Hades (2020)

it's been over a month since I finished hades and I still don't know what to say about it, so I'ma just start writing and see what comes out.

so, I guess, relevant context: I put over 1500 hours into nuclear throne. it was, for a time, in my top 5 favorite games. and it was the longest-lasting of a string of roguelites, coming on the heels of the original freeware spelunky, the original flash binding of isaac (with the wrath of the lamb dlc, 100%ed both), and a stint of luftrausers. each of these was, for its time, my "break game." when I was working long hours at the desk I would pop into one of these for 15 minutes when I needed a reset, or while footage was rendering, or when I just needed something to do with my hands while listening to a podcast. (infinitely-playable game + adhd means 15 minutes could turn into two hours at any time.) there's a quarter-written script sitting in a google doc about the anhedonic experience of falling out of love with your forever game. none of these games have endings. you can beat the olmec, beat mom, take down an airship, but each of these "final bosses" is just one more in a series of skill gates. there's still post-game content: the city of gold, sheol and the cathedral, hard mode. nuclear throne and its endless loops. you never finish but you eventually burn out and move on. I don't play any of those games anymore. I don't rank nuclear throne in my top 5 anymore. consequently, I don't listen to podcasts anymore, because I haven't found something else to do with my hands.

I feel... weird thinking about all this.

maybe I'll finish that script someday. it turned into a thing about depression and undiagnosed adhd and processing a bunch of shit that happened to me around the same time I was playing nt, in that way that a video about games can have secret meanings known only to the writer (no one, to my knowledge, has clocked what who shot guybrush threepwood 3 was privately about).

this is all to say: hades was my first roguelite since burning out on nuclear throne (and giving up on dead cells because it wasn't nuclear throne). it is also a roguelite with an ending. I mean, ok, it's as infinite as the rest of them, with loads of post-game stuff and loads of threads I hadn't wrapped by the time I got to the "conclusion." but, being a roguelite with a lot more narrative focus than the ones I've listed, it is able to bring a sense of narrative completeness the rest did not. a central tension is resolved, a profound shift in the status quo, the completion of several core character arcs. I can keep playing to explore further my relationship with dusa (philia), thanatos (agape), and megaera (eros). I can unlock more weapon aspects, more skills, new decorations in the great hall. I can make this my forever game, as many have. but it gave me an offramp. a place to be done if I wanted to be done.

consequently, compared with every roguelite that has hooked me with several hours of "one more run," hades feels more complete, satisfying, and forgettable.

perhaps it is a genre that can only torment my soul or fade away in the lethe. maybe these games aren't good for me. maybe these games inspire me to philosophize on mental health and trauma for a reason. maybe if they don't compel me towards unhealthy fixation, if they respect my time, if they stop dangling carrots on the ends of their switches, then I'm more likely to notice that the mechanics become a grind long before the game runs out of content. maybe I notice that variety is a way of keeping a player engaged without needing any game mechanic to be, like, good on its own.

don't get me wrong: none of the mechanics are bad. in fact they might be the best in supergiant's history - at least of their hack 'n' slashers. honestly, the roguelite suits them: bastion was terrified of me getting bored so it threw new weapons at me every couple levels; they had to all be quick to pick up, instantly enjoyable, and only needed to maintain your attention for a few levels. they were meant to be used up. all its deeper mechanics - its pledges to various gods - were optional. hades' run-based system gets you to poke and prod at its systems, tweak, mix up loadouts. it's not the deepest suite of systems, and it still relies on a wide range of options to get players mixing things up, keep them from exploring any single possibility space to its end. I am quite confident each is smaller than they want it to look. if your mechanics are shallow, provide a lot of them.

but it works. it works great. the way they figured out procedural gameplay with linear, well-written story (and phenomenal voice acting) and gave it all a three-act structure is downright amazing. an incredible feat. the way the difficulty is perfectly tuned so grinding will get you to the end but the game will never be easy, the last boss will always require actual skill to beat. it's all so slick and impressive.

but I took the offramp as soon as it was offered. maybe I knew myself too well, knew, if there was an offramp, for christ's sake I should take it. or maybe it's that I could tell, this time, it was art and narrative and character that was pulling me forward, not compulsively satisfying gameplay. it was a fundamentally different drive, even if its addictive qualities manifested the same. I knew I was striving for an ending, and, when I got it, I was ready to move on.

this is, I suppose, good. hades is a forever game for a lot of someone elses. it is not the game for me, and, thankfully, it accounts for that. seems to have the same respect for its players as it had for its staff.

I envy those of you who love it. I miss loving roguelites.

TL;DR - An incredibe rougelite that has some of the most polished combat in the genre. This is bolstered by the game's fantastic art style, the presence of an ever-developing story, and an interesting Greek setting. And although the experience can get quite repetitive and grindy, it is still a must-play for fans of the genre.

ACTION ROUGELITE - Zagreus, the son of Hades, seeks to escape the Underworld to be free from his father's rule.

PROS:

++ Polished gameplay. As I've mentioned before, Hades has been the most polished rougelike I've played so far. Movement feels great. Attacks are well-animated, and are enhanced by great visual effects. The moment-to-moment gameplay (which can get repetitive in later runs) was fun and it had great rougelite systems. Mirror upgrades gave solid meta-progression. Six weapons which have four aspects (forms) each provided some diversity between runs and the game also encourages the player to switch weapons in-between runs. Prophecies rewarded player from trying ever boon and upgrade, and for exploring everything the game has to offer. And the Pacts of Punishment were a great way of modifying and increasing the difficulty of the game, while further rewarding the player for getting better at the game with additional Titan Blood, Diamonds, and Ambrosia. I also really liked the inclusion of God Mode which is a great help for players who mainly want to see the story.

++ Stellar presentation. The locales were beautiful. The illustrations of each character was phenomenal. Each of the gods had great character design in my opinion. And they were all fully voice acted with an overall solid voice cast.

++ Meaningful deaths. Upon death, you are rewarded with more conversations with NPCs. And I really liked how characters often reacted to your previous run through their comments. All of this makes it so that death isn't as negative of a thing, and that you're making some progress each run.

++ Presence of a story. Most roguelikes often opt to not have a story because of how the genre is. Which is why I really appreciated that Hades chose to have a narrative, and the story they tell ended up being quite engaging to me. Wanting to re-unite with Persephone fueled my later runs, and I grew to really like the characters of Zagreus, Nyx, Hades, and Achilles. I'm very excited to see where they go with this story in the sequel.

++ Greek setting. Really love Greek mythological characters so this was a great setting for me. Seeing Supergiant's take on famous Greek gods and goddesses was great to see. All of them had unique personalities and all their boons had unique properties. (Zeus/lightning, Poseidon/water & knockback, Ares/doom, Aphrodite/weak, Artemis/critical hits, Athena/deflection, Demeter/chill, and Hermes/speed). Hopefully they can expand on this sequel and add even more Greek mythological characters.

++ Tons of unlockables. Beyond the story (which takes 10 full runs to complete), there are still tons of unlockables and things to do. Upgrading each of the six weapons and each of their four aspects fully, unlocking all the conversations with characters, filling out Achilles' codex, catching all the fish, fully furnishing the Underworld, completing all the prophecies, and beating the game in higher heat levels. There is a ton of content here for those who really want to sink their teeth into this game.

CONS:

-- Lack of variety. Like I mentioned above, the later runs in the game felt repetitive. Yes, the game is incredibly polished and well-produced. But it really suffers from a lack of variety. There is not enough enemy types and bosses for one. The Fury sisters and Hades was fine, but having to fight the Bone Hydra and Theseus/Asterius every run quickly grew stale. And the next is that many of the rooms are identical. Within 10 hours, I felt like I saw every room variety the game had to offer. I wish there were more room layouts.

-- Grind-heavy. There are a lot of unlockables but they all require a great amount of grinding for resources. Keys, nectar, gemstones, diamonds, and titan blood all require a lot of grinding in order to unlock everything the game has to offer.

-- Fishing minigame. I really disliked the fishing in this game. I just found it too difficult tbh. Probably a skill-issue on my end but nevertheless, I hated it.

196 hours dedicated to this game. And I am just waiting for my PS5 to arrive to buy it there as well and beat -Redacted-'s ass once again.

Seldom I have played a game that feels so... satisfying. That is the word. This game is just incredibly satisfying. I am not a big Roguelike fan but I think this title trascends genres and preferences. It's fantastic, it is one of those great games to recommend to someone who has not played a single game in their life. Actually, I think I am going to try that with my partner, fuck yes.

You know what? only for Artemis' thighs this game already deserves 6 stars.

Full Group Podcast Discussion:

Here were my final thoughts:

It’s now been about 2 and half years since we’ve started Video Game Book Club, and so far we have played 2 rogue-lite games - Moonlighter and Children of Morta. If you go back to those original VGBC episodes, you will find that many people’s complaints revolved around a lack of weapon types/fighting styles, power ups were basic, not enough enemy variety, level designs felt the same, etc. In other words, each of the rougelites we played up to this point felt like… it was missing something.

Well, Hades is that something, everything that everyone has said regarding their dislikes in each of those games, Hades has addressed 110%. Hades is like this finely crafted multi layered roguelite cake, where each of its in game systems, combat mechanics, power ups, characters, dialogue, and story just continue to build on top of each other. And just when you think you beat the game, you reached the surface, and you’ve got the whole game figured out, and you truly thought you’ve seen it all - the game continues to throw in more and more surprises - and the game just sits you down and says, “No my delusional child, that wasn’t the whole game, that was just the tutorial”. I freakin’ love it.

I mean, come on, it even took the very concept of the roguelite genre, dying and starting all over again, and made an entire storyline line around the very idea with Zagreus trying to reach the surface, over and over again, just to see his mother. Even for just a few minutes, he is willing to undergo as much pain and suffering as necessary, battling through actual Hell, just to see his mother… now that… is a strong thematic setup.

I firmly believe that Hades is the culmination, and the embodiment, of what makes it means to be a rogue-lite game - it has taken the bar, and set it to an entirely different level - and in my eyes, as of this moment, it is the best roguelite game I have ever played.

Hades gets my final rating of 9.5 out of 10.

And the only reason why I am giving it this score, is because I know Hades 2 is currently in development, and I’m curious to see what more they will add to an already fantastic game.

Something Hades has over every other Rogue-like game I've played is that you actually get some kind of reward for dying. Typically, it's a slog to go through each of the levels and dying only makes things more frustrating depending on the balance of the power-ups you receive throughout play through. In Hades when I die I get to look at the beautiful artwork of the characters as they interact with each other and with Zagreus. I still get to progress in some way regardless of how well I did in the run.

To combat frustration from repetition, they've included a "God Mode" that gives you more health and defense after each death to help you get through everything there is to get through in the game. Combat is well-fleshed out, the weapon options are varying enough that each run with a different weapon can alter how I strategize what path to take. Music and voice acting is amazing as is typical of Supergiant Games.

It's absolutely the best rogue-like out there, making every other one I used to enjoy seem bland and boring. If you like rogue-likes, then great. Get this game! It's the best from the rogue-like genre has to offer.

This game is crazy good! It’s hard to put in words that people didn’t already said. This is one of those games you can literally do a quick session because you can beat a run in 30 minutes. The story is amazing and engaging. The art work just pops.

The gameplay is probably the best I’ve played in a while. It’s so hectic maybe too hectic that it gets hard to see what’s going on in the screen. All the weapons feel great to play maybe except the gun. It’s ok. Lol. I can keep playing and playing, but I have other games to beat so I’ll be playing this on my lunch breaks.

Absolutely play this game!

There's a reason this game topped so many "Best of 2020" lists--Hades is an absolute blast! In general, I'm not really a fan of rogue-likes. I wouldn't necessarily describe myself as the most patient or skilled player, so I often find the "die over and over to get good" loop to be unsatisfying. However, a big part of the Hades magic is its extremely graceful on-boarding systems. I've rarely played a game with so satisfying a feeling of progression or so smooth a difficulty curve. The player certainly learns things each run: how to engage new enemies, how to handle each of the six different weapon options, how to combine different player enhancements ("boons") and weapon mods for maximum effectiveness. The player also gleans a handful of carried-over resources each run which allows them to upgrade the main character and world with various improvements. The combined effect of the slick upgrade system and constant learning is to make the player feel a sense of constant growth, which made this a super engaging and addictive experience for me.

The world of Hades is also very well designed. As the name suggests, the game is set in the annals of Greek mythology, with the main character (the son of the titular god of the underworld) ceaselessly trying to escape his father's realm. The game looks fantastic, with a bright, colorful, and cartoony aesthetic which varies with each different layer of the underworld. As the player ascends the different layers, they face different enemies and bosses, which in concert with the different weapon options and modifications makes for an enjoyably varied combat experience. Even on the slightly clunky Switch, the combat feels super snappy and fun. Finally, for each run (and particularly each 'clear'), the game unveils more of a somewhat predictable but pleasant story. Taking this all together, Hades is an absolute gem, and I truly can't offer any serious complaints. I devoured this game (I've now cleared with each of the six weapons and enough times to see the full story) and I'm sure I'll be back soon to see more of the end game content and perhaps start a fresh run.

Hades is a rougelike, perfected. The blood of all rougelikes before it flow through its veins, the strengths of the genre honed and the weaknesses buffed away. From the narrative, the core gameplay, the progression and the pacing, Hades uses its status as a rougelike in very specific and very thoughtful ways to create an experience the genre hasn't quite seen thus far.

From the narrative, the rougelike nature, the run based structure is built into the very core of the story. Unlike with, say, FTL: Faster Than Light, Spelunky or The Binding of Isaac, each run of Hades does not exist within a vacuum. Each run narratively exists within a context to the runs prior and subsequent, as well as the overall narrative. Characters comment on what you've just experienced, what you've been experiencing, what your goals are. The game is tough, and as you, the player, throw yourself repeatedly at the challenges of the game, the player character, Zagreus is throwing himself through the trials of the underworld. Your frustration, your persistence, your desire to win is also his. I have never played a game that quite aligned my desires as a player so strongly with the player character. Breaking free from the underworld for the first time is an incredibly rewarding experience that had me riding and emotional high even after turning off the game. And on top of the strong cohesion between gameplay and narrative, the characters are just so likeable; as well the world and scope are so well realized and fleshed out even if you don't normally care for Greek mythology.

For all the narrative and does well, when you get down to it, it's actually fairly basic. Fortunately, the gameplay absolutely stands on its own, with a variety of mechanics and ways to engage with the game the unfold as your progress. The game is paced perfectly from the beginning to your first clear, and then is mostly paced perfectly up to the credits, with enough to keep the game fresh and interesting. From run to run, Hades give you just enough control to influence which boons you get or reroll for chamber rewards to give you just enough of an ability to go after a build you'd like, while also leaving just enough outside your control to force you to try something new or improvise. Unlike other rougelikes, I never felt like a run was ruined by an unlucky roll or a bad decision, or I never felt that poor play early on would leave a run dead in the water, though a big part of that is Patroclus's ability to restore all death defiances in Elysium. Failure in Hades rarely feels unfair, and even on loss you still have something to show for it, so it never feels too bad. The game takes the sting and frustration out of traditional rougelikes, while holding onto the creative improvisation, tense gameplay, and potential for wild game-breaking builds that make the genre great.

If you're a fan of hardcore, punishing rougelikes that make you really fight for a win, then maybe Hades isn't for you. But if you even mildly enjoy the genre but dislike the more frustrating aspect of it, and if you like interesting enough stories with fun characters and way too much voiced dialogue, then this game is absolutely for you

Also I know Hades is technically a Rougelite, don't @ me

This game hooked me. To the point where I felt bad uninstalling it to move on, despite having a sizable backlog. I completed every achievement and did most of the content that i think is available .

It was so smooth and fluid and just a pure delight to play.

I enjoyed me time with this game so much and would highly suggest anyone play it if you like Roguelites and a good story.

~David.

I reached Hades' final boss, Hades, for the first time after 5 hours. I had a sense of disappointment. I wanted the game to last longer. I struggled with the fight and ultimately didn't beat it until a run about 10 hours later. Still there was a sense of disappointment. It took me 80 hours to beat Enter the Gungeon, a similar roguelike I loved. I felt disappointed that my time with Hades was enjoyable but short-lived.

But here I am with 55+ hours of playtime. I am still loving and enjoying Hades. And the reason to keep playing is mostly plot related. Most every power up or perk I could want, I have. But I keep diving in because I care about Megaera, Eurydice, Thanatos, Sisyphus... I want to know what happens with the auxiliary characters in a roguelike.

I know at some point my enjoyment will go away and I will just youtube compilations of story beats for the Hades characters I love, but for now I am still committing work required patricide in order to find out.

There is a David Byrne quote about how lyrics are just a trick to get people to listen to music. I think the same is often true with the plot in video games; they're just an excuse to play. But in Hades' case, they're a heck of a good excuse.