Hell is Us' mysterious world doesn't need Soulslike combat to be interesting

Daily Mirror

a day ago

While its combat might leave a little to be desired, Hell is Us is shaping up to be a remedy to gaming's current run of samey Soulslikes thanks to its unique approach to navigation.
Much more than just another Soulslike, by removing the mini-map and quest markers Hell is Us drops you into an oppressive sci-fi world far more gratifying to explore and discover.
Prior to getting hands on with it, I couldn't bring myself to believe that Hell is Us isn't a soulslike. A mysterious protagonist; heavily emphasised melee combat; and a dark, mysterious world full of several interconnected biomes to explore and root around in. On a pure surface level, Rogue Factor's upcoming title ticks a lot of the same boxes seen from the genre's top stalwarts.
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Dig a little deeper, though, and it doesn't take long to realise that Hell is Us asks much more of the player than the need to simply parry, block, and dodge with accuracy. After two-and-a-half hours of playtime, I can already see how lateral thinking will be the most important weapon in your arsenal – a sentiment further reinforced by the lack of map and the investigative-led 'player-plattering' system.
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Crucial to the mystery running throughout Hell is Us is the inherent otherworldliness felt in the location in which it's set. Based in an alternate version of 1993 where analogue technology is heavily contrasted by alien-like invaders, the fictional country of Hadea plays host to several monstrous sights and enemies.
You'd think taking place in an Eastern European-inspired location on Earth would bring a sense of safety and certainty, yet an ongoing civil war divides the remaining human factions trying to survive, and the monolithic structures that surround such life also aren't helping morale. The truth is that, even without traditional quest markers or map designed to stoke curiosity, Hadea already presents the type of landscapes I wouldn't be able to stop chipping away at.
Luckily, the setup of Hell is Us gives you plenty of reason to want to do so as well. Cast in the shoes of Remi, he's on a mission to find his parents to find out why they abandoned him so long ago as a kid. Doing so means coming face-to-face with countless ghoulish nasties while equipped with a serious of increasingly robust melee weapons and the most basic compass needed to try and navigate Hadea's constant rainy atmosphere.
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Right now, Remi is falling into the trap of being almost too gruff-voiced for my personal liking, yet I can forgive this due to an incredibly torturous opening (literally) that takes place in media res, as well as the fact that Remi's fighting actions speak louder than his words anyway.
It's true that the bulk of your time facing enemies is spent continuously taking big swings at them, trying not to deplete your stamina (tied to health here) while trying to stagger them and land a big blow. This sequence of events becomes more difficult, however, as new types of Hollow Walkers are introduced, specifically the ones who are attached to a crystallised aggressive force by an umbilical cord, which must be killed to start dealing damage to the main enemy and are a lot more erratic to fight. That said, while most enemies are paired up in this way, Remi is also, thanks to the addition of a flying drone you can command to engage passive attacks and abilities.
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Much more than just a flying assistant attacking on its own, the accompanying drone proves itself far more useful right out of the gate. The first ability I unlocked after finding it, for instance, is a simple distraction technique, whereby Remi can command the drone to blind one enemy and keep them temporarily pinned as he faces off against another.
A later save game file teased the true extent of what the drone is capable of, particularly once I engaged the skill that saw it attach to Remi to see him spin around to attack foes with all the force of a bladed cyclone or tornado. Much like weapons that grow stronger as you attach new relics and level them up, the drone proves equally as powerful.
Trust your instincts
Combat in Hell is Us is somewhat standard but solid at the very least, then, with the potential to let players craft their own builds based on their intended weapon. That said, where the game truly comes to life is in its navigation and exploration, where for the most part you're almost entirely left to your own devices.
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Aiding this fact is the 'player-plattering' system, being a made-up term that essentially means having to move closer to your goal by gaining information in organic ways a lot of other third-person action games wouldn't attempt. Speaking to NPCs to unlock clues, completing environmental puzzles to discover key items, and using your compass to head into directions unexplored… Hell is Us isn't the type of adventure to hold your hand.
Thankfully, the developers at Rogue Factor don't want to be too cruel, and so have equipped Remi with a tablet that will track and remember any information you might miss. Even from just a few short hours playing I can already tell Hell is Us is the sort of game a lot of people will want to play with a pen and notebook. Yet players wanting to merely uncover Hedea's surface-level secrets should get on just fine.
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To my surprise, I really didn't miss the presence of a mini-map or quest markers while playing my demo, which is a testament to how well the studio has designed the game's independent locations. Rather than serve as one continuous map, you'll travel between them via an APC – a factor that should make tracking down all this semi open world's secrets far more alluring and, dare I say, bearable.
The biggest compliment I can pay Hell is Us following my short time playing the preview build, is that I can't wait to jump back in again to try and uncover even more of its mysteries. Between its incredibly unsettling atmosphere, twisty narrative, and eerie enemy designs there appears to be much to sink your teeth into, and all that's outside of what so far comes across as exceptional world design backed up by solid combat.
Hell is Us might not be a Soulslike, at least a true one, but it is shaping up to be an engaging action-adventure twist that elects to place great trust in the player's own instincts, outside of combat as well as in. So far, a lot more has been added simply by taking away, and that's plenty enough reason to keep an eye on what Rogue Factor is cooking up.