• Games made with Unity: May 2025 in review

    A bunch of great games made with Unity dropped in May—across genres, budgets, and styles. Here’s a quick roundup of what shipped that anyone not still lost in Blue Prince should check out.IGF Awards
    Huge congrats to all the IGF finalists, especially the games made with Unity that dominated the awards this year — including Consume Me, which took home three wins! Fresh off their Audience Award win at the IGF Awards, The WereCleaner team joined us on stream. Check it out:Made with Unity Steam Curator Page
    Once again we sent out a clarion call for Unity staff to share which of your games they've been playing this past month. Be sure to see them all on our Steam Curator Page here:Working on a game in Unity? We’d love to help you spread the word. Be sure to submit your project.Without further ado, to the best of our abilities, here’s a non-exhaustive list of games made with Unity and launched in May 2025, either into early access or full release. Add to the list by sharing any that you think we missed.ActionShotgun Cop Man, DeadToast EntertainmentDeliver At All Costs, Studio Far Out GamesPipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Pocket TrapBullet HeavenBioprototype, Emprom GameBroventure: The Wild Co-op, Alice GamesTower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos, NANOOCards, dice, and deckbuildersMonster Train 2, Shiny ShoeInto the Restless Ruins, Ant Workshop LtdCasual, rhythm, and partyAmong Us 3D, Schell Games, InnerslothDunk Dunk, Badgerhammer LimitedIthya: Magic Studies, BlueTurtleKulebra and the Souls of Limbo, GallaBugtopia, Nocturnal GamesKabuto Park, Doot, ZakkuCity and colony builderPreserve, Bitmap GalaxyMEMORIAPOLIS, 5PM StudioDarfall, SquareNiteWorshippers of Cthulhu, Crazy Goat GamesCity Tales - Medieval Era, Irregular ShapesComedyPick Me Pick Me, OptillusionExperimental or surrealistENA: Dream BBQ, ENA TeamFPSBloodshed, com8com1 SoftwareGRIMWAR, BookWyrmNoga, Ilan ManorHorrorLiDAR Exploration Program, KenForestWhite Knuckle, KenForestThe Boba Teashop, Mike TenOut of Hands, Game RiverDarkwater, Targon StudiosManagement and automationBlacksmith Master, Untitled StudioLiquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch GamesAnimal Spa, Sinkhole Studio, Moonlab StudioToy Shop Simulator, PaperPixel GamesAlien Market Simulator, Silly Sloth Studios, Kheddo EntertainmentMetroidvaniaOirbo, ImaginationOverflowSteamDolls - Order Of Chaos, The Shady GentlemenNarrative and mysterydespelote, Julián Cordero, Sebastian ValbuenaDuck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Happy Broccoli GamesBeholder: Conductor, AlawarPlatformerPaperKlay, WhyKevBionic Bay, Psychoflow Studio, Mureena OyOnce Upon A Puppet, Flatter Than EarthPEPPERED: an existential platformer, Mostly GamesNinja Ming, 1 Poss StudioSeafrog, OhMyMe GamesPuzzle adventurePup Champs, AfterburnStrings Theory, Beautiful BeeKathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, Clifftop GamesPoco, WhalefallAxona, Onat OkeProjected Dreams, Flawberry StudioElroy and the Aliens, MotivitiLeila, Ubik StudiosTempopo, Witch BeamBOKURA: planet, ところにょりAmerzone - The Explorer's Legacy, Microids Studio ParisRoguelike/liteSavara, Doryah GamesVellum, Alvios GamesYasha: Legends of the Demon Blade, 7QUARKAn Amazing Wizard, Tiny GoblinsGarden of Witches, Team TapasRPGTainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, QuestlineThe Monster Breeder, Fantasy CreationsYes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall, Brave At NightSandboxA Webbing Journey, Fire Totem GamesIslands & Trains, Akos MakovicsSimulationThe Precinct, Fallen Tree Games LtdLiquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch GamesDoloc Town, RedSaw Games StudioTales of Seikyu, ACE EntertainmentTrash Goblin, Spilt Milk Studios LtdSports and drivingThe Last Golfer, Pixel Perfect DudeTurbo Takedown, Hanging DrawStrategyTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, Strange ScaffoldTower Dominion, Parallel 45 Games9 Kings, Sad SocketSurvivalDino Path Trail, Void PointerSurvival Machine, Grapes PickersOppidum, EP Games®That’s a wrap for May 2025. Want more Made with Unity and community news as it happens? Don’t forget to follow us on social media: Bluesky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch.
    #games #made #with #unity #review
    Games made with Unity: May 2025 in review
    A bunch of great games made with Unity dropped in May—across genres, budgets, and styles. Here’s a quick roundup of what shipped that anyone not still lost in Blue Prince should check out.IGF Awards Huge congrats to all the IGF finalists, especially the games made with Unity that dominated the awards this year — including Consume Me, which took home three wins! Fresh off their Audience Award win at the IGF Awards, The WereCleaner team joined us on stream. Check it out:Made with Unity Steam Curator Page Once again we sent out a clarion call for Unity staff to share which of your games they've been playing this past month. Be sure to see them all on our Steam Curator Page here:Working on a game in Unity? We’d love to help you spread the word. Be sure to submit your project.Without further ado, to the best of our abilities, here’s a non-exhaustive list of games made with Unity and launched in May 2025, either into early access or full release. Add to the list by sharing any that you think we missed.ActionShotgun Cop Man, DeadToast EntertainmentDeliver At All Costs, Studio Far Out GamesPipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Pocket TrapBullet HeavenBioprototype, Emprom GameBroventure: The Wild Co-op, Alice GamesTower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos, NANOOCards, dice, and deckbuildersMonster Train 2, Shiny ShoeInto the Restless Ruins, Ant Workshop LtdCasual, rhythm, and partyAmong Us 3D, Schell Games, InnerslothDunk Dunk, Badgerhammer LimitedIthya: Magic Studies, BlueTurtleKulebra and the Souls of Limbo, GallaBugtopia, Nocturnal GamesKabuto Park, Doot, ZakkuCity and colony builderPreserve, Bitmap GalaxyMEMORIAPOLIS, 5PM StudioDarfall, SquareNiteWorshippers of Cthulhu, Crazy Goat GamesCity Tales - Medieval Era, Irregular ShapesComedyPick Me Pick Me, OptillusionExperimental or surrealistENA: Dream BBQ, ENA TeamFPSBloodshed, com8com1 SoftwareGRIMWAR, BookWyrmNoga, Ilan ManorHorrorLiDAR Exploration Program, KenForestWhite Knuckle, KenForestThe Boba Teashop, Mike TenOut of Hands, Game RiverDarkwater, Targon StudiosManagement and automationBlacksmith Master, Untitled StudioLiquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch GamesAnimal Spa, Sinkhole Studio, Moonlab StudioToy Shop Simulator, PaperPixel GamesAlien Market Simulator, Silly Sloth Studios, Kheddo EntertainmentMetroidvaniaOirbo, ImaginationOverflowSteamDolls - Order Of Chaos, The Shady GentlemenNarrative and mysterydespelote, Julián Cordero, Sebastian ValbuenaDuck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Happy Broccoli GamesBeholder: Conductor, AlawarPlatformerPaperKlay, WhyKevBionic Bay, Psychoflow Studio, Mureena OyOnce Upon A Puppet, Flatter Than EarthPEPPERED: an existential platformer, Mostly GamesNinja Ming, 1 Poss StudioSeafrog, OhMyMe GamesPuzzle adventurePup Champs, AfterburnStrings Theory, Beautiful BeeKathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, Clifftop GamesPoco, WhalefallAxona, Onat OkeProjected Dreams, Flawberry StudioElroy and the Aliens, MotivitiLeila, Ubik StudiosTempopo, Witch BeamBOKURA: planet, ところにょりAmerzone - The Explorer's Legacy, Microids Studio ParisRoguelike/liteSavara, Doryah GamesVellum, Alvios GamesYasha: Legends of the Demon Blade, 7QUARKAn Amazing Wizard, Tiny GoblinsGarden of Witches, Team TapasRPGTainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, QuestlineThe Monster Breeder, Fantasy CreationsYes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall, Brave At NightSandboxA Webbing Journey, Fire Totem GamesIslands & Trains, Akos MakovicsSimulationThe Precinct, Fallen Tree Games LtdLiquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch GamesDoloc Town, RedSaw Games StudioTales of Seikyu, ACE EntertainmentTrash Goblin, Spilt Milk Studios LtdSports and drivingThe Last Golfer, Pixel Perfect DudeTurbo Takedown, Hanging DrawStrategyTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, Strange ScaffoldTower Dominion, Parallel 45 Games9 Kings, Sad SocketSurvivalDino Path Trail, Void PointerSurvival Machine, Grapes PickersOppidum, EP Games®That’s a wrap for May 2025. Want more Made with Unity and community news as it happens? Don’t forget to follow us on social media: Bluesky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch. #games #made #with #unity #review
    UNITY.COM
    Games made with Unity: May 2025 in review
    A bunch of great games made with Unity dropped in May—across genres, budgets, and styles. Here’s a quick roundup of what shipped that anyone not still lost in Blue Prince should check out.IGF Awards Huge congrats to all the IGF finalists, especially the games made with Unity that dominated the awards this year — including Consume Me, which took home three wins! Fresh off their Audience Award win at the IGF Awards, The WereCleaner team joined us on stream. Check it out:Made with Unity Steam Curator Page Once again we sent out a clarion call for Unity staff to share which of your games they've been playing this past month. Be sure to see them all on our Steam Curator Page here:Working on a game in Unity? We’d love to help you spread the word. Be sure to submit your project.Without further ado, to the best of our abilities, here’s a non-exhaustive list of games made with Unity and launched in May 2025, either into early access or full release. Add to the list by sharing any that you think we missed.ActionShotgun Cop Man, DeadToast Entertainment (May 1)Deliver At All Costs, Studio Far Out Games (May 22)Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Pocket Trap (May 28)Bullet HeavenBioprototype, Emprom Game (May 19)Broventure: The Wild Co-op, Alice Games (May 15)Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos, NANOO (May 19 – early access)Cards, dice, and deckbuildersMonster Train 2, Shiny Shoe (May 21)Into the Restless Ruins, Ant Workshop Ltd (May 15)Casual, rhythm, and partyAmong Us 3D, Schell Games, Innersloth (May 6)Dunk Dunk, Badgerhammer Limited (May 8)Ithya: Magic Studies, BlueTurtle (May 7)Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, Galla (May 16)Bugtopia, Nocturnal Games (May 21)Kabuto Park, Doot, Zakku (May 28)City and colony builderPreserve, Bitmap Galaxy (May 15)MEMORIAPOLIS, 5PM Studio (April 30)Darfall, SquareNite (May 8)Worshippers of Cthulhu, Crazy Goat Games (May 22)City Tales - Medieval Era, Irregular Shapes (May 22 – early access)ComedyPick Me Pick Me, Optillusion (May 28 – early access)Experimental or surrealistENA: Dream BBQ, ENA Team (March 27)FPSBloodshed, com8com1 Software (May 22)GRIMWAR, BookWyrm (May 16)Noga, Ilan Manor (May 30)HorrorLiDAR Exploration Program, KenForest (April 2)White Knuckle, KenForest (April 17 – early access)The Boba Teashop, Mike Ten (April 21)Out of Hands, Game River (April 22)Darkwater, Targon Studios (April 22 – early access)Management and automationBlacksmith Master, Untitled Studio (May 15 – early access)Liquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch Games (May 2)Animal Spa, Sinkhole Studio, Moonlab Studio (May 13)Toy Shop Simulator, PaperPixel Games (May 16)Alien Market Simulator, Silly Sloth Studios, Kheddo Entertainment (May 25 – early access)MetroidvaniaOirbo, ImaginationOverflow (February 11 – early access)SteamDolls - Order Of Chaos, The Shady Gentlemen (February 11 – early access)Narrative and mysterydespelote, Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena (May 1)Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Happy Broccoli Games (May 22)Beholder: Conductor, Alawar (April 23)PlatformerPaperKlay, WhyKev (March 27)Bionic Bay, Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy (April 17)Once Upon A Puppet, Flatter Than Earth (April 23)PEPPERED: an existential platformer, Mostly Games (April 7)Ninja Ming, 1 Poss Studio (April 10)Seafrog, OhMyMe Games (April 15)Puzzle adventurePup Champs, Afterburn (May 19)Strings Theory, Beautiful Bee (Console release)Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, Clifftop Games (May 20)Poco, Whalefall (May 20)Axona, Onat Oke (May 28)Projected Dreams, Flawberry Studio (May 29)Elroy and the Aliens, Motiviti (April 2)Leila, Ubik Studios (April 7)Tempopo, Witch Beam (April 17)BOKURA: planet, ところにょり (April 24)Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy, Microids Studio Paris (April 24)Roguelike/liteSavara, Doryah Games (May 6)Vellum, Alvios Games (May 2)Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade, 7QUARK (May 14)An Amazing Wizard, Tiny Goblins (May 22 – early access)Garden of Witches, Team Tapas (May 23 – early access)RPGTainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Questline (May 23)The Monster Breeder, Fantasy Creations (May 6)Yes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall, Brave At Night (May 8)SandboxA Webbing Journey, Fire Totem Games (May 19 – early access)Islands & Trains, Akos Makovics (May 29)SimulationThe Precinct, Fallen Tree Games Ltd (May 13)Liquor Store Simulator, Tovarishch Games (May 2)Doloc Town, RedSaw Games Studio (May 7)Tales of Seikyu, ACE Entertainment (May 21 – early access)Trash Goblin, Spilt Milk Studios Ltd (May 28)Sports and drivingThe Last Golfer, Pixel Perfect Dude (May 28)Turbo Takedown, Hanging Draw (March 3)StrategyTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, Strange Scaffold (May 22)Tower Dominion, Parallel 45 Games (May 7)9 Kings, Sad Socket (May 23 – early access)SurvivalDino Path Trail, Void Pointer (May 9)Survival Machine, Grapes Pickers (May 7 – early access)Oppidum, EP Games® (April 25)That’s a wrap for May 2025. Want more Made with Unity and community news as it happens? Don’t forget to follow us on social media: Bluesky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch.
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  • Hell Is Us hands-on preview: ‘AAA games are so bloody bland’

    Hell Is Us – not a Ubisoft adventureGameCentral goes hands-on with an original sci-fi action adventure where the emphasis is on unguided exploration, with some throwback Zelda inspirations.
    You might already have heard the name Hell Is Us, as the game was first announced way back in April 2022. We previewed the sci-fi tinged adventure title, developed by Rogue Factor, for the first time last year but now it’s now on the home-straight, with a launch slated for September 4, and it’s shaping up to be a peculiar but intriguing mix of influences and ideas.
    Our original preview covered the opening portion of the game, so we’ll avoid recycling the same beats here. But for the general gist, you play as a United Nations peacekeeper named Rémi who absconds to the war-torn country of Hadea to track down his parents. A stroll through the tutorial woods later, however, and you realise this isn’t your average civil war. 
    If you’re a fan of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the strange, faceless alien from the film’s conclusion seems to have been a major influence here. The Hollow Walkers, as they’re called, are very creepy, as they lurch towards you unpredictably, with morphing limbs which give way to vivid, crystallised attacks or, in some cases, attached entities you have to kill first. Their glossy white exteriors act as a stark contrast to the muted eastern European landscapes and dungeons you explore. 
    As a game, Hell Is Us is somewhere between Bloodborne and The Elder Scrolls. Combat wise, it’s pulling from the former, as you manage a stamina bar, study enemy patterns for the best moment to strike, and rely on aggressive play to replenish a magic gauge for special skills. You also have access to a drone which has various uses tied to cooldown meters, between distracting enemies for crowd control andmaking a charging lunge to dash across the field. 
    Rogue Factor has stressed Hell Is Us isn’t a Soulslike though. You’re not scrambling for bonfires or any equivalent, but exploring and chatting with characters to piece together where you need to go next, discovering new places of interest, and encountering side objectives which bleed into the overall experience of navigating each semi-open world area. The ethos behind Hell Is Us is discovery and the organic feeling of finding your feet through clues in the world, rather than using obvious quest markers. 
    This might bring to mind acclaimed games like Elden Ring and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, in their attempt to declutter open world exploration, but the game’s director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, believes the roots of what Hell Is Us is aiming for goes much further back.

    A cosmic horror vibe‘Honestly, something like Zelda: A Link To The Past is much closer to what we’re doing now than a Breath Of The Wild,’ said Jacques-Belletête. ‘Sometimes people are like: ‘I really can’t put my finger on what kind of game it is, what is it?’ It’s just a bloody adventure game man. Look, you’ve got a combat system, you’ve got enemies, you’ve got a world to explore, there’s a mystery, you’re not exactly sure of this and that, there’s some secrets, there’s some dungeons, we did a game like that. It’s called an adventure game,’ he laughs. ‘There were even side-quests in A Link To The Past that didn’t tell you they were side-quests.’
    Hell Is Us might have roots in classic adventure games but Jacques-Belletête, is keen to highlight the fatigue around Ubisoft style open world bloat, where checklists and quest markers are traditionally used in abundance. With the success of Elden Ring, there’s a sense many players are craving a return to the hands-off approach, where you discover and navigate without guidance – something which Hell Is Us is hoping to capitalise on after being in development for five years. 
    ‘It’s so much of the same thing,’ he says, when talking about Ubisoft style open worlds. ‘It loses all meaning. Things within these open worlds lose a lot of their taste because too much is like not enough. Do you know what I mean? You have to fill up these spaces with stuff and they just become a bit bland. Like once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them. 
    ‘It’s not Assassin’s Creed, it’s not that, it’s all these things. We’ve all played them. I’ve got hundreds of hours in Elder Scrolls, all the Elder Scrolls, and that’s not the point. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just trends do their time and then you have other ideas. It’s a pendulum as well. Games used to be a lot more hardcore that way, we’re trying to go back to that.’
    The crux of my time in Hell Is Us is spent in the Acasa Marshes, the second semi-open area where the game lets you off the leash. The swampy lands are crawling with Hollow Walkers in various forms, from hulking monstrosities to mage-like foes that hurl projectiles from clifftops. A swirling black vortex is a key focal point but it’s surrounded by enemies, while a settlement of villagers sits on a hill in the distance. 
    According to the developer, this area is one of the largest areas in the game, ‘if not the biggest one’, and it seems pretty expansive. We found ourselves heading towards the village, whose militaristic leader points you towards your main objective with only a vague mention of going ‘north east’. You have to dig out your compass to get a grasp on your position, as you try and navigate towards, and identify, the next location based on this information. 
    The lack of quest markers makes the experience more involving, as you have to pay more attention to your surroundings and what characters say, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the story or writing. It’s something which will hopefully become more engrossing as you get a better grasp of what’s going on, but I wish I was drawn to interact with the characters based on something beyond the need to progress. 
    When you are exploring aimlessly though, Hell Is Us offers some captivating chaos – even if some areas did appear to be gated off. We fought our way to the aforementioned swirling black vortex, encountering enemies beyond our skill level, only to find it was inaccessible due to not having a specific item. We later found an underground tunnel filled with enemies, where an individual connected to a side0quest was trapped at the other end. 

    Surprises lurk in the marshesAlong with these open areas, Hell Is Us also offers dungeons built around puzzles and combat encounters. Aside from the opening introduction, we were shown a later example in the Lymbic Forge, which offered a nice dose of visual variety, with flowery gardens surrounding the boggy marshes. We didn’t get a whole lot of time to explore, but it did highlight the breadth of the combat upgrades and customisation with late-game weapons. 
    Hell Is Us is a melting pot of influences, and while we’re not sold on everything it’s trying to accomplish, it’s certainly another AA game with big, exciting ambitions – a trend amplified this year by the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. For the game’s director, who has a long history in the AAA space working at Eidos Montreal, the jump to AA, with a smaller team and less financial pressure, means you have a better chance of striking gold. 

    More Trending

    ‘Look at what’s happened to the industry over the past few years,’ Jacques-Belletête said. ‘Everything is crumbling. The big ones are crumbling. It’s unsustainable. And the games are so bloody bland, man. Everything is starting to taste the same. 
    ‘I find there’s nothing worse than starting a game and right away, in the first two minutes, you know how everything’s going to work. You know how every single mechanic is going to work. They might have a littlein how it’s going to feel, or this and that, the user interface will change a bit, but you’ve gone through the ropes a dozen times. 
    ‘A game has to occupy a space in your brain that your brain can’t really compute just yet. When you turn your console off and it stays there, that’s because something is going on. Your brain is processing. And I think that’s a lot easier to do in the AA space than the AAA.’
    Formats: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PCPrice: £49.99Publisher: NaconDeveloper: Rogue FactorRelease Date: 4th September 2025Age Rating: 16

    The combat itEmail gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
    To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
    For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

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    #hell #handson #preview #aaa #games
    Hell Is Us hands-on preview: ‘AAA games are so bloody bland’
    Hell Is Us – not a Ubisoft adventureGameCentral goes hands-on with an original sci-fi action adventure where the emphasis is on unguided exploration, with some throwback Zelda inspirations. You might already have heard the name Hell Is Us, as the game was first announced way back in April 2022. We previewed the sci-fi tinged adventure title, developed by Rogue Factor, for the first time last year but now it’s now on the home-straight, with a launch slated for September 4, and it’s shaping up to be a peculiar but intriguing mix of influences and ideas. Our original preview covered the opening portion of the game, so we’ll avoid recycling the same beats here. But for the general gist, you play as a United Nations peacekeeper named Rémi who absconds to the war-torn country of Hadea to track down his parents. A stroll through the tutorial woods later, however, and you realise this isn’t your average civil war.  If you’re a fan of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the strange, faceless alien from the film’s conclusion seems to have been a major influence here. The Hollow Walkers, as they’re called, are very creepy, as they lurch towards you unpredictably, with morphing limbs which give way to vivid, crystallised attacks or, in some cases, attached entities you have to kill first. Their glossy white exteriors act as a stark contrast to the muted eastern European landscapes and dungeons you explore.  As a game, Hell Is Us is somewhere between Bloodborne and The Elder Scrolls. Combat wise, it’s pulling from the former, as you manage a stamina bar, study enemy patterns for the best moment to strike, and rely on aggressive play to replenish a magic gauge for special skills. You also have access to a drone which has various uses tied to cooldown meters, between distracting enemies for crowd control andmaking a charging lunge to dash across the field.  Rogue Factor has stressed Hell Is Us isn’t a Soulslike though. You’re not scrambling for bonfires or any equivalent, but exploring and chatting with characters to piece together where you need to go next, discovering new places of interest, and encountering side objectives which bleed into the overall experience of navigating each semi-open world area. The ethos behind Hell Is Us is discovery and the organic feeling of finding your feet through clues in the world, rather than using obvious quest markers.  This might bring to mind acclaimed games like Elden Ring and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, in their attempt to declutter open world exploration, but the game’s director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, believes the roots of what Hell Is Us is aiming for goes much further back. A cosmic horror vibe‘Honestly, something like Zelda: A Link To The Past is much closer to what we’re doing now than a Breath Of The Wild,’ said Jacques-Belletête. ‘Sometimes people are like: ‘I really can’t put my finger on what kind of game it is, what is it?’ It’s just a bloody adventure game man. Look, you’ve got a combat system, you’ve got enemies, you’ve got a world to explore, there’s a mystery, you’re not exactly sure of this and that, there’s some secrets, there’s some dungeons, we did a game like that. It’s called an adventure game,’ he laughs. ‘There were even side-quests in A Link To The Past that didn’t tell you they were side-quests.’ Hell Is Us might have roots in classic adventure games but Jacques-Belletête, is keen to highlight the fatigue around Ubisoft style open world bloat, where checklists and quest markers are traditionally used in abundance. With the success of Elden Ring, there’s a sense many players are craving a return to the hands-off approach, where you discover and navigate without guidance – something which Hell Is Us is hoping to capitalise on after being in development for five years.  ‘It’s so much of the same thing,’ he says, when talking about Ubisoft style open worlds. ‘It loses all meaning. Things within these open worlds lose a lot of their taste because too much is like not enough. Do you know what I mean? You have to fill up these spaces with stuff and they just become a bit bland. Like once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them.  ‘It’s not Assassin’s Creed, it’s not that, it’s all these things. We’ve all played them. I’ve got hundreds of hours in Elder Scrolls, all the Elder Scrolls, and that’s not the point. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just trends do their time and then you have other ideas. It’s a pendulum as well. Games used to be a lot more hardcore that way, we’re trying to go back to that.’ The crux of my time in Hell Is Us is spent in the Acasa Marshes, the second semi-open area where the game lets you off the leash. The swampy lands are crawling with Hollow Walkers in various forms, from hulking monstrosities to mage-like foes that hurl projectiles from clifftops. A swirling black vortex is a key focal point but it’s surrounded by enemies, while a settlement of villagers sits on a hill in the distance.  According to the developer, this area is one of the largest areas in the game, ‘if not the biggest one’, and it seems pretty expansive. We found ourselves heading towards the village, whose militaristic leader points you towards your main objective with only a vague mention of going ‘north east’. You have to dig out your compass to get a grasp on your position, as you try and navigate towards, and identify, the next location based on this information.  The lack of quest markers makes the experience more involving, as you have to pay more attention to your surroundings and what characters say, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the story or writing. It’s something which will hopefully become more engrossing as you get a better grasp of what’s going on, but I wish I was drawn to interact with the characters based on something beyond the need to progress.  When you are exploring aimlessly though, Hell Is Us offers some captivating chaos – even if some areas did appear to be gated off. We fought our way to the aforementioned swirling black vortex, encountering enemies beyond our skill level, only to find it was inaccessible due to not having a specific item. We later found an underground tunnel filled with enemies, where an individual connected to a side0quest was trapped at the other end.  Surprises lurk in the marshesAlong with these open areas, Hell Is Us also offers dungeons built around puzzles and combat encounters. Aside from the opening introduction, we were shown a later example in the Lymbic Forge, which offered a nice dose of visual variety, with flowery gardens surrounding the boggy marshes. We didn’t get a whole lot of time to explore, but it did highlight the breadth of the combat upgrades and customisation with late-game weapons.  Hell Is Us is a melting pot of influences, and while we’re not sold on everything it’s trying to accomplish, it’s certainly another AA game with big, exciting ambitions – a trend amplified this year by the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. For the game’s director, who has a long history in the AAA space working at Eidos Montreal, the jump to AA, with a smaller team and less financial pressure, means you have a better chance of striking gold.  More Trending ‘Look at what’s happened to the industry over the past few years,’ Jacques-Belletête said. ‘Everything is crumbling. The big ones are crumbling. It’s unsustainable. And the games are so bloody bland, man. Everything is starting to taste the same.  ‘I find there’s nothing worse than starting a game and right away, in the first two minutes, you know how everything’s going to work. You know how every single mechanic is going to work. They might have a littlein how it’s going to feel, or this and that, the user interface will change a bit, but you’ve gone through the ropes a dozen times.  ‘A game has to occupy a space in your brain that your brain can’t really compute just yet. When you turn your console off and it stays there, that’s because something is going on. Your brain is processing. And I think that’s a lot easier to do in the AA space than the AAA.’ Formats: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PCPrice: £49.99Publisher: NaconDeveloper: Rogue FactorRelease Date: 4th September 2025Age Rating: 16 The combat itEmail gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy #hell #handson #preview #aaa #games
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    Hell Is Us hands-on preview: ‘AAA games are so bloody bland’
    Hell Is Us – not a Ubisoft adventure (Nacon) GameCentral goes hands-on with an original sci-fi action adventure where the emphasis is on unguided exploration, with some throwback Zelda inspirations. You might already have heard the name Hell Is Us, as the game was first announced way back in April 2022. We previewed the sci-fi tinged adventure title, developed by Rogue Factor, for the first time last year but now it’s now on the home-straight, with a launch slated for September 4, and it’s shaping up to be a peculiar but intriguing mix of influences and ideas. Our original preview covered the opening portion of the game, so we’ll avoid recycling the same beats here. But for the general gist, you play as a United Nations peacekeeper named Rémi who absconds to the war-torn country of Hadea to track down his parents. A stroll through the tutorial woods later, however, and you realise this isn’t your average civil war.  If you’re a fan of Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the strange, faceless alien from the film’s conclusion seems to have been a major influence here. The Hollow Walkers, as they’re called, are very creepy, as they lurch towards you unpredictably, with morphing limbs which give way to vivid, crystallised attacks or, in some cases, attached entities you have to kill first. Their glossy white exteriors act as a stark contrast to the muted eastern European landscapes and dungeons you explore.  As a game, Hell Is Us is somewhere between Bloodborne and The Elder Scrolls. Combat wise, it’s pulling from the former, as you manage a stamina bar, study enemy patterns for the best moment to strike, and rely on aggressive play to replenish a magic gauge for special skills. You also have access to a drone which has various uses tied to cooldown meters, between distracting enemies for crowd control andmaking a charging lunge to dash across the field.  Rogue Factor has stressed Hell Is Us isn’t a Soulslike though. You’re not scrambling for bonfires or any equivalent, but exploring and chatting with characters to piece together where you need to go next, discovering new places of interest, and encountering side objectives which bleed into the overall experience of navigating each semi-open world area. The ethos behind Hell Is Us is discovery and the organic feeling of finding your feet through clues in the world, rather than using obvious quest markers.  This might bring to mind acclaimed games like Elden Ring and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, in their attempt to declutter open world exploration, but the game’s director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, believes the roots of what Hell Is Us is aiming for goes much further back. A cosmic horror vibe (Nacon) ‘Honestly, something like Zelda: A Link To The Past is much closer to what we’re doing now than a Breath Of The Wild,’ said Jacques-Belletête. ‘Sometimes people are like: ‘I really can’t put my finger on what kind of game it is, what is it?’ It’s just a bloody adventure game man. Look, you’ve got a combat system, you’ve got enemies, you’ve got a world to explore, there’s a mystery, you’re not exactly sure of this and that, there’s some secrets, there’s some dungeons, we did a game like that. It’s called an adventure game,’ he laughs. ‘There were even side-quests in A Link To The Past that didn’t tell you they were side-quests.’ Hell Is Us might have roots in classic adventure games but Jacques-Belletête, is keen to highlight the fatigue around Ubisoft style open world bloat, where checklists and quest markers are traditionally used in abundance. With the success of Elden Ring, there’s a sense many players are craving a return to the hands-off approach, where you discover and navigate without guidance – something which Hell Is Us is hoping to capitalise on after being in development for five years.  ‘It’s so much of the same thing,’ he says, when talking about Ubisoft style open worlds. ‘It loses all meaning. Things within these open worlds lose a lot of their taste because too much is like not enough. Do you know what I mean? You have to fill up these spaces with stuff and they just become a bit bland. Like once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them.  ‘It’s not Assassin’s Creed, it’s not that, it’s all these things. We’ve all played them. I’ve got hundreds of hours in Elder Scrolls, all the Elder Scrolls, and that’s not the point. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just trends do their time and then you have other ideas. It’s a pendulum as well. Games used to be a lot more hardcore that way, we’re trying to go back to that.’ The crux of my time in Hell Is Us is spent in the Acasa Marshes, the second semi-open area where the game lets you off the leash. The swampy lands are crawling with Hollow Walkers in various forms, from hulking monstrosities to mage-like foes that hurl projectiles from clifftops. A swirling black vortex is a key focal point but it’s surrounded by enemies, while a settlement of villagers sits on a hill in the distance.  According to the developer, this area is one of the largest areas in the game, ‘if not the biggest one’, and it seems pretty expansive. We found ourselves heading towards the village, whose militaristic leader points you towards your main objective with only a vague mention of going ‘north east’. You have to dig out your compass to get a grasp on your position, as you try and navigate towards, and identify, the next location based on this information.  The lack of quest markers makes the experience more involving, as you have to pay more attention to your surroundings and what characters say, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the story or writing. It’s something which will hopefully become more engrossing as you get a better grasp of what’s going on, but I wish I was drawn to interact with the characters based on something beyond the need to progress.  When you are exploring aimlessly though, Hell Is Us offers some captivating chaos – even if some areas did appear to be gated off. We fought our way to the aforementioned swirling black vortex, encountering enemies beyond our skill level, only to find it was inaccessible due to not having a specific item. We later found an underground tunnel filled with enemies, where an individual connected to a side0quest was trapped at the other end.  Surprises lurk in the marshes (Nacon) Along with these open areas, Hell Is Us also offers dungeons built around puzzles and combat encounters. Aside from the opening introduction, we were shown a later example in the Lymbic Forge, which offered a nice dose of visual variety, with flowery gardens surrounding the boggy marshes. We didn’t get a whole lot of time to explore, but it did highlight the breadth of the combat upgrades and customisation with late-game weapons.  Hell Is Us is a melting pot of influences, and while we’re not sold on everything it’s trying to accomplish, it’s certainly another AA game with big, exciting ambitions – a trend amplified this year by the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. For the game’s director, who has a long history in the AAA space working at Eidos Montreal, the jump to AA, with a smaller team and less financial pressure, means you have a better chance of striking gold.  More Trending ‘Look at what’s happened to the industry over the past few years,’ Jacques-Belletête said. ‘Everything is crumbling. The big ones are crumbling. It’s unsustainable. And the games are so bloody bland, man. Everything is starting to taste the same.  ‘I find there’s nothing worse than starting a game and right away, in the first two minutes, you know how everything’s going to work. You know how every single mechanic is going to work. They might have a little [extra] in how it’s going to feel, or this and that, the user interface will change a bit, but you’ve gone through the ropes a dozen times.  ‘A game has to occupy a space in your brain that your brain can’t really compute just yet. When you turn your console off and it stays there, that’s because something is going on. Your brain is processing. And I think that’s a lot easier to do in the AA space than the AAA.’ Formats: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PCPrice: £49.99Publisher: NaconDeveloper: Rogue FactorRelease Date: 4th September 2025Age Rating: 16 The combat it(Nacon) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy
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  • Giant boulder on clifftop in Tonga was carried by a 50-metre-high wave

    Martin Köhler stands in front of the Maka Lahi boulder in TongaMartin Köhler/University of Queensland
    A 1200-tonne boulder in Tonga was swept inland when a 50-metre-high wave slammed into a 30-metre-tall cliff.
    “This is not just a boulder; it’s the biggest wave-lifted boulder ever found on a cliff and the third largest boulder in the world, so it really needed gigantic forces to move it that far across such a high place,” says Martin Köhler at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
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    While the boulder has long been known to some locals as Maka Lahi, which means large rock, it had never before been studied by scientists.
    Köhler and his colleagues were conducting fieldwork in Tonga in July 2024 looking for boulders deposited by tsunamis on cliffs. On their final day in the Pacific nation, villagers told them of a boulder they may wish to see.
    “We were definitely not expecting to find such a large boulder basically during the very last minute of our fieldwork and I knew quite quickly that this was a major discovery,” says Köhler.

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    At 14 metres long, 12 metres wide and nearly 7 metres high, it was a “very striking” boulder, he says, made of coral reef limestone breccia. It had eluded previous searches for possible tsunami boulders in satellite images as it had vegetation growing all over the top of it and forest around it.
    After seeing the boulder, the researchers were able to find a massive gash in the clifftop above the ocean, 200 metres away, from which they think the rock was torn.
    Next, the team used computer models to determine how such a large boulder, so high above sea level, could be moved so far inland.
    Shifting it would have required a wave with a minimum height of 50 metres and a 90-second period, meaning it would have taken a minute and a half to pass and had flow speeds of over 22 metres per second, says Köhler. It is thought that such an enormous tsunami may have been relatively localised and caused by a nearby underwater landslip.
    Dating revealed an age of 6891 years, thousands of years before human settlement of the island.
    “It was, for me, hard to believe that it was a 50-metre wave because we hadn’t really seen or known of such a large wave before,” says Köhler. “But if you think that this massive boulder is sitting 200 metres inland on a 39-metre-high cliff, then it’s easier to understand.”
    Only two tsunami-deposited boulders that have been found on land are bigger: the Obiishi rock on Shimoji-shima, Japan, which weighs 3400 tonnes, and Maui rock, which is also on Tonga, which weighs 1500 tonnes.
    Journal reference:Marine Geology DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107567
    Topics:geology
    #giant #boulder #clifftop #tonga #was
    Giant boulder on clifftop in Tonga was carried by a 50-metre-high wave
    Martin Köhler stands in front of the Maka Lahi boulder in TongaMartin Köhler/University of Queensland A 1200-tonne boulder in Tonga was swept inland when a 50-metre-high wave slammed into a 30-metre-tall cliff. “This is not just a boulder; it’s the biggest wave-lifted boulder ever found on a cliff and the third largest boulder in the world, so it really needed gigantic forces to move it that far across such a high place,” says Martin Köhler at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Advertisement While the boulder has long been known to some locals as Maka Lahi, which means large rock, it had never before been studied by scientists. Köhler and his colleagues were conducting fieldwork in Tonga in July 2024 looking for boulders deposited by tsunamis on cliffs. On their final day in the Pacific nation, villagers told them of a boulder they may wish to see. “We were definitely not expecting to find such a large boulder basically during the very last minute of our fieldwork and I knew quite quickly that this was a major discovery,” says Köhler. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month. Sign up to newsletter At 14 metres long, 12 metres wide and nearly 7 metres high, it was a “very striking” boulder, he says, made of coral reef limestone breccia. It had eluded previous searches for possible tsunami boulders in satellite images as it had vegetation growing all over the top of it and forest around it. After seeing the boulder, the researchers were able to find a massive gash in the clifftop above the ocean, 200 metres away, from which they think the rock was torn. Next, the team used computer models to determine how such a large boulder, so high above sea level, could be moved so far inland. Shifting it would have required a wave with a minimum height of 50 metres and a 90-second period, meaning it would have taken a minute and a half to pass and had flow speeds of over 22 metres per second, says Köhler. It is thought that such an enormous tsunami may have been relatively localised and caused by a nearby underwater landslip. Dating revealed an age of 6891 years, thousands of years before human settlement of the island. “It was, for me, hard to believe that it was a 50-metre wave because we hadn’t really seen or known of such a large wave before,” says Köhler. “But if you think that this massive boulder is sitting 200 metres inland on a 39-metre-high cliff, then it’s easier to understand.” Only two tsunami-deposited boulders that have been found on land are bigger: the Obiishi rock on Shimoji-shima, Japan, which weighs 3400 tonnes, and Maui rock, which is also on Tonga, which weighs 1500 tonnes. Journal reference:Marine Geology DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107567 Topics:geology #giant #boulder #clifftop #tonga #was
    WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM
    Giant boulder on clifftop in Tonga was carried by a 50-metre-high wave
    Martin Köhler stands in front of the Maka Lahi boulder in TongaMartin Köhler/University of Queensland A 1200-tonne boulder in Tonga was swept inland when a 50-metre-high wave slammed into a 30-metre-tall cliff. “This is not just a boulder; it’s the biggest wave-lifted boulder ever found on a cliff and the third largest boulder in the world, so it really needed gigantic forces to move it that far across such a high place,” says Martin Köhler at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Advertisement While the boulder has long been known to some locals as Maka Lahi, which means large rock, it had never before been studied by scientists. Köhler and his colleagues were conducting fieldwork in Tonga in July 2024 looking for boulders deposited by tsunamis on cliffs. On their final day in the Pacific nation, villagers told them of a boulder they may wish to see. “We were definitely not expecting to find such a large boulder basically during the very last minute of our fieldwork and I knew quite quickly that this was a major discovery,” says Köhler. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month. Sign up to newsletter At 14 metres long, 12 metres wide and nearly 7 metres high, it was a “very striking” boulder, he says, made of coral reef limestone breccia. It had eluded previous searches for possible tsunami boulders in satellite images as it had vegetation growing all over the top of it and forest around it. After seeing the boulder, the researchers were able to find a massive gash in the clifftop above the ocean, 200 metres away, from which they think the rock was torn. Next, the team used computer models to determine how such a large boulder, so high above sea level, could be moved so far inland. Shifting it would have required a wave with a minimum height of 50 metres and a 90-second period, meaning it would have taken a minute and a half to pass and had flow speeds of over 22 metres per second, says Köhler. It is thought that such an enormous tsunami may have been relatively localised and caused by a nearby underwater landslip. Dating revealed an age of 6891 years, thousands of years before human settlement of the island. “It was, for me, hard to believe that it was a 50-metre wave because we hadn’t really seen or known of such a large wave before,” says Köhler. “But if you think that this massive boulder is sitting 200 metres inland on a 39-metre-high cliff, then it’s easier to understand.” Only two tsunami-deposited boulders that have been found on land are bigger: the Obiishi rock on Shimoji-shima, Japan, which weighs 3400 tonnes, and Maui rock, which is also on Tonga, which weighs 1500 tonnes. Journal reference:Marine Geology DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107567 Topics:geology
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  • Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer - Official Launch Trailer

    Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer is a point-and-click urban thriller developed by Clifftop Games. Take a look at the official launch trailer here.
    #kathy #rain #soothsayer #official #launch
    Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer - Official Launch Trailer
    Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer is a point-and-click urban thriller developed by Clifftop Games. Take a look at the official launch trailer here. #kathy #rain #soothsayer #official #launch
    GAMERANT.COM
    Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer - Official Launch Trailer
    Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer is a point-and-click urban thriller developed by Clifftop Games. Take a look at the official launch trailer here.
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