There are a lot of reasons why I don’t review certain games. Generally it’s because I haven’t bought them, and occasionally it’s because I think that everything there is to say about a game has already been said. However, there are the rare games that I don’t review because I have nothing bad to say about them, since I find it very hard to do nothing but heap praise upon a game with nothing to follow it up with beyond a few nitpicks. Sometimes it really does feel like doing a positive review is just listing all of a game’s features rather than critiquing them, and that’s been the problem I’ve had reviewing Hades.
This is my third attempt at writing this review, and since this is a game of year review as well I’m going to cheat a little and be a little more loose with how I make my case for Hades. Because you definitely should play this game, it has something for everyone.
Do you like roguelikes? Hades is a roguelike that embraces the sort of things you can do with a narrative about a character that always dies. This means the story is front and center, but not to the detriment of the gameplay.
Do you like fast-paced combat? Hades channels the same energy as fellow roguelike Dead Cells with speedy, sometimes frantic combat that combines dodges, weapons, and special abilities that all flows seamlessly together in a beautiful way. Unlike Dead Cells, however, you have to actually kill every enemy you encounter in Hades to progress to the next area, so the combat being as good as it is becomes even more important. The one big negative in the combat is that it has a habit of becoming a massive particle effect mess, especially during the boss fights. Once you get a few special abilities and the enemies start throwing projectiles around it can be a little hard to keep track of where your character is, which can be frustrating but isn’t a deal breaker.
Do you like a challenge? Hades is one of the easier roguelikes in the beginning because as you die you’ll collect resources that can be used to power up your stats. More health, more lives per run, etc will all inevitably help you push through to the end. The challenge comes in after you “win” the first time and are then introduced to the Pacts of Punishment, which are special modifiers that you can activate to unlock greater rewards (said rewards are essentially required to finish the game) and these modifiers can get pretty intense. Super forms on bosses, all enemies being completely immune to X number of attacks, higher percent health or damage, the list goes on and on, letting you make Hades as difficult or easy as you like. The nice thing about this feature is that you can personally choose which modifiers you want on or off, so if you’re someone like me that doesn’t find the concept of traps dealing 400% damage that troubling it can be a quick way to get bonus rewards without too much hardship.
Do you like weapon variety? There are six base weapons in Hades and they fill in the stereotypes of slower plus longer range and fast but shorter range. This means there are two melee, two ranged, and two hybrid types just to try to fit into as many tastes as possible, and while this is admittedly a rather limited amount of weapons compared to something like Dead Cells, Hades makes up for it by introducing alternate forms of the base weapons as the game progresses. Most of these updates only adjust one or two of the moves, but the final forms can dramatically change how your weapons behave, and that does make up for the initial limited weapon selection (a bit). Additionally as you play the game you’ll be given godly boons from the likes of Ares, Hermes, and Daedalus that can dramatically change how your weapons behave as they add things like knock back, attack speed, or AOE effects, giving weapons a fresh feeling even if it’s the tenth time you’ve used them…assuming you manage to pick up such abilities on your run.
Do you like Greek mythology? It might be the most overused of all mythology but the devs have really dug deep here to highlight a number of lesser known members of Greek myth. Sure everyone knows about Zeus, Hades, and Achilles, but how many know about Zagreus (Hades’ son and the game’s main character) or Patroclus (Achilles’ best friend) or Thanatos (the personification of death)? There are over twenty characters to interact with in Hades and while the gods aren’t the most fleshed out as I might have liked, they ARE the Greek gods that we all stereotypically know, so you probably won’t feel like you’re missing much just because Poseidon doesn’t get a full story arc.
Do you like beautiful art? Hades is made by Supergiant Games, and if you’ve played Pyre, Bastion, or Transistor you know they’re all about amazing character and environmental design.
Do you like great voice acting and clever writing? Again, Supergiant Games. In some ways this is almost redundant in their titles as their games always have great narration from a mostly unseen, all-knowing character. Most of the voice actors for the characters do a good job, and the writing does a great job highlighting the frustrations that Zagreus (and sometimes the player) feels from dying over and over again, which is something that most roguelikes and games like Dark Souls have always lacked, in my opinion.
Do you like long games? You can reach the “normal ending” of Hades in about twenty to thirty hours (less if you’re good enough, more if you’re having trouble finding a weapon you like) but the true ending will take you a hell of a lot longer. You see, much of the game’s progress through its side content is built on the back of building relationships with the various characters in the game, and to build these relationships you need a lot of nectar. Nectar (pictured on the left) is an item that can be a random award after beating dungeon rooms or you can also sometimes buy it with other currencies that you pick up during your runs, and did I mention that you need A LOT OF IT? I actually stopped playing after I realized I needed enough nectar to drown a small village to get the game’s epilogue/true ending, because that’s a lot of grinding and I have other games to play. However, if you’re a completionist there’s a lot to sink your teeth into and when the biggest drawback of a game this good is that you have to play it A LOT then I have to ask if that’s really a negative.
Do you like short games? Despite having an overarching story Hades is still a roguelike, which means that each attempt to get out of the Underworld is its own mini “playthrough” of the game. The ability to push through a full run of Hades in about thirty minutes is perfect for people without a lot of time to sit down and play a game for a long stretch of time. On top of that you can also save the game whenever you want thanks to checkpoints at the start of each room, so if you’re ever interrupted by boring old reality you can pick up again later without losing much progress.
Do you like puzzles? Okay there aren’t any puzzles in Hades so I guess the game isn’t for EVERYONE, but congrats on getting this far in the review to see if it has puzzles.
This review was one of the hardest I’ve had to write, which I think of as a testament to how great Hades is. The enjoyable, straightforward combat has just enough variety thanks to the roguelike elements constantly mixing up your abilities, the art is gorgeous, and the story combined with the engaging characters can give you just enough of a drive to see the game through even if you might die more times than you like. Plus it’s cheap at only $25, and when you can get a game this good for less than half the price of games that aren’t worth the disks they’re printed on…well that just makes Hades even better.
