Smuggled out as a child to avoid the dangers of a coming civil war, Remi, now an adult, returns to his home country of Hadea to find his parents. Little does Remi, nor the U.N.-like organization he works for, understand the horrors that wait inside this small, isolated hermit nation. The darkness of war is enough to keep anyone up at night, but among the many casualties lies something even darker. Stitched into the folds of Hadea’s war was a calamity that brought something called The Hollow. These pale, human-like figures look to stop Remi from finding both his family and the answers to what happened to his home country. Remi, at some point along his nightmarish journey, has found himself inside an interrogation room with a man who appears to not be of this world staring back at him, asking how Remi managed to make it into Hadea. Demanding to know how Remi survived for as long as he has. With this, it becomes eerily clear that the question Hell is Us is asking isn’t if Remi is capable of making it out alive, but instead, is Remi strong enough to survive what comes next?

The Previews

Hell is Us is the upcoming action-adventure title from developer Rogue Factor that I have been looking forward to since it was re-introduced to the world in 2024. Last week, several outlets got a hands-on preview of the game, and I’m happy to report that the previews sound incredibly promising. I listened to and took notes from both Easy Allies and Kinda Funny’s preview, and I highly suggest checking them out.

• The team making the game, Rogue Factor, is around 50 members. Almost everything is being done entirely in-house.
• Elias Toufexis (Adam Jensen, Deus Machina) is the lead voice actor for Remi.
• With no map, players have to use a compass to help guide them around the world of Hadea. If an NPC says a location is North West, then that’s most likely all you’ll have to go on.
• The more knowledgeable the player is about the world, the more questions become available as they talk to different NPCs during the game’s RPG-style conversations.
• Quests appear to be more dynamic than in other games. One example given is a fiddle player being forced by his captors to play the music of their culture, but he only knows one song. While the player is out in the world exploring, they may stumble across sheets of music, but it will be up to the player to remember the location of the Fiddler so that they can bring him more music to learn.
• While Hell is Us has menus that help keep track of the previous characters you’ve met, there isn’t a traditional quest design where players can choose to track a quest and then follow a golden path to where they need to go.
• The world of Hell is Us is separated into two sections. One is the more natural-looking setting of Hadea, while the other section is a series of underground dungeons that players will have to explore.
• The game features Resident Evil-style puzzles.
• The developers consider the game to be more Action-Adventure, rather than an RPG.
• The main character doesn’t have stats, but the weapons do. The more you use a specific weapon, the faster it will level up.
• The game will offer multiple weapon types. The two mentioned so far are Twin Axes and a Sword.
• The game has a parry system that players will need to use while fighting The Hollow.
• Stamina will be tied to your health. The lower the character’s health gets, the less stamina will be available.
• Along with weapons, players will have a drone available to them. The drone can help with player movement around a fight or even get involved in fights by distracting enemies.
• While the game is inspired by Souls games, the developers aren’t looking to make a game that is too challenging. As opposed to “hardcore,” they’ve labeled their combat “mid-core.”
• Hell is Us releases September 4