Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin, comicbook writers and artists, teamed up to create a dark and vibrant world with the vibes of the 80s, I Hate This Place. The comic has won awards and now found a new home in the world of interactive entertainment. Broken Mirror Games have brought I Hate This Place to life, and were awesome to allow me the chance to check it out!
I Hate This Place follows Elena. Returning home to her aunt’s ranch, Elena’s friend conducted a ritual to summon the Horned Man, a god. During the ritual, Elena’s friend goes missing, and now she must find her while trying to survive as the land around the rance is no longer safe.
Now, onto the game itself! When it comes to the controls, it took me a little bit to learn them, as there’s no tutorial, which is a bummer. I also don’t like that there’s no way to turn the vibration of the controller off.
The soundtrack is decent with 80s synth music, which matches the visual vibes. The voice acting is good, and you can tell it’s real people voicing the characters. I love the art of the game! The colors help give the look and feel of it being a living comic book. I love the visuals appearing on the screen, showing sounds. The art of the characters and creatures works well for the world that’s been created.
Gameplay-wise, the game is a crafting survival game at its core. You gather items you find in the world to craft weapons and to build outposts in the woods to survive. You have to keep Elena fed if you want her to be able to run or to swing her melee weapons fast. There’s also a day/night cycle, which will affect the dangers you’ll face on and around the ranch. You have to pick your battles and use stealth to avoid some enemies. Exploring, you’ll find blueprints for weapons, items, and buildings.
Overall, I’m having a lot of fun playing I Hate This Place, and dare I say, I’m actually considering checking out the comics now! Visually, it’s great, gameplay is fun, the voice acting brings the story to life, and the soundtrack might scratch the itch for those who love 80s music. On my scale of 1-10, I give I Hate This Place an 8.5, as there really needs to be a tutorial level at the start of the game, and it could use a difficulty setting. The game is not hard, but it would be nice to have a Story Mode.
I Hate This Place comes out on January 29th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
