12 Best Games Like Hell Is Us for Dark Exploration

What Makes a Game Similar to Hell Is Us?

Hell is Us is a single-player third-person action-adventure developed by Rogue Factor and published by Nacon. The story follows a return to an isolated country damaged by civil conflict, where a personal search intersects with a mysterious calamity and supernatural enemies.

A meaningful alternative should share several defining attributes:

• Third-person exploration: movement through interconnected regions reveals routes, people, landmarks, and story evidence.
• Minimal navigation guidance: observation, remembered directions, conversations, and environmental clues replace constant waypoint dependence.
• Atmospheric worldbuilding: landscapes, ruins, architecture, sound, conflict, and abandoned spaces communicate history.
• Personal mystery: identity, family history, memory, loss, or a past event gives exploration a human purpose.
• Supernatural calamity: monsters or impossible events emerge from a damaged world rather than existing as unrelated enemies.
• Deliberate melee combat: timing, spacing, dodging, defensive reactions, stamina, or enemy patterns shape encounters.
• Souls-like pressure: mistakes carry consequences and enemies reward careful learning.
• Semi-open structure: connected areas support independent investigation without becoming a conventional map-marker sandbox.
• Story-rich campaign: the mystery and conflict remain central alongside combat.
• Environmental puzzles: mechanisms, locations, symbols, objects, or spatial relationships gate progress.
• Dark fantasy or horror: unease, decay, psychological pressure, or supernatural imagery shapes the tone.
• Single-player immersion: the world and narrative are designed around one protagonist’s perspective.

No recommendation reproduces every part of Hell is Us. The games below are ranked by their overlap with its exploration philosophy, third-person action, dark atmosphere, narrative mystery, and supernatural world.

Games Like Hell Is Us at a Glance

1. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

Closest match for: third-person supernatural action, story choices, personal relationships, exploration, and difficult moral decisions
Developer: DON’T NOD
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Release date: February 13, 2024
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action, adventure, and RPG

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is the closest overall alternative because it connects third-person action, supernatural investigation, environmental exploration, and a deeply personal objective. Two ghost hunters face a conflict between their oath to protect the living and the possibility of saving a departed partner.

Haunting cases link individual stories to the wider condition of New Eden. Investigation is therefore not separate from progression. Decisions about the living and the dead shape the narrative and reinforce the relationship between personal grief and supernatural danger.

Combat combines physical and spiritual abilities, while exploration uncovers settlements, wilderness, histories, and optional cases. Hell is Us provides less explicit moral choice and relies more heavily on observation without waypoints.

How Banishers Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action, supernatural calamity, atmospheric exploration, personal history, story-rich progression, dark fantasy, and single-player focus.
• Different: Banishers places more emphasis on dialogue choices, relationship drama, quest cases, and guided RPG progression.
• Choose it if: you want the closest balance of personal mystery, supernatural investigation, and melee action.

2. DARK SOULS III

Closest match for: cryptic worldbuilding, deliberate third-person combat, connected exploration, dark fantasy, bosses, and environmental storytelling
Developer: FromSoftware, Inc.
Publishers: FromSoftware, Inc. and Bandai Namco Entertainment
Release date: March 24, 2016
Modes: Single-player, co-op, and multiplayer
Genres: Action and RPG

DARK SOULS III is the strongest alternative for players who value discovering a damaged world’s history without direct explanation. Ruined kingdoms, enemy placement, architecture, objects, equipment, and short conversations build a fragmented account of what happened.

Combat rewards patience, spacing, stamina management, defensive reactions, and pattern recognition. Major enemies function as both mechanical tests and expressions of the world’s decay.

Hell is Us uses a contemporary conflict and more conventional narrative investigation. DARK SOULS III is more punishing and communicates its story more indirectly, but the relationship between exploration and knowledge gain is especially close.

How DARK SOULS III Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action RPG, Souls-like combat, exploration, atmosphere, connected regions, dark fantasy, bosses, and environmental storytelling.
• Different: DARK SOULS III is harder, more cryptic, and less focused on dialogue or a clearly stated personal investigation.
• Choose it if: uncovering a world through ruins, enemies, and item context is your main priority.

3. Black Myth: Wukong

Closest match for: mythological creatures, cinematic action RPG combat, personal discovery, bosses, dark fantasy, and story-rich progression
Developer and publisher: Game Science
Release date: August 20, 2024
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action, adventure, and RPG

Black Myth: Wukong follows the Destined One through a journey rooted in Chinese mythology. Legendary beings, obscured history, transformations, spells, equipment, and major encounters shape the campaign.

The strongest Hell is Us relationship is the connection between strange inhabitants and a hidden past. Enemies and bosses are not generic obstacles; they emerge from the mythological structure of the world.

Combat is faster and more spectacle-driven, with greater emphasis on bosses, skills, and ability combinations. Exploration supports discovery, but the journey is more combat-led and less dependent on directional conversations or investigative navigation.

How Black Myth: Wukong Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: action RPG combat, supernatural creatures, mystery, story-rich campaign, dark fantasy, exploration, bosses, and single-player focus.
• Different: Black Myth centers on Chinese mythology, cinematic boss combat, and a more directed journey.
• Choose it if: mythological monsters and high-production action are more important than minimal-guidance investigation.

4. WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers

Closest match for: a mysterious illness, warring factions, third-person Souls-like combat, exploration, identity, and dark historical fantasy
Developer: Leenzee
Publisher: 505 Games
Release date: July 24, 2025
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action, adventure, and RPG

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is set in the land of Shu during the late Ming Dynasty, where political collapse and a mysterious illness produce monstrous transformations. The protagonist explores this damaged world while confronting enemies and questions about personal identity.

This creates a close entity relationship with Hell is Us: civil instability, supernatural calamity, missing context, a protagonist’s past, and dangerous semi-open exploration all reinforce one another.

The game follows a harsher Souls-like structure. Weapons, abilities, builds, bosses, and repeated combat attempts receive more emphasis than dialogue-led investigation.

How WUCHANG Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action, Souls-like combat, semi-open exploration, factions, mysterious illness, personal identity, dark fantasy, and story.
• Different: WUCHANG uses late-Ming history, more difficult combat, deeper build systems, and more indirect storytelling.
• Choose it if: you want the closest difficult-action variation on Hell is Us’s conflict-and-calamity premise.

5. Lies of P

Closest match for: third-person Souls-like combat, a ruined city, dark mystery, defensive timing, exploration, and story-rich progression
Developer and publisher: NEOWIZ
Release date: September 19, 2023
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action and RPG

Lies of P reinterprets Pinocchio inside the devastated city of Krat. Mechanical enemies, disease, institutions, deception, and a protagonist’s developing identity form the center of the mystery.

The world is more directed than Hell is Us, but investigation still occurs through streets, interiors, objects, records, characters, and changes in the city. Combat emphasizes guards, perfect defensive timing, dodges, weapon construction, and enemy patterns.

The setting is highly stylized and its systems are more combat-focused. Hell is Us gives navigation and the absence of map guidance a larger role.

How Lies of P Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person Souls-like combat, dark fantasy, personal identity, ruined environments, story-rich mystery, exploration, and single-player play.
• Different: Lies of P uses a Belle Époque puppet setting, more linear progression, and deeper weapon systems.
• Choose it if: defensive timing and a tightly constructed dark-city mystery are your priorities.

6. STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order

Closest match for: third-person swordplay, connected-world exploration, environmental puzzles, personal history, story, and traversal
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release date: November 15, 2019
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action and adventure

STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order follows a former Padawan who must rebuild abilities and confront the consequences of a destroyed order. Several connected worlds contain traversal routes, ancient structures, environmental puzzles, shortcuts, and narrative discoveries.

Its strongest Hell is Us overlap comes from exploration and physical navigation. Progress depends on reading spaces, gaining abilities, returning to earlier locations, and understanding how architecture connects.

Combat uses lightsaber timing, defensive reactions, Force abilities, and enemy patterns. It offers clearer maps and objectives than Hell is Us, and its science-fiction story is less psychologically opaque.

How Jedi: Fallen Order Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action-adventure, swordplay, Souls-like influence, exploration, traversal, puzzles, personal history, and story-rich progression.
• Different: Jedi: Fallen Order uses science fiction, stronger navigation support, ability-gated backtracking, and a more conventional heroic narrative.
• Choose it if: connected exploration and environmental puzzles matter more than horror.

7. Darksiders III

Closest match for: third-person melee, apocalypse, supernatural enemies, action-RPG progression, connected exploration, and bosses
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Release date: November 27, 2018
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action, adventure, and RPG

Darksiders III follows Fury through an apocalyptic Earth in pursuit of the Seven Deadly Sins. Interconnected environments, elemental forms, upgrades, bosses, and supernatural factions drive progress.

The game shares Hell is Us’s relationship between catastrophe and exploration, but it explains its objective and cosmology more directly. Combat uses dodges, weapon forms, abilities, and enemy patterns within a faster hack-and-slash framework.

Environmental abilities also open routes and support backtracking, giving world navigation a mechanical progression layer.

How Darksiders III Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action RPG, apocalypse, supernatural inhabitants, interconnected exploration, dark fantasy, bosses, and single-player campaign.
• Different: Darksiders III is more explicit, faster, more ability-gated, and less focused on realistic conflict or personal investigation.
• Choose it if: combat and supernatural world progression are your preferred Hell is Us attributes.

8. The First Berserker: Khazan

Closest match for: revenge, third-person Souls-like melee, dark fantasy, boss encounters, progression, and a fallen warrior’s history
Developer: Neople
Publisher: NEXON
Release date: March 27, 2025
Mode: Single-player
Genre: Action

The First Berserker: Khazan follows a general who survives downfall and sets out to uncover the events behind betrayal while seeking vengeance.

Its connection to Hell is Us comes from the personal investigation attached to a violent political past. Combat is methodical and demanding, with defensive timing, weapons, progression, and major enemies shaping the campaign.

The game is more mission-based and boss-focused. It provides less freeform environmental investigation, but a stronger pure combat loop.

How The First Berserker: Khazan Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action, Souls-like pressure, dark fantasy, personal past, political conflict, revenge, bosses, and single-player focus.
• Different: Khazan is a mission-based hardcore action RPG with stronger emphasis on repeated combat mastery.
• Choose it if: the fallen-warrior story and difficult melee encounters matter more than semi-open navigation.

9. Bleak Faith: Forsaken

Closest match for: vast interconnected exploration, oppressive atmosphere, lost civilization, action-RPG combat, and environmental history
Developer and publisher: Archangel Studios
Release date: March 10, 2023
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action, adventure, RPG, and indie

Bleak Faith: Forsaken takes place inside the Omnistructure, a vast environment containing remnants of civilization and pockets of natural life. The player explores to understand what remains and find purpose within the world.

Its strongest relationship with Hell is Us is spatial uncertainty. Exploration itself produces knowledge: scale, routes, ruins, hostile inhabitants, and environmental contrasts gradually explain the setting.

The game is more abstract and mechanically rougher in its presentation. Its narrative is less direct, placing greater responsibility on the player to interpret the environment.

How Bleak Faith Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: Souls-like combat, open interconnected exploration, atmospheric worldbuilding, lost history, dark setting, mystery, and single-player immersion.
• Different: Bleak Faith is more abstract, less dialogue-led, and focused on an enormous surreal structure rather than a recognizable country at war.
• Choose it if: oppressive architecture and unguided world discovery are your priorities.

10. REMNANT II

Closest match for: third-person action, dark worlds, difficult bosses, exploration, RPG progression, supernatural threats, and co-op
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publishers: Arc Games and THQ Nordic
Release date: July 25, 2023
Modes: Single-player, co-op, multiplayer, and online co-op
Genres: Action, shooter, and arcade

REMNANT II sends survivors across dangerous worlds filled with creatures, ruins, factions, secrets, and god-like bosses. Archetypes, equipment, firearms, melee weapons, and cooperative roles create varied combat builds.

Its Hell is Us overlap lies in dark exploration and encounters with unfamiliar supernatural systems. Each world asks the player to interpret its threats, spaces, inhabitants, and history.

Firearms and co-op make the combat structure substantially different. Procedural variation also places replayability above one fixed investigative journey.

How REMNANT II Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person action, Souls-like pressure, dark atmosphere, exploration, supernatural inhabitants, bosses, RPG progression, and story.
• Different: REMNANT II emphasizes shooting, cooperative builds, multiple worlds, and procedural variation.
• Choose it if: you want difficult dark-world exploration with friends.

11. SILENT HILL 2

Closest match for: personal mystery, psychological horror, third-person exploration, a damaged town, puzzles, and emotional consequences
Developer: Bloober Team SA
Publisher: KONAMI
Release date: October 8, 2024
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action and adventure

SILENT HILL 2 begins with a return to a place connected to a lost relationship. The town becomes both a physical environment and a reflection of guilt, memory, uncertainty, and personal history.

This creates a close narrative relationship with Hell is Us. In both games, the protagonist enters an isolated location to uncover the past, and supernatural inhabitants cannot be separated from the human conflict beneath the mystery.

SILENT HILL 2 uses survival-horror combat, puzzles, fog, enclosed spaces, and psychological symbolism. It is less focused on RPG progression or Souls-like mastery.

How SILENT HILL 2 Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person exploration, personal mystery, isolated setting, supernatural calamity, story-rich campaign, atmosphere, puzzles, and single-player focus.
• Different: SILENT HILL 2 prioritizes psychological horror, symbolic monsters, resource pressure, and survival-horror combat.
• Choose it if: emotional mystery and unsettling environmental symbolism matter more than action-RPG systems.

12. The Medium

Closest match for: third-person supernatural investigation, personal trauma, abandoned locations, environmental puzzles, and parallel realities
Developer: Bloober Team
Publishers: Bloober Team SA and NA PUBLISHING INC.
Release date: January 28, 2021
Mode: Single-player
Genres: Action and adventure

The Medium follows a protagonist drawn to an abandoned resort while investigating dark events through both the physical and spirit worlds.

The strongest Hell is Us relationship is the connection between place and trauma. Rooms, objects, visions, and supernatural spaces reveal competing versions of the past, forcing the player to reconsider what happened.

Combat is minimal, while dual-reality puzzles and narrative exploration carry progression. The fixed cinematic framing also differs from Hell is Us’s freely controlled third-person action.

How The Medium Compares with Hell is Us

• Shared: third-person perspective, supernatural mystery, isolated setting, personal history, atmosphere, environmental storytelling, puzzles, and single-player focus.
• Different: The Medium minimizes combat and centers on simultaneous physical and spirit-realm investigation.
• Choose it if: supernatural narrative investigation matters more than melee combat.

Which Hell is Us Alternative Should You Play First?

Choose according to the Hell is Us attribute you most want to preserve:

• Closest mix of action, relationships, and supernatural investigation: Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
• Cryptic worldbuilding and deliberate combat: DARK SOULS III
• Cinematic mythology and bosses: Black Myth: Wukong
• Civil conflict, illness, identity, and difficult combat: WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers
• Defensive timing in a ruined city: Lies of P
• Connected exploration and environmental puzzles: STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order
• Apocalyptic combat and ability-gated exploration: Darksiders III
• Revenge and boss-focused melee: The First Berserker: Khazan
• Oppressive unguided world discovery: Bleak Faith: Forsaken
• Dark cooperative exploration: REMNANT II
• Psychological mystery and symbolic horror: SILENT HILL 2
• Supernatural investigation without heavy combat: The Medium

Other Relevant Hell is Us Alternatives

Several other games match narrower search intents:

• Still Wakes the Deep offers atmospheric narrative horror, isolation, environmental danger, and a collapsing industrial setting, but little melee combat.
• SOMA combines exploration, existential mystery, hostile environments, environmental storytelling, and psychological horror in a first-person format.
• Scorn emphasizes unguided first-person exploration, environmental puzzles, oppressive atmosphere, and a biomechanical world.
• Alien: Isolation focuses on atmospheric exploration, stealth, environmental storytelling, and survival against a persistent threat.
• Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs connects first-person exploration, mystery, industrial horror, personal history, and psychological storytelling.
• Another Crab’s Treasure provides an accessible third-person Souls-like structure, nonlinear exploration, action-RPG progression, and environmental themes in a very different tone.
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered offers open-world exploration, character customization, fantasy, quests, and action-RPG progression with much more navigation support.
• Achilles: Legends Untold combines dark mythology, Souls-like combat, bosses, exploration, loot, and cooperative play from an isometric perspective.

How we chose these games

The picks come from two places: PC games we price that already cover this topic, and games whose Steam user tags, read on 7 October 2026, match at least four of Hell is Us’s most characteristic ones. From that pool we kept the games with the clearest overlap in systems and pace.