Review: I Hate This Place

2 weeks ago 7

Published Jan 28, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

Christian has over three years of experience writing in the gaming industry, including guides and reviews, for publications such as DualShockers, Attack of the Fanboy, and PC Invasion. He has been an avid gamer since he was a kid, viewing it as the best possible art form and medium. Some of his favorite genres include Survival Horror, Soulslikes, and RPGs, but he finds joy in almost any type of game.

Rock Square Thunder formed in 2020 and is fairly new in the gaming space. From looking at its history, it has only released one game, The Lightbringer, which took players on a beautiful journey filled with puzzles and platforming. After taking a look at the gameplay for The Lightbringer, I can easily see that the developers have true talent and potential. Fast-forward to 2026, and Rock Square Thunder is teaming up with publisher, Feardemic, for a survival horror game that is all about stealth and sound. That game is called I Hate This Place.

When I first saw the gameplay trailer for I Hate This Place, it caught my interest immediately. The art style looked beautiful, it had an interesting isometric layout, and it fell into one of my favorite genres of all time — survival horror. I just had to get my hands on it to see what it was all about, and after playing through its short 9-hour story, I definitely have some thoughts.

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I Hate This Place combines paranormal and sci-fi elements, with a focus on stealth and crafting mechanics. The survival horror genre has been booming in the past couple of years, but there haven’t really been many made in the isometric style, so I Hate This Place definitely gets bonus points for daring to be different than the rest. However, while the premise of the gameplay is cool, the execution falls flat and misses its full potential in more ways than one. In no way is the game bad; it just feels like it could have been so much more from a gameplay perspective.

Clunkiness, Stealth, and Crafting

Right from the start, you’ll notice how clunky the controls are for I Hate This Place. I played on a PlayStation 5, and it’s clear that the controls were made with PC players in mind, with consoles being an afterthought. Aiming your gun is done by pushing forward on the R3 analog stick to reveal the reticle, and then moving around the analog stick to move said reticle and to lock onto a target. This simply feels awkward, and I can’t help but feel it would have been a smarter choice to have the reticle out at all times and lock onto an enemy automatically. It feels as if this was designed specifically for a PC mouse.

This awkward way of aiming and shooting, combined with other questionable controller layouts, such as L2 to sprint, eating and healing being the same button, and crouch being designated to both circle and L3, just doesn’t feel right. The worst part is that the game offers zero rebinding options, meaning you’re stuck with these controls throughout the entire playthrough. Yeah, you get used to them over time, but they just simply feel so different compared to other games in the genre that it causes more frustration than it should.

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Once you finally get better with the controls, the gameplay of I Hate This Place starts to click. It boils down to sneaking around monstrous enemies to find keys or solve puzzles, or standing and fighting with the minimum ammo you have at your disposal. The former is probably the smarter way to play due to ammo being such a valuable resource, making shooting a last resort and only used if absolutely mandatory. Some of these monsters are terrifying up close, so sneaking, throwing cans to distract them, and sprinting away when caught is incredibly intense and makes for some exciting moments.

I Hate This Place puts a large emphasis on sound, and the game makes that clear as a small text appears with each step you take. For example, walking across solid ground will read “thud,” while moving through bloody sludge reads “squelch.” These indicators are meant to act as a warning for the type of sound you’re making, which, when being too loud, will alert nearby enemies and force you to fight them head-on or run away to safety.

I found my heart drop a couple of times when near a giant monster, and I accidentally made a sound I shouldn’t have. This mechanic adds a nice touch to the typical stealth gameplay.

When not sneaking around horrifying monsters, players will spend a good amount of their time building a home base. This consists of getting enough materials to build structures, such as a Garden to grow vegetables, a Stove to cook food, a Workbench to craft weapons and ammo, and more.

You can edit your base to move these structures around to help you create the layout you desire, helping with crafting efficiency and production. As players explore the world of I Hate This Place, they can find blueprints that unlock additional crafting items at the home base, expanding their arsenal and increasing chances of surviving. I found hunting down blueprints to be the best part of the game.

When not sneaking around horrifying monsters, players will spend a good amount of their time building a home base.

That’s pretty much the fundamentals of gameplay in I Hate This Place. It doesn’t get much more complex than that, and when you view it as a whole package, it’s pretty simple and barebones. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I just wouldn’t go into it expecting a deeply engaging survival horror adventure. It has its moments of intense encounters and cinematic sequences, but overall, it feels like a game that’s just going through the motions and checking off boxes.

Evil Lurks in the Night

I Hate This Place's survival gameplay loop consists of leaving your base, The Ranch, to complete various quests and then returning to the base to craft supplies. While out in the wild, players will encounter different enemies, points of interest, characters with crucial information, and note logs that help expand the story and the lore of I Hate This Place. Exploration is pretty lackluster, and I never really encountered anything that wowed me or left me super curious to investigate further.

The Ranch is your safe haven and is your home base, as mentioned earlier in this review. It’s dangerous to be away from The Ranch, but the game involves a day and night cycle that allows you to plan for the best time to go exploring. Trekking out during the day is much safer, since it’s easier to see the surrounding environments and enemies, but some main missions require you to explore at night.

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Besides some main missions requiring nighttime exploration, I didn’t notice any real benefit of leaving the home base when it’s dark out. This was a real shame, as the day and night cycle would have been better utilized if there were benefits, such as an increase in supplies or upgrades to find that only appear at night. This is simply not the case. Instead, you are just setting yourself up for a harder time if you leave the ranch when it's dark out, with no real rewards for your bravery.

The day and night cycle would have been better utilized if there were benefits, such as an increase in supplies or upgrades to find that only appear at night. This is simply not the case.

Since there is no tangible reason to explore at night, I found myself resting in my bed constantly (which you can do whenever) and changing the time of day to the morning. Considering there are no repercussions to passing the time by sleeping, except for the slight increase in hunger, players can easily take advantage of this mechanic. For this reason, the night and day cycle feels pointless.

Scavenge for Survival

As mentioned earlier, players will have to manage hunger when exploring the map of I Hate This Place. All actions you take, such as walking, running, swinging your bat, etc., will drain your Hunger Bar. This makes it crucial to keep food in your inventory, such as chips or vegetables, to replenish the Hunger Bar, or else your stamina takes a massive hit. Having a depleted Hunger Bar will mean you can’t run, and you will swing a melee weapon at a snail’s pace. Luckily, as long as you do a tiny bit of preparation beforehand at home base, you won’t run out of food.

This brings me to my next point: the resource economy in I Hate This Place is pretty bad. There seems to be almost no ammo wherever you explore, but a ton of ways to find food. Personally, I think it should be closer to the other way around; more ammo and less food. The Hunger Bar is a great feature, but if there’s almost no risk of it hitting zero, it feels more of a nuisance rather than an engaging mechanic. For reference, I was able to leave The Ranch with 10 soups (one of the cooking recipes), each of which completely fills the Hunger Bar.

Besides the Hunger Bar, your biggest concern will be finding ammo or at least finding the right materials to craft ammo. I can’t help but feel that the developers were too punishing in this regard, as I had tons of trouble, especially in the early game, finding the necessary materials to make bullets for my guns. I understand the need for scarcity in these types of games, but there’s a fine line. Unfortunately, it feels as if I Hate This Place crosses that line in the ammo department. On the plus side, there is an ample amount of healing supplies, throwables, and, of course, food.

Due to the lack of ammo, I found myself dying way too frequently and having to go off the beaten path to find the necessary materials. Taking detours is fine in these types of games, but way too often I felt like I wasn't making any progress, running around like a chicken with its head cutoff, unable to find ammo or materials. This alone increased my playthrough by a few hours, giving the illusion that the game is longer than it actually is. It might be a skill issue, but I consider myself pretty adept in survival horror games.

I Hate This Place had a lot going for it, with a unique setting, an interesting isometric layout, and crafting at its core. However, it doesn't reach its full potential, and all of its systems are lackluster, resulting in an experience that is underwhelming overall. The resource economy is broken, the day and night cycle feels pointless, and the controls on consoles are so frustrating that the end result is headache-inducing, rather than an enjoyable experience. There are some moments of greatness, especially in its stealth gameplay and paranormal environments, where the exciting nature of the survival horror genre shines through, but those moments are quickly fleeting. I do recommend I Hate This Place to survival horror fans if there is nothing else to play and they're on a budget, but I wouldn't go into this game expecting the next big thing.