hell is us

Frankly, better than I thought it would be. The main character is underdeveloped and I think like they tried to hand-wave away his, uh, whole personality by having another character in a cutscene literally call him a “high functioning sociopath.” (And, by the way, is the player then a high functioning sociopath?) I experienced moments of dread and moments of elation and the small twist at the very end worked really well for me. Each area in the game was well defined, from the explorable zones (much bigger and more detailed, even if they were, in the end, elaborate dioramas) to the dungeons. The designs were pretty hyper-focused on executing the experience intended for the game, which I appreciated greatly; better than a wide-ranging "open world" that is, in the end, empty. The Lymbic Forge and the Auriga Museum sections especially stuck out to me.

The Lymbic Forge, at the cap of act one, dragged in an oppressive way, which was the right feeling, but by the end of the game, I was tired of going into caves. I stayed up late thinking I could clear it (somewhat) quickly and then go to bed, but it just...kept going down! I set the game to easy mode because I had no particular interest in the combat, so it wasn't difficult to progress through the forge, but the mood of the place was absolutely effective. The lighting is just right in this game: You have to rely on your flashlight, which tunnels your vision in an anxiety-inducing way and wonderfully, horrifically frames the hollow walkers when your flashlight settles on them.

The Auriga Museum was startlingly unexpected; I finished that relatively short section with a rush of adrenaline. The entire setpiece is a twist and it introduced me to the major antagonist in a surprising way. The sound design in Hell Is Us is remarkable and it stood out here: When you first enter, in the distance and quietly, there is some kind of drumming? But then, progressing past a short puzzle, the drumming turns out to be an alarm klaxon! All of this occurs in maybe a five minute puzzle—nothing difficult, just a bit of time to grasp what is going on and then to solve—and instantly, what you have walked into changes. The museum itself is really well foreshadowed by the proceeding investigation and, even after the twist, what the museum is only deepens. It's really effective storytelling!

None of the investigations or puzzles were particularly difficult, but the game does demand that you pay attention to it; only sparingly were there moments when you have to make a note of something—everything can usually be referenced freely in game—but the resolution of those puzzles were satisfying. I think there could have been a bit more foreshadowing of the plot at large, but then, I did stop reading the extraneous writing terribly carefully after awhile. There is so much writing in the world and it is, for the most part, a joy to read...but there is also a very large section in your inventory called "miscellaneous," which don't, indeed, have any bearing on any puzzles.

A few instances of the writing are a bit too obtuse. For example, I missed picking up an item for a good deed (a side quest), which is usually what triggers the good deed, but I did meet the character to whom I deliver the item...who only vaguely talked about the item being in their house, which is across from a graveyard. There are three explorable towns in the game and this character couldn't tell me which town they lived in? Overall, however, I thought the writing was well balanced with trusting the player. Hell Is Us really trusts the player—forget the ridiculous marketing campaign, no magic compass!—all it asks is that you pay attention to it, the writing and the environment, which is, no doubt, markedly easier to do when your screen isn't busied with minimaps, markers, and icons.

(I don't have much to say about the combat because I didn't really engage with it, which is a criticism of myself: It is not particularly deep, which is fine, but, by playing on "lenient," as the game calls it, I never had to really engage with the drone or the special powers. I think this also affected the pacing of the game for me; I could push through noticeably difficult areas hardly doing more than just button-mashing. It is, perhaps, worth playing the game on the normal difficulty.)