Preview: I Hate This Place

Developed by Rock Square Thunder and published by Broken Mirror Games, I Hate This Place is an upcoming isometric survival horror shooter set on the Rutherford Ranch. I Hate This Place participated in gamescom 2025 with an exclusive show floor demo, and the developers were kind enough to send us a code for this demo since we were unable to attend the event this year. This demo is a little different from the free demo available on Steam, as it is set inside a bunker and gives another look at the game. Our Preview of I Hate This Place is based on this exclusive gamescom demo, in which we explore a creepy bunker and kill some twisted monsters.

The demo kicked off after we arrived inside the underground bunker and began exploring it. Right from the start, you can start to feel the atmosphere of the game as you come across the very first enemy and take it out. The inventory already included some basic items, such as a sawed-off shotgun, a silenced pistol that appeared to be made from scavenged parts, ammunition, food, and other useful items. In the full game, you will probably need to find or craft most of these items yourself first. Although the Steam page mentioned that the game does not support controllers, we played the entire demo using an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, and it ran just fine without any hiccups.

The first enemy was an infested human with a sort of outgrowth on his head. These were the most common enemies throughout the level. As soon as I killed it, I knew that the combat in the game is going to be solid because every shot that landed felt meaty. The bunker offered four different levels to explore and kill enemies. The game has a story, and the demo offered a small look into it. We jumped into the bunker to find out about a doctor who was performing experiments on humans, which led to the transformations. A little bit of lore items that I collected throughout the demo gave a little insight into the failed experiments and abominations forming as a result.

While the story bit is still unknown, we learned a lot of different aspects of I Hate This Place from the demo, such as its gameplay, combat, crafting, survival elements, and how stealth works in it. Progression in the closed areas, such as the bunker, appears to be linear, as these are not technically open-world areas. I started on the top floor, and I had to make my way to the bottom-most floor by solving different puzzles such as finding keycards, turning on a generator, collecting items, and such. Naturally, with a game like this, there is backtracking, but thankfully, it was not too much. I had to revisit some areas once I had the right access cards, but these were very few and not so much so that I would get bored exploring the same locations again and again for a different task.

You have three bars to manage, which include Health, Stamina, and Food. Your stamina is drained normally unless you are doing some extreme movement, such as through a flooded area, where you struggle to move, and you lose stamina. Your health only depletes when you are hungry or someone attacks you. Finally, to quench your hunger, you will need to find and consume food items, which you will need to scavenge around the map. Keeping an eye on these three bars is important because all three are essential for your survival. The food items range from Canned Beans to small packets of snacks like crisps. Depending on what type of food item you consume, a different amount of hunger is satisfied each time. Some food items will also restore your stamina, so bigger food items always provide much more than just restoring your hunger bar. Similarly, bigger health kits, like a First Aid Kit, restore your entire health, but smaller items like bandages provide a smaller boost. You will need to manage these items to ensure that you do not run out of them in situations where you really need them.

The game’s UI and art style are very unique and take their inspiration from comic books. Just like comic books, you will see sounds of certain actions appear in text next to them. For example, if an enemy is near you, the word hissing may appear near them if they make a sound, and when they see you and shout, you will see the word screech appear. When you move, the word ‘thud’ appears next to your feet, and the developer has very cleverly used this feature as a stealth indicator as well. When you are moving regularly, the words will appear in yellow, which means all enemies will hear you coming, but if you are crouched, the word ‘thud’ appears in blue, marking that you are now silent and enemies will not hear you coming.

While the demo only featured one indoor level, we can’t really comment about the full game’s level design at this point, but the bunker that I explored was atmospheric and creepy. The dark halls, infested rooms, and broken things really set the mood for the game. Due to its isometric view style, there are a few sections where some sort of wall or other blockades block your view, but the game manages it just fine as it disappears just in time for you to see ahead. Each floor of the bunker had a different vibe to it, and it really showed how the infestation had affected the otherwise normal-looking areas. Broken windows, blood stains, spilled radioactive barrels, and areas filled with the red, tentacle mass are just some of the examples of how the game achieves its horror vibe.

I Hate This Place features a very basic crafting system. You must find a blueprint of the item that you want to craft first, and then head to a crafting table or a Workbench. The gamescom demo offered a little look into the crafting system as well. We had a simple bat at first, and after finding some nails, I upgraded it to a spiked bat. The only thing you need first is to have the blueprint and the right resources. The bunker provided enough for me to craft a spiked bat, plenty of ammo for my pistol and sawed-off shotgun, and also some batteries for my taser, which came in useful for taking out enemies in the water. The full game will offer a lot more crafting items and weapons.

I Hate This Place Release Date — Credit: Broken Mirror Games via Steam

Coming to the combat aspect of I Hate This Place, this is where the game really shines. Each shot makes you feel the weight of the weapon that you are firing. Despite only having two weapons in the demo, I enjoyed using them in the game. The silenced pistol was quick and nimble, but it had less damage than expected. The sawed-off shotgun was a little slow to handle and reload, but it showed its power with each shot, taking down enemies quickly. Even the bigger enemies stood little chance in front of it. While I Hate This Place may be a survival shooter, it is not so difficult that you would avoid combat and stick to stealth. Stealth may allow you to preserve your ammo and some health, but even if you play it like a shooter, it does not disappoint.

To make the game a little easier, you will need to rely on stealth initially. If you see some enemies bunched up in a location, it is always easier to take them out one by one instead of taking on all of them at once, so here, you can use stealth. You must adapt your combat style on the go to make the best of it. You can also be creative to take out enemies by inspecting the environment. There were a few enemies in the water, and I decided to try out the taser to see if it would work, and it did. I electrocuted the enemy. This level of creativity puts a nice touch on the combat and gives you the freedom to use non-conventional ways to kill enemies if you can.

During combat, you also have to worry about different status effects, like if you are in water, your movements will be delayed. Similarly, certain enemies will damage you immensely if they manage to grab hold of you. There were two instances in the playthrough where I was grabbed by the enemies, and I ended up receiving a large amount of damage. You can use your weapons in some situations to get away, but sometimes, damage is inevitable. This makes challenging bigger enemies a risk because, apart from their normal attacks, if they get close to you, they can pummel you to death with their size. Unfortunately, there was no boss fight in the demo, so we have yet to see the biggest enemies that the game has to offer.

I spent around an hour with this demo for this preview, exploring the environments and trying out different things. Although it was limited in every aspect, during this hour or so, I was completely sold. I Hate This Place has huge potential, and I cannot wait to see how the full game fares. It captures 80s aesthetics, it feels atmospheric, and the gameplay feels polished. It did end on a cliffhanger, and I cannot wait to dive into the full game when it arrives. The gamescom demo did not feature any open spaces, and exploration was limited to only one bunker, but if you are looking to try it out, there is another demo for the game currently live on PC via Steam. I will be trying out the public demo as well, but for now, the gamescom 2025 demo has showcased strong promise for its full release.

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Disclaimer: A preview code for I Hate This Place’s gamescom 2025 demo was provided by Pirate PR on behalf of Broken Mirror Games. Read our Review Policy.