I'm not much of a roguelike fan, but Hades is the exception that I keep coming back to. I think it's a combination of the addictive gameplay loop, the narrative and characters, the art, and the fact that the end never feels too far out of sight. The combat takes a bit of getting used to (there's a lot of things on screen to keep track of), but it feels amazing once you get the hang of it. Coming up with new weapon and boon combos makes each playthrough unique, and on top of that you can increase the difficulty with different handicaps once you beat it for the first time. The speedrunning aspect is my favorite part; some of my best memories of this game come from getting together with my friends for races to finish a run the fastest. It's just a great game all around, and one of the only ones I've bothered to 100%.

Reviewed on Dec 24, 2023


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