Hell Is Us Is One of My Favourite Games of the Year, for All the Reasons You May Hate It

Hell Is Us Is One of My Favourite Games of the Year, for All the Reasons You May Hate It #hellisus Thank you to the publisher for providing a code for coverage and critique purposes. It was around the time when I was frantically searching through my notes to figure out which of the kings would be liked by a Sabinian, and at which date that king came into power, whilst cross-referencing it with information I'd learned from those critical of that king, that I knew Hell is Us had its claws in me. By the time I had finished the game, I had a Google Doc that was 15 pages long, filled with little notes, images and theories. It's a game that is more than happy for you to get stuck, and it trusts you to really figure out the solution. It's an experience I'm glad I had no help with, and may just be one of my favourites of the year. Here's what happened when I played Hell is Us. So, let's give you a quick rundown before we get into it. Hell is Us places you in the unenviable shoes of Remi, a man who grew up in Hadea, a land torn apart by civil war, who comes back to find his parents. Captured by a rather menacing man, hooked up to a polygraph, you are telling the story of what happened when you arrived. Remi was a member of a peacekeeping force, and he went rogue when the peacekeepers pulled out of the region. You have to explore the tension between the two groups vying for control, the history of both, and the vacuum left when that peacekeeping force left. The game really explores what these themes mean. It's broadly about war, but it feels less interested in taking a side and more interested in challenging you, debating you into peeling back the layers of bias, propaganda and belief that inform said groups. The Sabinians and Palomists use the same land, they believe in the same god, but where the Sabinians are more new age, Palomists are dyed in the wool. Or Palomists are oppressors and Sabinians are the oppressed. Or Palomists have a rightful claim to the land, and Sabinians defile it with their beliefs. A brutal leader closed off Hadea to the outside world, but some argue his force kept a tight lid on everything, ready to burst out. When he died, everything he had barely suppressed came rushing to the surface. And most people with super-strong opinions on one or the other are those caught in the crossfire. Those who are most impartial are most disconnected. This fuels a very cyclical violence that permeates every inch of the game. It's a very bitter one. The very first NPC you come across is a weary farmer who has had to bury three of his children, and now all he has left is his faith. Both religious and political. He's also bloodthirsty despite his meagre appearance. You are directly told at many points to question pretty much every piece of information you are given at all moments, and this is something made so much better by the gameplay. It's a very open-ended game. You are given a purpose, let loose on semi-open areas, but more or less told to guide yourself. In the pause menu, you will find an investigation tab, and this links back to your purpose, but it's actually all rather vague. You're effectively given a spidergraph of characters, items, locations, and all of those elements get more information tacked on as you learn it. But it will never directly tell you where to go. There are no waypoints; maps can be found, but you find a player icon on them, and they can be hard to read. You do get a compass, but directions are rarely given in cardinal.