Hell Is Us Review: More Than What Meets the Eye

In our Hell Is Us review, we will explain how the game melds different genres and delivers something that’s more than what meets the eye.

Similar to games like Death Stranding or even Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Hell Is Us feels very much a product of an experimental vision, not constrained by mainstream appeal. It certainly isn’t a game for everyone. And I don’t think that’s what the developers were aiming to deliver either.

Instead, it’s a focused story-driven experience that not only leaves you surprised but also satisfied by the end of its meaty 30-hour campaign. It’s a game about tough subjects like loss, sacrifice, and betrayal. However, it handles those subjects with utmost sincerity.

Hell Is Us isn’t going to resonate with everyone, that’s for certain. However, for those who do end up clicking with the game, Hell Is Us is going to leave a very strong and lasting impression. With all that preamble out of the way, let’s dive into our Hell Is Us review.

Hell Is Us: Immersive Simulation At Its Best

Ever since its announcement, Hell Is Us has always been talked about as if it’s a traditional action RPG, even a “souls-like,” if you were to believe Reddit. While the developers, Rogue Factor, never stated that their game is a souls-like, taking a look at gameplay was enough to solidify that notion. Even I was initially skeptical about going into Hell Is Us due to its souls-like outlook. As much as I like the souls-like genre, it’s been getting a bit stale as of late.

In 2025 alone, we’ve already had more than 4 major souls-like releases, with Wuchang Fallen Feathers being the most recent. However, as I started playing Hell Is Us, it felt very different than your average souls-like RPG. In fact, it barely even feels like an RPG at all. In my opinion, Hell Is Us is more akin to an immersive-sim, like System Shock or Deus Ex, than, well, Dark Souls.

The primary focus of the game is its puzzles, and the creative ways you can find the solution to them. While the game isn’t a dedicated immersive-sim like Prey (2017), it does bear elements of that genre. Furthermore, the puzzles in this game are very reminiscent of System Shock and System Shock 2, which was a very cool surprise for me, as a fan of those games.

While yes, you do have a rather fleshed-out combat system in Hell Is Us, it’s something that’s meant to be used as a last resort. Think of how combat is handled in most immersive-sims or survival-horror games. Instead, the whole experience revolves around “Investigations” and deducing the fragmented past of the protagonist, and the game’s setting, Hadea, itself.

Presentation, Audio, and Performance

For an immersive sim, visuals and art style are almost equally important as the gameplay itself. And Hell Is Us doesn’t disappoint in that aspect. While it might not be the best-looking game you’ve played this year, it’s still quite impressive. As most Unreal Engine 5 games go, Hell Is Us aims for a photorealistic art style, albeit with some elements being a tad stylized, like the enemies (Hollow Walkers) or even the NPCs inhabiting Hadea.

It’s a good-looking game, where the visuals complement the game’s storytelling and gameplay. It’s not overly cluttered with UI elements or particle effects either, something I really appreciate. Instead, the game adopts a minimalistic design, with HUD elements being mostly hidden unless you’re in combat or are progressing through your Investigations. I should also mention the incredible motion-captured cutscenes in the game.

The game seems to use UE5’s Metahuman tech, but in doing so, it delivers cutscenes that are on par with PlayStation’s first-party titles. Talking about audio, I don’t think I have any complaints there either. It’s a good-sounding game, with a decent soundtrack. The soundtrack isn’t forced on the player either. The game knows when to stay silent and when to use music to elevate the immersion factor.

Lastly, coming to performance, i.e., the most polarising aspect of any UE5 game. Surprisingly enough, in my time playing Hell Is Us on the PS5, I did not have any major issues. I played the entire game on Performance Mode, and outside of a few odd frame rate drops, the game ran flawlessly. Another colleague of mine was playing the PC version on his RTX 3060ti machine. And he also found the game well-optimized.

Gameplay and Puzzles

From the previews and even the game’s own marketing, you might mistake Hell Is Us as an action game, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, it’s a puzzle/exploration game, where combat plays a secondary part. Outside of the game’s first Act, combat barely plays any major role here. Sure, you do have a few boss fights towards the tail end of the story. However, those aren’t the main attraction, if you will. It’s the puzzles.

And let me tell you, the puzzles in Hell Is Us are absolutely bonkers! If you’ve played games like The Talos Principle, you will find yourself right at home with Hell Is Us’ puzzles. However, if you haven’t played those games, you’re in for a treat. The puzzles in Hell Is Us start simple, similar to the Resident Evil games. You’re asked to find certain key items and use them to unlock the “progression blocker.”

However, as you progress through the story, the puzzles get exponentially more challenging. I remember spending an entire day trying to figure out the solution to one of the puzzles. And when I did figure it out, I was genuinely dumbfounded. The puzzles here ask you to think out of the box and use every resource available to you.

Combat and Difficulty

Even the combat encounters in this game are designed like a puzzle. Essentially, the game only has one primary enemy type called the Hollow Walker. However, these Hollow Walkers can take various shapes. There’s a Hollow Walker that can shoot beams of Limbic Energy at you, there’s a brute-like Hollow Walker that can block attacks, etc. On their own, the Hollow Walkers aren’t all that formidable and go down fairly easily.

However, as you progress through Hadea, you will start encountering Hollow Walkers that are linked to a Haze via an Umbilical Cord. These enemies are incredibly tough and require you to tackle them with a proper strategy. You essentially have to defeat the Haze first before you can deal damage to the Hollow Walker. However, if you take too long to kill the Walker, it can summon the Haze again, increasing the difficulty of the fight.

Furthermore, some special enemies can summon multiple Hazes or have a shared Haze with other Hollows. All this might make it seem like the combat in Hell Is Us is quite difficult. However, that’s certainly not the case. It is one of the things that I think is a net negative for the game. You see, in Hell Is Us, you have multiple difficulty presets.

The default difficulty, as usual, is incredibly easy, so much so that it barely forces you to use all your resources during combat. The Merciless preset is a bit more challenging, but still a cakewalk compared to other action RPGs with similar combat systems. While I don’t think every game needs to be as difficult as a souls-like, it shouldn’t be a cakewalk either.

Weapons, Gear, and Loot Progression

In terms of the tools available to the players, the game is quite similar to most souls-like RPGs. You have four weapon types available to you – One-handed Swords, Greatswords, Dual Axes, and Polearms. All these weapons have their own light attack string and a charged heavy attack that uses Limbic Energy. However, the combat system truly opens up when you get access to weapon upgrades and Relics, which let you imbue skills into them.

The Relics are essentially elemental resources, which you can obtain by completing NPC quests or defeating specific enemies. And based on your chosen element (Rage, Ecstasy, Grief, and Terror), you can imbue skills. These skills can offer a wide range of benefits, including elemental buffs, AOE attacks, and physical buffs (for blocks and parries).

There’s also an armor system that lets you increase your overall stats and defenses. While it all might sound quite overwhelming, the loot progression in Hell Is Us is fairly straightforward. Think of it like the loot progression in the Dark Souls games, but with fewer steps.

Story and Characters

Lastly, I would like to briefly touch on the game’s story, which I think is the best part of Hell Is Us. The game’s story takes place in Hadea, a war-torn country ravaged by generations of rivalry between two factions – Palomists and Sabinians. In the midst of all that, a supernatural phenomenon called the Calamity has struck Hadea, giving rise to the Hollow Walkers. You play as Remi, a war orphan who was taken out of Hadea at a very young age.

However, Remi eventually makes his way back to Hadea in search of answers to his fragmented past. And in doing so, he gets entangled in an age-old conspiracy, which binds the fate of not only Remi, but all of Hadea. It’s a story that believes in the “show, don’t tell” approach of storytelling. Yes, there are plenty of cutscenes, but the majority of the story is told through the environment itself.

I won’t get into spoilers, but trust me, there are plenty of twists and revelations in Hell Is Us that are going to leave you in awe. I also really liked the pacing of the story. It starts slow, but gets incredibly interesting fast. By the end of Act 1, you’re bound to get hooked to the game’s plot, I know I did. That said, while I adore the story of Hell Is Us, I don’t necessarily like the storytelling.

Cryptic storytelling works really well in souls-likes, where usually the focus is on history and characters rather than the actual present itself. However, that’s not the case with Hell Is Us. It’s a story that unfolds its layers in real time. The protagonist is as much of an outsider to Hadea as you are. Yet, the game often bombards you with terms that are explained way later in the story.

I would’ve preferred a more straightforward approach to the story, but I digress. It’s still a fantastic story, which I think everyone who is interested in the game should experience without any spoilers.

In Conclusion

Hell Is Us is an excellent action-adventure game that, surprisingly enough, also features a robust melee combat system. It’s an amalgamation of different genres and game ideas, stitched together seamlessly.

While most games end up crumbling down with the weight of balancing multiple ideas at the same time, that’s not the case with Hell Is Us. While not perfect, it’s easily one of the best new IPs released this year. And if you’re looking for a slower-paced narrative-driven experience, I think Hell Is Us has got you covered.

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