The son of the God of the Underworld wrecks havoc both on his father’s domain and the usual notion of how a roguelike story can be properly told.
You, Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld, find yourself barreling through the dominion of your father, unceremoniously slashing through the denizens of Asphodel. Your family upon Olympus have lent their strength in aiding your escape of Hades’ realm. Your training from the legendary Greek warrior, Achilles, serves you well as you carve out swathes of undead. You-
Dashed into the lava in Asphodel again and died.
Blood and darkness.
However, through your godly blood, you resurrect in the Pool of Styx in your father’s House; only to be greeted by the steely patriarch, who jeers at your last failed escape. You vow to escape next time, sell your fish to the House cook, buy royal purple drapes for the Great Hall (to spite your father), become stronger through an enchanted mirror, and begin your escape again.
This is the cycle of Hades. And it’s wildly addictive.
As a roguelike, Supergiant’s Hades puts you in the shoes of Zagreus, son of the titular Hades, into a continual cycle of attempts to escape the Underworld. With every run, you collect resources, play relationship doctor (for yourself and others) and pet the best boy, Cerberus – if you don’t pet him every run, we can’t be friends.
Aiding Zag are his godly aunts, uncles and cousins; each provide a unique set of powers matching their own. Combine this with six weapons to choose from and modifiers for them called Aspects, and suddenly, no two runs are nearly the same. One run may have Zagreus freezing enemies on screen while Captain America-style chucking a shield; another might have him mowing enemies down with chain lighting attacks from a gun (yes, a literal gun).
Hades core gameplay mechanics are expertly crafted and provide significant depth. The systems are intertwined such to make any run fun and viable. First are the weapons themselves, each used by the Greek gods themselves at one point. Only one weapon, Zagreus’ trusty sword is available first, with the other five unlocking as you progress through the game. Each weapon has a distinct attack and special attack. Progress enough through the game, and you can unlock Aspects, neat modifiers on the weapons themselves, each upgradeable to become stronger. Some give a certain stat boost while others change the fundamental gameplay of the weapon itself.
Next are Boons; these are the actual powers and modifiers Zagreus can receive from his family on Olympus. These powers modify your attack, special attack, cast (think magic ranged attack), and dash for the run and are lost upon death. Boons can have varying degree of usefulness through a rarity system, and should you have certain boons, they may combine with another god’s power to make a rare Dual Boon. Up to four different gods out of the eight total can appear to offer a fragment of their power each run.
You can even guide these appearances through Keepsakes, trinkets you receive from NPCs through the game; give them a bottle of nectar and you get a Keepsake (one per unique NPC). These help further modify Zag’s escape. By keeping Zeus’ keepsake, there’s a higher chance for a Zeus boon to appear, and it’ll have a higher rarity. Some, like Thanatos’ Keepsake, give you a damage boost if you clear the room quick enough; Eurydice’s allows you to mitigate any damage for three hits before deactivating.
All of these systems really work well together to provide a unique experience for every trek through the Underworld. I was never truly unhappy with a run and felt I could make a combination of powers and weapon work in my favor. At times, it really helped me explore other options for possible builds in the future. More than once did I think,”yeah I’m not digging this run but I’ll power through” and turned it into a win by the end.
While talking with some friends, we all had our favorite weapon, each liking a different one. I think this is a crowning achievement, where every weapon could be someone’s favorite and there wasn’t one that was worse than the other in the grand scheme.
Fighting the denizens of Hades is satisfying, with each enemy having their own attack patterns and tells. For the most part, enemies are well balanced.
Unless it’s a Flame Wheel or Butterfly Ball – those can go rot.
But there was hardly a time where I felt the game was unfair or bugged. Each death, I knew I should’ve zigged instead of zagged, and it was fully my fault. Even better, I learned from it. At first, I wasn’t very good with the game, making it consistently to the second area. But through run after run, and a few upgrades later, I saw my runs growing longer until beating the final boss for the first time.
The combat is superb…but the storytelling and character development is what shines the most in Hades. The overarching theme in the game is focused on perseverance, family and acceptance.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Through sheer will and determination, Zagreus eventually defeats his father to traverse the world above in search of his mother. Upon finding her, they realize his Underworld blood binds him to the depths, and he dies after a few moments. This becomes the driving force behind every escape attempt in the game after the first run – to go just talk with your mom, and literally fighting through hell to do so. Hint: so many people think they’ve beaten the game after one clear…go do nine more and come see me afterwards.
Hades disapproves of this for story reasons I won’t get into, but your overall relationship with him…just plain sucks. You see this right the beginning after your first death how these two gods just have an animosity towards each other. Gradually, as time goes on and story beats unfold, Hades begrudgingly accepts that he cannot control everything, including his son’s actions. And you don’t get story with just your interactions with Hades but with every unique NPC. Whole side plots develop further with each death between characters, with Zagreus trying to mend these relationships. By hour 40-ish, I felt like I really got to know these characters so well and was part of the Hades crew myself.
I don’t think I ever heard a recycled line or phrase until about 30-40 hours in – and I died a lot, meaning I talked to NPCs, a lot. And every bit of dialogue’s voice acting is top notch and engrossing. Theseus just has this absolutely throat-punchable demeanor that is amplified by great line reading. Hades sounds like an absolutely menacing God of the Dead, delivered with a gravitas that could make the undead quiver in fear (or Zagreus to jeer back at him).
Each of the gods have such great personalities. Dionysis, god of wine/partying, is an absolute dude-bro while Poseidon has this fun/crazy uncle energy that exudes with every interaction. On a personal level, these interactions influenced which boons I took for my run. Of course, they’re all gods, so they’re all a little full of themselves, but it really sells the characterizations the game offers.
In tandem, the art style really is incredible and brings each character to life. And the voice acting really pairs with the looks of the characters really well. Beyond the lovely people of Hades, the environments are rich and varied, though can get very busy and hard to read patterns. Asphodel and Elysium, the second and third areas, were often guilty of this due to enemies being in a similar color palettes as the environment. As hectic as it was, the amount of detail in these levels brought a certain life and even characterization to the world. It really felt like the Underworld of Greek mythology.
With most roguelike games, story is a convenience and not a major draw to play. Having story progress through failure like in Hades is such a unique way to weave narrative into a core pillar of roguelike games. It feels like a natural delivery of content, never forced yet always appreciated. I was kind of happy when I died because I knew I’d be back at the house to chat up Megaera, Dusa and Orpheus and further my relationships with them through the relationship system. Each interaction is rich with character development and unique dialogues; the storytelling is EVERYWHERE. There’s no escaping it.
The Good
- Fantastic story and deep character development
- Music is off the charts banger after banger
- Each gameplay system add yet another layer of depth
- Systems are complex but accessible
The Bad
- A few enemies can be a nuisance with poor RNG on boons
- At times, enemy and environment distinction can get muddled in the action
The Scoring and Verdict
- Gameplay – 10/10
- Visuals/Art Style – 9/10
- OST/Audio- 10/10
- Story and World Building – 10/10
- Replayability and Value – 9/10
- Overall Scoring – 9.6
If there’s ever one singular roguelike I’d recommend playing in 2024, it’s Hades. It has been for four years. It will be for the foreseeable future until the sequel releases soon.
Hades is available on a multitude of storefronts including PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Steam, and mobile devices through Netflix Gaming.
