Hell Is Us

Lore & Background

Hell Is Us is set in the war-torn country of Hadea, where a civil war between the Palomist and Sabinian ethnic groups is compounded by the emergence of hostile supernatural creatures called Hollow Walkers. These beings arise from timeloops that perpetually repeat moments of intense emotion and violence. The player controls Rémi, an ON Peacekeeper who goes absent without leave to find his parents, only to discover the region is infested with these entities following a mysterious event known as the Calamity.

The game's narrative unfolds as Rémi recounts his journey to an interrogator from the Ziel Council, a secret organization of the world's rich and powerful. Rémi learns his father Vitalis was part of the Vigil, an enigmatic group sworn to stop the Calamity. After Vitalis is mortally wounded, he passes the Keystone of Grief to Rémi, who then teams up with journalist Tania Alver to collect three additional keystones and unlock the Failsafe—a device meant to stop the Calamity. The Failsafe leads to the Eye of God, a sphere believed to be the eye of the Hadean god Sethyris, which Rémi seemingly destroys before being captured. In a post-credits scene, an OMSIF drone discovers the Eye has survived.

Reader's Guide

Hell Is Us was developed by Rogue Factor, the studio behind Mordheim: City of the Damned, and led by Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, art director for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The game was inspired by the 2018 film Annihilation and the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Its minimalistic HUD was influenced by 1990s games, aiming for an immersive experience where information is conveyed organically. The combat system, described by Jacques-Belletete as similar to hack and slash games, is designed to be neither overly easy nor hard. Players manage Rémi's health and stamina, with stamina regenerating but health not; maximum stamina is limited by current health, and fighting while exhausted weakens attacks and increases vulnerability. The game was announced in April 2022 with an original 2023 release window, resurfaced during a PlayStation State of Play in September 2024, and launched on September 4, 2025. A Nintendo Switch 2 port was announced in May 2026 with a September 24, 2026 date, later delayed to October 8, 2026 to avoid competition. By August 2026, Hell Is Us had surpassed 1 million players across all platforms.

Did You Know?

• The game's minimalistic HUD was influenced by games from the 1990s.
• A post-credits scene reveals the Eye of God survived the Failsafe.