2025 has been an astonishingly packed year for the games industry, delivering a veritable barrage of heavy-hitting, groundbreaking titles, and Hell is Us deserves to be considered among the annum's better offerings. It's easily Rogue Factor's greatest creative leap thus far, and while it certainly has its issues, the way that it rejects traditional open-world design with passion and panache makes it respectable and fascinating.
If anything, Hell is Us is at risk of suffering from the circumstances of the market. 2025 just isn't slowing down, as nearly every month has seen some sort of major, well-reviewed blockbuster. Even great games like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 have been nearly forgotten thanks to the subsequent avalanche of critical and commercial darlings, like Death Stranding 2 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In other words, there is a non-negligible number of gamers that will probably skip Hell is Us, not because it doesn't look good or has reviewed poorly, but because there simply isn't enough time to tackle it amidst every other big release. Unfortunately, it looks like Hell is Us may have picked an especially inopportune moment to launch, echoing the release date blunders of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.
Much Like the Horizon Games, Hell is Us May Have Been Poorly Timed
Hollow Knight: Silksong Stole Hell is Us' Thunder
Horizon Zero Dawn was nothing if not appealing ahead of its launch. It looked graphically stunning, and was a new AAA IP to boot—something that was exceedingly rare, even back then. This is to say that, despite not being linked to an existing property, Zero Dawn managed to capture the attention of gamers around the world, resulting in a successful launch. But one must wonder just how much more successful Horizon Zero Dawn's release could have been if it weren't directly competing with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Indeed, Horizon Zero Dawn launched just five days before Breath of the Wild, and its sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, released just a week before Elden Ring. It's not just that these games were hotly anticipated and prestigious, but that they were specifically renowned for their bold takes on the open-world genre. By comparison, the more bog-standard Horizon games came up short: they are serviceable if uninventive, 8/10 open-world games that were going head-to-head with revolutionary, once-in-a-generation experiences.
- Horizon Zero Dawn release date: February 28, 2017
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild release date: March 3, 2017
- Horizon Forbidden West release date: February 18, 2022
- Elden Ring release date: February 25, 2022
A similar phenomenon is observed with Hell is Us' release, which happened to land on the exact same date as Hollow Knight: Silksong. To call Silksong popular would be an understatement: its release rendered online storefronts like Steam inaccessible due to sheer demand. By comparison, Hell is Us is a brand-new IP that, while not totally without hype, engenders nothing like the rabid enthusiasm displayed by the Hollow Knight fanbase. Matters are exacerbated by the fact that, like the aforementioned Horizon games and their competition, Hell is Us appeals to the same demographic as Silksong.
Both Silksong and Hell is Us are focused, grimdark, semi-open-world games that refuse to hold the player's hand. As such, it's unlikely that many players will bounce off Silksong and find Hell is Us a worthwhile alternative; if someone doesn't like Silksong's obtuse Metroidvania structure or labyrinthine world design, they probably won't love Hell is Us, either. Thus, Hell is Us is in a tough position, as it's a good, but not amazing, adventure game that is going up against something that is already being called a masterpiece. The Horizon games have found a strong foothold in the industry despite their stiff competition; hopefully, Hell is Us can do the same in the long run.
Hell Is Us
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 79%
- Released
- September 4, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Rogue Factor
- Publisher(s)
- Nacon
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, Open-World
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
