by Gamatroid
I recently played the demo of Hell is Us... twice. I first saw, downloaded and played it on Xbox Series S, and it impressed me enough that when I saw it was also available on PlayStation 5, I downloaded and played through it there as well.
Holy Hell.
I absolutely love it when I discover new games that I had absolutely zero knowledge of beforehand that just completely wow and impress me.
I highly advise if this is all the information you need to make you want to go play the demo, then just do it first and then come back to read my impressions.
If war is the closest we get to hell on earth, it's because Earth harbours the worst of demons: humankind. In an isolated country ravaged by infighting, discover the secrets of your past and deal with the repercussions of a mysterious calamity.
HELL IS US
- RELEASE DATE: 9/4/2025
- MSRP: $49.99
- DEVELOPER: Rogue Factor
- PUBLISHER: Nacon
- PLATFORMS: PlayStation, Xbox and PC
- PLAYED ON: Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5
Hell is Us is being developed by Rogue Factor, who previously released Mordheim: City of the Damned, and Necromunda: Underhive Wars, neither of which were exactly award winners, but all that seems set to change with this game.
The game reminds me of some blend between The Last of Us, Dark Souls and Stellar Blade, however its really none of those things exactly.
The story is rooted in a future Earth and seems gritty and realistic, kind of like The Last of Us, and it has good voice acting and writing (at least so far). Then the combat is kind-of souls-like, but more action oriented like Stellar Blade. It's hard to exactly describe, but its a very cool combination that feels perfect in practice.
Even on Series S the graphics are impressive, and the whole thing comes together in a cohesive package that proves why releasing demos can be so important. This demo completely made me want to get the game upon release. The exact opposite that the Final Fantasy XVI demo had on me (that one convinced me NOT to buy it).
You can watch my playthrough of the demo in the video below, and see if you can spot the differences between the Xbox Series S version and the PlayStation 5 version (played on quality mode). Honestly I think they both look great and any differences weren't obvious to me.
I wholly suggest, if any of this sounds interesting, that you download and play the demo and see how good it is for yourself.
Perhaps I'm overselling it, but I'm completely sold.