French publisher Nacon, formerly known as Bigben Interactive, has announced a new third-person action-adventure title calledHell Is Us.The game will be the first original IP for developer Rogue Factor, which has previously worked on theWarhammer 40Kadjacent gameNecromunda: Underhive Warsand tactical RPGMordheim: City of the Damned.This latest venture by Rogue Factor has already been in development for several years and will be released sometime in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles.
A semi-open world game,Hell Is Ustakes place in a country torn apart by civil war, where brother has turned against brother. Simultaneously to this, citizens must deal with a recently occurring phenomenon known as the Calamity, which has caused supernatural creatures to appear in the land. The player sets out to uncover his past while fighting these strange monsters that seem to be immune to modern-day weapons.
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The creative director ofHell Is Usis Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, a veteran developer who formerly worked atEidos Montreal and contributed toDeus Ex: Human Revolution,Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, andMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.Of this new project, Jacques-Belletête stated, “Our goal withHell Is Usis to bring back true adventure and exploration. There’s no need for a detailed quest log or precise waypoint on the map: we want players to feel the thrill of adventure, guided by their feelings and instincts.”
Indeed, Nacon’s press release says thatHell Is Uswill be part of a new game genre in which players find information on their own by exploring the environment. This is a move that has become increasingly popular in recent years, with gamers even releasing mods to give titles likeMafia, The Outer Worlds,andElden Ringminimalist HUDs to increase players’ feelings of autonomy and discovery. And 2020’sStar Wars: Squadronslets gamers turn off the HUDentirely if they wish to be fully immersed in the first-person space combat simulator.
From details gleaned from the game’s Steam page, that seems to be the route Rogue Factor is taking withHell Is Us.One of the bullet points in the description states that thevideo game will have no map, no compass, and no quest markers. Players will have to rely on their instincts as well as the developer’s storytelling and level design to figure out what to do next.
According to Nacon CEO Alain Falc, the action-adventure title will be one of the most ambitious projects from the publisher to date. From the trailer, it seems that a major thread ofHell Is Uswill be the scourge that mankind has been upon the planet and themselves. “The central theme ofHell Is Usis that human violence is a perpetual cycle fueled by human emotions and passions,” said Jacques-Belletête about the game. PublisherNaconhas stated that more will be revealed aboutHell Is Usin the coming months.
Hell Is Usis currently in development.
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