wielding a Ki-Pulse-like rally mechanic straight out of Nioh that precludes the need for healing items once you get the timing right. Weapons are strictly melee-only, a collection of upgradable gleaming blades rotted over by colored status-effect elements, though Rémi himself lacks any proper level-ups or skill trees. Beyond the blade, an assistant flying drone offers a few special modules that trigger dash attacks and other functions.
Early elation at these possibilities quickly gave way to routine, and I was largely tired of Hell is Us’ combat by the end of the first act. The wraith-like enemy designs are exquisite, but you’ll have seen almost all of them within that timeframe. There’s a projectile one, a tanky one, a pea-brained zombie type, all ghouls with horrible targeting and floaty movement, and the game engine chugs and input-skips during busier bouts. Tougher fights center on “Hazes,” multicolored spirits who spring to life out of select foes and must be killed before their hosts.
Any apparent variety results from mixing and matching basic enemies with these Hazes, but I found combat either dismissively easy or suddenly lethal via stunlock; if poise is an active mechanic, it’s never consistent or properly explained here. Luckily, death just kicks you back to a checkpoint intact on normal difficulty, so the combat feels more like an intrusion than a meaningful gameplay or narrative element, just some gravel to pace out the puzzle-solving.
Other gameplay systems – like the cool Timeloop black holes you see off in the distance – seem imposing at first, but they’re ultimately easy to deal with. There isn’t a single advanced weapon combo to learn, though additional engagement options do emerge, with a modular upgrade system that incorporates both blades and drone. It all produces that classic scenario of a game which drip-feeds you plenty of combat options, but I set my favorites early on and was done with it.
Sumptuous Sights and Interesting People To Meet
A Finely Drawn World Packed With Well-Drawn Characters
Following a smaller starter zone where you learn the basics, Rémi can journey through select regions in Hadea at will, chasing down clues at each map point and unlocking new locales. The environments are nicely differentiated and contain enough structures and landmarks to help get your bearings over time, though the lack of any direct fast-travel points within each area eventually tested my patience.
Players should be advised that, alongside the game’s topics of war, Hell is Us contains sexual assault themes absent of any formal warning. There’s little outright explicit content of this type, but I wanted to make sure it was mentioned here.
The game’s large cast of NPCs are compelling down to a man, but most rarely integrate into the gameplay or wider plot, acting more as quest-givers and lore fonts. A standardized list of general conversational keywords never updates throughout the game, though special inquiries appear following certain conditions, usually the discovery of a specific item related to an NPC’s tracked Mystery.
As such, they effectively perform as animated statuary, and NPC never budge an inch from their given station while you’re looking (though quest progress can see them relocate elsewhere in the world later on). Still, the full suite of voice acting and character animations are excellent, infusing these otherwise static entities with vibrant life and detail.
Every
Interestingly, I can’t get into the most memorable aspects of Hell is Us in this review, the moments which are best left unspoiled. Whether that’s the stunning reveal of a hidden temple, solving a trickier puzzle, or a few select plot twists, these challenges feel more rewarding to traverse than another game’s mindless dungeon slog to a treasure chest.
On the other hand, there are times when Hell is Us feels like less than the sum of its parts. Some puzzles I thought fascinatingly ornate ended abruptly, and many complex NPC micro-stories resolve in an anticlimactic stroke, absent any worthy coda. As a result, the game’s promise of depth and experimentally self-directed unaided play can appear at odds with these puddle-deep consequences.
Luckily, that never compromised what’s most compelling and beautiful about Hell is Us, its imposing horrific scenery and comprehensive worldbuilding, the wider political drama that seats its hero’s journey. It renders the lesser combat a mere prelude to the juicier puzzles and environments. There’s also a luscious ambient soundtrack, a choir of cooing alien synths that add texture and distressing dread to every scene, inescapably reminiscent of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, to which this game frequently doffs its cap.
Admirable for both its consistently creative vision and risky ambiguity, Hell is Us is an intriguing expedition you’ll absolutely want to see through to the end, even if its ambition exceeds its grasp. Go in as cold as possible and do your best to avoid the deluge of online walkthroughs sure to come; you’ll discover a game that’s attempting something new and is excited to show it to you.
Hell Is Us
Systems
8/10
- Released
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September 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
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Rogue Factor
- Publisher(s)
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Nacon
Pros & Cons
- Beautifully grim world and rich lore, further bolstered by great voice performances and a strong script
- A focus on exploration and puzzles sets it apart from other third-person action-adventures
- The complete lack of active map or overstuffed HUD successfully increases immersion
- Superb visual and sound design throughout
- Limited enemy variety and some underwhelming combat on normal difficulty
- Occasional game performance issues, especially during busier battles
- Some frustrating backtracking, further exacerbated by lack of fast-travel within maps
A digital PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.
