Set in the early nineties, Hell is Us – the upcoming action-adventure game from developer Rogue Factor – follows Rémi on a journey to find his parents in the fictional country of Hadea. The problem? Hadea is a hermit state. The only reason why Rémi lives outside of its borders is thanks to his mother, who smuggled him out when he was five. Unfortunately, she was caught by the Hadea border control, leaving him alone and eventually entering the Canadian foster system. Her capture, and the fact that his father was a blacksmith in a village called Jova, are the only things he truly remembers from his short time in Hadea. It’s due to this that Rémi, despite understanding the rationality behind his parents actions, wants to reunite with them and learn exactly why they got him out.
Hell is UsDeveloper: Rogue FactorPublisher: Nacon, Bigben InteractivePlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 2025 on PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X/S
It’s a goal which becomes even more pressing when Hadea falls into a civil war. News of the war is sparse over the two years it rages thanks to Hadea’s isolationist policies, but Rémi does eventually learn of a United Nations Peacekeepers mission heading into the country. Since every Hadea visa he has ever applied for has been rejected, Rémi joins the mission knowing it could be his only chance to find his family. Yet, when they arrive at the mountain range surrounding the country, the Peacekeepers are refused entry. Desperate at having come close only to be denied again, Rémi abandons his post and races down the mountainside into Hadea.
This is where my Gamescom preview of Hell is Us began: in the foothills of the Hadea mountains, with Rémi standing alongside his abandoned Peacekeepers uniform. Here in the forest, Hadea feels peaceful. Water laps at the riverbank and the wind rustles through the leaves. Yet, there was also an undercurrent of unease, since the only true knowledge I had of what laid ahead was of the war.
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It didn’t take long for the effects of the civil war to seep in either. Not so long into my journey Rémi reached a destroyed farmhouse. Hiding in its basement sat its owner, an old man hoping that at least one of his sons may still be alive. Later on in the preview, the presence of the civil war became inescapable, with the second area being a marshland Remi had to navigate to reach a village left in ruins from the fighting. The first thing I truly encountered in this area, however, was a mass grave; bodies of citizens caught in the crossfire of a conflict they had no control over piled on top of each other under the shadow of the excavator which dug the pit they now lie in. It was a sharp contrast to the forest Rémi had first travelled through, revealing the past tranquillity to be a facade by firmly portraying what Hadea had become. For now, however, all I had was the tidbits of information the old man could share – the rough location of Jova, little details about the civil war and, most importantly, the fact there were soldiers camping in the forest. All I had to do to find them was follow the sound of wind chimes.
I mean this literally too. Hell is Us has abandoned maps and quest markers. You don’t even have a compass. Instead, you navigate Hadea by gathering directions or hints about the landscape from the characters you encounter. This can come in the form of a landmark or, in this case, a sound you need to follow. Not only does it fit with the narrative of Rémi infiltrating Hadea with barely any knowledge to guide him, but it adds a layer of fear to your exploration. You truly don’t know what lies ahead of you since there’s nothing to outline where a cliff, crater or other dangers might lie.