“The true horrors of war are a very important narrative pillar of the game. We wanted to do it justice. It’s never done gratuitously, it’s never done in a grotesque way, [but] we want to depict human conflicts as realistically as possible.”
I am speaking with technical director Simon Girard about Hell is Us, the upcoming action-adventure game from Rogue Factor. In Hell is Us, players take on the role of Rémi, who is searching for his parents in the fictional country of Hadea. However, Hadea is being ravaged by infighting and in the midst of a civil war.
This set up immediately brings to mind the current situation in Gaza, and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, which begs the question: Did real world events inspire Hell is Us?
“Our creative director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête is a huge history buff, and one of his topics of interest is armed conflict, specifically civil wars, because the nature is of neighbours-against-neighbours,” Girard says of the general civil war theme. “It’s not one country against another. It’s people who are the same, right? They’re divided amongst either geographical or cultural or religious lines, but they’re one in the same.”
So while Hadea is a fictional country and Hell is Us is telling a fictional story, Girard says this has been a topic Jacques-Belletête had been wanting to explore for some time now, and inspiration was taken from 90s wars, which is shown in the clothing. “But, in terms of answering your question, the two main themes we explore with war are the human emotions that are causing this conflict, because the exacerbation of certain emotions can lead to conflict, and the cyclical nature of violence,” Girard continues. This cyclical nature is central to Hell is Us’ overall narrative, and Girard says it is “uncanny” that 30 years later, we are once again living in a world where a civil war is at the centre of many news stories on a daily basis.
“History is repeating itself, and I think without us taking a moralising approach – that’s not what we are about – there is something that resounds with a lot of people because yes [Hell is Us] is far away, is fictional, but at the same time, it has a powerful echo in it.” He reflects on the announcement trailer for Hell is Us, which showed a female civilian executing a soldier kneeling down in front of her, saying his people killed her family. That trailer happened to come out around the time of 2022’s Crimea attacks.
“We find a big echo in our own reality.”
“The studio wanted to create this fictional story. It had no basis in modern history, had no pretence in being a mirror-like reality. It’s a fictional story in a fictional country. But then this happens, right? So, again, we find a big echo in our own reality,” Girard says. He notes Hell is Us has over 160 NPCs, and all of them have been impacted by the war going on around them, be they victims, bystanders or participants.
“No one is left indifferent,” he says.
More generally, Hell is Us has “three different narrative layers”, Girard tells me. The first is Rémi’s own story and his motivations. The second is of the civil war going on in Hadea, and the third is of The Calamity, which resulted in the appearance of supernatural creatures that also inhabit the land (see image below).
“They’re all intertwined somehow, and all these layers are very important to the story, or the multiple stories that you’ll get out of this experience,” Girard says, without giving too much away for fear of spoiling something. He adds, however, there are “strong narrative and mechanical links and implications” between everything that has been teased so far, but it is up to the player to find out just what they are.
“It’s a very rich environment for us to play with and tell stories with.”
“It’s a type of game I am sure will have subreddits of people trying to [piece together] the same things,” the developer says, talking about the many different items and “information elements” players will be able to find scattered throughout Hell is Us, and which will help shape the world’s narrative. “I am sure people will go very meta outside of the game and try to draw links between some stuff, and reorder things historically or phonologically,” he says, likening it to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations. “You see this three hour long movie, and it’s a full set piece from beginning to end. But, it’s based on material that’s much larger, right? There’s this whole world behind it.”
The team has built Hell is Us’ world from scratch, Girard continues, and that includes weaving in a fictional history dating back hundreds of years. This means players will be able to find out why Hadea became a hermit kingdom, and discover more about the ruins that lie among more modern settlements. “It’s a very rich environment for us to play with and tell stories with,” Girard says.
But while Hell is Us will include plenty of lore to untangle, the developer isn’t including what some would say are video game staples – a map and quest markers. The team has instead focused on environmental cues to guide players to where they should go, and a compass to allow them to orient themselves.
“It transpires in the level design, it transpires in the environmental design.”
Girard tells me about a settlement players will come across early on in Hell is Us. At one entrance, they may come across a military captain, who mentions an outpost in the town. “But let’s say you enter the town another way, and you miss the captain, the first thing you can find is either the blacksmith shop [which is illuminated], or there are other characters you can talk to who will also have threads you can fold in that will bring you into what you need to do for your main quest,” he explains. “It’s important to give multiple entry points into the main storyline at all times… and you may even stumble into story elements organically. Your exploration and time is always rewarded in different ways, ranging from the main story, secondary quest lines or just lore elements.”
The Hell is Us team decided early on that they weren’t going to include a traditional map, with this idea being a “design philosophy” for everything else. “It transpires in the level design, it transpires in the environmental design, it gives you different vistas in the background that also represent places that catch your eye from afar that you want to go to,” Girard elaborates. “In interior dungeons that can be very maze-like, we think ‘how can we make each room stand out so you can orient yourself’. So, the frescos [in these areas] are all unique, so you are never lost as a player.”
Hell is Us also features audio cues, which players can follow to help find their way through the world. An example of this happens early in the game, and those who have played the demo will recall it – the wind chimes in the woodland area. “If you’re playing on a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, you could close your eyes and just navigate using the audio at that point,” Girard says. “It’s a small segment, but it’s such a nice touch.”
My time with Girard is coming to an end, but it is clear the developer has so much more he wishes he could share. “It’s been a labour of love and passion from our team,” he says, catching sight of the time. “We began pre-production of this before the pandemic in 2020, so it’s five and a half years in the making. We began with 35 people, we are now 55. The studio has grown, we’ve built up pools and pipelines and ways of communicating and working together which are now defining what the future of Rogue Factor will be like for us, beyond everything commercial.”
“Don’t get me wrong, the more copies we sell the happier we are,” he closes with a laugh, “but beyond that, for us to be able to say this is Rogue Factor now, this is who we are and these are the types of experiences you can expect from us going forward, that was our main driving force… to find our own space and our own identity, where we can welcome people and have something interesting to present to them.”
Hell is Us – which stars Elias Toufexis, aka Adam Jensen from the Deus Ex series, as Rémi – is set to release next week, on 4th September.
