Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Grounded 2
  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps
  • Donkey Kong Bananza
  • Switch 2 Starter Pack
Recommended reading
A boxy green cubey enemy attacks Remi in Hell is Us
Action Games With "multi-map spanning secrets" and "phantasmagorical" horrors, Hell is Us wages a brutal civil war that already has me on edge
Fallout: New Vegas
Games I'm going back to the five best post-apocalyptic games I ever played, thanks to Death Stranding 2 giving me a taste for the terrible
Hell is Us in Future Games Show
Adventure Games Upcoming dark action-adventure game Hell is Us is channeling "old Zelda games" by giving you "just enough to know where to go but not too much"
Doom: The Dark Ages key art featuring the slayer on top a pile of bodies with the ruins of hell behind them
FPS Games Every Doom The Dark Ages guide you'll need and more
The Doom Slayer shooting the Skull Crusher at a demon during the Doom: The Dark Ages trailer.
FPS Games Doom: The Dark Ages has a new official trailer, and at this point id Software and Bethesda are just holding me down and pouring Doom lore over my head
Look Outside screenshot of the player character looking out of the window at an unseen horror
Survival Horror Games I kissed a creepy neighbor in a survival horror RPG and all I got was this lousy photo paper
Screenshot from CloverPit, showing a first-person view of a slot machine with a shining 'Jackpot' announcement lit up.
Roguelike Games "The demonic lovechild of Balatro and Buckshot Roulette" is a roguelite horror game where you out-gamble the devil and it got over 100k Steam wishlists in a week
  1. Games

5 Gaming Hells that arent so bad

Features
By Matt Cundy published 22 January 2013

Is it really Hell below?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Welcome To Hell

Welcome To Hell

Hell is meant to be eternal punishment for the souls of sinners. Suffering. Torment. Demons. Screaming. All things like that - nasty horrible things. Because the concept of Hell has been perpetuated over thousands of years and is well established as somewhere not nice, its always a popular environment choice for game developers as its such universally recognised shorthand for you dont want to be here. At least thats the idea.

While plenty of games have given us traditional, evil fire world depictions of Hell, there are some instances where the Devils dominion bucks the trend by being decidedly free from everlasting damnation and--as Hell goes--really isnt so bad after all...

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Devil World | NES | 1984

Devil World | NES | 1984

Hell is... a Pac-Man clone made by Shigeru Miyamoto

An early NES curio from important Nintendo man Shigeru Miyamoto (and the equally important but not so well known Takashi Tezuka) shows that even the perpetually smiling Miyamotos dark side is only slightly less cheerful than a rainbow.

The titular Devil World (which well conveniently assume is Hell), is a labyrinthine arrangement of corridors occupied by not very terrifying one-eyed demons that are pink. The games hero, a cutesy winged dragon called Tamagon, wanders the maze eating dots and ice cream, avoiding the pink minions of Beelzebub, and collecting religious iconography, which there seems to be a curious abundance of considering its the Devil World and everything.

Also, the Devil in this Hell is particularly ineffectual. He has the comical appearance of a dwarfish, out-of-shape Mexican wrestler, and the extent of his power seems to be pointing his fingers. He'd be better at directing traffic than being Lord of Darkness.

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 | PS2, GameCube, Xbox, PC | 2004

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 | PS2, GameCube, Xbox, PC | 2004

Hell is... designed to accommodate the demands of the modern skater

A secret area which becomes accessible by doing a bunch of nonsense and travelling through a series of portals, THUG 2s version of Hell is an irresistible playground of opportunity for skaters. Do a tricky trick on the ribcage. Invert your goofy over the river of lava. This Hell is for skating--presumably for all eternity--so go wild.

If you do get bored playing on your wheeled plank and fancy a change of pace, you can always join the Devil for a dance. He can be found in the lounge area (yes this Hell has a lounge area) wearing a smoking jacket and reclining on a luxuriant chaise lounge. For all his faults, the insatiable red-faced consumer of souls clearly has good taste in music, with Frank Sinatras Thats Life and Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash both on the play list. He cant be all bad then, surely?

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Magicland Dizzy | ZX Spectrum, C64 | 1990

Magicland Dizzy | ZX Spectrum, C64 | 1990

Hell is... Where the good guy lives

Look at that screenshot. Does anthropomorphic chicken discharge Dizzy look terrified to be in Hades? He does not. He is smiling. He has discovered the bad afterlife of suffering and damnation isnt that bad. Its only one screen big and is also a source of valuable minerals. The most hellish thing in this Hell is the colour scheme.

But what about Satan surely the Bible bad guy, defiler of godliness, peddler of sin, and the very personification of evil, boils Dizzy like an, er, egg in the scorching flames of his dominion? Actually he doesnt because it turns out the Devils not so bad either. In fact, hes a good guy - he helps Dizzy defeat the evil wizard Zax and then transports Dizzy and all his egg friends home. Thanks Devil.

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock | PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2007

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock | PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2007

Hell is... a noisy guitar version of the Charlie Daniels Bands good ol country tune The Devil Went Down to Georgia

After being unwittingly signed and managed by the Devil (aka Lou aka Lucifer), an attempt to renege on contractual obligations leads the player to an almighty rock duel in Lous Inferno, located somewhere in Hell, against an axe-wielding Horn Lord.

As a heavy metal approximation of the Underworld, this isnt so much a purgatorial holding pen for tortured souls, but more a paradise for tabard-wearing music enthusiasts with an appreciation for loud guitar-based noise. As a venue, Hell is equipped with an impressive speaker array, smoke machines, a wide variety of stage lighting and pyrotechnics, and dancing lady demons.

And all you have to do to get away is out-guitar the Devil--once beaten he plunges into the depths of Hell (which we dont really understand but whatever)--and everyone escapes on winged motorbikes.

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Catherine | PS3, Xbox 360 | 2011

Catherine | PS3, Xbox 360 | 2011

Hell is... an eternity of fantasy erotica

Were not going to try and explain precisely how or why or what, but take our word for it that an optimum ending to this unusual game concludes with protagonist Vincent being sent to Hell, where he exists in a perpetual male fantasy surrounded by perpetually aroused succubi who want to pleasure him perpetually. And persistently. While perspiring. Probably.

But the perpetually aroused succubi are mere distractions from Vincents beautiful wife--the daughter of the Plenipotentiary of the Netherworld i.e. the Devil--who is herself also in a constant state of near indefatigable arousal. As if all that wasnt enough, Vincent and his lady friends get a big comfy sofa to languish their bodies upon while in the lubricant throes of pleasurement - a big comfy sofa that is actually the aforementioned Plenipotentiary of the Netherworld. We know. Its weird, but as Hell goes, not entirely unappealing.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Better The Devil You Know

Better The Devil You Know

Are there more gaming Hells which fail to live up to the biblical billing and are actually not too bad when you stop and consider the alternatives? Wed like to hear about those Hells. Please tell us about them.

And if youre looking for more, check out The Top 7... Evil Clones and Deeply Disturbing Deaths from Retro Games.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Matt Cundy
Matt Cundy
Social Links Navigation
I don't have the energy to really hate anything properly. Most things I think are OK or inoffensively average. I do love quite a lot of stuff as well, though.
See more Games Features
Read more
A boxy green cubey enemy attacks Remi in Hell is Us
With "multi-map spanning secrets" and "phantasmagorical" horrors, Hell is Us wages a brutal civil war that already has me on edge
Fallout: New Vegas
I'm going back to the five best post-apocalyptic games I ever played, thanks to Death Stranding 2 giving me a taste for the terrible
Hell is Us in Future Games Show
Upcoming dark action-adventure game Hell is Us is channeling "old Zelda games" by giving you "just enough to know where to go but not too much"
Doom: The Dark Ages key art featuring the slayer on top a pile of bodies with the ruins of hell behind them
Every Doom The Dark Ages guide you'll need and more
The Doom Slayer shooting the Skull Crusher at a demon during the Doom: The Dark Ages trailer.
Doom: The Dark Ages has a new official trailer, and at this point id Software and Bethesda are just holding me down and pouring Doom lore over my head
Look Outside screenshot of the player character looking out of the window at an unseen horror
I kissed a creepy neighbor in a survival horror RPG and all I got was this lousy photo paper
Latest in Games
Donkey Kong Bananza skill point earned
Best skills in Donkey Kong Bananza to unlock first
A young Noctis and Lunafreya in Final Fantasy 15 Kingsglaive
The Legend of Zelda movie has finally cast its titular princess, and it turns out she was already a video game movie veteran at roughly 12 years old thanks to Final Fantasy
Subnautica 2
58-page Subnautica 2 lawsuit alleges Krafton broke contract, sabotaged launch over $250m payout: "In the name of its bottom line, Krafton has thrown its promises out the window and ripped the game from the hands of both its creators and its community"
Jet The Hawk, Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog, Knuckles The Echidna, Eggman, and Tails The Fox race towards us on a variety of vehicles in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, emerging from ring portals depicting various levels from Sonic history
Sega hands physical media a win amid Nintendo's push toward digital with Switch 2 game-key cards — Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is confirmed to have "the full base game on a 64GB cartridge"
Alpha Response police officers walking in a line with guns aimed
"If I had stayed with Valve, I would have been able to retire by now": OG Counter-Strike co-creator 'Gooseman' "kind of regrets" leaving Valve, says he "made some poor business decisions" but grew as a dev
Donkey Kong Bananza DK looking confused and surprised
Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't use Switch 2's frame rate-boosting DLSS tech, joining Mario Kart World in dodging what we thought would be one of the console's defining features
Latest in Features
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Five questions I hope Fantastic Four: First Steps answers
Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Starlord (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Drax (Dave Bautista) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
I've watched all the best James Gunn movies and TV shows, and this is how I'd rank them
One of the new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 4
Borderlands 4 is releasing in just under 2 months, so I'm revisiting the 5 best Gearbox games while I count down the days
The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature screenshot of a fairy, a ghost, and a mermaid looking scared
After 400 hours in The Sims 4, I've finally met my match: an occult-only household riddled with phantoms, house fires, and dead plants
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild screenshot of Link cooking over a campfire
The Legend of Zelda and Red Dead Redemption 2 have whetted my appetite, so I've found the 7 best cooking games to tuck into
David Corenswet as Superman fighting back flames
I’m tired of MCU post-credits scenes that go nowhere, which is why Superman’s organic world-building is such a breath of fresh air
  1. DK and Pauline look surprised in Donkey Kong Bananza
    1
    Donkey Kong Bananza Review: "Destruction isn't just a flashy gimmick for the Minecraft generation, it's one of the best inventions Nintendo has had in years"
  2. 2
    Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 review: "A nostalgic, must-play hit for fans"
  3. 3
    College Football 26 review: “Thanks to rivalries and dynasty, this is the greatest show on turf”
  4. 4
    Mecha Break review: "This mech battler makes up for lacking customization with a varied roster that lets me live out my Evangelion fantasy"
  5. 5
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  1. David Corenswet as Superman inside the Fortress of Solitude in James Gunn's Superman.
    1
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  2. 2
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  3. 3
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  4. 4
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  5. 5
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...