HELL IS US (II)

For all of its beauty, frustration (controls, combat, inability to jump), and excellence, it's the emotional sucker punch of failing to do a good deed in time that hits hardest. In other games, these inevitable failures were oversights met with a shrug or mere frustration at not getting that bonus; in this, it's human, and with consequence: dead babies, lynched musicians, burnt bodies - I'm sorry I didn't find the milk in time! I'm sorry I couldn't find new sheet music! I'm sorry I didn't know what the fuck to do with those signal flares! I'm sorry I couldn't find your camp before because I couldn't figure out which part of the snake your leader was talking about...

HELL IS US (I)

Impressions at this point, maybe a quarter(?) through the game: a flawed masterpiece. Loathe the combat as it's the least interesting part of the game: this is the first time I've lowered a difficulty level to the easiest because it was getting in the way of the interesting part: uncovering and revealing the world.

Note: doing this is my first recommendation to anyone considering playing HELL IS US. That being said, "Lenient" is a bit too easy and repetitive; the midway, "Balanced," is anything but. A middle ground between the two would be most welcome if future updates don't tweak the combat. In a future replay, I might bump it to balanced since I won't be as occupied with learning the ins and outs of the world.

And it's a game definitely screaming replay: I love its mapless, goal-less, open enough world. My heartbreaking failure to get around to good deeds in time. Best level design I've seen in ages: Hadea has soul to it - not surprising, considering the main reason I bought the game new was that it's the creative director debut of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION / MANKIND DIVIDED's art director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletete.

It may not be perfect but it is, so far, something special and new.