I Hate This Place | PS5 Review

I Hate This Place is based on a comic book of the same name. Releasing its first issue in 2022, I Hate This Place would ultimately run for ten issues, which in today’s dismal comic market, is actually a pretty solid hit. I did read it, and while I thought it faltered in the back half, it has a great premise and setup. Perfect for a video game setting, even.

Spooky, Scary Skeletons

The Rutherford Ranch is haunted, and every night different monstrosities torment the residents. Talking spiders, bloody ghosts, and even aliens are all fair game to show up. Yet, there is no more powerful a presence than The Horned Man. Unfortunately, the Rutherford family is cursed with having to deal with nightly terrors and playing by the “rules of the house.”

Thankfully, we play as Elena, who is the niece of the current owner. Less restricted by the paranormal happenings, she’s free to investigate the surrounding areas and try to find her missing best friend, Lou. What follows is a fun enough plot, dealing with a cult obsessed with The Horned Man, a mysterious disappearance of a beloved family member, and creepy science bunkers. These disparate tales weave together nicely, and crescendo to a fitting finale. I actually think the story is better than the comic that inspired it.

Send Shivers Down Your Spine

At its core,  I Hate This Place is a survival crafting game. In its first couple hours, this works out rather nicely. You must sneak around the aforementioned bunkers, play it safe with the enemies, gather up limited resources, and occasionally unload some hell with your guns if you get spotted. Almost as soon as you start building up your ranch, however, you are an unstoppable killing machine.

That would be a fun progression arc if it felt earned, but you can build any ranch upgrade you need as soon as you find the blueprints. Resources are plentiful, and they essentially become infinite once you build their associated building at the ranch. Perhaps that’s the intent, but it does stand in immediate contrast to that opening hour or two. The game is still fun when you’re unloading constant lead-based fury on your enemies, but the switch came too suddenly and all difficulty was removed from enemies.

Regardless, exploring the overworld is a joy thanks to the nightly hauntings. Random events can trigger as you’re exploring, such as a ghost car trying to run you over or an alien abducting a lonely cow. These are always fun to encounter, and it was thrilling to see what might pop up next. There are even ghosts you can track down to solve some optional mysteries.

Shrieking Skulls Will Shock Your Souls

If you follow a ghost to where they’re leading you, Elena gets sucked into another realm with a scrambly, VHS aesthetic. Once there, you have to piece together the mystery as to why said ghost is tormenting the countryside. It actually is all up to the player to piece it all together, and the game even lets you get it wrong.

Speaking of aesthetics, I Hate This Place is defined by its sharp look. The comic book stylings are stunning to look at, with thick outlines and bold colors. Onomatopoeias are plentiful, producing a “thud” when you’re running around or a “bang” when firing a weapon. There’s even additional clever touches, like the “thud” greying out when you’re crouched and stealthing. Characters speak in word balloons as well, though strangely the spoken dialogue doesn’t always line up with the words being spoken. It wears its influences proudly, and is frankly one of the best looking games released in recent years.

Seal Your Doom Tonight

Unfortunately, the voice work doesn’t fare as well. I’m pretty sure this has more to do with direction than the actual actors, however. The name “Elena” is pronounced no less than four different ways, for instance. In deadly serious moments, characters will speak calmly as though unaware of the terrors around them, which feels like something a director would be in charge of. Either way, it leads to some mediocre acting that really takes you out of the experience pretty often.

The game is a little buggy, fair warning. These issues rarely bother me, but I know other people do care. There is a surprising amount of hitching if you run through the overworld, as if the sprinting speed is far too fast for the game to load. I’m unsure why you would even allow sprinting if you know this is an issue. The ending is presented as a series of narrated stills, but every time I tried to view it, the voiced dialogue would run over each other and the slides kept going back and forth. It was super weird, though I did manage to figure out what was supposed to be going on after a few viewings.

I Do Not Hate This Place

All in all, I Hate This Place is a fun time. The base building detracts from the experience rather than adds to it, but not enough to ruin the experience. The shooting is fun enough, the various bunkers and mines are a treat to explore, and the story stands above its source material. It won’t blow you away, apart from its visuals, but if an 80’s spooky ride sounds fun to you, this would be a good one to pick up on a sale.

To hear me talk more about I Hate This Place, be sure to listen to the January 28th, 2026 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 42:58 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation copy of I Hate This Place provided by Pirate PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.