only so many times I can go thru the same floors with the same enemies and the same bosses and the same weapons and the same everythings. for something so lauded I expected some variety. I'm sure some bozo will tell me "umm actually curse, there's six billion lines of bespoke artisinal stone baked dialogue" but you can blow it out your ass if the whole thing's contingent on slaving away in the metalayer currency mines for hours on end

every room seems to go on forever man. imagine if in isaac or monolith you cleared a room and then it filled back up with the same shit five more times. what the fuck guys? you have like four enemies per zone, you don't need to rub it in. is the expectation that I'm basking and luxuriating in these encounters? I'm not. I'm bored before I hit the third floor

maybe it gets better once I suck up to every NPC and collect all the gizmos and upgrade the weapons and upgrade the dungeon and upgrade the shop and upgrade the trinkets and fill out my pokedex, but I'll never know. I fuck with greek mythology when it's about cronus eating his kids and perseus cutting heads and severed testicles goin in the sea, but I don't think I'm the target audience for this kinda snarky post-tumblr young adult stuff. I'm glad folks like jacking off to it, I guess?

probably beats playing it!

"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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Over the last several years Roguelike has risen to be one of my favorite genres of video games. I am very picky with them and have played several bad ones, but there are a few in the genre that stand among my favorite games of all time. Sometimes I’m just in the mood for some fun gameplay without committing to following a story. Games like FTL, Into the Breach, and Slay the Spire are perfect for when I’m feeling this way. I can come in, play as little or long as I want, can complete an entire run, and feel satisfied while not needing to feel compelled to analyze a message in a story, or something abstract like that. I’m an accountant; my brain works best when working with mathematics, definity, and the objective. That’s why I’m so good at games and puzzles, and why I enjoy them so much. They’re my comfort zone.

Now that’s not to say I don’t enjoy story-driven games, because I very much do, it’s just a mood thing. Sometimes I want to play something purely gameplay and sometimes I’m in the mood for a well told story. And sometimes…. I’m in the mood for both. The trouble with roguelikes is that their style of individual-run-based gameplay does not lend to being able to tell a cohesive story. That is, until Hades figured out the formula to do just that.

Hades is the pinnacle of Roguelikes because of it’s ability to use its genres niche mechanics to its advantage when telling a story. Restarting a run is the most traditional Roguelike mechanic, and the way this game does it while progressing the story is so natural to its Greek Mythology setting. Most of the story comes from interacting with characters. The character-driven approach only works when the characters are captivating, and in this case they most definitely are. Greek characters are so complex with a lot of depth and complicated relationships with each other. Although it was essential to my enjoyment of the game, the story is basically completely optional, with the ability to skip all dialogue options if you just want to go back to hacking and slashing through the Underworld. I found myself wanting to talk to every character I could between runs because of how interesting they all were.

But of course, no Roguelike can be good without fun gameplay. Hades mixes fast pace, high reflex combat with stimulating decision making very well. I am normally not one for meta-progression in Roguelikes, but I actually really like it in Hades, and I think that’s mainly because it feels right to get stronger in between runs as Zagreus grows mentally as a character. The hack-and-slash style feels influenced by Diablo, but feels better than Diablo ever did.

The art direction in this game is also fantastic. The colors, the character designs, the locations, the voice acting, it’s all just so… sexy. From daddy Hades, to the rebel-child Zagreus, to the not-so-subtle Aphrodite, this game uses character designs to enhance the world-building of these traditional Greek characters we have seen across several mediums before, which is important for a story that is as character-driven as this is. The color scheme is rich with lustful reds and seductive blacks. It makes sense to see these colors prominent in the Underworld.

Overall, this game sits atop my Mount Rushmore of Roguelikes because of how well it blends fun gameplay, an interesting story, and fantastical visuals. I love this game so much.

100/100

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.