By Jade Entien

There is nothing I love more than women in horror. I love my femme fatales, my evil-doing women, and most of all, my final girls. In the past, we had only helpless damsels in distress, female characters who were victims while their male counterparts took the glory at the end. Now, though, we have the powerful ‘final girl,’ the last woman to confront the killer and the movie’s sole survivor. The trope was first recognized in 1987 by Carol J. Clover in her article “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film,” but the history goes back a little further. Some horror critics say Jess Bradford in 1974’s “Black Christmas” was the first final girl in mainstream horror, and that that notorious film’s status as a cult-classic helped pave the way for final girls everywhere. Others claim Diane Adams from “Silent Night, Bloody Night 1972” was the first, but she suffered from the misogynistic “hysterical woman or submissive mistress” trope rather than being a true final girl, says Rebecca McCallum of “Attack from Planet B.” And Lila Crane, the sister of Marion in Hitchcock’s 1960 classic “Psycho,” may be an inspiration to all ‘final girls’ that came after.

Elena, the main character in I Hate This Place, is in some ways a classic final girl. Once she realizes that Rutherford Ranch, the land that she and her partner Lou have inherited, is perilous, violent and supernatural, she takes action. All the ranch’s inhabitants are dead, and Elena and Lou could be next. Elena studies the threats, learning from her surroundings and becoming increasingly tactical. Her survival depends on her ability to recognize patterns and respond intelligently to the dangers that seem to draw ever closer. While her family has a long history on Rutherford Ranch, Elena’s story has just begun, and she’s going to bend this ranch to her will.

I Hate This Place, developed by Rock Square Thunder and published by Feardemic, is a gorgeous yet troubled experience, one I loved to hate, in that there were some really frustrating moments. The game is based on the comic of the same name, which was created by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin, but it offers us an entirely new story that would fit seamlessly into the award-winning series. The aesthetic feels true to the style of the comic, and while it isn’t something we haven’t seen before, it’s so incredibly well-constructed that even the sound design reflects its graphic inspiration. Colorful and bold onomatopoeic words appear on screen to represent footsteps and monster noises, reinforcing every movement and adding to the atmosphere. These visual sound cues offer more than stylistic flair; they play an important role in gameplay while also subtly providing accessibility to players with hearing difficulties.

Like my current favorite game, V Rising, I Hate This Place is an isometric, roguelite, craft-based survival horror game in which day and night cycles can really affect gameplay. While some horror gamers thrive in darkness, players like me have an easier time roaming and scavenging in the day, when threats are less prevalent. Yet despite my fear of the dark and its monsters, I was prompted to explore at night, through various quests and time-limited encounters. Questing plays a big role in the story of I Hate This Place as the residents who live in the area of Rutherford Ranch all need something from Elena. The quests range from simply collecting materials to fortify your base against the roaming horrors, to ghost hunting in the dark to solve the mysteries of how the denizens of Rutherford Ranch died.

About those monsters: each has its own horrifying design, unique abilities and strategies. The majority of enemies hunting Elena do melee damage, allowing the player to inflict some serious up close and personal harm. And while I’m not complaining, this could conceivably make gameplay dull and repetitive, since players don’t have to use a lot of different weapons or strategies. There are, I would argue, too many monsters, but they are not undefeatable. Most of the monsters in I Hate This Place have a weak point on their back, and the game prioritizes stealth kills almost as much as visible kills.

While there is so much to love about I Hate This Place, I can understand the criticism it has received. Some individuals mentioned that combat felt unfair since enemies always seemed to know where they were, that ammo was too abundant and conserving it was too easy, that the map wasn’t large enough, the dialogue was delayed, the cutscenes didn’t add much to gameplay, etc. But during my playthrough, my biggest complaint was that the enemies were too tough. I found myself save-scumming multiple times after being jumped by enemies that I should’ve been able to sneak past in the bunkers. It’s games like I Hate This Place that make me wish V.A.T.S. from Fallout were a feature of other survival games. I’m someone who shakes while playing horror games, and I need stability and accurately aimed crosshairs.

Overall, I’m a fan of this game: its artstyle, colorful characters and enemies, sound design and crafting/survival system. I Hate This Place is mostly wonderful, but in need of some work. I would love it if bugs like the lagging audio and motionless cutscenes were fixed, I would enjoy more maps to explore, and I would appreciate not being one-shotted by a spider. But I can see how much passion went into this game, and I’m not opposed to giving it another try once the bugs are squashed. Ultimately, though, I feel like this $30 game needs a bit of a tweak before others see its worth.

Jade Entien is an NYVGCC senior intern, a Junior at SUNY Cortland with a major in Communication studies and passion for Theatre as a minor.

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