Having sunk around 20 twenty hours into Hades, I finally reached the end credits and main ending of the game. This is a rouge-like game with about an hour of content, but that content is very difficult and will require persistence and practice to conquer. Plus, to see the true ending will have to escape the Underworld a whopping 10 times. If this opening paragraph sounds negative, I do not intend it to come across that way. I too was skeptical by that pitch, but Hades is an absolute blast - and while I found it began to drag as I approached some of those final runs, the narrative "climax" (for technically this game goes on far beyond the credits) is very much worth the time.

As previously implied, there isn't much to this game when measured by standard rulings. There are 4 bosses (with some variance between attempts and optional harder versions) and you'll encounter just about every enemy the game has to offer after only one or two successful runs. Four areas, all with a handful of enemies, a boss at the end of each - and that's your lot. The variety comes from the six very distinct weapons and the various upgrades you acquire throughout an attempt; the combination of which will likely be wholly unique to that run. This all works to keep things relatively fresh; I still think by hour twenty I was getting rather tired of the combat system as a whole, but there's enough to keep you ploughing onwards through escape attempt after escape attempt until you finally reach the ending.

The story is perfect for a rouge-like game, a genre usually lacking in narrative because of how hard it is to implement. Everyone is immortal, you are repeatedly trying to escape, everyone knows this and can both remark on what you've been doing while also having relationships develop. The characters are all distinct and well voice acted. This isn't the most incredible narrative ever, but it's one that can only be told through the video game medium, and for that it deserves praise.

Artistically the game is great. Isometric games are probably the hardest to make look good because of the obscure perspective, but they have managed to make it work. The character portraits are all beautifully drawn and add a LOT of life to the dialogue.

The soundtrack to this game is absolutely incredible. I would be lying if I said it wasn't the initial reason I picked up the game. It's metal, fast paced and every track is a banger. The final battle theme against Hades himself is without a doubt one of my favourite OSTs ever composed.

All in all, despite some flaws, Hades is very worth playing even if you aren't a fan of this genre. Trust me, I wasn't either - and still am not. But this game is great despite that. And if you're a fan of rouge-likes? Well, you've probably already played this.

Edit: I have since returned to the game and beat it several more times in order to best every boss with the Extreme Measures condition. I've bumped the game up to 5 stars and take back any critique I had for this games combat. I cannot speak highly enough as to the quality of Hades as a game. By far my favourite indie title.

Depois de 1 ano após me frustrar com o jogo, joguei novamente e minha opinião se tornou mais positiva. Anteriormente, afirmava que o jogo te prendia em builds que os Boons iniciais lhe favorecia, hoje discordo disso pois o sistema de Keepsakes e venda dos Boons é eficiente o suficiente pra remodelar sua build pro que favorece o seu estilo de jogo. Porém, existe um ponto muito importante no sistema do jogo que desgosto muito: A quantidade limitada de sangue de titã que o jogador pode conseguir antes de finalizar o jogo pela primeira vez, pois isso em prática pune o jogador que deseja experimentar os diversos aspectos, variações, das armas oferecidas, tornando benéfico simplesmente começar um novo save já consciente de qual arma (e aspecto) você possui preferência e concentrar seus recursos nela.
A história é bastante interessante e rica de ótimos personagens, e, gostei especialmente como você consegue orientar quais aspectos dela vão ser aprofundados de acordo com quais personagens você decide se aproximar. Existe a questão de que você precisa derrotar o inimigo final (um incrível inimigo final) no mínimo 11 vezes para ver a conclusão do enredo, mas pra um "mero grind" o God Mode cumpre sua função muito bem.

One of the most polished and fun roguelikes I have played, as expected by Supergiant's track record for quality. Story, characters, visuals, gameplay feel, music, etc. are all top notch, though unfortunately I have a couple of issues. Issue 1 is what feels like a lack of build variety. There are a lot of optons, but usually tend to feel kind of samey which made replaying it a chore, in comparison to other roguelikes I've sunk hours into. 2nd issue is that it is easily Supergiant's most derivative game, going off of pre-established greek mythology, rather than their other games which feel much more original. Still a fantastic game

Hades was the first game I tried out when Xbox gifted some of its users Game Pass Ultimate over the 2021-2022 holiday season. Having never played a roguelike before, I wasn’t able to reach the credits; nevertheless I instantly fell in love with the game. It was an eye-opening experience, being one of the first “indie” games I ever played. My first thoughts were something along the lines of “AAA games really don’t hit like this, do they?” For a time, it was the only game I have ever played I didn’t have a single issue with. After finally finishing the Platinum replay I started in June…I can safely say it’s still an utterly fantastic experience, although I now have issues with the game lol. Still gaming though. Hades II will irreparably damage my social life for weeks when it releases.

Pros:

- The story of Hades is well-crafted, though it's a lot different from how other games handle their narratives. You play as Zagreus, son of Hades, who is assisted by the Olympian gods as he attempts to escape his father's domain for Mount Olympus. If he dies, he returns to his father’s house, where players often gain insight into his motives, and variously hear encouragement or criticism from the other denizens in the House of Hades. The narrative is almost wholly character driven, and for the most part occurs “in between” gameplay (i.e. escape attempts) rather than during the gameplay itself. This already gets a win from me, because dying doesn’t often feel frustrating since it moves the story along.

- The characters that impart the story are arguably more important than the narrative itself. Every character feels natural and interacts with Zagreus in their own special way. The Olympians that appear to aid Zagreus during escape attempts all have dialogue that suits their domain and status in Greek mythology: Aphrodite is flirty, Dionysus loves a good time, and Hermes is straight to the point. But they all have a unique flair that differentiates them from most other pop culture depictions of Greek mythology. Poseidon acts like the “cool uncle”, Artemis is slightly aloof and socially awkward (she’s always out on hunts!), and Ares is quite cordial and matter-of-fact about his “death-dealing.”

- The occupants of the House of Hades feel a bit more down-to-earth, which almost feels intentional given that they are literally closer in proximity to Zagreus than the Olympians, and thus have more complex attitudes overall toward the young prince. While some are supportive of his desire to leave, like Nyx (a motherly figure) and Achilles (a mentor of sorts), others question his decision and if it's worth sowing discord amongst the house, like Megaera, who doesn’t appreciate the situation Zagreus is forcing her into. Hades himself serves to taunt Zagreus and sway him from his mission, and it's through him you realize how deep the animosity between father and son goes. If I had to pinpoint a “theme” of Hades, I’d say it's “generational trauma”, best exemplified by these two.

- The dialogue these characters have with Zagreus is actually insane. There are metric FUCKTONS of lines of dialogue; most players will never hear them all, and most players will never hear the same one twice. ALL OF IT sounds amazing, whether it's profound, emotional, casual, humorous, or badass—it does not miss. All of the voice actors nailed their roles. If I had to pick a favorite…I’d say Achilles. His voice actor did a great job voicing a solemn, listless warrior who’s found renowned purpose. Zagreus himself is also a fantastic character; they didn’t drop the ball on their main protagonist. He is a little basic, being very amiable and friendly with mostly everyone he meets, but he shows surprising depth when speaking to characters he has a history with. I won’t say any more for fear of spoilers.

- The gameplay is really hard to sum up all at once. We’ll start with the weapons. All of them feel punchy and satisfying to use, and there’s a weapon for every playstyle. Do you like hard-hitting ranged attacks? Try out the bow? Fast melee damage? The fists are your friend. Tanky and defensive gameplay? Pick up the shield. These have ways to be augmented both temporarily during a run (Daedaelus Hammer upgrades) and permanently between runs (Aspects). There are even secret Aspects that MASSIVELY change the way a weapon is used that were pretty fun to stumble across.

- During a run, you’ve got access to the boons of the Olympians, which form the core of a build. Each Olympian has a particular forte; Dionysus has “Hangover” which does damage over time, Aphrodite has “Weak” which weakens the attacks of enemies, and so on and so forth. The massive amount of combinations you can make with these boons is what keeps the combat in this game from getting stale even after HUNDREDS of hours played. You can get stupidly overpowered if you play your cards right.

- And even if you die, and fail a run, you’ve got items that you can use to increase your chance of succeeding on the next one. Darkness and Keys help unlock talents in the Mirror of Night, which provides permanent buffs that don’t disappear upon death. No matter how badly you get your ass kicked, EVERY death means progress. Not only is this great from a gameplay perspective, but it really helps you identify with Zagreus, who is willing to escape at any cost no matter how long it takes.

- The characters and story intertwine with Nectar and Ambrosia, items retained between runs that you can give to a character to strengthen your relationship. I don’t think this is a perfect mechanic by any means, but the conversations you unlock with them really flesh out the concerned characters and the way Zagreus interacts with them. PLUS, they unlock Keepsakes players can equip for different effects that can be swapped out between regions during a run.

- The artstyle for this game goes hard as hell, no pun intended. I mean…just LOOK at it. Incredibly detailed environments, amazing ambience, super distinctive, what more could you want? Some of the character designs in Hades have straight up become the definitive way I envision characters in Greek mythology. I will also give props to the KILLER soundtrack; it’s not my personal cup of tea but it really fits this game, relying heavily on stringed instruments evocative of lyres mixed with sick-ass electric guitar solos.

- The customizations players can make to the House of Hades between runs also adds an unexpectedly enjoyable base-building experience that lessens the sting of dying. Some of the things you can buy with the “House Contractor” also carry story weight or provide more utility than just cosmetics, so it doesn’t feel tacked on or unimportant either. The final purchases are insanely expensive though, so it's up to you if it's worth the grind.

- Bonus points for Zagreus’ dry wit. He’s really funny, sometimes unintentionally because he sounds super nonchalant during casual conversation.

Cons:

- The main thing preventing me from giving Hades full marks is the utter grind it is to get Nectar. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the conversations Nectar gifts get you, but rather the amount of gifts you need to give to get them. This is something I only discovered trying on my second playthrough trying to max my friendship with every character. You’re telling me with how uncommon and random it is to find Nectar during a run, I have to give one character SIX OF THEM to see all their interactions????? I almost quit the 100% run because of this. Somehow getting Ambrosia (item for the final interactions) is easier, but then they “balance” that out by making some characters require three of them? I hope they tweak this in Hades II.

- There are also a few instances where dialogue doesn’t mesh well with the narrative. Since most lines are designed to make sense whether you hear them before beating the game or after, some of them dance past some major developments that occur after the credits roll. It's not enough to take you out of the experience, but just enough to roll your eyes a little. I also think the process of giving Olympians Nectar and Ambrosia is clunky, since you can only give them out (and thus hear their gift dialogue) before you accept their boons. So when you accept their boons and hear THAT dialogue, it can sound a little off when they speak as if this is the first time they’ve spoken to you during the interaction. This one is more of a nitpick though.

- Finally, I do agree with some people that give this game a lower score when they say it gets repetitive after a while. I think Hades has an abundance of things to see, hear, and do even after you reach the epilogue, but the fact of the matter is that you still play through the same stages and environments over and over again. This only really bothered me at the VERY end of my 100-something hour playthrough, but I get why some others might be put off by it.

Objective rating: 4.5 stars
Subjective rating: 4.5 stars

Copy-pasted with lots of edits from a post I wrote in r/PatientGamers

When I first heard of Hades I thought "damn, this game sounds like it was made specifically for me". The choice of Greek mythology (IMO used in a knowledgeable way) for the theme with a touch of the spooky caught my interest immediately, and I really like action roguelites, leaning more towards stylized visuals.

I decided to wait for the full release on Steam (painful choice), but once I got to play it confirmed my expectations and even surpassed them.

The reasons why it's one of my 10/10 games come from how both the package as a whole and individual areas stand out, without any significant flaw.

Art is fricking gorgeous and the soundtrack and voice acting, just terrific.
The environments are really detailed and full of life (ironically). I found characters charismatic af, and the story was solid and compelling. A significant factor in my appreciation of the game comes from the way Supergiant managed to blend story within the roguelite gameplay loop. It could have been tricky to pull off, but they did it.

Last but not least, gameplay was so, so fun. Controlling Zagreus just feels great, and while there might be some builds that work better than others, or some weapons may fit some personal preferences better, experimenting and trying them all always remains entertaining (it's possibly the first game where I've enjoyed playing with a shield! 🤔) thanks to the VAST amount of flexibility. Procedural levels also give enough variation to mitigate the impact of repetition.

I found the difficulty challenging but never super frustrating (you can always tune it even further later on) and because of the progression systems dying never feels too punitive because you're always getting something new when you go back home, either in the shape of an upgrade, a new story fragment or who knows, perhaps something new awaits you now in your next attempts to escape. This gives you that slight push to try "just one more run" (and then three hours have vanished).

One of my all-time favourites, so I can't be too objective.

Jogaço, fato. Só tô marcando como "completed" pois finalizei o "objetivo principal", mas claramente esse jogo tem muito mais coisas a me mostrar (com os personagens, aprimoramentos e etc) e continuarei a jogá-lo por isso. Na verdade, virou basicamente um ritual, desde que eu comecei eu o joguei todos os dias, pontualmente.

Os personagens são instigantes, eu por exemplo, também daria todos os meus pertences pra Megaera. Também podia ficar horas ouvindo os diálogos desse jogo, achei a dublagem tão bem interpretada... Isso quando vc não encontra com Orfeu ou Eurídice e eles tão dando uma palinha sinistra, eu fiquei estupefato na primeira vez que entrei na câmara dessa ninfa, passei uns minutos ouvindo ela cantar.

Nos jogos geralmente as armas que eu menos gosto são os arcos. Mas... nesse jogo a que mais usei e me dei bem foi o Coronacht, tanto que eu derrotei o Hades com ela, um belissimo arco, parabéns Hera!

O final é bem bonito :,) (e trágico pra krl)

Hades felt different from what I came to expect when booting it up. The world is beautifully drawn, the story premise is cool, and the gameplay loop hold up better than expected. That explains how I've put decent time into post-endgame runs more than I honestly expected.

Being a Supergiant title, I expected good writing even if it isn't the focus. Can't say that I'm disappointed at all. Taking from Greek mythology gives them lots of ideas and inspirations, yet they made something great out of it. Each character is distinct, whether it's their writing or voice performances, can't say there's a boring person in the roster. Cohesive ludo-narrative overall even after the credits roll.
It takes its sweet time to develop, with some too long downtime but it gels well and ends on a good note.

Gameplay is quick and simple but the variety of builds and modifiers really extends the mileage of fun. I didn't care for min maxing but rarely did I feel that I end up with a bad build. It works even better on a pickup-and-play approach but that doesn't mean it doesn't stand out as a good game.

The pinnacle of the indie genre, Hades is absolutely remarkable, and the perfect example of what makes a videogame "fun".
I really don't like the concept of Rogue-Like/Rogue-Lite games, but Hades was surprisingly enjoyable from start to finish.

The characters are the highlight of the game for sure, every character is very likeable, they all have their own personalities, and they really enhance the story of the game, which is very simple and all around just good.

The gameplay is fantastic, all the power ups and the Boons make it less repetitive, which is a big issue with Rogue-Like/Rogue-Lite games, and I love how Hades tries to stay away from repetitiveness as much as possible, by adding unique dialogue to almost every encounter, it's crazy how much effort was put into this game.

Also I love the soundtrack, it's has a unique old school arcadey vibe to it and fits perfectly with the game.

This is quite literally a flawless videogame, the only complain I have is that it's just not really my type of game, but the fact that I enjoyed it that much should tell you how stellar this game truly is.

Final Rating: "Amazing" ~ 9/10.

Depois de 23 horas de jogo e 10 runs vencidas, acho que finalmente consegui entender a beleza de Hades.
O jogo, por si só, já é lindo. Os personagens, extremamente carismáticos e bem desenhados. A história é empolgante, as armas são incríveis, tudo funciona surpreendentemente bem.

Minhas poucas observações são quanto a facilidade do jogo (que, provavelmente, se deve ao fato de 1- eu ser foda e 2- eu estar jogando em temperaturas muito baixas), e o loop de gameplay acabou ficando meio chatinho depois de um tempo, STS me deixou com um gosto de rejogabilidade maior, mas sem dúvidas, esse aqui também é impecável.

PS: Eu provavelmente daria um 9.5 ou algo assim, mas como só dá pra dar nota inteira, 10/10.

The best roguelike on the market solely for the fact that it incorporates a full-fledged story and in-depth dialogue into the roguelite loop flawlessly. It took 70 hours before I was starting to get repeated dialogue, and I still am finding new dialogue based on new things occurring at the end of the story. The game mechanically introduces everything at a consistent pace to not feel overwhelming and gives enough room for creating diverse, interesting builds without feeling needlessly complicated.

Unlike a lot of fans of this game, I really don't think this is the perfect game. Not even the perfect Rogue-like/Rogue-lite.

I will, however, proudly say that this is one hell of an example of non-linear storytelling as well as near flawless example of gameplay and story integration. A fair few bigger budget games (even many of the smaller ones) tend to have issues with gameplay-story segregation (often through cutscenes).

You play as Prince Zagreus, son of Hades, attempting to escape the underworld for an (at the start of the game) unknown reason. Upon failure (where or whenever that might be), Zag finds himself emerging from a pool of blood, right at the feet of his father among the rest of the dead, revived due to how immortality works for Cthonic gods. There, you talk to the variety of characters, including the big man himself, and very quickly learn about how cross many of them are about your abrupt departure and continued attempts. Within these cycles of escape, progress, death, and rebirth, little by little you learn more and more of the story, from the perspective of Zagreus as well as the conversations of the others, all of whom have quite a bit to say on your efforts. However, these aren't the only characters you end up interacting with.

From your first attempt in the beginning of the game all the way up to the last time you put it down, Zagreus will come across a variety of inhabitants in the underworld, as well as messages and gifts from Olympian gods that wish to see Zagreus upon learning of his existence. Every conversation, boon, weapon, item, action, and even your failures fuels the story itself as your relationships between the Prince and everyone he contacts in one way or another change. All of this is wrapped up in exceptionally clever dry humor, sarcasm, and meta-humor that hasn't been witnessed in some time which serves to emphasize the quality of the writing involved and the very charming cast of characters.

If anything, such a dynamic design to story telling, dictated 75% by the player's behavior, is kind of what makes this game such a blast to play.

But, talking to folks really isn't the main bread and butter. Really, it's more or less the reward you get for running through the various levels of the underworld.

No, the main core of the gameplay is the Diablo-esque Hack'n'Slash slaughterfest through the various legions under the command of Hades himself, as his "security forces" attempt to impede your escape attempts. The combat is built strongly enough, with satisfying melee and magic that gets some variety from the boons you gain from the gods that message you. With five weapons to chose from, each with three further unlockable forms, keepsakes that have passive buffs or summoning properties, and the variety of augmentations that can be made from the various gifts sent by the Gods, it's clear there is quite a bit of choice involved.

However, I can't help but feel that, despite such a variety, running through the four floors of the underworld can end up getting a bit repetitive, despite each floor having a random set of rooms with their own layouts, traps, and enemy sets and the random chance of encountering non-hostile denizens of the floor you're currently exploring. It doesn't help that the five weapons, despite alternative forms and the boons that augment their use, can also get slightly samey after a while, especially once you've found your preferred weapon and god-boon combos.

Again, it's REALLY solidly built and is VERY fun, but it slowly feels like there something missing the more you keep playing, even after unlocking the "Pact of Punishment", which changes the difficulty of future runs in a variety of ways (something I actually really like. A method to alter future playthroughs/NG+ is always a good thing).

This is a excellent game to play, especially in short sessions, and is easily the kind of game you could play for years on and off for the amount of story and side-story content it has. However, once again, I don't think it's the absolute best. The very repetitive and cyclical nature of the game flow could end up potentially become boring for the average player, especially since you run through the same four environmental floors with a very strict set of bosses with only minor difference between them and their strategies thanks to "The Pact".

Hades is worth at least one full runthrough (as in, one successful escape). From there, it's up to the individual on whether or not they'd like to go the distance.