Many games go under the radar of most people, or receive criticism from the public, because they are aimed at a very specific audience. They ask for very specific things from those who will play them, and that makes it difficult to adjust expectations. It requires having a particular awareness and vision of what the game wants. And that is not always easy to provide.
That’s why many games appreciate in value over time. When more players and a certain distance allow us to see them in a different light. Because it makes it easier to play them for what they are and not for what we expect them to be.
Hell Is Us, the new game from Rogue Factor, is in many ways exactly that. From the outside, it may seem like a soulslike heavily inspired by From Software games, with a contemporary style and a particular emphasis on combat. The reality is that the game is something very different from that. Because the audience it seeks is one that comes here not for the combat, but for the exploration and, to a lesser extent, for the quality of the puzzles.
The Legend of Zelda meets Resident Evil and hack and slash
If we had to describe Hell Is Us in a simple way, we could say it’s like a The Legend of Zelda from SNES or Nintendo 64 with puzzles like those in Resident Evil and the combat of a hack and slash from PlayStation 2. All of this does not mean that it is a game that feels old or that aims to be a tribute to the classics. On the contrary. It is a very fresh and interesting game because it knows where it draws inspiration from and why, making this combination make sense for one very simple reason: it knows its limitations.
The grace of Hell is Us is that we have to navigate very broad levels, semi-open world, where we have no indicators of any kind. Some characters give us hints about what we should do, we can look into the distance to see where there are interesting places to go (or exactly the place we need to go!) and some documents provide us with relevant information, but there are no extradiegetic indicators of any kind. There is neither a map nor an arrow nor a button we can press to indicate where our next objective is. The only way to progress is to interpret the information we have and move forward.
This is always enjoyable because the environments are spacious, but not gigantic. Dense, full of things, but never so vast as to be absurd. So getting lost and not knowing exactly where to go is never a problem. And since puzzles require finding the right object or knowing which symbols go where, exploration and observation are rewarded more than the pure ability to decipher what the game wants from us.
Of civil wars and battles
As the game is based on exploration, it is appreciated that the world to explore is very interesting. And terrifying. Because Hadea, the region we visit, has two defining characteristics: it is in the midst of a civil war and is invaded by strange monsters ravaging everything.
The game does not shy away from the first part of the premise. We will constantly be facing the horrors of war and it will have no problem throwing images at us that are hard to shake off. But it does so in an elegant and appropriate manner for the context, adding to the atmosphere and theme of the game. All while the story follows something more mundane: the search for the truth about the protagonist’s past. Which, of course, has a lot to do with the state of the region and the monsters that inhabit it.
Speaking of monsters, the combat might be what doesn’t convince a certain part of the audience. Not because it’s bad, which it isn’t, but because it’s relatively simple. With not much variety in either enemies or weapons, it can become a bit repetitive, especially given the game’s length. This shouldn’t be a problem since it’s not the central focus of the game and is well executed, but there will be those who find it an issue.
A future cult title
But if something must be clear, it is that Hell Is Us is one of those games that has all the potential to become a cult game. Surely not immediately, but in a few years.
It’s like playing a classic The Legend of Zelda, but with a much more mature and darker atmosphere and narrative. If we add puzzles in the style of Resident Evil and hack and slash combat, along with its incredible setting, the result is a fascinating game that is also difficult to sell to the general public at first glance. But if all of this sounds good to you, really: Hell Is Us is a game for you. One of those games that will be talked about for a long time in the world of video games.
