I Hate This Place - Review - Xbox Series X/S

I Hate This Place arrives with a striking hook: an isometric survival‑horror game inspired by a cult comic, drenched in ’80s VHS grime and bold graphic‑novel flair. It’s a world of warped forests, flesh‑tendrils, and sound‑hunting monstrosities, it's an aesthetic that immediately stands out. But while the atmosphere is thick and the premise promising, the execution often stumbles, leaving a game that’s visually memorable but mechanically uneven.

The setup follows Elena, drawn back to her family’s ranch only to be swallowed by a nightmare of cult rituals, missing friends, and reality‑bending horrors. The early hours are tense and engaging: stealth matters, sound matters, and every footstep feels like it could give you away. The day/night cycle adds genuine pressure, with night time turning the world into a hostile maze where even your flashlight feels like a flimsy lifeline, enemies multiply, visibility drops, and the world feels oppressive. Planning your routes and deciding when to venture out adds a welcome layer of strategy.

At its core, I Hate This Place blends isometric survival‑horror, stealth, and light crafting/base‑building. It’s an unusual mix, and the game’s best moments come from how these systems collide under pressure.

You spend most of your time exploring the ranch and its surrounding nightmare‑zones: forests, bunkers, cult hideouts, and warped pockets of reality. Movement is slow and deliberate, which works well for tension. The isometric camera gives you a wide view, but enemies can still surprise you thanks to darkness, fog, and sound‑based detection.

Early on, stealth is essential. Enemies react strongly to noise, so you’re constantly managing you footsteps, flashlight use, environmental hazards and whether to run or hide. This creates a genuinely tense rhythm. You’re underpowered, scavenging scraps, and trying not to alert anything lurking in the dark. But as the game progresses, this tension fades. Once you unlock stronger weapons, stealth becomes optional and encounters lose their bite. What begins as a survival‑horror experience gradually shifts into something closer to a light action‑adventure.

Crafting, scavenging, and base‑building are central pillars, but they rarely feel essential. Resources are plentiful, timers run in real‑world time, and the game’s short length means the base systems never meaningfully evolve. The ghost‑investigation missions are a highlight. They’re atmospheric, self‑contained stories that break up the main plot and lean into the game’s supernatural tone. These moments show what the game could have been with more focus.

The comic‑book aesthetic is easily the game’s strongest asset. Onomatopoeia pops across the screen, colours punch through the darkness, and the ’80s synth soundtrack nails the mood. But technical issues including frame drops, audio spikes, missing dialogue, and occasional softlocks chip away at the immersion. The story, while intriguing, becomes muddled and ultimately struggles to tie its threads together in a satisfying way as the game progresses.

There’s ambition here, and moments where everything clicks: creeping through bunkers, piecing together ghostly side stories, or watching the world distort around you. But the lack of polish and uneven pacing keep I Hate This Place from fully realizing its potential.

Pros

• Striking comic‑book visual style with bold colours and fun onomatopoeia effects

• Strong ’80s‑inspired soundtrack that enhances the horror atmosphere

• Tense early‑game stealth and survival mechanics

• Interesting ghost‑investigation side missions that add variety

• A unique blend of crafting, exploration, and horror elements

Cons

• Significant technical issues, including frame drops, audio problems, and occasional progression bugs

• Base‑building and crafting systems feel underdeveloped and unnecessary

• Difficulty drops sharply once better weapons are unlocked

• Story becomes muddled and unsatisfying in its later beats

• Real‑time crafting timers slow pacing and feel out of place

I Hate This Place is a stylish, ambitious survival‑horror experiment that shines brightest in its atmosphere and early tension. Its comic‑book identity and ’80s flair give it a personality few games can match. But the uneven mechanics, technical issues, and undercooked systems hold it back from greatness. If you’re drawn to its aesthetic or love experimental horror, there’s enough here to enjoy, just expect a rougher, less cohesive experience than its striking visuals promise.

XPN Rating: 3 out of 5 (SILVER)

I Hate This Place is available now!