Hell is Us

About

Hell is Us is a single player role playing game with horror, fantasy, warfare and science fiction themes. It was developed by Rogue Factor and was released on September 4, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Discover Hell is Us on the official PlayStation website. Find out more about this PS5 action-adventure combining intense combat with thrilling exploration. Check out the latest trailers, editions to purchase, and gameplay features.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+15

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86%Audience ScoreBased on 3,022 reviews

story744 positive mentions

grinding102 negative mentions

Exceptional worldbuilding and atmosphere that immerses players in a richly detailed fiction based on civil war and its atrocities.
Innovative exploration system with no quest markers or maps, rewarding attentive players who piece together clues from NPCs and environmental storytelling.
Challenging and satisfying puzzles that encourage logical thinking and note-taking, blending well with the investigation theme.

Limited enemy variety and repetitive combat encounters reduce enjoyment over time, with combat feeling clunky and underdeveloped.
Excessive backtracking without adequate fast travel options leads to tedium and disrupts game flow.
The story’s ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, with some narrative elements feeling rushed or unresolved, often seeming to set up a sequel without closure.

story
2,119 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
61%
4%
The story of "Hell Is Us" is widely praised for its dark, immersive, and emotionally compelling narrative centered around a war-torn country grappling with civil conflict and supernatural elements. It is richly conveyed through environmental storytelling, NPC dialogues, and scattered lore, requiring players to actively piece together the plot without conventional handholding like maps or quest markers. While the main storyline can feel uneven or abrupt at times, and some find the protagonist unmemorable, the overall world-building and narrative depth keep players engaged and invested throughout the exploration and puzzle-solving experience.
- “The story is captivating and you always have things to do, providing you read the things you picked up.”
- “Hell is us tells an incredible, but dark and somber story of an isolated country torn apart by civil war. Adjacent to the immediate civil war story you're dropped into is a more fantastical, mysterious background that you slowly learn about and unravel throughout the game.”
- “The story and the lore are dense and really good (so far).”
- “You can end an act in this game completely without warning and it will cause you to fail all quests you haven't finished.”
- “And as if to add insult to injury, it just adds the quest to a list, with nothing to indicate what item it is related to, who is interested in said item, or in which general area the quest takes place.”
- “The story is a flat and lifeless experience with a wildly unrelatable and weirdly out of touch protagonist whose personal motivations are basically fulfilled by the halfway point, so what more motivation does he have to actually finish anything related to the core threat other than a relative he never knew telling him he had to, and the fact that there wouldn't be a back half of the game if he didn't mindlessly push forward?”
gameplay
661 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
63%
8%
The gameplay is a blend of exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat with a unique health-regain mechanic inspired by titles like Nioh and Bloodborne. While the combat is serviceable and offers some tactical depth, it suffers from limited enemy variety, repetitive encounters, and clunky mechanics like lock-on and stamina tied to health, making it less challenging and sometimes tedious. However, the lack of hand-holding and emphasis on investigation and world immersion provides a refreshing experience for players who enjoy thoughtful puzzles and narrative-driven exploration.
- “The drone mechanics were another good addition, complementing the combat system and making encounters more fun overall.”
- “Healing via the "healing pulse" mechanic (timing a button press on successful hits to recover health) adds extra tension and skill to every encounter.”
- “The investigation mechanic is what makes this game unique; it is really engaging, though sometimes it requires a lot of backtracking, and events in the story may change NPC location/status in unexpected ways. Overall, a good idea behind it.”
- “The map design of this game extended my gameplay by at least 10 hours, because its Miazaki doors ("cannot be opened from this side") left and right, paired with frequent backtracking to accomplish a small side quest that gives barely anything.”
- “Great atmosphere and decent world design, but the gameplay becomes repetitive extremely fast.”
- “The only thing that really hurts is the combat mechanics... the controls are so clunky, after 20 hours I still can't get used to it. Especially the lock-on mechanic, the drone controls, and the "self-heal after dealing damage" mechanic need a serious rework.”
atmosphere
604 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The game is widely praised for its rich, dark, and immersive atmosphere, with standout elements including its sound design, music, and deliberate worldbuilding that evoke feelings of mystery, dread, and emotional weight. The environment and storytelling are deeply integrated, often drawing comparisons to titles like Silent Hill and Elden Ring for their oppressive and thoughtful pacing. While combat receives mixed reviews, the atmosphere consistently emerges as the game's strongest and most captivating feature, making it a must-play for fans of narrative-driven and exploration-heavy experiences.
- “The atmosphere, the environmental storytelling, the sound design, and the deliberate pacing all come together to create an experience that you either care for or simply abandon.”
- “The atmosphere is one of the game’s strongest points — both the environments and the background music fit perfectly, creating a very immersive experience.”
- “The atmosphere is incredible — wandering through the misty Vyssa Hills, the flower fields around Cynon Lake, or the dark, ancient temples that feel like echoes of forgotten ancestors.”
graphics
425 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
36%
2%
The game’s graphics are widely praised for their stunning, detailed, and immersive visuals, with strong art direction, realistic environments, and a dark, atmospheric aesthetic that enhances the storytelling. Performance is generally smooth and well-optimized on high-end systems, though some users report occasional stuttering, crashes, or glitches on lower-end hardware. Overall, the graphics are a standout feature that significantly contribute to the game's compelling atmosphere and world-building.
- “The graphics are stunning and the optimization is outstanding – on an RTX 5070 Ti the game runs at 120 fps on max settings and holds a stable 60 fps in native resolution without DLSS.”
- “Speaking of the graphics, I was shocked by just how incredible the game looks, especially coming from a fairly small studio.”
- “The graphics and visuals are absolutely outstanding, easily one of the strongest points of the game.”
- “Something about the way the camera moves is very nausea-inducing, especially combined with the fact that somehow, the graphics seem to stutter a lot.”
- “The game loaded the first time, I changed some graphic settings, the game requested a restart and it never loaded again, just kept crashing. I tried various fixes and reinstalled, but still crashing every time I try to load it.”
- “Visually it looks horrific on any settings except for 'all ultra', any lower graphic settings result in glitches and jittering pixels all over your screen. Horrible utilization of Unreal Engine.”
music
352 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
46%
1%
The music in "Hell Is Us" is widely praised for its atmospheric, eerie, and synth-driven soundtrack that deeply enhances the game's dark, melancholic, and immersive tone. While some find the ambient and droning style repetitive, most agree it perfectly complements the environments, story, and tension, creating a haunting, memorable audio experience that stands out as a major highlight of the game.
- “The sound design is a character of its own; the soundtrack is distinct, creepy, and feels deeply melancholy.”
- “The soundtrack is perfect for the atmosphere the developers intended to mimic, it's depressing, dreadful, almost unnatural, and I think it plays a big part in the game's immersion.”
- “The sound design, music, and environmental storytelling are absolutely phenomenal here.”
- “Music sounds bland, the game runs like crap, combat is horrendous and jank.”
- “The soundtrack is pretty boring and forgettable.”
- “The music during the tutorial was so insufferable that I set the volume to zero.”
optimization
210 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
47%
13%
Optimization reviews for this UE5 game are mixed but generally positive. Many users report smooth performance, stable frame rates (often 60+ FPS at 1440p or higher), and minimal stuttering or crashes, even on mid-to-high-end hardware. However, some note occasional frame drops, traversal stutters typical of Unreal Engine 5, and areas needing further optimization, with a few expressing disappointment especially at 4K or on lower-spec systems. Overall, while not perfect, the game is considered better optimized than many UE5 titles and runs well for most players.
- “A very well optimized Unreal Engine 5 game with nearly flawless performance.”
- “The graphics are stunning and the optimization is outstanding – on an RTX 5070 Ti the game runs at 120 fps on max settings and holds a stable 60 fps in native resolution without DLSS.”
- “Performance is solid overall — aside from the occasional lag spike or brief audio hiccup, the game runs smoothly 99% of the time.”
- “All the standard Unreal Engine 5 problems are here, including persistent traversal stutter, shader compilation on app start, facial animations looking goofy and delayed/desynced from the voicelines, and generally lacking performance and optimization considering the game doesn't look like anything that special.”
- “However the performance is really bad, I had to solely rely on frame generation just to play at above 60 fps (this is on 2k with a 4060 on mid-high settings), without it my fps would literally be halved.”
- “Performance is abysmal, unfortunately.”
grinding
107 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
2%
95%
Grinding in this game is often described as tedious and repetitive, largely due to extensive backtracking, limited fast travel, and low enemy variety that makes combat feel monotonous. The lack of a proper map and numerous fetch-style puzzles compound the sense of grind, turning exploration and progression into a time-consuming, sometimes frustrating experience. While some appreciate the lack of hand-holding and the focus on investigation, many find the overall gameplay loop becomes wearisome over time.
- “I find myself fully clearing enemies off of a map so it's not tedious, but a slower, more methodical and impactful combat system would be better.”
- “There is more to it, like weapons leveling (but not grindy, extensive), upgrade mats, etc.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “After a while, any sort of combat felt tedious to even bother with and you get the impression this was not the focus of the game, even though you are going to spend a lot of time engaging with it.”
- “First and foremost, there is an almost unbelievable amount of backtracking made extremely tedious by a half-baked and incredibly limiting fast travel system, and continuous repetitive cutscenes that take almost as long to skip as to watch.”
- “Working out the solutions to the puzzles or quests is usually not too difficult but you can often spend hours wandering aimlessly around the world trying to find some item or key to complete the puzzle or quest, and after a while it all gets pretty tedious and boring.”
emotional
67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and immersive experience, effectively exploring themes of war, trauma, and moral ambiguity through its atmosphere, narrative, and environmental storytelling. While the protagonist is often seen as emotionally distant, the story and side quests evoke genuine emotional responses, with nuanced portrayals of suffering and small acts of kindness providing impactful moments. However, some find the pacing uneven and the ending underwhelming, though overall the game’s emotional depth and unique approach leave a lasting impression.
- “I wasn't sure what to expect, and the first hour doesn't do justice to how emotionally packed this game turns out to be.”
- “The story is deep and emotional, mixing war, mystery, and supernatural horror in a way that feels unique.”
- “Hell is us really sticks out thanks to its bold design, eerie atmosphere, and emotional punch—it’s the kind of game that lingers in your mind well after you’ve finished playing.”
stability
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
6%
52%
The game generally runs smoothly and is well-optimized across a variety of hardware, with most players reporting minimal to no crashes, stutters, or major bugs. However, some users encountered occasional graphical glitches, minor animation quirks, and rare crashes, though these issues do not significantly impact overall stability. Overall, the experience is stable and technically sound, especially impressive for a UE5 title.
- “The game is technically sound, with no glitches or bugs whatsoever in 40 hours of gameplay.”
- “The game runs great overall; I had some random graphical glitches (green and red pattern flashes in one location that disappeared on their own), but other than that it ran flawlessly.”
- “Excellent optimization for a UE5 game, runs great on various hardware including i9-9900k + 2080 ti and on the Steam Deck.”
- “A lot of annoying glitches like your character stumbling into invisible obstacles and really annoying bugs that prevent you from using items on doors or other mechanisms that you need to activate to progress, making you have to reload your last save and hope this time it will let you use your item where you need to.”
- “Every 10 seconds the game freezes no matter what location I go to. Alt-tab fixes it for a second but it just freezes again in seconds.”
- “It glitches them out and they fall through the floor.”
replayability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
64%
12%
The game offers a highly memorable first playthrough with a compelling story and atmosphere, but overall, it suffers from low replayability due to a lack of meaningful side content, limited incentives beyond achievements, and a single-save system. While some enjoy trying different builds or pursuing multiple endings, most agree it feels like a one-and-done experience unless future DLC or a sequel is released.
- “Fun, grim and replayable.”
- “Replayability – side content, multiple endings, NG plus options.”
- “Story is good, sets the tone early on, gameplay is fun, easy to adapt, puzzles are fun. Overall, I love it, gives me a dark feel of Mega Man Legends/Zelda. Background and structure really pull you in. Replay value is high.”
- “After 100%ing this game my only negative would be a lack of replayability.”
- “There is no real replayability, since the story and mysteries are the main draw.”
- “I definitely feel like I got my money's worth out of this game as it was a very high quality 55 hours, however the replay value is very low, and I don't think I'll be replaying this game unless a sequel or DLC is announced.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the protagonist's amusing broccoli-like hair and his indifferent attitude, which consistently elicits laughs, especially at the ending. While some find certain gameplay limitations unintentionally funny, the overall comedic elements add charm without overshadowing the adventure.
- “The main character's broccoli hair is distractingly funny.”
- “My opinion didn't change, in fact the game's ending left me laughing.”
- “On a final note, the protagonist's hair is absolutely hilarious and cracks me up every time he's shown without the cap.”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
12%
13%
Character development is generally praised for its depth and integration with the game's rich lore and world-building, enhanced by well-designed character animations during dialogues. However, some criticism is noted regarding limited customization options and certain character design choices, such as hairstyles. Overall, character development is seen as strong but could have benefitted from further refinement in the writing to reach its full potential.
- “Overall, I am very happy I played this, but it could have used a couple more years in the oven and a couple more writing drafts of the main plot line and character developments to become truly one of the greats.”
- “Combat is barely the main focus of this game, and if you just ignore it, you're in for some of the most amazing and beautiful level design, music, world building, character development, puzzles, lore, and mysteries.”
- “While the enemy variety is definitely its main weakness, the exploration, lore building, character development, and best of all level design are what hooks me the most.”
- “I also dislike the character design, the limitations when it comes to your clothing and especially the idiotic hairstyles on some characters, like the protagonist.”
monetization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect seems tied to the game's advertising and player expectations, with criticism that marketing focused on challenging gameplay may have limited audience appeal. Despite this, the game delivered on promised features, though some players struggled with navigation and quest clarity. Overall, monetization complaints are indirect, related more to marketing strategy than in-game transactions.
- “Maybe advertising it differently would help.”