Hell is Us has been on my radar because it was first introduced in April 2022, and I’ve lastly been in a position to spend a while with it by way of its demo. The war-torn world of Hell is Us is instantly chilling and the demo’s transient glimpse of the gameplay, regardless of some minor hang-ups, has me looking forward to extra.
You play as Remi as he ventures to the fictional nation of Hadea. A civil warfare has damaged out, dividing and devastating Hadea’s folks. Remi should journey via the warfare zone in the hunt for his dad and mom, and shortly comes throughout a farmer who exposition-dumps loads of data which will or might not stick. Primarily, shit is unhealthy, tragically so, and Remi is about to find simply how unhealthy.
You wander round a forest whereas an unsettling Returnal-esque rating accompanies you. Ultimately you achieve entry to ruins that end up to have been some kind of dungeon for prisoners way back. It’s right here that Remi encounters the primary of hopefully many “oh, shit!” moments. He comes throughout a creepy-ass enemy I can finest describe as if Spot from Spider-Man: Throughout the Spider-Verse was designed to horrify — a pale white humanoid with a black circle for a face who contorts across the degree like a marionette. A mask-wearing girl reveals up out of nowhere to take down the creepy foe, however dies saving Remi. With out rationalization, Remi decides to don her poncho, take her drone, and wield her BGS (large glowing sword).
Picture: Rogue Issue/Nacon
Seems he’s fairly good with a sword. Remi will encounter a pair dozen enemies all through the demo; the fight is straightforward to select up and is considerably commonplace third-person-melee, although it does rely closely on stamina administration. Your max stamina can also be decreased while you take harm, so that you actually don’t wanna get hit a lot.
You possibly can heal utilizing consumable med kits in addition to a pulse mechanic. Attacking enemies creates floating particles round Remi and as soon as these particles kind right into a circle, you’ll be able to press your controller’s proper bumper to activate a therapeutic pulse. It’s an fascinating mechanic, and I like how Hell is Us is giving gamers a solution to recoup well being within the midst of fight. Nonetheless, truly doing it’s a bit clunky; protecting one eye on an enemy and the opposite on the particles round Remi is distracting, and timing the heartbeat is a problem — you’ll be able to solely activate it throughout a short window, and also you’ll possible be in the course of a combo when a pulse alternative presents itself.
Whereas Hell is Us’ fight has floor similarities to Soulslikes — like parrying blows from creepy enemies — it felt much less punishing and extra forgiving than what you’d anticipate from a FromSoftware title. I solely died as soon as within the demo, in comparison with numerous deaths within the opening hours of Soulslikes reminiscent of Lies of P or Elden Ring. Notably, enemies don’t respawn while you save your sport, so that you don’t have to fret about repeatedly placing down the identical foes.
Picture: Rogue Issue/Nacon
As a result of lifeless enemies stay lifeless, exploration is inspired in Hell is Us. Developer Rogue Issue boasts that the sport has “no map, no compass, no quest markers,” so that you’re free to wander across the sport’s world with out a guiding hand and uncover its secrets and techniques. For instance, that farmer I discussed earlier advised Remi about how three of his sons died on this warfare. In a while, when exploring the World Conflict I-like trenches outdoors of the ruins, I discovered a observe from a soldier on the opposite aspect of the battle bragging about killing three brothers “cowering in a farmhouse.”
The observe additionally talked about taking a gold watch from one of many boys, which I grabbed and returned to the farmer — with out a quest marker to information me or a journal entry saying “give this merchandise to the farmer.” This accomplished a “Good Deed” and I used to be advised a reward might come from it later within the sport; I’m curious how a majority of these quests will play out within the full launch. The prospect of doing good deeds on this torn-asunder nation is very interesting.
A Soulslike-adjacent sport putting better emphasis on user-guided exploration than fight sounds engaging, and Hell is Us is delivering on that promise thus far. Its demo is obtainable on Steam via June 16 earlier than the total sport launches Sept. 4 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Sequence X.
