“How do you know how to summon The Horned Man exactly?”
Hailing from Kraków, Poland is three-man indie dev: Rock Square Thunder, previously known for their adventure platformer: The Lightbringer, coming back a second time with their isometric, survival-horror craftathon: I Hate This Place. Based on the award-winning comic book series of the same name by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin, I Hate This Place injects a stylised, 80’s comic book aesthetic into an isometric crafty, survival-horror formula, that really captures the cool, pulpy aesthetic that comics from the decade were known for. In collaboration with Skybound Entertainment and Broken Mirror Games (Bloober Team’s new horror-focused label) Rock Square Thunder have opted for an original story rather than direct adaptation, capturing the feel of the comic’s bizarre, mind-bending setting to a T. Having released on the 29th January 2026 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, I’ll be going over the time I spent with the PlayStation 5 version of the game; detailing the good, deconstructing the bad, whilst ultimately giving my final thoughts as to whether it’s worth your time and money at the £24.99 asking price (£19.99 with an active PlayStation Plus Subscription).
If there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear over the last few years, is that everyone and their mother seems to be in love with the 1980’s. From the synth heavy soundscape of 80’s music, to the horrendous fashion taste and equally horrendous haircuts, no decade in human history has left its mark on pop culture quite like the years that saw the nationwide acceptance of shoulder pads. In recent years this boom can be attributed to the rise in popularity of shows such as Netflix’s Stranger Things, which seems to skyrocket any associated media found within the show to the same levels of popularity (think Dungeons and Dragons or Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush). Popularism aside, the show draws heavily from the horror stylings of movies from John Carpenter, even directly referencing some of them in the show. Horror and the 1980s are intertwined; the slasher boom with the likes of: Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street turned masked killers into pop icons, reflecting fears about suburban safety and rebellious youth. Practical effects and VHS technology made gore more visceral and widely accessible, while VHS rental stores brought horror into everyday homes. Cold War tensions, consumerism, and moral panic shaped stories about invasion, possession, and corruption; conversely campy sequels and synth-heavy soundtracks gave horror a stylized edge, making the genre both terrifying and distinctly cool, which is why the decade has retained its sharp edge in the modern day.
With this in mind, in walk Kyle Stark and Artyom Topilin with their award-winning comic book series from 2022: I Hate This Place (originally titled Fuck This Place) via Image Comics, which (whilst set in the modern day) oozes 80’s charm out of every pore. The 10-issue series follow Gabby and Trudy, a young couple who inherit a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere only to find out it’s a hotspot for everything supernatural, including every 80’s horror trope in the book. Taking clear inspiration from the artwork of Bernie Wrightson (think Creepshow or Swamp Thing) I Hate This Place features an oversaturated (almost radioactive) colour scheme with thick black linework, giving it that signature 80’s, pulpy aesthetic, showcasing classical grim horror tropes in all their bloody spectacle, whilst also holding down a very hyper-aware genre tone to boot. The popularity of the comics soon led down the video game route when Skybound Entertainment (the parent company for Image Comics) partnered with Bloober Team’s new horror-focused label (Broken Mirror Games) to bring one of it’s horror IP’s to the medium, with I Hate This Place being its first project under the respective label (see my review for Bloober Team’s excellent Silent Hill 2 remake here). The game places you in the shoes of Elena, whose (along with her friend Lou) plans for a quiet trip to her family ranch, suddenly take a dark and borderline satanic turn. After fooling around with a ritual, Elena and Lou summon an otherworldly entity known as The Horned Man, which turns their reality upside down, bringing forth twisted, eldritch horrors that take over the once quiet wilderness. After a sudden blackout, Elena finds herself alone, with no sign of Lou in sight. Elena will need to use her wits and survival smarts in order to survive the night, find out what happened to her friend and ultimately face the horrors she was complicit in bringing into the world.
I can hold my breath… for a looooong time: One of the best aspects of Gameplay within I Hate This Place is stealth, taking care to move slowly and avoid environmental noise makers can save you resources from not having to fight blind mutants.
Straight out of the gate, I love how unapologetic I Hate This Place is when it comes to directly referencing its key inspirations. The spooky cabin in the woods reminiscent of The Evil Dead (1981), twisted mutants that evoke an image of body-horror straight from the mind of David Croenenberg, morally questionable experiments taking place in secret underground bunkers by shadowy government organisations a.k.a. Stranger Things etc. I Hate This Place is a love-child of 80’s horror, complete with the hack dialogue and batshit story to boot. All in all, as tropey is as the game is (which I love it for) it’s safe to say the story and narrative delivery won’t be winning any awards any time soon, but much like their source material, they don’t need to, this is pure unadulterated 80’s cheese, just don’t expect an engaging story if you’re not a fan of said blend of cheese. Another major issue with the narrative is that it might take a hot minute to get used to the deeper lore references from the comics, which can be quite jarring, especially if you haven’t read the comics before. From a gameplay perspective, the game is played from an isometric POV (think Diablo or Path of Exiles) and has a strong focus on survival, crafting and resource management (which is very reminiscent of the likes of Resident Evil). Combat is very point and click (which kind of feels a bit rail-shooter esque on controller) and sometimes misfiring your gun in an effort to swing your bat is a common occurrence. Stealth plays a major part, especially in the bunkers as the enemies are blind, this is where the game shines in my opinion, as the decision to save resources in order to creep around enemies is classic survival horror. Navigating tight corridors, avoiding getting too close to enemies as well as dodging environmental noise makers (think stepping on broken glass etc.) gives the game an aspect of cat and mouse emergent gameplay that always shines when done correctly.
One of the biggest problems I had with the gameplay was its refusal to commit to one idea, as the game kinda feels a bit disjointed on the mechanics front. The aforementioned stealth is largely reserved for bunkers and some other indoor areas; for such a strong gameplay feature to be implemented so sparingly was a bit annoying. General gameplay in the overworld is largely open-world exploration, with an emphasis on resource management, which is fine in and of itself, but between being stuck looking for rope or mining explosives, the game can puzzle those not versed in the genre, as you’ll spend a lot of time looking for a specific item with no means on how to obtain it. In addition, one of the most confusing mechanics was Elena’s family ranch itself, which can be cleared with the use of certain weapons i.e. Molotovs to clear wood piles, to craft resource generating stations and crafting benches, which (if invested into enough) completely negate the need for exploration and resource scavenging, making the moment-to-moment gameplay feel more like that of Animal Crossing. This is also not a game where you want to put the controller down and forget about it without pausing, as Elena has the metabolism of an Olympic athlete, requiring copious amounts of food to be chuffed down at regular intervals, otherwise your other stats (such as your stamina regeneration) will take a hit, hindering your ability to explore properly.
Where’s my cake, Bedelia?: Resource gathering and exploration (especially food) is key within I Hate This Place, that is until you’ve invested heavily in the Ranch, making otherwise solid gameplay somewhat redundant.
Whilst the gameplay is a bit all over the place and the mechanics can’t make up their mind as to what it wants to be exactly, the aesthetics and sound design are completely on point. As aforementioned, it’s clear that the art style from the comics is heavily inspired by the works of Bernie Wrightson; the thick black line work and oversaturated colour palette work perfectly in tandem to give the game it’s pulpy aesthetic, being heavily reminiscent of the art style of the comic in 1982’s Creepshow. The soundscape is very reminiscent of Synthwave, which is another homage to the decade, driving home tension with analogue-led synthesisers which capture every bit of tension and tone change perfectly. Performance wise, the game is a mixed bag, sometimes maintaining a standard 60fps framerate at a 1440p resolution (my monitor is a Lenovo Legion R27q-30), however moving too fast causes the game to become chop-city, especially if you’re in the process of transitioning between zones. The game’s menu and navigation controls were also a point of congestion, feeling overly clunky when checking things such as the map; this would be a non-issue on PC, however on controller it would be nice to have a single button press in order to see where you are in the world. Overall, I Hate This Place is an aesthetically perfected, stylish 80’s romp that unfortunately struggles with somewhat of an identity crisis. Despite drawing inspiration from some of the best work the 1980s has to offer, the game otherwise slaps together a bunch of conflicting gameplay mechanics, which would have been stronger if they just focused on a solitary idea. Worth a grab for the price it’s going for, doubly so if you’re a fan of 80’s horror.
A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Pirate PR.
This review is featured on OpenCritic.
