Hell is Us features one of my favourite gameplay elements from Atomfall

Hell is Us is an upcoming action game set in the fictional European country of Hadea. Isolated from the rest of the world, it's clear from the outset that this secretive state isn't having the best time of it. Not only is there a civil war going on, but monstrous entities that look like they're on a day trip from Silent Hill have suddenly appeared and are causing even more chaos.

You play as a former soldier and ON peacekeeper named Remi, who was smuggled out of Hadea by his mother when he was just five years old. Now all grown up, Remi decides to infiltrate Hadea in a bid to find and confront his parents.

The only problem is, Remi doesn't have much information to go on, barring the name of their village and the fact that his dad was a blacksmith.

This lack of information coupled with the secretive nature of Hadea is an important plot point that feeds nicely into the gameplay.

Indeed, the thing I like most about Hell Is Us after recently going hands-on with the title, is how the game approaches exploration.

Montreal studio Rogue Factor has forgone immersion-breaking waypoints and messy map markers in favour of a much more organic and authentic experience.

It's the same approach used by fellow 2025 release Atomfall, and was one of the main reasons I fell in love with Rebellion's first-person survival adventure.

You've actually got to pay attention to your surroundings, listen to what's being said and decide which leads to follow and when. You almost create your own missions, venturing off to an area you heard about in a bid to maybe discover a new item that will help with your adventure, or better yet, information that will help you further the story and achieve your main goal.

My Hell is Us hands-on session picked up where the free demo left off, as Remi enters the Acasa Marshes on his way to the village of Jova where he hopes to be reunited with his family.

This is also where the game opens up and starts to flex its exploratory muscles.

As the game takes pride in reminding you when you first load up, the developers will "never tell you precisely what must be done or how to do it".

"To thrive in Hell is Us, you will need to pay attention to your environment, listen and be vigilant," Rogue Factor adds.

While my attention was immediately drawn to some of the monsters I could see in the distance, it seemed to make more sense to follow a sign pointing the way to Jova Village. The sign also points the way towards Pathem Abbey, which I'm glad I made a note of for later.

Once I arrived at the village after defeating a few enemies along the way, I get chatting to its surviving inhabitants and the soldiers that are stationed there. One villager is planning to drink himself to death, another confesses to betraying friends, but most are simply dead on the ground. It's incredibly bleak, and why Hell Is Us might not be for everyone.

I also speak to the Captain of the operation, a drunken soldier and a political prisoner who has seen better days. These conversations resulted in multiple leads that I could follow, and some difficult decisions to make.

I could further ingratiate myself with the prisoner by checking on his niece, which meant looking for the house with a treehouse outside.

And it's a good thing I've been paying attention, because the captive also casually mentions that the soldiers are ransacking the aforementioned Abbey in search of a treasure that doesn't exist. According to the prisoner, the only thing the soldiers will find in the Abbey is mead. This made me remember an earlier conversation with the drunken soldier, who essentially promised me a way into the captain's private quarters if I were to bring him some booze.

However, the most pertinent piece of information is that the blacksmith may have left town as part of the ON convoy, and I'm given general directions to where they might be based.

With only a compass to hand and some loose directions to go on, I've got a decision to make.

Do I head towards that ON base and move the story along, pay a visit to the Abbey in search of some mead, or find the prisoner's niece and hope for a nice reward?

Sadly I don't have time to make a decision because my time with the game has come to an end. However, one thing I do know is that I've only been playing for around 30 minutes and am already completely hooked.

The story is full of intrigue and mystery, the game world is suitably dark and gloomy, but it's the exploration system that really shines the brightest.

In just a short period of time I've made multiple discoveries and am looking forward to seeing where these leads take me when Hell is Us makes its debut for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on September 4.