Deus Ex dev's new game has big Control vibes, and it's bound for PS5 and Xbox Series X next year

Hell is Us, the next game from Rogue Factor and publisher Nacon, is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2023.

Former Eidos Montreal art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, who worked on Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is heading up the project, which is giving off big Control energy in its debut trailer. Nacon describes Hell is Us as a third-person, "semi-open world" action-adventure with plenty of high-intensity combat and exploration.

"If war is the closest thing to hell on earth, this is because it is home to the worst demon: humans. In an isolated country devastated by a fratricidal conflict, uncover the secrets of your past and confront a mysterious calamity.

The story takes place in a country ravaged by a violent civil war, compounded by a mysterious calamity that's given rise to supernatural creatures which can't be defeated using normal weapons. Thankfully, you have a wide range of weapons - including swords, spears, axes, and a drone - specifically designed to let you cut right though the chimeras as you try to figure out how they wound up in your world in the first place.

There seems to be a dark, misanthropic philosophy tied to the narrative, which is said to explore "the dark side of human nature." There's even a poem from William Shakespeare at the end of the trailer which reads: 

"Let me have war, say I: it exceeds peace as far as day does night; it's spritely, waking, audible, and full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war's a destroyer of men."

All that said, the first half of the trailer is heavily reminiscent of Control, from the execution sequence to the shape-shifting world. I'll be curious to see how much of that specific brand of weirdness makes it into the final product.

For everything launching this year, check out our guide to new games of 2022.