XBOX REVIEW | I Hate This Place

From the artwork on the splash screen to the Stranger Things-inspired 80’s synth track on the title screen, I Hate This Place doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t. Let’s delve into the story just a little bit and give you an idea of what the game is about before we get stuck into the review. Oh, but stay quiet; you never know what is listening…

You play as Elena, a young woman who has managed to get herself stuck in the middle of nowhere with her friend Lou who wants to perform a ritual to summon a Horned God… Still with me? Ok, so things go wrong, as they so often do, and you begin your hunt for your friend in an underground bunker filled with failed experiments, but that’s not all this world has in store for Elena; she will have to deal with mutations, ghosts, spiders, deer and more in her quest.

What is the reason for all of this? Well, Elena lives in the most haunted area in the land, Rutherford Ranch, and she must now find out why all these cults, supernatural occurrences and mad scientist shenanigans are happening.
That might be a lot of information to take in, but that is basically what you find out in the first hour of the game and while you might think “story based game should be simple right?’ the game throws you straight in at the deep end with very little in the way of an explanation other than what you learn from the NPC’s scattered around. You will not get much of a break, you will need to learn stealth and you will need to craft to survive. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this is a crafting game too, where you can gather resources to make yourself a more dangerous target for your enemies. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Well let’s get into the review.

Things I liked!

• Story | The story behind I Hate This Place is really quite interesting; it brings you into this world that is a mixture of supernatural, sci-fi and cosmic horror, which was apparently based on the comic series of the same name. I say ‘apparently’ because I had never heard of it before, but now I’m quite interested to see what the series is like. You play, as I mentioned before, as Elena, who gets dropped right in the centre of this bizarre series of events and takes it extremely well for someone being threatened by monsters and what have you. Throughout your adventures, you will find snippets of story which help to create the lore and keep things interesting, as do the NPCs who fill in even more of what might be happening. Throughout all of this is a central task of finding your best friend, who disappears suddenly at the start of the game, but that actually falls by the wayside when you consider everything else. There is a lot of story to discover in the world of I Hate This Place, and it’s a lot of fun to discover.

• Graphics | From the backgrounds to the character design, I Hate This Place has an aesthetic which takes pride in its comic origins; the cartoonish aspects don’t detract at all from the horror that the game depicts; in fact, I would say it enhances the experience somewhat. Even the creatures you encounter look amazing in all of their weirdly mutated glory. Another aspect that was brought over from the comics is the inclusion of onomatopoeic words appearing, which help you in your quest to be as stealthy as possible, showing off noises like the thunk of your footsteps, the squelch of tentacles under your feet, and so much more. It’s actually weird to be talking about sounds graphically, but here we are. The environments are well thought out too, with as much character in your surroundings as there is in the characters themselves, and there is a lot to discover as you make your way through this bizarre world.
  
  
• Sound | Sound plays quite a big role in I Hate This Place; if you want to survive, you have to learn to be very quiet from the get-go. In terms of sound design, though, there has been a lot of effort put into making the world of the game seem dangerous, ominous and a little squelchy in some parts. The sounds of the creatures are really eerie, up until the point where they notice you, and from there, the shrieks and various other danger noises will hit that panic response extremely well. The music of the game is quite Stranger Things in tone at the start, but comes into its own as you progress through the game. The addition of the onomatopoeic graphics for the sounds helps a lot for someone like me who isn’t the best at stealth, and it also paves the way for an interesting method of giving inclusivity for the hard of hearing among us who might prefer this style to the usual subtitle method.
  
  
• Gameplay | Now, as I have mentioned previously, I am not great when it comes to stealth in games; in fact, I prefer to run in with my chainsaw revving and screaming curses at my monstrous enemies. However, in this game, I quickly learnt that stealth is the only way you will survive, but it handles stealth in such a uniquely fun way that I found myself watching for every little noise to ensure my survival for just a while longer. A game that can make me care about stealth has done something right. Mind you, I do still have a habit of spotting a lone creature and spending all my ammo on it before facepalming and reloading the previous save from time to time. Another aspect of the gameplay is the crafting. You need to craft your weapons and healing items in order to survive, and you even have a home base on Rutherton Ranch where you can create your base of operations and design even more powerful weapons and such to help you battle when you need to.

Mixed & disliked!

• Bugs | Unfortunately, I Hate This Place is not without its bugs, and no, I don’t mean the giant spiders or the enigmatic Mr Bug of the paranormal world either. There are times when enemies get stuck in pillars or objects, rendering them unable to move, which is fine if you want an easy life, but sometimes it’s exactly where you need to go. Other times if you enter and exit a room too quickly by accident, you will be met with a blank screen and will need to reset the game to get back in, which sucks if you haven’t saved for a while, so save often if you don’t want to retrace your steps too much. On occasion, as well, you will find some enemies refuse to lie down and die even after you have unloaded multiple shotgun blasts into them. I don’t know if it’s by design or not, but after killing a similar enemy shortly beforehand, it just seems like something might have gone a wee bit wrong in the code. Other than that though, there aren’t too many issues I could really mention.

How long to beat the story? 6 Hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 6-9 Hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Darkwood, Don’t Starve

CONCLUSION

Score: 92/100

Quietly grab your baseball bat and supplies and sneak your way into this gem of a game; even if, like me, you aren’t much into stealth, you will find yourself relishing those moments of tension where you have to sneak past a man-made cosmic horror in order to cut off someone’s arm to progress. I Hate This Place wasn’t on my radar, but I’m glad I got to play it, and if the comic’s story is anything like the game, then I think I might just have to grab a couple of issues and start reading. All in all, a fun adventure with a lot to offer if you let it.