Hell Is Us review – the fun of getting lost in a video game

There’re no objective makers, waypoints, or map icons in this ambitious new action adventure, that aims to make a virtue out of not telling you where to go.

Before the release of Dark Souls in 2011, mainstream video games were continuing on a general trend of becoming easier and easier. Big publishers were convinced that difficulty and complexity were a barrier to more casual gamers, one that had to be removed through slow erosion. And then FromSoftware proved them wrong, with Dark Souls becoming an unexpected hit and leading to 2022’s Elden Ring establishing itself as one of the most successful games of the decade.

We mention this not because Hell Is Us is especially difficult (although it does have other similarities to FromSoftware’s work) but because it also stands in opposition to another accept norm: that a player should always have a clear idea of where to go at all times, ideally via some sort of onscreen indicator.

There is none of that in Hell Is Us, which will give you general hints as to where to go and what you need to achieve, but will never explicitly show you the way and will certainly never provide a map. That may seem daunting, or spitefully unhelpful, but it’s such an unusual concept, in today’s guided world, that it ends up being the game’s best feature.

Hell Is Us’ story is a peculiar mix of grim realism and supernatural strangeness. You play the role of a UN peacekeeper in Eastern Europe and while the names are fictional (you’re actually an ON peacekeeper) the game’s setting is clearly inspired by the various wars in that region during the 1990s. As the game begins, player character Rémi deserts, in an attempt to find his parents, but is quickly embroiled in the unfolding conspiracy.

The game’s main narrative theme is the unbreakable, cyclical nature of war, which is an apposite topic for the current day, with the game’s plot points applicable to a depressingly large number of conflicts, new and old. That’s especially true when it comes to the way it exposes the cynical dehumanisation of the enemy in opposing propaganda.

There’s an impressively thick atmosphere to the early parts of the game, helped by excellent sound design, as you wander around ominously dark forests and into medieval crypts and high-tech laboratories.

However, the enemies are so weird looking it’s hard for Hell Is Us to maintain the grounded feel it’s obviously going for. It almost feels like two unconnected games at times, with its brutal portrayal of war atrocities contrasting awkwardly with the supernatural aspects, while Rémi’s limited emotional response to what’s happening fails to make the most of either.

It’s obvious from the start that Darks Souls has been a major influence, even if, strictly speaking, this isn’t a Soulslike. When you first encounter the strange, alabaster humanoids, that are the game’s main enemies, they seem impossible to defeat but you quickly learn how to tackle each one. Although that’s made easier because there’s a disappointingly small number of variants and very few traditional boss battles.

Guns are no use against the monsters, so instead you use one of four melee weapons, with a combat system influenced by Bloodborne, as you regain health via a successful counterattack. Although once you get the hang of how the stamina bar works things can get surprisingly easy, when it comes to most enemies, as it’s possible to earn back more health than you lost – which is very much not how it works in Bloodborne.

Each weapon, and a drone, have their own special abilities and attacks on a countdown timer. This means there’s important choices to make about whether you’re augmenting your attacks or your manoeuvrability, although it rarely makes much difference when you’re only fighting a single enemy, with much of the late game’s difficulty coming from having to take on multiple opponents at once.

The various timeloops you come across, which spawn enemies, are the most interesting encounters, as they’re the best marriage between the game’s gameplay and narrative themes, even if the way to shut them off seems rather arbitrary and dependent on an object whose location you are rarely given any hint to.

In terms of the lack of instructions or directions, the game is not strictly open world, even though it has a number of open-ended areas to explore. Often, you’ll only be given a vague hint as to what to look for next, from another character, an email message or something you overhear between others. You might even be told you’ve got to go to a specific location but finding where that is, is another issue entirely.

It’s just as well, but the game is very good at subtly signposting where you’re supposed to be going, via landmarks you’re meant to be looking out for, tracks, or enemy movements. As intimidating as the idea of not having any kind of artificial indicator might seem, the game’s exploration is actually not that that difficult and very rewarding.

It’s only in the more artificial dungeon-like areas where you start to wonder why Rémi couldn’t just pick up a piece of paper and start to draw a map, which you might be advised to do yourself.

Canadian developer Rogue Factor has definitely hit upon an interesting idea, in making the lack of overt instruction one of the main appeals, but the game itself doesn’t coalesce into a satisfying whole. The combat is fine, but it’s not particularly deep or unique, and the story and characters are dour and uninteresting.

The novelty of having to find your own away around is compelling but it’s not quite worth putting up with the rest of the game for. We somehow doubt that other developers will be rushing to make orienteering part of their games, but Hell Is Us does manage to prove that less is more, in terms of being told what to do and where to go in a video game.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nacon
Developer: Rogue Factor
Release Date: 4th September 2025
Age Rating: 16

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.