I Hate This Place

You know what? I don’t really hate this place. I don’t even dislike it. But, it certainly feels like a house you renovated for two years, moved in, then started realizing how many of the small details aren’t finished, and how some of the plans don’t really fit in. Skirting boards are missing, you don’t have all the lighting, paint is botched around the windows, there are a few weird black spots on your bathroom tiles, and that space under the stairs doesn’t really make sense now. Except, when you drink your first morning coffee in it, gazing through your new glass wall into your backyard, the coziness of it all overtakes you, stifling that nagging voice in the back silently screaming “It’s not finished!” for a bit. That’s the dazzling veneer comic book vibe slapping me from this, until that coffee buzz wears off. Good thing there’s always more coffee the next morning. Based on the comic book of the same name, I Hate This Place, it superbly nails the colorful, sharp, comic style, including the “sounds” popping up on the screen as thuds, crunches, and bangs. And yet, it still manages to convey the dread, repulsiveness, and the oppressive ambience of a place supposedly cursed by an entity called the Horned Man. Hating this place gets off to a good start, crawling through an abandoned bunker, your first meet up a weird, but friendly, cultist with a deer skull on his head, and all your next ones different mutated creatures. Some of them give out too many crunchy hugs if you get close. Elation at acquiring a gun rather early evaporates faster than a cigarette after a nookie when you realize you might as well be throwing frozen peas at the mutants. Thankfully, most of them are blind, love punching, react only to sound, and can be avoided. Considering they all absorb damage like the T-1000 before you get better weapons, that’s a good thing. It also puts the emphasis on stealth, tin cans, and scrounging, making for some hair raising encounters. Spider lovers can also rejoice, there’s many of them, they have eyes where they shouldn’t, aren’t blind, and are pretty much disturbing on all levels. Also, watch out for deer in the night. Crawling out of the first bunker gets you to Rutherford Ranch, your main base of operations for the entire game. Weirdly, you can’t enter the bunker again, but I’ll guess it must be some kind of tutorial PTSD. The ranch is where you find out a bit more about the backstory, and its significance. As you progress, you’ll uncover bizarre cults, atrocious experiments, and your own connection to it all. Bunking at the ranch also opens up the survival and crafting loop integral to the game, which will eventually make that T-1000 look like a discarded toothpick compared to you. It’s a bit of a sad thing that all this requires only running around, combined with a little bit of time wasting. Having an unlimited supply of, well, everything, kind of makes the survival aspect trivial. You do have a hunger bar, but I emptied it on purpose, and you only lose stamina, your health bar doesn’t drain. So I sat there practicing an extended fast, waiting for buildings to complete, then stuffed myself with so much vegetable soup I turned vegan on the spot. Seriously, I didn’t touch meat the entire game, you’ll get it. I also walked around with so many bandages the ancient Egyptians would be jealous. When you get access to ammo crafting, you can imagine what happens. It just becomes a crafting thumb twirling, waiting for the cycles to complete, so you can go Rambo the enemies, while looking for your next story hit, or a blueprint you’re missing. You can throw tactics out the window when your backpack is full of lead. The narrative beats are good, and as far as I can tell, having never read the comic, it doesn’t follow it, but makes its own story inside the same world. It’s too short of a game for any significant deep dives into lore, particularly for the Horned Man, but it still has enough to make it satisfying. There are enough documents, wall graffiti, dead bodies, and NPC side quests to make it more than presentable, and even spine chilling at some moments. A lore twist, if I got that right, also anchors all the people that die around the ranch as ghosts, and gives you a few quests to solve their demise, which made for some good story vignettes. I believe the world map, and the game area, deserve a special mention. It’s not large, but is crackingly well made, and feels like a truly cursed, but alive location. There’s no autosave, but it’s solved with plenty of well placed save points that blend seamlessly into the world. It also includes a few smartly placed boat fast travel points, which ease the burden of walking around. You also unlock the map as you progress by repairing bridges to new areas, and getting access to new items. There were some technical issues at the time of writing. The voiced over dialogues sometimes just don’t play, and the writing doesn’t always equal the spoken word. I had one NPC triple himself, but my first thought was that it was intentional because of weird things happening in the story, which was hilarious. Thankfully, that didn’t mess up the original NPC. There’s also a certain tentacled enemy that respawns which has way more awareness than it should, and also tends to clip through other objects to snag you. Stealth mechanics mostly work, but I do get the feeling that you sometimes get spotted way off screen, which is slightly annoying. And I got stuck at the ranch house a few times because the exit prompt wouldn’t show up. Reloading the game fixed it everytime. The most annoying technical issue is likely the inability to rebind keys. Back to that unfinished house renovation, and coffee highs. The indie effort put into the game is more than visible, even with most of it seemingly going into the presentation side. I enjoyed what’s there, even with all the faults, because the vibes are almost immaculate in their horror coziness. There’s a good light survival and crafting game underneath all the tentacles here. I think most of the mechanical and technical issues can be solved and fixed, even the survival ones. I do believe the entry price is too high though. A lower price would more than likely open it to many more players, who potentially wouldn’t wait for a future sale, considering the mixed reception. Particularly because it’s not a bad game, it just needs some skirting boards. P.S. Is it just me or does Elena always sound like she also doesn’t really hate this place? [quote]More off the beaten path games, wonders and failures at the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37838664/][b]Cabinet of Curiosities[/b][/url].[/quote] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30168383][b]Follow the Average Achievement Hunter Curator for reviews and useful information on Steam achievements[/b][/url]: I believe there’s only one truly missable achievement, the ghost stories one. There’s a thread in the discussions with the correct answers for it. I think the blueprints you can find in the first bunker can be acquired later, but just to be sure, explore the first bunker thoroughly. The rest can be acquired during the story. Just don’t finish the main quest before getting all of them.

I'd like to preface this with the following: I Hate This Place is a great game with great roots in survival and scarcity. Every enemy encounter feels like and actually is life-or-death. The stealth is on point and there are times when hunger can easily become a genuine issue which I would say is rare in survival horror. I've never been so happy to find a bag of chips! If you like survival horror you will like this game. My critiques, which boil down to: I wish this game was not necessarily longer but had about double the content for the ideas things it's trying to do. - The social interactions are barebones, minimum viable product to move the story along. I wish I could speak to the aunt and uncle just more in general and to any character really. The setting is weird and cool, I want more! - There are basically three enemy templates (Cultist/Deer/Spider) with variations thereupon and that felt thin at times. For a setting that so weird, we could have gotten a LOT weirder with this. - The base building was cool but it didn't have much effect on the gameplay. Sure you can build a livestock barn but by that point, I wasn't going hungry, up to my eyeballs in soup! It's kind of just a nice passive bonus for a game that encourages and enables living of the land.

広めのマップを歩き回り、行方不明になった幼馴染みを探すうちにカルトの陰謀に巻き込まれて…るんだけど、勝手に叔父叔母の牧場でクラフトアイテム作成するぞ！というゲームです。10年前なら面白い、今ならもっといいゲームある。展示会でインタビューに答えたので商品キー頂いていた。 鉱員が閉じ込められて餓死したはずの鉱山に食料が落ちていたり、謎解きが突拍子もない数字の組み合わせだったり、ライフル・サブマシンガン・ショットガンを強化するよりも序盤に手に入る武器が最後まで強くてバランスが劣悪だったり、なんのヒントもなしに「電撃ビリビリで電子機器が回復」ギミックがあったり、ゲーム全体の挙動がおかしかったりする。和訳は自然なんだけど、おそらくAI翻訳なのか、文脈が掴めてないせいで起きるミスが散見される。 珍しいタイプのアートワークだったので気になってはいたが、まあ、唯一無二でもないから…

クリアしたみたらまぁ面白かったかなという印象。 ストアページに「アメコミのド派手さが融合」とあったので撃ちまくり倒しまくりかなと思っていたため、始めの1時間ぐらいは微妙でした。 実際はうまく逃げながら探索をするゲームでした。それを理解してからは面白くなってきました。 途中から基地でファーム・クラフトをできるようになるので難易度はかなり下がると思います。 クエストがどんどん更新されるのでそれをクリアしていく流れだが、移動はまあまあ面倒。 全体の雰囲気は素敵でした。 フレアガン最強。 めちゃ面白いというわけでもありませんが、まあいいゲームなのかなという感想です。 悪いゲームでは無いためセールで2・3000になったら買いかな。

Generic and uninspired. The plot is average at best.

As a Polish player I always feel the need to check out all the new cool games from polish developers. I enjoy the mood and the art. Combat is good as well. The writing is mid, but it plays well on Steam Deck. If you like indie survival horrors, you should like this one as well.

Is the game poorly optimized? Yes Does it bug out making all the enemies Immortal? Yes Was the story and gameplay good? Yes I actually enjoyed this game and the bugs were easily fixed by reloading my save.

Underrated. Reviews are a bit harsh imo. The game is a homage to a comic IP. Honestly, I love the design and how the game plays out. I especially love the art style chosen; I would love to see the devs cook more or even something of their own IP with a similar art style and concept.

В общем мимо. Камеру нельзя вертеть, она постоянно выбирает неудачные ракурсы, карты нормальной нету, мобы спавняться каждый раз когда ты выходишь из комнаты и заходишь обратно, нет смысла их убивать. На стимдеке работает плохо на минималках с просадками и фср. Визуал классный, но сама игра не очень. Менюинг неудобный на геймпаде.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6142328/][b] With 1,500+ reviews, please consider following The Cpt Froggy Club Curator Page for plenty more![/b][/url][/quote] I Hate This Place: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the Rutherford Ranch and its surroundings! A place that our protagonist Elena knows very well, as she used to play there with her friend Lou in her youth. But it's also a strange place, to say the least. Near the ranch, an odd cult with followers who seem to have fallen on hard times worship a god known as the Horned Man. Also, there are rumours that illegal experiments are being performed on people in military bunkers, most likely on the cult followers. And to put icing on the cake, the entire area is infected with terrifying monsters and ghosts. For Elena, what matters is to find out what happened to her mother, who disappeared many years ago. What would you say if you were in her shoes? Probably . . . I Hate This Place! I Hate This Place is an isometric survival horror game with stealth elements and a touch of investigation, developed by Rock Square Thunder and published by Feardemic on the 30 of January 2026, on the Steam platform. I take this opportunity to thank both the developer and the publisher for providing me with a free key through my curator's Steam groups. The game starts with Elena and Lou in the woods. After insisting on showing Elena a place nearby, both arrive in an area where a large symbol is displayed on the grass. Lou initiates a ritual that doesn’t go to plan, vanishing into thin air in the process and leaving Elena alone from that point onwards. The fun starts as Elena enters the first bunker. As Elena does not have many weapons at this point (a gun with limited ammunition and a baseball bat), and the bunker houses a fair few monsters, stealth will probably be your best bet. Most of the monsters will react to sounds, so they'll hear her if she runs or walks on broken glass. Thankfully, she can squat and move slowly. If she makes a little sound, and it will over quickly. Make sure to check her inventory; if she carries cans, she can use them to lure the monster away by throwing them in the opposite direction. After clearing the bunker, you'll be able to access a map of the area and start multiple quests. This brings me to the exploration aspect of the game. The area is of average size. As you meet NPC's, new quests will arise, and Elena will discover new places which will appear on the map as she reaches them. If you decide to follow a specific quest, red question marks will appear on the map to give you hints as to where you might find a person or where to go next. There are plenty of things to find in the world, such as safe houses where you can save your progress and blueprints. You need the blueprints to build stations where you can craft all sorts of items to help Elena survive this ordeal. Make sure to check the bins and destroy the wooden crates, as they contain goodies to collect. However, she needs to be careful about how many goods she carries at any given time, as it will slow her down in the early stages of the game. It becomes irrelevant later on when she can craft the military bag. It's a bit of a shame because I like the fact that she was impeded by carrying too much. I like the day and night sequences all the way through the game, which increase the spooky atmosphere. Most of the crafting stations will take place at the Rutherford Ranch. Make sure to pick up all the blueprints as Elena visits places; you’ll need them to create stations, then craft food, weapons and other goodies. It will take one day in gaming terms to erect a station. You can also craft certain items in the safe houses as long as you have the right number of required elements to do so. I find the combat system mostly adequate, especially with the firearms (gun, rifle, submachine gun, shotgun) and throwing items such as grenades, Molotov cocktails, and dynamites. But I don't like the feel of the melee weapon (baseball bat), as I had a bit of a hard time adjusting the direction; maybe because I used the mouse and keyboard only. I enjoyed the monsters I encountered during my gameplay, but I must admit that they were not difficult to kill, especially in the later stages of the game. There were only a couple of serious encounters with so-called bosses, and only one was a decent foe! I found the story engaging from start to finish. I also enjoyed the few puzzles and riddles thrown at me. The investigation was a surprise, and it came when Elena needed to find out what happened to some of the characters. She revisited the location where the character was killed. Then, the room or area turned red, and, armed with a lamp to destroy the incoming ghosts, Elena needed to collect several pieces of evidence and deduce what happened. The visuals and the eerie feel of the game are very good. I also liked the voice acting, and I must admit I enjoyed my time playing that game, which I finished in 12 hours. Does this game offer good replayability? I am glad to have had the opportunity to play it, but I won't play it again. Twelve hours of gameplay doesn’t warrant the 44 Australian dollars. Positives: ~~~~~~~ + Great visuals + Good voice acting and story + Good selection of weapons + Simple and easy-to-use crafting system + The game runs very well + Achievements Negatives: ~~~~~~~~ - Needs a bigger variety of monsters - Fights with both bosses were too easy - The asking price is a bit high - Quite a short game - No trading cards as yet I Hate This Place has great visuals and runs beautifully. It’s a bit short for the asking price and it needs to be more challenging. 6/10 Key provided by the developer/publisher through my Steam Curator groups for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!