Status: Completed 100%
Date: 04.14.2021 / Play Time: 105 hours
The Rogue-lite genre perfected.
I know “perfect” is a pretty bold word to use when describing a game, but Hades gets pretty close to it. Don’t get me wrong, it has some stuff in it that I would absolutely change, but I truly think Supergiant Games have absolutely perfected the Rogue-lite formula with Hades.
I think one of the trickiest things in Rogue-likes/-lites is making your runs feel worthwhile - making loss not feel like an enormous setback, because in many Rogue games, it is. The story of Hades is built around your repeated runs in such a way that makes it feel like every single run builds on the story, even when you die. Win or lose, some aspect of the story moves forward. Yes, you do need to successfully escape a few times to roll credits. Beyond that, however, most progression with upgrades, characters, side-quests, etc can happen regardless of whether you make it out or not… provided RNG is on your side and you happen to trigger a conversation or find a boon needed for a quest.
Which leads me to my only complaint about the game - randomness. RNG playing into which boons you find in a run is fine - it forces you to adapt and make the best of what you’re given. However, I don’t like RNG when progression is locked behind it because you can’t find a specific boon or you can’t get a conversation with a certain character to trigger. I spent countless hours looking for a very specific boon to finish my last side quest. That said, even during that frustrating hunt, I didn’t stop playing because the core gameplay is a dang blast.
I also need to give a huge shout-out for how well Hades includes LGBTQ themes in extremely normal ways that are unfortunately not found very often in video games.
The cast of characters in this game is phenomenal. One of my favorite ensembles in a while. I was eager to continue doing runs not only because the gameplay was fun, but I wanted to keep seeing everything the characters had to say. And after 105 hours across a total of 96 escape attempts (73 of which were successful), I was still hearing new dialogue when I finally finished the game.
I could speak at length about how much fun I had thinking of cool builds and trying to create them, the wonderful cast of characters, or the excellent hook of collecting resources to upgrade your gear or hub. But honestly this review is already getting a little long. Go play Hades.
+ Perfect attempt/die/repeat gameplay loop with meaningful upgrades
+ Amazing cast of characters with great voice acting
+ Supergiant’s typical gorgeous visuals
+ Great soundtrack
+ Good LGBTQ representation
+ Good accessibility/difficulty options
- RNG impacting story progression
Date: 04.14.2021 / Play Time: 105 hours
The Rogue-lite genre perfected.
I know “perfect” is a pretty bold word to use when describing a game, but Hades gets pretty close to it. Don’t get me wrong, it has some stuff in it that I would absolutely change, but I truly think Supergiant Games have absolutely perfected the Rogue-lite formula with Hades.
I think one of the trickiest things in Rogue-likes/-lites is making your runs feel worthwhile - making loss not feel like an enormous setback, because in many Rogue games, it is. The story of Hades is built around your repeated runs in such a way that makes it feel like every single run builds on the story, even when you die. Win or lose, some aspect of the story moves forward. Yes, you do need to successfully escape a few times to roll credits. Beyond that, however, most progression with upgrades, characters, side-quests, etc can happen regardless of whether you make it out or not… provided RNG is on your side and you happen to trigger a conversation or find a boon needed for a quest.
Which leads me to my only complaint about the game - randomness. RNG playing into which boons you find in a run is fine - it forces you to adapt and make the best of what you’re given. However, I don’t like RNG when progression is locked behind it because you can’t find a specific boon or you can’t get a conversation with a certain character to trigger. I spent countless hours looking for a very specific boon to finish my last side quest. That said, even during that frustrating hunt, I didn’t stop playing because the core gameplay is a dang blast.
I also need to give a huge shout-out for how well Hades includes LGBTQ themes in extremely normal ways that are unfortunately not found very often in video games.
The cast of characters in this game is phenomenal. One of my favorite ensembles in a while. I was eager to continue doing runs not only because the gameplay was fun, but I wanted to keep seeing everything the characters had to say. And after 105 hours across a total of 96 escape attempts (73 of which were successful), I was still hearing new dialogue when I finally finished the game.
I could speak at length about how much fun I had thinking of cool builds and trying to create them, the wonderful cast of characters, or the excellent hook of collecting resources to upgrade your gear or hub. But honestly this review is already getting a little long. Go play Hades.
+ Perfect attempt/die/repeat gameplay loop with meaningful upgrades
+ Amazing cast of characters with great voice acting
+ Supergiant’s typical gorgeous visuals
+ Great soundtrack
+ Good LGBTQ representation
+ Good accessibility/difficulty options
- RNG impacting story progression