Hades absolutely deserves all the praise it gets. With incredibly smooth, fast paced gameplay, beautiful art style, and a story Rick Riordan fanfic writers wish they had thought of (in the best way possible), Hades is a gold standard for the roguelite genre that keeps the player coming back, death after death.

Going into Hades, I had played a few roguelike/roguelite games, but none had really managed to stick with me for very long. However, Hades manages to address this issue by presenting a narrative that is believable within its setting and builds itself around the core gameplay loop. Dying repeatedly is all just another part of Zagreus’ attempts to escape the Underworld, and occurs because of his immortality and status as the son of Hades, rather than simply happening for the sake of the gameplay loop. Players will find themselves immediately drawn into the world after just a few runs, after realizing that each death presents with it new dialogue that can occur between Zagreus and the other residents of the House of Hades. As such, death is never a hinderance, as there’s always someone to talk to or something new to unlock within the House on each subsequent visit.

And, it’s with those characters that the narrative succeeds the most. Supergiant Games did a fantastic job including so many unique dialogue interactions that, even after fifty hours playing the game, it still feels like I haven’t seen any repeated dialogue, even in the typical, unscripted interactions. Because of this, everyone is fun to interact with, and their personalities are very well developed. Furthermore, because the perspective of the Underworld’s residents is so rarely used in modern adaptations of Greek mythology, it’s likely that the player will meet someone they’ve never heard of before, regardless of their experience with Greek mythology. All paired with some incredible voice acting for an indie game, Hades’ characters give the game a sense of uniqueness that helps carry the game through slower parts of its plot that, although decent, doesn’t reinvent the wheel.

In addition to the characters found within the Underworld, Zagreus can also interact with his relatives on Olympus by receiving their Boons, which act as effects that help the player on individual runs through the Underworld. Each Olympian has their own unique theme for their boons - Zeus’ are based around extra-damaging lightning, Artemis’ are focused around critical hits that do extra damage, Athena’s are focused on shielding and deflecting attacks, and so on. In addition to Boons, Zagreus can find Hammers, which act as weapon upgrades, and coin to spend in shops throughout the Underworld, each of which also effect individual runs. However, there are also a number of collectables that can be used to upgrade Zagreus’ overall capabilities - darkness to unlock permanent abilities, keys to unlock new weapons and darkness upgrades, nectar to share with friends, and gemstones that give cosmetic and functional upgrades to the House of Hades. With so many potential collectables to find on any specific run, it can be difficult to grind for specific resources you need, but you’ll be guaranteed to have a unique run every time you descend into Tartarus.

The gameplay is primarily action hack & slash, but different unlockable weapons give the player extra combat potential that varies between different range and melee options. Each weapon has a primary attack and special attack (both of which can be changed by Hammers or Boons), and Zagreus is always equipped with a dodge and ranged “call” attack that fires a single projectile. It can almost be overwhelming at first with so many different ways you can fight, but you’ll find yourself settling in as you stack upgrades and Boons which favor specific combos. Everything is incredibly polished, and with every individual action having an impact on your run, it never feels like a loss is out of your control.

The game’s visuals are unexpectedly colorful, despite what being in the “Underworld” may make you think - but it isn’t out of place, as each portion of the Underworld has its own special themes and enemy designs, with little repeats (witches aside). The colors pop especially while playing on my Switch OLED. And lastly, the hard rock, almost metal-centric soundtrack, though not for everyone, perfectly captures Zagreus’ style as well as the game’s atmosphere.

All in all, Hades is another smash indie hit from Supergiant that is well worth the hype, and is a must play for roguelike/lite and Greek Mythology fans alike.

9/10