In the name of Hades!

Creating a story-based game around roguelike gameplay is certainly a challenging task, but Supergiant did a fantastic job with the ludonarrative consistency throughout the game. The insane amount of (voiced!) dialogue really make you connect with Zagreus' journey through his eyes and all the various highs and lows he's going through. Also the gameplay is great, no wonder Zagreus is always going through those same chambers again and again!

Now about the cast, they're all great and unique and the artstyle paired with the designs really brings them to life. The friendship system and occasional encounters really help them flesh out their personalities. In my opinion the developers really did a great job on depicting Greek mythology in the way they did.

I should've mentioned this earlier, but the game is very casual-friendly for a roguelike and definitely worth looking into, even if you're not into these kind of games normally. Because of the sheer amount of dialogue and permanent upgrades the games presents you between your runs, you always have something new and fun to look forward to. It also has an easy mode, which still lets you experience the same journey with less stress - don't feel ashamed to use it!

Give Hades a shot if you love mythology or roguelikes, or the artstyle or anything! This journey has been truly unique, and I've hardly ever seen a gameplay loop integrated so well into a story. Can't wait for the sequel!

Its the first Supergiant game Ive sort of enjoyed. Its combat is similar to Bastion but a lot more satisfying and readable. Nevertheless, the action does tend to get lost in the billowing dust cloud of combat which turns into a goddamned bullet hell by some of the later chambers.

Its focus on greek myth and dialogue is admirable and I can see how the two phases of the game are appealing to a lot of people but I quickly found it tiresome. My eyes just sort of glazed over and I sighed as a new wave of monsters showed up. It just gets boring because the random elements dont really change the gameplay significantly. It becomes tiresome to die just at the end of a long run and have to do it all again. And yeah, that is the point of the narrative but Id rather play a game that didnt play out like this.

I admit I have never liked roguelikes, and hades not changing my mind on this is unsurprising, but I am glad for the "god mode" I swiftly turned on after a few runs and I can safely say that was the right call. Essentially after every loss your damage reduction gets increased by 2% up to a total of 80%. That got me enough of an advantage to eventually beat an escape attempt.

Spoilers, I guess.
That doesnt actually end the game, in fact it takes 10 whole successful runs for the game to actually, properly "end". And quite frankly, fuck that.

Oh and also I found the stock sound effects really distracting, might just be a me thing but still.

Hades é uma obra-prima atemporal, inacreditável ter sido feito por um estúdio "indie".
A trilha sonora do jogo é surreal, excelente, sensacional, tanto nas partes de ação quanto nas partes de diálogo. Ela reflete o que está acontecendo no jogo muito bem.
Os diálogos então... coisa de outro mundo. Cada vez que você fala com um personagem após morrer, é uma interação diferente que vai mudando após cada vez, sempre adicionando um extra à história.
Sua Gameplay é um tipo de fusão entre "Hack N Slash" e "Roguelike", você sai descendo a porrada em ondas de inimigos, cada vez com combinações diferentes de poderes à sua escolha, com bosses que variam a cada run/morte, e que estão sempre mudando/evoluindo.
Pra completar o final verdadeiro é necessário passar pelo final boss dez vezes, o que pode ser uma dor no cool, mas que acaba passando rápido devido a diversão que o jogo proporciona.
A história do jogo é fenomenal, montada por uma série de diálogos ricos distribuídos pelo jogo.
Seus gráficos são uma belíssima mescla de 2D com 3D.
Em suma: um diamante bruto.
Tempo de jogo: 25 horas

A very fun rogue-lite that I would play more often if it didn't absolutely aggravate the Hell out of my carpal tunnel syndrome.

While the game gives you grindable upgrades to boost your abilities, it still took me a good handful of hours to finally secure my first W. The main fun to be had here is blending synergies together to concoct the flashiest thing you've ever seen, with some absolutely melting bosses and others straight up fizzling out. There are definitely some boons that I prefer more than others, but most boons provide some sort of boost to your build.

While death can be mentally destructive to the psyche, you're given free reign to build up some relationships with the other characters who will help you later down the line. The artwork is beautiful, the voice acting is top tier, and the music fucking rips throughout. The later levels are gargantuan difficult, but once I started to win a little more often, it's like my confidence took a steroid and I was able to have a much easier time afterwards.

I just wish the main bosses that guarded each transition to the next place would have a little more range or versatility. It gets a little old killing the same bosses every run, especially when you've had the same variant of them a few times in a row.

I have yet to technically see the credits, but the story is captivating enough to keep trying.

Finally got back into Hades after a few years and goddamn it is peak. What I love most about it is the great amount of variety in the builds of the weapons. Every single time I thought I was done with one, the game pulls out a combination of abilities and perks that suddenly made it my favourite. This would happen over and over so in the end I really can’t pick a favourite.

Apart from the awesome combat, Hades also manages to tell a good story with a plethora of fun characters with their own little tales, excellent designs and flawless voice acting that make the world super compelling.

The soundtrack is of course fantastic but it gets pretty repetitive for my liking, I would’ve appreciated a bit more variation during the runs. Same goes with the enemies, they mix it up here and there but not enough. I know this is what rogue likes are, but it did end up bothering me, especially with a few boring enemy types like the flying rock dudes and the rat bastards in the final stage. The last two bosses also do not change their move sets like the first two, which is a bit disappointing. I feel that would make sense for narrative purposes aswell.

All in all, these are pretty minor nitpicks in an otherwise brilliantly built game. After the first escape, I didn’t mind having to “finish” the game 9 more times because the runs become easier but remain fun at the same time due to the ever evolving combat system, and the story slowly coming to a resolution that I was dying to see. No pun intended.

Hades was my first experience with any sort of rougelike/rougelite game. To be brief, I think it's a masterpiece on all levels, and a title that could stand the tests of time if it were stacked against games made 20 years down the road.

The long story is that it does everything right.

The art direction? God damn. You could run through the Underworld 1000 times and still notice things about each level that are beautiful. From the trinkets in Zagreus' chambers, to the backgrounds of the stages. Even the gods are created with such care that you can't imagine seeing them any other way. One bit I always came back to way the team's use of color theory. I find it difficult to think of another game that can use such an amalgamation of colors to create such a cohesive setting for a game. It's not often you find so many colors being used while them all complementing each other, especially with how vivid the hues are. Even before the game came out, the studio had a trailer released with some beautiful animation at the forefront. Spencer Wan of Grackle spearheading it with boards and two colossi, Chengxi Huang and Weilin Zhang blessing us with their action-packed animation work. Long before I would ever play the game, its art and world drew me in. I'm only sad I never experienced it sooner.

The characters have their own idiosyncrasies and pull from Greek history is tasteful ways. Apparently all the gods were British too, so that's fun. I never felt like any character was a different version of another. An added layer to this is that you could walk into a chamber and be so excited to be greeted by a certain god, or disappointed with the options of another. The dice-roll of the chambers is fun from both a power-up and character interaction stance.

One more run...one more run...one more run. As I said, I was completely unfamiliar with the rougelike formula before playing Hades. I felt myself going through a rollercoaster of emotions as I obtain ideal power ups for most of my run, then slowly become humbled when the tail-end of my attempt is soiled by the worst boons I've ever seen. Even so, hacking and slashing my way through the underworld never presented a dull moment. The challenge was there as well. I struggled quite a bit at first until I started to fully understand how to combine boons and certain blessings. That's the beauty of the game, though, yeah? Playing it enough to understand what combinations make you more powerful or provide you with the optimal advantage against whatever enemies give you the most trouble. I loved how it eases you into the game and doesn't bombard you with every facet at first. I think that would dissuade many new players. The game is considerably challenging as well. I know that's part of the formula, and escaping the underworld should be no easy feat, but it's hard to recommend Hades to someone who doesn't have the tenacity to stick it out until they understand the mechanics.

I also think the sound effects and music are worth mentioning because they further pull you into each interaction. They range from relaxing harp(?) work to a raging cacophony of guitar shredding. It seems like most of the music gets its backbone from strings, which I found nice. Darren Korb was the lead composer and blew it out of the water. The intro song alone is burned into my eardrums. It's one of the tracks that calls forth all the memories of the game with a single riff.

As was the Labyrinth of Ancient Greece, Hades is a meandering game that forces the player to battle the powers of gods, heroes of old, and many other wretches of myth along the way. It's a game I'd have no problem replaying down the line, and I'm deeply excited for its sequel.

A roguelite masterpiece made by a tiny team that somehow manages to master the art of doing everything exceedingly well. Hades has high-speed, deeply fun gameplay that encourages both mechanical skill and strategic planning; an engaging, expanding story with unexpected twists; meaningful, progressing relationships with genuinely interesting characters; stunning, bold art; and music that you'll continue to listen to for months after your final run.

Out of my favorite roguelites, I think of Hades as being not only the best, but also the most accessible for players who are strangers to the genre or "bad" at games. This is because Hades' excellent narrative and relationship development are woven in between each run, cushioning the blow of failure. Who has the time to feel bad about dying when it means you get to revisit old friends, experience an expanding storyline, flirt with demigods, poke fun at your dad, and pet Cerberus? Because of this and its tight, addictive core mechanics, Hades is one of very few games I genuinely enjoyed sucking at long enough to, eventually, become genuinely good at.

(As a side note, I'd recommend playing with a keyboard and mouse if you want precision, or a controller if you want speed. I don't think one is clearly "better" than the other.)

The epitome of charisma.

Hades is a game I've felt bad about not playing extensively for a long time, since it was sitting in my library for over 2 years with only a couple hours of playtime. I'm now 20+ hours deep and completely understand the appeal and praise, its truly an addicting experience.

I have never seen such a good looking game in my life, this shit might be the peak of art direction for what I've played so far - nothing I can think of can match. Many artists I admire have worked on this project, Jen Zee's illustration work is just perfection. The shape and colour design she utilised to mold the game's identity reflects and enhances the tone of the world and environments, the wonderful voice acting performances, and the visual identities for character designs alongside their associated boons/abilities. These choices in visual design bleed throughout the others' work in Joanne Tran's backgrounds and Weilin Zhang + Spencer Wan's trailer animations. The game is truly something that stands at the top of my list for visuals.

The score is nuts, the mix of modernized rock with crazy electric guitar riffs and the strumming of acoustics in the theme of Mediterranean folk really fit with the aesthetics of the game. I especially love how dynamic it feels while playing, it never feels like the music abruptly cuts off at an awkward time and instead transitions smoothly throughout each room of the level, increasing or decreasing the amount of instrumentation depending on the encounter difficulty.

Writing isn't something I can talk about in its entirety, but based on what I've played so far its above average with some creative concepts for the mythical Olympian gods, the way it focuses on a more personal aspect between Zagreus and this cast is a refreshing perspective, and I feel like I can connect with the characters and their stories more than I initially expected because they feel like real people with past relationships. I'm still getting story content, new dialogue and character interactions even after completing the main objective which is something I really appreciate.

Gameplay loop is so satisfying, the flawless character and effects animations really help with the feeling of shitting on everything in the room and wanting to do it over and over. The RNG aspect (that comes with this genre) of finding different boons throughout your runs was not something I thought I'd end up enjoying so much, the immense satisfaction I feel when getting all the things I want is a big part of why I want to jump back into the game as soon as I close it.

Anyway game is amazing and after some more play time this might go in the top 5, not sure but its peak so im excited for the sequel :)

"Back already?"

After spending around 20 hours with Hades resulting in feelings of highs and lows I've come to the only conclusion these emotions could finally ascertain. I love everything about Hades, except actually playing it. This is both the best roguelike game and worst I've ever played and it's impressive how much that swings backwards and forwards.

The interesting thing to me mulling this over in my head, and to use a Greek mythological term of phrase, is that Hades greatest strength is it's Achilles heel. This game wants you to die, yes it's how Roguelikes function, but I have never felt that more in others than in Hades. Each time you die you get a bit more character interaction, a bit more dialogue between characters by design. These interactions are eked between the protagonist, Zagreus the son of Hades the Greek God of the underworld and it's occupants. Each attempted escape from the underworld Zagreus gets a little more development from the mythical residents of the house of Hades such as Cerberus, Nyx, Hypnos, Thanatos etc. They will slowly grow and reveal more about themselves and the situation Zagreus is in and it's great. The characters are well written and the amount of content and spoken dialogue is absurdly impressive. Dying is how you progress this, dying isn't failure, dying is a reward for the setting, for the theme of Hades. Death is Hades business and Supergiant games was extremely clever in how it's implemented that as not only the known Roguelike mechanic but as a fundamental mechanic to the story of Hades.

I really like the cast. Getting snippets of conversations with the gods of Olympus and lesser known Greek mythological characters is a real treat each time. I also love their art design, it's pretty clear who each character is without stereotyping them too much. The voice acting equally puts in work to match the excellent writing. My favourite being Dionysus the god of wine who comes across as such an extremely laid back almost surfer like attitude but there is a tone of strength behind it all in his voice as well as art with his chiselled physique. Hades presentation really is excellent.

So where is the weakness here you ask? It's the actual dungeon runs in which the game wants you to die in to get these slow roll story sequences that hurt it sounds badly. This game is 40 minutes of gameplay dragged out into hours and I despise it for that. Each run has so little variety that it gets stale to actually play each time. Finishing a run didn't make me want to go again, it made me sigh that I would have to fight the same 3 bosses over again on the same levels in the same order. It's extremely linear and stale and the more I played the game, the less I wanted to.

I stuck with it for the excellent setting, art and characters. The thing is it actually plays really well. The animations are smooth, the combat is fun, there are 6 weapons to choose between that all have great moves and the boons from the gods of Olympus you collect can add some good variety to how the combat plays out. In the end though it's all the same, you will fight the same limited enemies, bosses and room types in the same order. I expected a variety of bosses that would be random on each run, corridors, challenges, just something? It's 40 minutes of game you play repeatedly. It felt like groundhog day.

Later in the game you can add modifiers to make it harder which can change things slightly and there are some prophecies to aim for in trying to get certain boons but it doesn't change those 40 minutes enough in any way to not feel like this is just a short experience painfully dragged out. To get the full credits you need to complete 10 playthroughs once you are strong enough or get lucky enough runs. It took me 25 runs just to beat it once. There is some permanent progress you can unlock with skills in a mirror and construction requests but equally they feel like padding to make it take you time to unlock all the story rather than rewards. This is felt more than anything with the god mode option. In the settings you can switch it on "To make it easier or if you just want to see the story". The issue is that the game wants you to die to progress the story and character interactions so god mode gives you some base damage resistance then 2% each time you die. Even trying to speed through the game after I had beaten it the first time it's still doled out at a trickle as it counters what the game wants you to do. It wants you to die, thematically and narratively, this is clever, this is great, it lacks the variety to keep that interesting in practice though.

It's a real shame too because a greater pool of bosses, levels and enemies to make each run feel fresh would have made this a truly great game. After a certain point though I died to Hades with a pretty sub optimal boon run and just felt, exasperation. I would have to do the same levels and bosses again and decided to put the game down. I watched the true ending on youtube and it was cute, I just didn't want hours of repetition to get there. I didn't feel I'd missed much by watching the ending and skipping the faff. Maybe it's me? I mean I played Vampire Survivors, this game designed for addiction. I did three runs for 30 mins each and put it down feeling like I'd seen everything. I guess that "one more run" mentality for games like this just don't have that effect.

I happily play 500+ hours in each Monster Hunter game though so what do I know?

+ Setting as a Roguelike is excellent thematically.
+ Characters, voice acting and artwork are great.
+ Combat is smooth and fun.

- Dungeon runs lack variety, same bosses and enemies makes things feel dragged out.
- Gets boring fast.

Alright, so I tried this game years ago, played for a few hours and then put it down because I was really turned off by it being a roguelike game. Just picked it up again after all this time and I’m so glad I did. The characters are so likeable and the art style is absolutely gorgeous. Took me a little while to get hooked at first because I really don’t like the idea of roguelikes (just personal preference, just not my style of game) but I pushed through and started finding my build and once I figured out something that worked for me, I absolutely loved it. I found the gameplay frustratingly addicting and the story was such an incredible use of the game style. The dialogue was hilarious at times, I found myself saving videos of interactions all the time. I know to fully “beat” the game you have to complete it 10 times and I MIGHT do that in the future but right now, I don’t have any urge to. I beat it once and that was enough for me, but the story does make me want to see more eventually.

It was my first time playing a roguelike!

The weapons allow for a variety of different gamestyles, and each one seems well balanced. The bow was my favorite throughout the game. And I was also a big fan of Zeus shield when I eventually unlocked it near the end-game.

There are game mechanics that incentivize you to change weapons & thus game-styles regularly. Everytime you go back to the main hub, one of your weapons will have a bonus on the amount of darkness you get, so you'll often be tempted to switch.
Another thing that motivates the player to experiment different builds are the quests available in Zagreus room; the ones that require purchasing every upgrade at least once.
It helped me to realize how strong some upgrades are, because I was willing to try them out to complete those side quests. It made each run quite different. (at least during the first few hours, but I eventually stuck to the bow near the end of my adventure)

Most weapons & spells have auto-aim whenever you use them, which is very appreciated. It made the game a lot more forgiving.

I was always excited to find out which upgrades would open up to me after I cleaned a room, and whether or not I would get Epic, Heroic, Duo, or Legendary boons.
The RNG involved in those rewards made each run really exciting!
It was especially fun to get the Hammer upgrade because it would vastly modify your weapon sometimes.

The game has great voice acting. I really dig Megaera's voice. She has the raspiest voice I've ever heard, it was butter to my ears!
Along with Nyx, she was my favorite character, and there's a nice chemistry between her and Zagreus.

I like how the roguelike aspect is related to the story, with how Zagreus can revive as much as he wants because he's in Hell and he is linked to the Underworld.
They also gave an explanation as to why Zagreus has to restart from the beginning everytime you finish a run, it's due to the sickness he gets whenever he reaches Greece.

After discussing with Persephone a couple times, we get to learn more about their family issues. She fleed the Underworld after Zagreus was stillborn, allegedly. She couldn't handle the shock and decided to live in Greece, far away from everyone. Seeing her reunite with her son & husband at the end was heart-warming.

Despite that, I wasn't really invested in the story because of the way it was told. But since it's a roguelike, I don't know if there would even be a better way to tell it. I know for a fact that it's one of the rare games in this genre to have a focus on its story tho, so I'll give it that.

The last hours I spent with the game left a sour taste in my mouth. I wish the last runs I did felt less repetitive. At some point, I only kept doing runs because I wanted to see the ending, by successfully completing 10 runs.
But since I wasn't engaged in the story and felt I had already experienced most of the gameplay features, I felt it dragged on by the end, and I was slightly disappointed.
I should definitely have stopped the game earlier, instead of forcing myself through the main ending.

There is another ending, but I need to play a lot more if I want to unlock it. And I need to drop dozens & dozens of nectars to unlock new dialogues with each character.
But I kind of had enough with the game, so I'll leave it at that. It was a nice experience nonetheless!

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Started on October 28th & finished on November 13th 2023]
Playtime: 40 hours
I stopped after completing 10 runs and unlocking the main ending.

Eu havia comprado Hades fazia um tempinho já, e mesmo jogando o jogo pra caramba (cerca de 25 horas), eu nunca havia completado se quer uma run...
Foi após comprar meu monitor novo e ver um amigo comentando sobre que deu vontade de jogar e testar a frequência de hz também, e foi aí que finalmente consegui derrotar o final boss pela primeira vez logo na primeira tentativa!
Eu fui além, e quis fazer as tão famosas 10 runs pra ver o final do jogo, a questão foi que durante esse caminho, eu me interessei em fazer todos os achievements! E acabei MERGULHANDO no jogo, jogando dia e noite.
O jogo é maravilhoso em si, um execelente roguelite, suas builds são ótimas e bastante divertidas, armas e upgrades são ótimos, e com um leque vasto de equipamentos! Os diálogos e narrativa são muito bons também, muito além do que eu imaginava e esperava, a direção de arte, efeitos e portraits de diálogos são esplêndidos! Combate é redondinho e funciona de forma precisa e bastante satisfatória, e o sistema de calor é bastante desafiador e divertido!
Recomendo Hades pra caramba, até por que não é só um simples roguelite, ele tem um background maravilhoso e bastante coisa pra se fazer, estou extremamente hypado para o segundo jogo!! :D

Never played a roguelike before. Never played a Supergiant Games... game before (though i was aware of their work). But people were saying this was an EASY game of the year. So i was like huh what exactly is this game that i never heard of before and that it's winning everyone over. So i bit the bullet and bought it to see what it was all about. Aaaaand i didn't get it. It was frustrating to reach so close to the surface only to die to stupid face theseus and get sent all the way back. So i wrote off the game as "not for me" and moved one. Fast forward to a year and a half later i'm basically a changed man, an "i played dead cells and liked it" type of man. So I get this random itch to play it again. I mean, it's been rotting in my Steam for so long so might as well. I started a new file and it all just... made SENSE. I actually understood what the structure was and what progression looked like. I was finally making progress and enjoying the characters, story, music, everything. This game taught me to give games second chances because it might actually work out in the end.

Hades is Supergiants biggest hit and what truly brought them into the limelight and showed the whole world just how talented the team at Supergiant Games is. This game is easily the best gameplay wise from SG, and is one of the best roguelikes I've ever played. Before I get into gameplay, I'll talk about the rest of the game. The music in this game is one of the best parts. While I think the vocal tracks don't hold as much weight as they do in Bastion or Transistor, they are still wonderful songs. But when it comes to battle tracks or otherwise, Hades is the best SG has ever done. The battle themes are almost akin to Bastion in terms of instruments, but also adds rock elements. Themes like The Hard Way and House of Hades and Through Asphodel, the game has no shortage of songs that get your heart going. As for narrative, Hades has brilliant characters through and through, and the voice acting for each one is superb. This game really benefits from being a roguelike as it allows for so many character interactions that flesh out the world and characters more. As for gameplay, putting it simply, it's great. I love the weapons and the different aspects for each one, and the abilities being built around the different gods is honestly brilliant. Would recommend to anyone. Can't wait for Hades 2.

I find it hard not to give Hades a perfect 5 stars. I started playing this game right before Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 came out, and as much as I loved those games and every moment I spent with them, I kept thinking the whole time, I can't wait to dive back into Hades.

The game sucks me back in after every run, the chaotic action is dialed in so tight, all of the multiple builds and powerups you can chain together, it's madness. I rolled the credits but there's still so much to do and see, and if the game wasn't so freakishly fun I would have probably moved on to something else by now. In many many ways it's a perfect game.