I Hate This Place Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, & PC)

Every so often, a new game comes up that has very high hopes of becoming a staggering success. Just based on its trailer, it already paves the way to potentially leave a lasting impression on you. Unfortunately, that initial high expectation proves to be a double-edged sword, cutting sharply at the game’s first impressions and final review than if you were to approach the game with an open mind. 

For I Hate This Place, it just might suffer the fate of painting a success story way before its launch, one that doesn’t quite live up to its initial hype. But even as I try to remove any preconceived bias, walking you step by step through all you can expect from a complete playthrough, I’ll leave the final judgment of whether to pick this one up for yourself totally up to you. 

Today, we break down all there is to love (or dislike) about the newest indie survival horror in town, a thorough I Hate This Place review that leaves no stone unturned.

For the Love of Comics

Comic books have long been a source of comfort and entertainment for many folks. And their adaptations in film and gaming only serve as an extension of their beloved lore and rich stories. For I Hate This Place, it adapts a comic book miniseries of the same name, which you may or may not have read before. Either way, the game’s story is totally all-new, featuring protagonist Elena’s exploration of the comic book’s setting.  

We kick off our journey into a remote farmhouse, strangely put up in a haunted place. It’s unclear why anyone would choose to live here or when exactly the hauntings began. But it sure does pique your interest when Elena recruits the help of her friend, Lou, in setting up a ritual that will reveal the fate of her long-lost mother. A ritual that instigates communication with the evil god, the Horned Man, who seems to be at the center of all the horrific events and experiments around Elena’s farmhouse.

Of All That is Strange

This mysterious aura in the setup is further enhanced by the comic book aesthetic I Hate This Place borrows from its source material. A stylish, pop-up of color and cel-shaded 1980s aesthetic. While alluring, it also captures a brooding atmosphere about something sinister looming in the imminent future. This isn’t a place to be vacationing. Rather, one to be extremely wary of everything around you. To be alert, gather clues prominently, and get out of here as soon as possible. 

And bringing it all together are the creatures that roam around the place. The mutated spiders of varying sizes that spring up on you and devour your insides. The ghost deer that lie in wait, tearing Elena apart on sight. There are also plant-based pulsating veins that will grab you and drag you down to an early grave. All of the hostile creatures in I Hate This Place make this place dangerous to be leisurely walking around, and the sound effects double down on that with the eerie monster gnarls and rustling leaves you hear through the night.

“Horror” in Survival Horror

I can’t lie, I Hate This Place has cooked something here that reels you in. A striking comic book art style, but set within a dark, definitely haunted place to fear. But while the sound and visuals do their part in letting you into the farmhouse’s horrific events, the gameplay fails to keep your attention lingering on for too long. Take the stealth mechanic, for instance. It makes sense that on the onset of your exploration, you only have a few resources, food, health items, ammo, and all, to spare. And since enemies are most keen to sound, you can get by sneaking past them.

Crouching is often the go-to for making the least sound. But you have to keep an eye out for items in the environment that could reveal your position: broken glass shards, mud… They all come with accompanying comic book onomatopoeias, whether squishing or crunching sounds, which I found most immersive to have been included in the gameplay. But the stealth itself doesn’t quite reach its full potential. If you made a mistake and stepped on glass, for example, panic definitely sets in. But only for a short moment, as the solutions for getting out of trouble are a little too… easy?

Fight or Flight?

The choice is simple when you have little ammo: flight. And most enemies will be easy to get away from. Simply make it to the next room, and you’ll be out of reach. And fight when you begin stockpiling ammo, which will become more and more accessible later on. Thus, stealth in I Hate This Place seems more of a bypass solution to a problem that is solved later in the game. As soon as you get your hands on more ammo, there’s little point in stealth. It beats the whole purpose of “horror” in survival horror. That constant sense of danger or threat feels dry. I’d even go as far as to say that very little is scary in I Hate This Place. 

Perhaps it’d have been better if fighting felt rewarding. But the combat system is clunky. Aiming feels awkward, and firing at enemies isn’t always accurate. Thus, emptying rounds of ammo is almost always a guarantee. It gets frustrating when enemies absorb damage. And even more when you realize that to take them down, you need to get around them and fire on their weak spot. By then, spiders will have charged at you and pinned you down, because their most effective way to kill you is through melee. And you guessed it, melee Elena’s your strongest suit, what with the baseball bat flailing aimlessly. 

Up Looking Down

Perhaps the awkwardness has to do with the isometric view and camera angles. Having a top-down perspective is actually pretty brave of Rock Square Thunder and Bloober Team, given that most survival horror games opt for third-person perspectives. I just wish that combat were smoother, giving you accurate aim and a clear view of enemies. 

Scavenging for Parts

“Survival” is, in fact, in I Hate This Place’s genre description. But, I found it like an afterthought to the gameplay. Not certainly in size, as survival does take up a decent chunk of your playthrough. The farmhouse is your home base, and Elena will often go out in surrounding areas, bunkers, and dungeons, where she’ll fight enemies, find story clues, gather resources, and return to craft useful items like weapons and food. There’s a day/night cycle, where days are safer to be exploring, and night cycles have less visibility, thus more danger.

With crafting stations set up, though, resources like food and ammo become easier to manufacture. And suddenly, going out to explore, whether day or night, doesn’t seem to be that dangerous. You have a food meter, which, when drained, lowers your stamina meter, and that makes movement slow, and actions like swinging your baseball bat weak. But the food meter is pretty generous, especially with more food in your inventory. 

It’s at this point that even the story begins to show its cracks. Climactic moments don’t land as heavily as they should. Some are tucked away in side quests that you might miss. Or they may end up getting locked out of progression when you advance the main story. While it’s nice to have full voice acting, they can overlap text bubbles or simply be dull. A story that started on a high note ends up losing momentum in its themes, characters, and overall punchline.

Verdict

I can see why Elena hates her family’s farmhouse. It’s taken her mother years before, and now her friend, Lou. This time, Elena sticks around, investigating the sinister force behind the disappearances and haunted events happening around her home. But while the story starts on a high note, full of mystery and intrigue, it loses momentum and leaves you craving for more. It doesn’t help that the environments, while dark and broody, aren’t at all scary. Neither are the enemies, who quickly become an annoyance to avoid or fight. 

It’s not all downhill from the onset. I Hate This Place definitely hit the nail on the head when it came to creating a survival horror different from the ones we’re used to. It uses a striking comic book art style with a 1980s aesthetic that feels warm and nostalgic. The sound effects and music are delightful, while the isometric view further carves out a unique spot for this new hidden gem. If the gameplay can be further finessed to actually feel satisfying. The kind of stealth system that has your skin tingling with fear and dread, and the combat that keeps you coming back for more, I Hate This Place might accrue a bigger interest from survival horror fans than it currently has.