Within the first hour of Hades, I rolled a boon that gave me +2HP regeneration per hit at the expense of half my health, plus another which healed me by a certain amount if I dodged after being struck. I coasted to the third boss, where I finally ate shit while getting sandwiched between a minotaur and Theesus' hot, oily body (video games are all about wish-fulfillment, you see.) I figured there was no way I wouldn't knock this out in a single sitting if I was able to get 75% of the way through the game so early and with so little equipment and abilities unlocked, so I settled in and started thinking about what I'd play next.

It took me another 20ish hours to beat up my dad.

Chaos is down here, but I feel him everywhere. I sense him in the damn walls, because in true roguelike fashion, my ability to claw my way out of the underworld is largely determined by blind luck. Did I get the crystal turrets this run? No? Well shit, I guess this has become an exploratory mission, a grind to get as much crystals and keys as possible to buy stat upgrades and equipment to mitigate some of my misfortune. Oh good, I managed to get a boon to pom upgrades so everything is doubled now, surely I'll beat Hades this time and-- what do you mean he has two health bars, what is this Lies of P bull shit?

Each failed run sends me back to the main hall, where Zag can chat with his friends, colleagues and family, or pet his dog, maybe do a little interior decorating... it's a place to pause, to breath and collect oneself before the next run. Only problem is, I'm not built like that. I'm a sick little goblin freak and for the past eight hours I've been able to consistently make it to the fourth layer of the Underworld, where rats with a billion HP pick at my bones. No time to talk, Nyx. Go suck yourself, Hypnos. I don't have time for your sharply written dialog and I've run out of patience for picking out different colors of drapes, this is the run.

It's not the run. I can't be mad, though. The worst parts of Hades are tropes so quintessential to the genre that if you didn't expect them going in, then you aren't really being honest to yourself about what Hades is. The lack of predictability is a feature, one that comes with some great highs and abysmal lows, which at times made me feel like Hades is deserving of its praise while also making me want to put it down. Ask me how much I like Hades and I'm going to say "it depends."

And, in perfect fashion, I finally kicked my old man's ass not because I collected enough keys to unlock every weapon so that I could gain access to the upgrade system, or because I had maxed out several stat upgrades I felt might help keep Zag alive - as was my plan - but because I happened to roll a +900% damage perk against armor, perfect for making short work of those rats. With that, level 7 crystal turrets, and four full charges of Death Defiance, I could've taped my eyes shut during the fight against Hades. The cool thing about roguelikes is they can either favor you too early and trivialize the whole game or dick you over so much that you're just miserable. The truly fortunate land somewhere in the middle and get a more satisfying sense of balance amid all the dice rolls and chaos.

Despite the rogulike trappings of chance and repetition, I don't think Hades is a bad game, so much as it's a perfectly alright one. In fact, the bits that are more unique to Hades, like the writing, character designs, and even the way Zag feels in combat, are all great. If this genre is more your thing than it is mine, then this is probably a must play, maybe one of the best of all time. For me, it's a "shelved" that I'm giving a 3/5 because 20+ hours later, I can't imagine another run with modifiers actually turning the needle much at all. I'll probably get back to it someday, but for now, I need to put this down and play something else... Like Prey: Mooncrash!

having won a run in hades a few times now, i unfortunately have to report that the game is good. but it also isn't completely to my tastes and has issues. probably the most off-putting thing about this, as someone who's played a good share of roguelikes, is how it bucks genre conventions. some of this is good, but the majority of it is bad.

what i personally like about roguelikes and roguelites is the way that it's an entire game experience condensed into around an hour or so. of course, there will be unlockables, secret ending and paths, etc. but the main appeal of the genre for me has always been the ability to bend it to your will, acquired through many runs and much gained knowledge about the game and its systems. it allows you to have total god runs while also eeking out close victories, and it provides a sense of mastery over time that can't be easily found in other genres.

hades is.. not that. it's not so much knowledge about systems that will win you runs (at least at first, i'm still new to the game), but upgrades to zagreus that will persist across runs. this is fine, but it feels antithetical to what i enjoy about the genre. i don't mind new abilities or items that you can get in runs, or new paths and bosses and stuff, but to have your character be quantitatively better (vs. something like isaac where a character will gain a heart or new starting item through an unlock) just isn't very interesting to me. especially when the upgrades just, increase your max health, or your casts. it doesn't make me feel like i'm mastering the game, just that i'm getting more powerful.

the design philosophy of consistency across runs isn't entirely bad though. the narrative framework of hades is really quite interesting, especially for a genre that is usually (and understandably) light on story elements. i won't spoil anything but i really like how this is accomplished. it's nothing mindblowing but it does a lot to help the game along

spent most of this review complaining but the game is honestly very fun.. closing thoughts: the shield fucking sucks

Annnnd with that I have to be done.

I got to the "actual" endgame content IYKYK. I think I've exhausted myself of the game for a minute. I really enjoyed it, but I need a break.

Nevertheless, this game is the best roguelike that I've played in my life so far. I loved how dying wasn't a bad part, but a necessary part of building and deepening relationships. At this point of the game, I was happy to see that "nectar" was much easier to get and finally able to deepen more relationships. This was fun to get more dialogue options open, and still hear so many lines. It is baffling how much voice over lines they did.

Another thing that made me love this game, it ran perfectly on my phone. They optimized it so well for my experience on an iPhone 12 Pro Max that I am incredibly grateful for Supergiant Games.

The combat rocks and the Pacts of Punishment are phenomenal. I loved hearing the different lines about which pacts effected the different bosses. Especially when different pacts are turned on and then back off. They went so deep with the dialogue.

I'm taking the day to decide if I'm just going to YouTube all of the story beats or eventually play the game again.

I highly recommend this game. It's so good.

"Estamos sempre fugindo de onde pertencemos"

Para cada mensagem existe o modo que essa mensagem é passada e a finalidade da mesma, videogame é uma mídia que constantemente utiliza de uma narrativa pautada em violência, justamente por ser uma mídia mais ativa, essa limitação sempre foi algo que moldou os padrões e gêneros dentro da mesma, Hades usa do conflito geracional e violento dos deuses, da morte, e parricídio, para falar sobre descoberta, separação de relacionamento, e amor familiar, envelopando tudo isso em um rogue-like, é incrível como todas essas narrativas conversam dentro do gênero quase como se o gênero fosse criado para dar vida a essa história, e seus sistemas diegeticamente conversam sobre toda essa ludonarrativa de Hades.
Ele se apodera da típica narrativa mitológica grega que conta sobre tragédias e homicídios, para mostrar que para cada ato de violência existe alguma conversa não finalizada e um coração não afagado, e mesmo que doa, buscar fugir é melhor que o conformismo de acertar a perda inevitável.

Chaos. If there’s anything that would encapsulate the term roguelikes or roguelites, chaos would be its perfect descriptor. Rogues separate themselves from the rest of the genres by building a core gameplay loop where the moment-to-moment experience revolves around randomness and player decision. Each and every run is different, from enemies, stages, items, abilities that you get. Of course, frustration is inbound when randomness is decisive on the outcome.

I’m not the one to say, but stripping these qualities from a roguelite game turns it into a homogenous experience. Yes, I’m calling the poster-boy of roguelites homogeneous. Let’s get this out of the way first, Hades looks pretty, and has really good voice-acting. Some like it for its dialogue, but I find it too “internet-y” for my taste. Now I can begin my rant, can I?

Hades’ lacks spine. Rail-roading players' decision to get synergies and allowing them to filter their choices manually to remove frustration removes that chaos. Not only this, but the lack of variety, room-wise, enemy-wise, and choice-wise, exacerbates this homogeneity. What about player adaptation? Hades has none of that. Simply mash the same few buttons to kill the same few enemies, the same few bosses set in the same few areas with the same few room-designs. Same, same, same. Before someone screams skill-issue at me, I finished Hades at 32 heat.

Dying is perhaps the fun part of Hades. You hoard and slave away multiple meta-currencies that allow you to make the game easier, find yourself some dialogue you’ve never heard before, and finally, do the grunt-work all over again. Hopefully, you find some new meta-currency-locked drip-fed dialogue this time around.

I don’t know my rogue-likes or my rogue-lites, but from what I’ve played of this I can definitely tell it is not for me.

It looks visually stunning of course with how well the backgrounds are designed with a good contrast to the characters that really makes the whole world feel lived in. Even during enemy encounters nothing ever felt so cluttered and I usually have the perfect visual clarity in understanding where the enemies and Zagreus are. The soundtrack compliments the game really well with instruments that really sell the whole Greek gods mythos with a really nice crunchy sound design during combat that makes slaying enemies so satisfying. All the voice actors absolutely nail their performances of these characters in making them larger than life immortals as you can really hear the personalities just from the voices alone. At least in its presentation, Hades is pretty close to being flawless in all honesty.

But it doesn’t click with me. As well-designed as these characters are, they don’t really intrigue me whatsoever. They might have more going on beyond what archetypes they fulfill, but from as far as I got with every character and their bonding I can’t say I ever became more invested over them. I think the story as a whole is kind of interesting? I like how they leave a lot of the motivations for the characters actions but upon certain revelations i can’t say I ever had a strong emotional reaction to any of it. Maybe if I was more invested in the characters the events would hit harder for me, who knows. Its serviceable, but I want to be optimistic and assume I didn’t invest enough into getting more into the intricacies of the narrative.

My biggest grip though in Hades is definitely within its gameplay. I can’t imagine going 30 hours grinding through the same areas over and over slowly progressing to the next area and beating the boss. Apparently this is like the whole deal with roguelikes? Yeah, I definitely can’t get into this. The combat itself is pretty simple with the different attacks and the powerups you can get as you traverse through the chambers. However, its simplicity also makes it awfully repetitive to play the tenth escape attempt. Is it cool to see Zagreus being able to interact more with the NPCs whenever you fail? Yeah, but it just isn’t worth it for me from what I’ve seen of the story so far.

I think this is a good game if you can vibe with what it’s going for. It's not for me, but I’d ultimately still recommend it to many because I can see the appeal of it and the possibility I might not be giving it a fair shot.

Um jogo FENOMENAL e com a melhor gameplay dos jogos da SuperGiant - porém não com a melhor história.

Mas não me levem a mal ao dizer isso da história. A construção de mundo adaptada da mitologia grega, os designs dos personagens e a personalidade deles são MAGISTRAIS! Algo óbvio, afinal estamos falando da SuperGiant. No entanto o peso sentimental da história do Hades, assim como a emoção de sua conclusão, é bem menor em comparação aos jogos anteriores da empresa - algo compreensível, visto o estilo do jogo. Encaixar uma história profunda em um roguelite de alta rejogabilidade onde o jogador está preso ao loop de sempre passar pelos mesmos cenários é algo deveras complexo, e a solução de vincular e enriquecer esse storytelling por diálogos advindos das diferentes bênçãos (itens de upgrade de habilidades do jogo) foi genial, ao dizer o mínimo. Isso fez com que a história de Hades, mesmo que não ganhando no aspecto de conclusão narrativa, ganhasse na gigantesca teia de diálogos que vão se interconectando para desenrolar não apenas o storytelling mas também todos os pormenores de construção de mundo, relacionamentos, mistérios, etc, etc.
Assim podemos dizer que a história de Hades é uma gigantesca teia conectada por diversos diálogos fragmentados que o jogador encontra ao coletar bênçãos e conversar com personagens no HUB do jogo. Essa teia, porém, não é perfeita e, dependendo do quanto o jogador consegue avançar nas runs do jogo, elas vão começando a tropeçar em si mesmas por conta da quantidade de diálogos que o jogador desbloqueia em suas progressões - mas isso é o de menos, afinal os diálogos vão sendo ditos com o tempo e há diálogos com prioridade sobre outros, dependendo da situação de jogo que foi alcançada.

Quanto a parte artística, eu faço as palavras dos elogios de todas as outras reviews as minhas, afinal estamos falando da SuperGiant, então é claro que essa parte é indiscutivelmente gloriosa - sejam os cenários, as artes, os designs, as músicas, tudo!

A gameplay - e agora entrando numa parte interessante - é um belíssimo carnaval. Como todo bom roguelite, vc vai ser espancado igual uma desgraça no começo mas, independente da dificuldade, vc vai aprendendo o moveset de cada inimigo e boss e vai conseguindo perseverar mesmo com builds fracas. As bênçãos e recompensas do jogo são DIVERSAS e enriquecem muito o fator de rejogabilidade, ainda mais somados às diferentes armas (que requerem táticas de jogo diferentes) e aos desbloqueios e upgrades presente no HUB.
Todas as mecânicas são fluidas, porém não infalíveis, e é aí que entram os dois maiores problemas do jogo que senti durante minha gameplay: O primeiro é quanto a hitbox dos obstáculos dos cenários, que não possuem suavizações e isso faz com que, dando dash, vc enganche e tudo quanto é tipo de coisa (mesmo que seja uma reles pontinha de cenário) e a segunda é quanto a queda de FPS's que ocorre ao forçar a barra dentro do jogo. Por "forçar a barra" eu quero dizer "ficar atacando vários inimigos sem parar, dando dashs constantes e pichando a tela com os efeitos especiais das bênçãos", o que não é um cenário incomum de ocorrer no jogo, ainda mais jogando igual um troglodita maníaco que só sai espancando tudo e todos pelo caminho, dando dashs sem parar (que é a forma que eu jogo...), e claro que esses dois problemas podem e vão ferrar suas runs fazendo vc tomar danos gratuitos por ficar preso em alguma hitbox ao tentar desviar e/ou não desviar a tempo pois a queda de FPS atrasou o tempo de resposta do dash que vc queria dar. São problemas consideráveis e bastante irritantes quando ocorrem, mas nem de longe inviabilizam a gameplay em seu todo, claro.

Assim, resumindo a festa: Hades, tal qual todos os jogos da SuperGiant, não decepciona nem um pouco - muito ao contrário, ele te prende e te anima de uma maneira sem igual!
E algo importante de mencionar, também, é quanto a grande quantidade de conteúdos pós-game do jogo, que, na minha experiência, então estendendo minha gameplay para além do dobro do tempo que levei para zerar (e não estou nem perto de completar tudo).
Então, se você preza história, narrativa, artes e músicas incríveis, alta rejogabilidade e uma gameplay rápida, dinâmica e fluida, meu amigo, pode ter certeza que Hades vai ser um prato cheio para você!

What a beast of a game, its addictive gameplay and variety of builds hooked me in and never let up. I never was a fan of the Roguelike concept as I vastly prefer the traditional game structure but this game's boon system adds this unpredictable flavor that makes every run feel fresh and exciting as you never know when you gonna get THAT busted build and such. Story is perfectly curated for a rogue system with some superb voice acting but that comes with some restrictions since story didn't really move forward in any significant way until my first clear 21 attempts in and up until that point dialogue was usually like "oh you got killed by this X thing ?, perhaps you should do Y next time" or some character yapping about random shit and when it finally decided to move forward, it just wanted to give you a reason as to why you should try to escape over and over again. Game's overall carried by the super solid gameplay and stellar voice acting. Even if you don't like Rogue games, you should give this a try at least.

Rogue-likes pose a lot of challenges where it comes to managing player frustration, a feeling of making progress, and a satisfying difficulty curve. Hades does a really good job, imo, at keeping the stakes of each run high while maintaining a sense of development and progression in the hub, without it feeling like the game just gets easier the longer you play it. The boons, weapons, and upgrades system allows for so many possibilities of satisfying synergies, and a good balance of chance and strategy determining those synergies.

Aesthetically, the art design and characters are of course fantastic, and the mythological theme of escaping the underworld really lines up with the mechanics and gameplay. I will say, I was left a little underwhelmed by the writing. While the central conceit is really good, most of the dialogue comes across as cliche and annoying. I found myself skipping through all the dialogue, tbh, and wasn't compelled by any of the flavor text in the codex. Still, the combat, art, and gameplay systems are so good that it didn't bother me too much.

Hades is only the second roguelike that I have played, and the second roguelike that i though was really good. I must admit that I still haven't gotten the true ending of the game, but I want to put the game down for a while because if I'm being honest, I'm not sure how good I am at it. It took me quite a while to finish my first run, though I had a great time playing the entire time. The gameplay is fun, the music is exhilarating, the characters are as interesting as they always have been in Greek Mythology. The setting of the game is such a perfect one, with different gods providing different powerups. There definitely were some abilities and weapons that were a bit lackluster compared to the other, some of which ruining a run if you got them at the wrong time, but this wasn't really a major issue of mine. I don't really have much bad to say about the game and everything good about it has already been said. Maybe in the future when I do get the true ending I will add to this review, but for now all I will say is that Hades is a great game.