"Hell Is Us": A Deep and Captivating Exploration of the Horrors of Conflict

Mystery and Suspense at the Game's Outset

The game "Hell Is Us" offers an opening experience filled with mystery and suspense, directly immersing the player into the heart of a complex civil war between the "Balomists" and "Sabinians" factions. The game features strange terminology such as "Limbic" weapons and "Guardian" detectors. The player's absolute astonishment is highlighted by the mysterious stone slabs scattered throughout its Eastern European-inspired, utterly devastated world, where inscriptions are unreadable. During the initial stages, which begin in a damp forest and then evolve into stagnant swamps, the mystery deepens and understanding intentionally fades.

Through this intentional approach to evoking mystery, "Hell Is Us" calls to mind developer Hidetaka Miyazaki's prominent "Souls-borne" games, such as "Elden Ring". The game's world is rich with hidden symbols, perplexing puzzles, and an enigmatic history. Even the combat system mirrors the distinctive rhythm of Miyazaki's games: stamina depletes with each powerful attack and is only regained during strategic retreats or panic.

However, the similarities with "FromSoftware" games do not extend beyond this. "Hell Is Us" is also a deep investigative game: the player is given a futuristic data device with an intriguing, antique design, featuring a miniature encyclopedia and spiderweb-like diagrams full of research and inquiry paths. To solve the game's complex puzzles, you might need to keep a pen and paper ready!

"Hadi's World": War, Destruction, and Catastrophe

As its name suggests, the fictional nation of "Hadi" has been transformed into a hell of war and destruction. The game's opening hours depict the dire consequences of execution squads and bodies hanging from trees. Nearby, a soldier plays a melancholic tune on a violin. Strange white creatures roam the stormy swamps and plains; pulsating, giant, spiky orbs known as "Time Loops". These anomalous temporal and spatial distortions are the product of what is called "The Calamity", and the hero Remy, an adventurous investigator, is tasked with eliminating these Time Loops from existence.

Initially, the game designs appear to be a mix of various visual styles: somber landscapes, doll-like creatures, advanced technological attire, and giant swords rivaling Cloud Strife's sword in "Final Fantasy VII". But they slowly begin to coalesce, taking on a sublime, haunted quality steeped in dream logic. The strangeness is amplified by the immense density of enigmatic puzzles. What mad world could possibly house such a multitude of magical puzzles?!

Commentary: A silhouette of a person's head in front of a bookshelf full of books, symbolizing the accumulation of knowledge and information.

Source: "Head in a Library" — Source: Pixabay. License: Pixabay License.

Symbolism of Enemies and Interpretations of Battle

"Hell Is Us" contains many elements that invite processing, and this extends to its enemies who, if particularly powerful, summon supportive entities via a strange metaphysical umbilical cord. One is a pale humanoid creature, the other a brightly colored geometric foe. An added complexity is that each color corresponds to a specific emotion: blue for sadness, green for terror, and so on. This metaphor, though perhaps a bit trite, is potent. These enemies are physical manifestations of the emotional detritus of war. They wander the landscapes, imbuing them with a deep surreal and psychological quality. But the symbolism is somewhat limited: how can intergenerational sorrow be brought to an end? According to "Hell Is Us", it's by cleaving it in two with axes fueled by rage.

Strengths and Weaknesses in Narrative and Execution

Here, the breadth of ambition and imagination is evident, but the execution is uneven. Take our hero, who looks fantastic in his flowing rain-resistant coat but speaks like a cruder, more cynical version of countless late-2000s male game protagonists. Staring at a cathedral-sized pile of human bones, Remy (voiced by Elias Toufexis, also known as Adam Jensen from the Deus Ex series) muses aloud: the Sabinians may be the victims here, but the area is also full of Balomist graves. It's an odd and unsettling line, to draw this kind of equivalence when confronted with such immense loss.

After its stunning and disorienting opening hours, "Hell Is Us" loses some momentum. "Hadi" remains a captivating setting throughout the game; the desire to unravel its tangled mysteries never fades. But the same cannot be said for the other narrative layers, whether Remy's personal journey to discover his parents' fate and the place he fled as a small child, or the exact nature of "The Calamity". The purpose of the former is to compel player exploration, but it fails to truly engage. Without the requisite narrative sizzle, the plot devolves into merely opening a series of doors adorned with ornate symbols. At one point, a character inadvertently sums up the prosaic plot: "I found a door with a strange mechanism. What happened next?"

Meanwhile, combat – an activity you need to do quite a bit of to decipher the strange event that spawned the pallid, annoying creatures – becomes routine. My attention began to wane around hour 15 of a potential 30.

Commendation of Level Design and Intelligent Interaction

This is a shame, because "Hell Is Us" does many admirable and interesting things. The actual dungeons that descend beneath the game's semi-open areas are a spatial symphony of tight corridors, atriums, and light-filled altars. There are no waypoints or quest markers; you must carefully read journals for navigation clues (and sometimes use a compass). And there's another clever design choice: you can only talk to characters about information you've already discovered. In this age of often dull and frictionless big-budget video games, where anything that might limit a game's audience is carefully considered and often avoided, it's refreshing to play something intentionally stubborn.

Source: via GIPHY

The Game's Core Message About the Misery of War

As I slog through this muddy, miserable land, my mind keeps circling language and understanding: symbols, signs, languages, and the customs of "Hadi". Clearly, I'm only grasping a fraction of this millennia-old conflict. But there is another, more universal language the game seems to employ, conveyed through impactful visuals: the misery of war.

No matter the time or place, violent conflicts destroy people in the same way, leaving them scared, angry, vengeful, and, of course, violent. Despite its numerous flaws and immense informational density, "Hell Is Us" speaks clearly: about war, it's impossible to close Pandora's Box once its evils have escaped.

Release Information

"Hell Is Us" launches on September 4 for PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC.