Revealed during Sony's recent State of Play showcase, the atmospheric Hell is Us is due out on PS5 in 2025. Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, both creative director and art director at developer Rogue Factor, takes us through an extended gameplay trailer.
Centred on the hermit state of Hadea, a nation in which no one enters or leaves, players are cast in the role of Rémi. Born in Hadea but smuggled out at a young age, Rémi takes advantage of the ongoing civil war to return and seek his birth parents, finding a bizarre, modern-seeming country full of nightmares and monsters.
Jacques-Belletete goes to lengths to describe the philosophy of exploration in Hell is Us, which is very much put back on the player. The player must follow directions and pay attention to NPCs; there are no map markers here. He also stresses that despite virtually all of its onscreen visual indicators and a focus on stamina-based, melee combat, the game is not a Soulslike in the style of FromSoftware's games. It is described as "mid-core, have fun, get in it, hack-n-slash. It doesn't mean it's easy; it's not overly hard."
What do you think of Hell is Us? Does this look like a strange journey worth undertaking? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 26
Definitely interested in this. Although even when something gets described as "not a Soulslike" I'm still skeptical. Black Myth: Wukong was said to not be a Soulslike, but I still found it to be similar enough that I struggle to play it.
Terrible title, could doom a good-looking game
The game got announced at a Playstation event, and yhe first system he mentions it coming to is Xbox.
I'm still interested, but this officially looks like a Gamepass game
Looks cool. I like the vibe.
Generic monster design..In the clip..Combat mmm, not to sure what to think..
The exploration design has interested me quite a bit, but I will admit as soon as I saw the gameplay I was rather disappointed with how the visuals turned out to be. Also that combat is so obviously soulslike it's not even funny. Do developers just consider something not soulslike because the checkpoint system doesn't work the same way or it's not as punishing?
Is PSN down for anyone else right now? Can't access most of anything.
@VaultGuy415 You clearly haven't heard of Japan and their incredibly long and overly detailed names. This game is fine with its name.
It’s certainly a game. With a dreadful title.
@TheTraditional Yup it's down for everyone
By all accounts this is the most promising thing to look forward to in 2025.
I'm only checking it out because of its brilliant title. It seems to be drawing on Sartre's "L'enfer, c'est les autres" ("Hell is other people").
I think the message in The Walking Dead was similar.
I can remember when games used check points or save spots in games before dark souls or demons souls. Now every game that comes out that uses mechanics that were prevalent in games before the afore mentioned ones are labeled souls like.@Bentlemya wukong is more like the ninja gaiden style to me. Yes it has altars for saving etc and you have skills to level up too but it's not really a "souls like" as in you don't lose anything when you die..no mad rush back to get your goodies. I guess perception differs.
@naruball the title caught my attention as well. Game looks interesting so let's see how it turns out. I'll probably end up purchasing it lol.
Looks good for what it is. Hopefully this is very early footage or mock up because that movement speed is infuriatingly slow.
Also, I really am tired of this dull, dreary type of aesthetic. I get they are going for a certain mood, I mean the game is called Hell is Us!, but I wish there were more colourful, happy games out there. Worlds I’d actually love to inhabit and explore. Only Japan does it these days, and still not as much as they chase the western market.
Looks very intriguing! The art style is very much a mix of Netflix’s DARK and Death Stranding. Hopefully it’s got some interesting ideas and launches at a good quality bar!
Definitely on the radar, plenty of games to play before then but think I might dip into this one!
If it is not a souls game, I am in.
@Bentleyma @Bentleyma @Sergo Aw dude everybody hates soulsclones now. They’re becoming a blight if there’s a pang of it off a title it feels like a total letdown, always the bosses there is one on Wo Long where you laboriously grind them down only to have to time a couple of really hard parrys in his final form ain’t got the time to even get to that point. I am freaked out about Wu Kong now we waited Hao Long
@naruball I'm allergic to litterature. The title reminds me of Toys'R'Us
I thought the SoP trailer was great and then researching it, I found out about JJB being the creative director. That sold me on it. He was the art director on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
This longer look was ok. I think the exploration is hard to demo in an interesting way. I also think it's kind of silly to say some games silver platter things and then his game has a dude tell you follow wind chimes and then there is a yellow brick road of wind chimes
Regardless, I'm intrigued about this and excited to see what they come up with.
So they've took hades and changed a couple of letters, I bet someone at the board meeting was proper chuffed with that, anyway it looks crap
It's funny that he says "in contemporary RPGs you have everything handed to you: your compass, map, sights of interest etc... you never have to make your own way" I mean, he's just described a Souls game right there
@TheLotteryMan1 Generic monster design? Can you point to a few other games that use similar designs?
This is giving me Returnal/Control/The Surge vibes. And I am here for it.
For me, a " Souls-like" or similar game needs an annoying parry/counter mechanic with such a small window that it is almost impossible for most players to do it properly.
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