"History is repeating itself" The real-world inspirations of Hell is Us are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago

“The true horrors of war are a very important narrative pillar of the game. We wanted to do it justice. It’s never done gratuitously, it’s never done in a grotesque way, [but] we want to depict human conflicts as realistically as possible.”

I am speaking with technical designer Simon Girard about Hell is Us, the upcoming action-adventure game from Rogue Factor. In Hell is Us, players take on the role of Rémi, who is searching for his parents in the fictional country of Hadea. However, Hadea is being ravaged by infighting and in the midst of a civil war.

This set up immediately brings to mind the current situation in Gaza, and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, which begs the question: Did real world events inspire Hell is Us?

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“Our creative director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête is a huge history buff, and one of his topics of interest is armed conflict, specifically civil wars, because the nature is of neighbours-against-neighbours,” Girard says of the general civil war theme. “It’s not one country against another. It’s people who are the same, right? They’re divided amongst either geographical or cultural or religious lines, but they’re one in the same.”