Hades, developed and published by Supergiant Games, has left Early Access. It has finally been released on Steam and Nintendo Switch as a feature-complete game after two years of development and tuning.
Rating: 5/5
Describing itself as a “god-like rogue-like dungeon crawler”, Hades certainly lives up to the description. The game follows Zagreus (Zag), son of Hades, as he battles his way out of the realm of the dead like a bat out of hell in one of the most polished and refined rogue-like games ever made.
Rogue-like games are designed with the expectation of the player failing multiple times. The menu lists the number of escape attempts the player has made. Hades subreddit users claim it takes around 50 attempts before the game can be completed. Players spend various resources earned in their escape attempt to become powerful and to make the next run more successful.
Story
The story itself is exceptional and is told in conversations between characters with the occasional appearance of the Supergiant trademark narrator. The premise is simple enough and there are few twists in the overarching plot. However, what really sets the story apart is the fascinating character interactions.
Zagreus himself is a defiant, cheeky godling who has clearly had enough with living in his father’s house. When interacting with his father, Hades, he uses a sarcastic tone. He becomes awkward when he deals with First of the Furies and his ex-girlfriend Megaera. He keeps a student-and master- relationship with Achilles (yes, the one with the weak heel) and has a genuinely sweet relationship with Nyx, Night Incarnate, his mother without whom he would never have been able to escape.
A Greek cast
The majority of the Greek pantheon makes their own appearances as well and have their own personalities shine through. Most of all, they recognise Zagreus as one of their own and decide to help him escape from Hades — their wayward relative. They give Zag their boons, exchanging some words of wisdom during escape attempts.
Ares will congratulate Zagreus if he thinks he has fought well. Athena ruminates on what reaching Mount Olympus would mean for him. Poseidon calls him “Little Hades”. Aphrodite promises him that she’ll find him a match and so on. Not only that, they will comment on how the escape attempt is going. If Zagreus is wounded, they will offer encouragement or incentive. If he accepted a boon from a different god, they would state their opinion of said god. Finding their boons and learning more from their comments is one aspect that keeps the game interesting.
Notably, these aren’t the only interactions that players can discover. Other deities and mythological beings like Hypnos and Dusa (of Medusa fame) make their appearance in Hades’ house. Usually, Charon makes an appearance to sell items and offer a few groans. Sisyphus can be seen sometimes with his rock. All of them have their own relationships with Zag and it is always interesting to see what they discuss.
Gameplay
What truly keeps each escape attempt interesting is the airtight gameplay and varied level design. Ultimately, Supergiant has the feel and tempo of the combat. Each fight is fast and frantic. Enemies charge in at close range to cut and crush Zag with others hanging back and hurling projectiles at him. He himself has three main tools at his disposal. His weapon, his dash which gets him in and out of danger, his cast, and a projectile he throws at his enemies.
Zag’s arsenal of weapons is endlessly evolving. At the start of the game, he may use Chthonic Keys to unlock the six Infernal Arms — weapons with histories tied to the gods. They range from Zag’s signature sword to Aegis’ current form and even a rifle. Weapons can be upgraded with rare materials to add cool new features and significantly change their appearance.
His tools change with the boons and upgrades that he comes across. Greek mythology shines through to dictate how upgrades function. The gods provide boons that work with their personalities. Athena helps Zag defend himself by giving him the means to deflect projectiles or take less damage. Ares augments Zag’s weapons to deliver delayed damage to his enemies or to leave a damaging aura where his cast or dash lands. To name two examples, Zag is faced with difficult decisions at times. He must choose between two gods. He can either risk accepting help from one or angering another. The gods can choose to combine their boons together to create a rather unique hybrid boon.
An ever-changing combat system
The gods themselves are not the only source of buffs. Zag can find hammers from the mythical inventor Daedalus which will change how his weapons work. Zag’s sword will change from its three-hit pattern to a single, endlessly repeated attack. For example, His spear ricochets seven times between enemies before stopping. His bow can even shoot more projectiles.
Within the escape attempts, Zag can collect and return coins belonging to the boatman Charon to buy items to aid his escape. At the same time, these are active for a set number of encounters — improving one aspect of Zag’s abilities or grant him other resources.
All of these systems come together to create Hades’s frantic and ever-changing combat system. For example, in one escape attempt, I was forced to throw my shield around in order to kill the pack of enemies on my tail. I had hoped that Ares’s boon would kill them fast enough before standing on a trap and dying ingloriously.
In another escape attempt, I taunted the boss with my spear blessed by Ares, Zeus, and Athena. I watched the lightning arc across the screen as her and all her allies were ruined by the spear giving them curses from Ares as Athena’s own boon sent their projectiles flying back at their face.
Overall, the combat is intense, fast, and gives plenty of variety. There are many ways this can change. Each run is one boon away from flipping the combat system on its head and breaking all expectations for how combat should operate.
Visuals
A large part of why Hades is so entertaining lies in its impressive visuals. The bright, vibrant artistic style stops the repeated rooms from looking overly monotonous and adds variety in its various zones. The zones range from stone dungeons to fields of fire and grassy, moss-covered rooms. Furthermore, the artists have managed to do an incredible job of making each room colourful and visually distinct.
The special effects in the game look particularly good. The gods’ varied boons show their own individuality as Zag uses his abilities. For example, his slam attack may produce a massive splash where he lands thanks to Poseidon. Athena manifests ethereal shields around him and Artemis lends a green glow on his projectiles.
The enemies themselves have their own eye-catching effects that communicate how they intend to attack Zag. To illustrate, some hold their clubs up high before slamming them down to crack the stone beneath them. Others hurl rows of purple orbs or spray lasers across the room.
All of this comes together to make an amazing light show. Zag later receives half-a-dozen boons towards the end of an escape attempt. Explosions of red, pink, and green complete with streaks of deep purple and bright yellow. It’s a mesmerising sight that lends itself perfectly to the mayhem that Zag leaves in his wake.
In contrast, the low-quality sprites let this down. As a result, players see a rather low-resolution sprite in the animation when Zagreus meets his end. The majority of the boss fights also have a similar problem; the camera zooms in on a low-resolution model of a slain foe.
Soundtrack
Darren Korb returns to compose the music for this game. As a result, Korb’s soundtrack delivers intense, fast-paced music that matches the intensity of the gameplay. Korb’s music has a new addition that is emphasised on the electric guitar. The music is also reminiscent of Mick Gordon’s Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal soundtracks. Similarly, the game franchise Doom and Doom Eternal (2016), like Hades, requires the protagonist to fight his way out of the land of the dead.
Conclusion
As a complete package, Hades is markedly the pinnacle of rogue-like gameplay. The complex and layered combat and upgrade systems combine to create an almost endless potential for players to experiment with and gives each escape attempt its own unique identity. The stellar art and music in the game are spectacular. Thus, all these components make it impossible not to recommend this game wholeheartedly.