Hell is Us is a curious creation. Sitting down with minimal idea of what to expect, my immediate impressions are of a moody, atmospheric blend of horror and survival game not unlike the early approach to Resident Evil 4’s village. Yet just a short while later I’m darting through dungeons, wielding twin axes in full soulslike fashion against writhing, jerky sci-fi abominations that wouldn’t feel out of place in Death Stranding, or even Silent Hill. As my hands-on preview session at Gamescom 2024 comes to a close, I’m still not quite sure what to make of it, but I definitely want to see more.
Hell is Us is an action-adventure game that doesn’t want to point you to every objective with a shiny banner. Creative director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête tells me he likes to call this “player plattering,” the opposite of handing you everything on a silver platter. In essence, this means you’ll have to pay attention to dialogue, items you pick up, and environmental clues to determine where you’re going and what you’re doing. It doesn’t feel quite as hands-off to me as the first Dark Souls did at the time in that regard, but is perhaps comparable to about where Elden Ring falls on gently nudging you about.
Smuggled out of an isolated hermit kingdom in the midst of a brutal civil war as a child, you’ve returned home to find out what happened to your presumably dead parents. Unable to secure a visa, you take advantage of the protagonist’s rough, military upbringing by joining a force of peacekeepers bound for home. Going AWOL upon arrival, you’re left wandering through the woods until you discover a small house; the apparent residence of one Atticus Caddell.
Poor Atticus has seemingly lost his children to the war, but hands me a key and tells me to follow the wind chimes to secure safe passage through the forest. Having done so, I come across a military APC – marked as the OMSIF – that appears to have fallen foul of a deadly ambush. The one remaining soldier tells me that other members of his squad descended into the ruins nearby, and that he’ll let me know how to follow them if I find a nearby medical stash.
This time, my directions come from the soldier’s dialogue, and a series of painted markers on trees that he points me to along the way. By venturing off the beaten path, I spy a note from Caddell remarking that a special stash can be found by following a differently colored marker, and indeed this proves to be the case as I quickly score myself a ‘Medallion of Ecstasy – Wanton Destruction.’
This medallion is the first real hint of the game Hell is Us actually turns out to be, and offers me extra damage absorption, an endurance bonus, and reduced action costs when I’m below half health. With that in my collection, along with the medical kit, I make my way back to the wounded man. There’s certainly a satisfaction to the exploration here – wandering about its virtual woods in search of secrets is very much my thing – but the more I traipse about, the less it feels like there’s any real danger present.
That feeling quickly evaporates as I move into the underground ruins. Once in, the door slams resoundingly shut behind me, leaving no option but to descend further into its stone corridors. This is no simple set of tunnels, either – it’s a robust, fully built network of rooms and hallways, akin to the sprawling catacombs of Elden Ring, or maybe even the depths of Bloodborne’s chalice dungeons.
Here, Hell is Us dramatically whips off the masquerade. I’m attacked by a mysterious anomaly – a twisting, writhing creature with the appearance of a marble-white human, albeit one with seemingly infinite voids burrowed into its face and torso. My handgun is useless against it, but I’m saved by a mysterious hunter wielding a cyber sword and drone. Good news for me; worse news for the hunter, who is dealt a fatal blow during the clash.
That does, however, allow me to take their gear for my own, and thus Hell is Us shifts gears into a form I’m much more familiar with. I’ve got light and heavy sword combos, I can block and parry incoming anomaly attacks, and my drone offers a series of on-cooldown abilities that assist me in combat. The first of these will lock an enemy in place for a brief duration, allowing me to focus on taking out its companions before I turn my attention back. Before long, I collect a second weapon type – a pair of twin axes – further enhancing my combat potential.
It’s a rather sharp left turn from the vibe of the opening hours, but it does shift Hell is Us more into my own personal wheelhouse. There are some clever ideas at play, too. Your stamina regenerates automatically but your health does not. Your maximum stamina, however, is capped by your current health level, and running out of stamina will leave you in an exhausted state where you deal less damage and take more.
To counteract this, your attacks build up a ‘healing pulse’ that you can cash in with a well-timed button press. If you’ve played the Nioh games, or Team Ninja’s other adjacent offerings such as Rise of the Ronin, this feels a lot like that game’s ki pulse mechanic, but tied instead to your health. It’s tremendously useful, not least of all because timing parries against the strange, inhuman movements of the anomalies is quite tough. I like that, though; it feels like something I could certainly wrap my head around given enough time.
Unfortunately, my session is over all too soon – although not before I’ve been given the briefest glimpse of the next area, which looks like a much more open-world environment, albeit one featuring a giant, glowing anomaly orb in the distance that I’m told I’ll have to wait until a later date to venture into.
My short time with Hell is Us has left me more certain about how it plays, but perhaps more confused about what it actually is. What I will say is that, as someone who particularly adores Remnant: From the Ashes and its excellent sequel, Hell is Us might be the closest a game has come to that particular infusion of sci-fi action into a more traditional fantasy setting. With melee combat much more at the focus here, it places itself neatly at a crossroads between Dark Souls, Death Stranding, and Remnant 2 in a manner that I can’t help but be intrigued by.
Hell is Us is set to launch in 2025. You can wishlist it now on Steam if you want to stay up to date with its development and be notified when it releases.
We’ve got the latest on all the biggest upcoming PC games in 2024 and beyond, so make sure you’re up to speed. If you fancy a bit more action right now, here are the best soulslike games on PC.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.