Hades (2020)

I'm not a huge fan of roguelikes/lites. Of the others I have played (Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, and Neon Abyss) I have only beaten Slay the Spire. Even then, I essentially beat the final heart boss and stopped playing. Normally I start playing, get engrossed, and quit when I'm bored. I wouldn't say I ever got engrossed in Hades. It's a bad sign when instead of being excited to jump into a new run after I die, I feel relieved that I'm not playing anymore.

I try to play every game to completion until playing becomes more of a hassle than something I enjoy. It took Hades less than 5 hours to become a hassle. I guess the movement was satisfying and the combat was fun, but normally those are the things that keep roguelikes playable; It wasn't enough for this one. The art style is cool and the story was interesting, but not interesting enough for me to care what happens at the end.

I initially dabbled in Hades before getting sidetracked by Transistor, but returning to it was a revelation. The game more than lives up to its acclaim, presenting characters that are charmingly British despite their Greek god origins. I'm not usually drawn to roguelites, but the captivating art, sharp wit, and top-notch voice acting won me over.

The gameplay surprised me by leaning more towards ranged combat than I expected, but it makes sense given the sparse healing options. Staying at a distance is generally advisable.

I’ve been captivated since my first few runs. While I made it to the third boss surprisingly early, it wasn't a sign of things to come; my next couple of runs were thwarted by the first boss, Megaera—my favorite character and a romance option, no less!

As for weapons, I find the Spear and Shield are my go-to choices, given their ranged capabilities. Melee weapons like the Sword and Claws require you to be up close, absorbing more damage, whereas the Bow feels underpowered.

Around the 16th run, I scored my first major victory against the pair of third-stage bosses. This success owed partly to good fortune: a life-refill from Patroclus and a timely usage of Artemis’ Call, just when I was on the brink of death.

Like Diablo 3, Hades is a title I personally find more enjoyable on the Nintendo Switch despite its PC origins. The abundance of well-written and masterfully-voiced dialogue continues to impress me. My most significant achievement thus far was conquering Hades himself, around 20 runs in, armed with a Rocket Bomb special.

I've come to appreciate that there's no "perfect" set of boons needed for victory. Each run is a unique blend of strategy and luck, keeping the experience continually fresh. However, I was dismayed to find that even after 50 runs and 10 successful escapes, I had only unlocked a single hidden aspect—making the game feel unnecessarily grindy.

In summary, Hades has grown on me immensely. Despite my general aversion to permadeath games, the exceptional art, engaging narrative, and quirky British overtones have made each run a joy. The grind for unlocking hidden aspects is a minor gripe in what is otherwise a compelling gaming experience.

Whatever has been said about Hades holds true, it is a great game with smooth butter combat. Great music and art.

A really joy to play.

Something that sets it apart from other roguelikes for me, is that every run there is a sense of progression, you get tidbits here and there that allow you to level up on the side that will eventually allow you to push through that barrier that you may have been stuck against. Whether this applies at the higher levels of difficulty it is unknown to me, but for standard difficulty it will pretty much allow most players to get through the content.

The roguelike mechanics are taking into account by the story which is something nice to see.

However, i feel like the story is a drag to develop, with very little being discovered each run, and even after finishing the game you don't get any answers, you gotta beat the game a few more times (i forget how many) to get some sort of ending and even then i found it lacking given the amount of time put into it.

If you are a fan of roguelikes you will definitely enjoy this aspect, however, for someone that was ready to move on I thought this part unnecessary and an insult to my time. Once I defeat the final boss once, future runs became very similar.

In summary: Superb game where most players will get something out of it. Excellent game for roguelike lovers!

Hades is probably the most engaging and accessible a rogue(lite) has been yet - featuring an extremely well done story, a plethora of deep and well written characters, and a dizzying amount of rewarding gameplay strategies.

The player controls Zagreus, the son of Hades, attempting to escape from the Underworld to join the other gods on Mount Olympus. Not everything is as it seems, however, with some surprises waiting at the top...

Spoilers aside, Zagreus will start fairly underpowered. The player can strike, use a special, and dash as well as attack but as the player dies again and again, they gain access to upgrades and weapons that turn the tide of battle. Close quarters too uncomfortable? Bow and spear from afar. Basic sword technique not good enough? Upgrade a hidden aspect with better abilities like defensive auras. There are also special talents that the player can invest into that truly turn the tide of battle, such as a life system and a massive damage boost from multiple status effects.

The player is also rewarded upgrades along their journey, including Boons from other gods with upgrades flavored to their specific type (Aphrodite makes enemies weak in the knees, Demeter chills them down, etc) and can be combined to produce one helluva combo. The randomness can be difficult to control at first, but as the player improves their weapons/talents the path of upgrades becomes more liberating and either the player can play around with different strategies or focus on specific upgrades. Hades is also a very accessible game in that it counters its randomness somewhat - the player may reroll some room rewards and can also start the game with a specific powerup. It's slight at first but can come in handy in a pinch.

And what a pinch there will be. Beating one's way through four levels of the Underworld is tough in itself, with a variety of enemies and bosses that subtly change over runs, as well as a customizable difficulty mode that puts the challenge up to the player's preferences. It's a great system that more games should strive for.

As for visuals, music, and dialogue - Hades is rich with all three. Supergiant's isometric style is fully on display with dark and stylized environments, from the heat of Asphodel to the ethereal gloom of Elysium. The music is exciting when it needs to be and melancholy where it counts, with some excellent vocal work. Each character pops with personality, with dozens of different gods/creatures remarking on your progress, each other, etc - they even have their own character arcs that can be pushed along by offering them nectar and ambrosia, encouraging yet another level of play than just getting to the surface.

This review merely scratches the surface of an impressively built underworld. For roguelike/lites Hades stands out not just as one of the finest ones ever made, but the one that the most amount of people will truly enjoy playing.

this game's a lot of fun, though not as replayable as a lot of other roguelikes. once i finished the main story i kind of lost interest in continuing, but then again i've never been a completionist or whatever. the voice acting in this game is awesome and deserves 30 million awards alone.

i like the sleepy guy who tells me how horribly and hilariously i ate shit

I was never a fan of Rogue Legacy. Game design around grinding just never appealed to me and sometimes success was tied heavily to RNG, thus good gameplay doesn't always feel rewarded. There is progression that you gain gradually from each playthrough, but I found the pacing to be too slow for my liking. Despite Hades having many of the same design sensibilities as Rogue Legacy, what made it work for me was the writing, plot, art style and voice acting. It was brilliant to tie the repetitive nature of the Rogue-lite formula to narrative, which is an elevation of the medium that you don't often see. Z wants to escape the underworld and reunite with his Mom. The constant failure (which is inevitable as you learn the game play) is part of the narrative. Plot progresses as you fail or complete more runs. The sheer amount of text is staggering. A lot of thought and heart went into this game.

It is ultimately a big time sink, but after I beat the game a few times and mastered the mechanics I found it enjoyable to start a new run. You need to beat the game a plethora of times for the true ending (I won't spoil it) but it doesn't ever feel contrived with the explanation of you continuously escaping from the underworld, which speaks of the quality in the writing. Even Hades grows on you and develops as a character despite being the final boss of the game.

The main appeal to the game is the replayability. There are 9 Olympian Gods with more than 10 boons each, 6 weapons with 4 different aspects, 6 companion summons and 25 keepsakes. There are near uncountable number of builds possible in this game and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I won't cover builds since they would involve writing a dissertation. Point being, you can find a play style that suits you best. While the Gods, boons, and room rewards are random, there are ways to manipulate RNG in your favor. Through a run, you can gain darkness which can be used to buy permanent upgrades to your character, such as increased odds of boons being epic or (the best option) the ability to resurrect after you die. The keepsakes of a given God also will make sure that you will see more boons from them during your run.

Combat is simple from a high level, but gets complicated from the enemy variety and all the potential build variety mentioned in the previous paragraph. It's isometric with a dash, attack, special and cast move. Each of these abilities can be modified from the different boons that you can find during a given run.

As of writing this review I put in 54 hours and have beaten the game about 30 times. The strong writing kept me going. It's a game I will pick up and play from time to time. I would like to eventually unlock the true ending, but it sure is a grind to get there. I suppose that's the point.

Hades is almost a perfect game and epitom of modern gaming. Super Giant Games, instead of inventing something wholly new, rather reinovate their former formula but make it continuosly better. I am so excited to see what comes next.

Hades' fighting feels as awesome and smooth as in almost no other game, including all triple A games out there (I'd say Diablo 3 is the only one that can compete at all).

Everybody has to play this.

PROS

• Exciting combat with tons of customization options
• Gives you an unprecedented level of control over your runs for a rogue-lite
• Impressive story unfolds organically through player action
• Attractive, detailed art style
• Side quests and plentiful loot add flavor to the game's core loop
• Addresses many of the rogue-lite genre's shortcomings through clever design

CONS

• The inherent repetition of an action game with a measly four levels cannot be ignored
• Loses the thrill of discovery when all the core systems have been unlocked
• Lock-on with long-range weapons can be spotty at times

72 hours and I have finally cleared the epilogue.

I haven't played too many roguelike games, or even many hack-and-slash games. You can turn just about any genre into a roguelike, but hack-and-slashes are normally not really my thing. But I'm a nut for Greek mythology, so I decided to give Hades a shot and boy am I glad I did.

The closest thing I've played to this beforehand is probably Torchlight II, although a friend said he was more reminded of Binding of Isaac (which I have not played). The gameplay here is not complicated on the surface, but there's a lot of information to digest. Between the different weapons you can pick, the dozens of different upgrades (some of them weapon-specific), and figuring out what each enemy does, then combining all that info, you could definitely say there's a learning curve. But once you get it down, the game gets a lot easier. Until you turn the "Heat" (Challenge Mode) on.

The main thing I liked about the gameplay is that there there isn't really a meta. It is true that some weapons and upgrade combos are better than others. But you can beat the game with just about anything; granted, some builds make this MUCH easier than others. Now, I haven't kicked the Challenge Mode into overdrive yet so that might not hold true later. But you can more or less conquer the game with whatever weapon you want, RNG of the upgrades be damned. And I love that. I got a little too burned on Slay the Spire with the whole "only certain builds can win" concept.

But what really shines here is the story and characters. It's no secret that Greek mythology has been done again and again and again. God of War, Xena, god knows how many Hercules movies, and the list goes on. But despite everything that came before, Hades manages to be original, artful, and entertaining. I feel like I can't really go into detail here without spoiling things, but despite all the fighting and death and the Underworld, this is a wholesome story whose core theme is family.

Now, I'll admit that I assumed Zagreus was a made up character at first, a la Kratos. But apparently he's just from one of the ignored parts of Greek mythology that has not become a pop culture staple like heroes fighting Medusa or Zeus dropping his toga at first sight of a mortal woman. Granted, the real myth about Zagreus is just that, a myth. Not myths, plural, just the one. He's not the type of god who constantly interferes in mortal affairs (looking at you, Aphrodite). Which is probably why he was picked as the protagonist here; there was a lot of open room to just do whatever with him. All the other characters are major Greek mythology figures (the Olympians, Achilles, Cerberus, etc.) players can easily recognize.

And this is where the gameplay and story both do the same core thing very well: pacing. It takes a long time to even have access to all the upgrades, let alone trying to actually unlock them all. So many more aspects of the game are opened up as you get deeper, from beginning to end. The same thing can be said about the characters and their storylines. Almost every NPC gives you at least 1 side quest. But it's a gradual process so you never run out of things to do and runs pretty evenly with how quickly you'll collect the items you'll need while playing. A lot of games like this make pacing mistakes that cause the game to feel boring long before the end, but that never happens with Hades.

Anyhow, 5-star game for sure. This has easily become one of my go-to's that I can just fire up when I want to kill an hour. I really need to go play some of Supergiant's older stuff next.