Hell is Us Review (PS5) – Hunting High and Low

You’re ambushed by a monster. Your bullets do nothing. But suddenly, a masked warrior steps from the shadows. They strike at the monster with their shining blade. And right as they land the finishing blow, the monster cuts them down as well. Thus begins Hell is Us. Or at least its combat. But it’s also an apt metaphor for the game itself. You pick up the warrior’s sword and take up the mantle of fighting these monsters, in a world with puzzles and battles and without waypoints or whimsy.

Game Name: Hell is Us
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC
Developer: Rogue Factor
Publisher: Nacon
Release Date: September 4th, 2025
Price: $49.99

Hell is Us, But How Did We Get Here?

Hell is Us technically begins in the middle of the story. The protagonist finds himself interrogated by an individual who looks like Boss Nass cosplaying as Al Capone. He wants to know how our main character escaped the war-torn nation of Hadea as a child. And more importantly, why he came back.

The answer is forthcoming; our hero wanted to find his parents. And so, in telling the story, Hell is Us places us in his shoes as he arrives in the country with only a compass. This is important to know, as Hell is Us stresses that there are no maps, objective markers, or really anything else on your HUD to tell you where to go. It’s up to you to figure things out on your own.

As such, Hell is Us encourages you to chat with any NPCs you come across to ask for directions. It’s then up to you to use your compass for directions and look for landmarks to orient yourself. The lack of any markers may put off some players. But I actually found that the game’s guidance (or lack thereof) works well. It encourages you to talk to people and look at the world around you.

It also helps that Hell is Us isn’t truly open-world. Rather, it has large areas connected by a travel system. So you can’t miss a turn and wander off in the wrong direction for four hours. But you can, say, miss a turn and head in the wrong direction for four minutes. The navigation in the game works pretty well, but like real-life navigation pre-smart phones, sometimes you just get bad directions—or have a bad sense of direction. But since each area has its boundaries, you should know fairly quickly if you’re on the right track or not.

Hell is Us and Everyone We Meet

The hands-off navigational system also gives a nice incentive for chatting with every NPC you find. Hell is Us doesn’t have branching dialogue. Rather, as you learn more about its world, you’ll have more lines of dialogue you can exhaust. You can ask the NPCs for help in finding whatever you’re looking for. But you can also ask them for their thoughts on what’s going on in Hadea, getting their unique perspectives on the civil war.

It’s worth noting that if you’re looking for a joyful game, Hell is Us is not it. It’s in the title. Hell is Us is set against the backdrop of a brutal civil war. While its vaguely Eastern European country is fictional, it draws striking parallels to the war in Ukraine. Sure, there have been many games about war. But Hell is Us focuses on the civilian impact in particular, as it deals with themes around authoritarianism, war crimes, and genocide. It admirably maintains the solemn tone these subjects deserve, even as its sci-fi elements take center stage.

As you enter Hadea, you find that much of the military fighting has already occurred, with two ethnic groups of civilians at each other’s throats. Towns have been looted, houses burned, and people shipped off to who knows where. So many of the civilians you do come across have had time to ruminate. And here is where some of the best writing in Hell is Us comes from, as you talk to people about their experiences, their fears, and even their hopes.

There is Some Good in This World

While Hell is Us proves a bleak time, you can accomplish “good deeds” to bring a tiny bit of light into the game. Oftentimes, these civilians are looking for something or someone lost in the chaos of war. So if you can find that, even just confirming the worst, people will thank you and sometimes help you in return.

That said, the good deeds system amounts to side quests. If a civil war wasn’t bad enough, strange monsters have appeared. Your main mission becomes finding out why these monsters have arrived and taking them out.

Unfortunately, the main story isn’t as interesting or as pressing as the day-to-day lives of those struggling to survive in Hadea. Against the weight of the backstory, the campaign feels a bit inconsequential by comparison. In a country ravaged by a brutal civil war, what’s a few monsters? You’re a chef on the Titanic battling lobsters as the ship goes down.

To help you in this thankless quest, you get a trusty drone and have a host of weapons to customize. You can upgrade the drone with new abilities, such as one that lets you distract these enemies. For the weapons, you can upgrade them with glyphs that grant them specific powers.

Facing Off Against the Faceless

The enemy design is suitably creepy. The monsters are pale humanoids with holes for faces, like something out of a CreepyPasta. Hell is Us isn’t a horror game. But it is suitably eerie and haunted, both from its otherworldly monsters and its countryside left scarred and barren by war. Your mission takes you to a number of locales across Hadea. I appreciated the variation in design, from sunken swamps to burned-out boroughs.

The action-adventure game has only a handful of enemy types, so at a certain point I mostly tried to avoid them. That said, the variety of weapons and glyphs keeps combat fairly eventful when you do have to engage. Each weapon has a different feel to it, from the hefty but powerful greatsword to the dual-wielding axes you can use to slice and dice.

Combat has a nice rhythm to it as well. When an enemy flashes red, it means you can parry its attack if you’re quick enough. Similarly, attacking in succession leads to a buildup of white particles around you. When they form a ring, you can quickly tap R1 to use them to heal. It’s a nice mechanic that encourages you to play offensively. Your stamina ties into your health, so you’ll want to make sure you can top up as often as possible.

Occasionally in your wanderings, you’ll stumble upon a “Timeloop.” These swirling domes prevent you from entering them unless you defeat a number of “Timeloop Guardians.” These Timeloop Guardians essentially amount to beefed-up versions of the same enemies you’ve fought before. I mostly avoided this tedious process unless I needed to unlock a Timeloop for a side quest. That said, Hell is Us does offer some unique and engaging boss battles spread across its three acts.

Ways to Wander, Puzzles to Ponder

Hell is Us also has a number of puzzles to solve. Some are tied to the main story while many of them are entirely optional. Much like the good deeds, solving these puzzles will often reward you with glyphs or weapons. For the most part, these puzzles offer just the right amount of challenge. Like the puzzle of navigating the world itself, I felt a sense of satisfaction when I got one to click.

Some of these puzzles you can only complete once you find a component elsewhere. You then have to remember where you found the original puzzle. If you do, it’s immensely satisfying. But sometimes you won’t, and it’s not worth scouring the various areas for a locked room that will give you a glyph. Much like with fighting enemies, I often found myself weighing the pros and cons of engaging rather than actively seeking these opportunities out.

Much of Hell is Us is presented quite matter-of-factly. For example, at one point you come across a hidden crypt. It has a tomb with several indents on the walls. A computer holds reports that people found this puzzle, but couldn’t solve it. Is there a curse? A lost treasure? No, there is simply a puzzle and you must solve it. The puzzles in Hell is Us are well designed, but it wouldn’t hurt to add a bit more flair or showmanship.

The View from the Mountaintop

To borrow a term from the hiking community, Hell is Us comes off as “Type 2 Fun.” It’s not enjoyable moment to moment, but it regularly provides a sense of satisfaction—akin to completing an arduous hike. Getting from point A to point B, encountering a puzzle, and even just chatting with citizens of Hadea do not spark joy. However, successfully navigating to a destination, solving a conundrum, or helping a scared person find hope can prove immensely satisfying.

Review Disclosure Statement: Hell is Us was provided to us by Nacon for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.