This article originally ran under a different banner/website in December of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! GATHER ROUND, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! As many of you know, I, the Video Game Doomsayer, firmly believe video game crunch is the biggest issue facing the video game industry. It might be easy for some to turn a blind eye to the situation, but I firmly believe it will cause major long-term damage. Sure studios might be comfortable with the fact that there is a long line of artists and programmers willing to sacrifice their bodies and minds to the alter of their favorite medium, but eventually that well will run dry. As more and more studios accept crunch as part of their business, more and more people will eventually turn down working for these studios. So when Supergiant Games, one of my favorite indie studio, revealed in an article with Kotaku that Bastion, Pyre, and Hades were not built off the back of crunch, but forced vacation days for staff, I feel obligated to give their recent title Hades a fair chance. Even if Hades sits comfortably within one of my least favorite genres … roguelike.
We play as the son of Hades, Zagreus, in an almost colorful version of Greek mythology. Fans of Supergiants Game’s will easily recognize the art style as one could easily imagine Zagreus in the world of Transistor or Pyre. Longing to be free of his father’s passive-aggressive comments, Zagreus plans to escape the underworld and reconvene with his distant relatives atop Mount Olympus. A herculean task considering all of the underworld is designed to keep souls from escaping. From the ever-shifting rooms to the legions of monsters at his command, Hades is always quick to remind Zagreus that escape is impossible. However, Zagreus isn’t alone; the Gods of Olympus and some of the members of the House of Hades like Nyx and Thananos are aiding Zagreus in his quest.
What continues to impress me as I play through Hades is the massive amount of dialogue between characters on display. I have yet to run into an instance where someone repeat’s their lines as characters do in other games. Characters more often will comment on how far I have made it or other Gods I have interacted with. One time I was able to gain the favor of Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, and then immediately ran into Dionysus, the God of Wine. He was quick to comment that Artemis doesn’t get along with the other Gods and she might have taken a liking to Zagreus; almost implying feelings might be involved. A few rooms later the two of them begin to bicker as Artemis expresses her distaste for Dionysus’s loud extravagant parties. Even disapproving dad, Hades, has a different backhanded insult every time you’re forced to return to his chamber with your tail between your legs. I truly must applaud the writers at Supergiant Games for their exceptional work.
The combat of Hades also on par with the game’s writing. As a massive fan of Supergiant’s first game, Bastion, I felt right at home combating the minions of the underworld. Rather than being allowed a pair of weapons like The Kid in Bastion, Zagreus will get his choice of one weapon and must weave light and heavy attacks with a ranged spell and dodge maneuver. The pool of enemies is varied and they all have distinct attack patterns. The lumbering Wretched Thug slowly swings their mighty hammers while Inferno Bombers try to lob bombs from range. Immediately upon entering a room, you can easily work out a plan of attack allowing for fast and frenetic combat.
Many of these abilities can be upgraded through boons from the Gods of Olympus. A boon from Zeus will grant your abilities lightning effects while boons from Posedian will cause waves to send enemies crashing all around. Most Gods feel like they have powerful effects with the exception of Aphrodite, who merely weakens enemies. However, the Gods are fickle and will turn on you if you reject their gifts. I once had to choose between boons from Zeus and Aphrodite. Assuming angering the Lord of Olympus to be an unwise decision, I chose his boons angering Aphrodite. She sent minions after me while trying to stun me with a charm. Naturally, I didn’t make it.
So Hades has scored some strong grades in writing and combat, many of you, my loyal followers, must be assuming I am gearing up to recommend Hades. Well, I certainly won’t be saying Hades is a bad game, but it certainly not one I can see myself returning to. For me personally, the roguelite elements absolutely kill my enjoyment for this title. Every time Zagreus is killed in battle, he is brought to life in the pool of blood within the House of Hades. Now, I’ll admit this usually leads to some juicy back and forth between Hades and Zagreus, but it also means I have to start all over again from the beginning. Similar to the arcade machines of the past, if you die on the last boss, you have to start the journey all over again. A task I found incredibly frustrating.
Now many might say that Hades provides you with a lot of power to make you strong between your various attempts to escape the underworld. There are various currencies you can acquire that will either make Zagreus stronger or provide rooms to help on the next attempt. Hades is certainly designed to give you enough strength to get the next incremental hurdle, but not enough to go all the way. As a result, it feels like the game’s story is being drip-feed to me. For me, I need my roguelike to have enough story to push me forward but not enough where I feel like the story is being gated from me. Enter the Gungeon and Crypt of the Necrodancer have simple enough stories that I can see where they are going. They strike the perfect balance for me, while BPM: Bullets Per Minute and Hades sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.
NOW HEED MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS. Just because Hades chose to be a roguelike, does not make it a bad game. I can see that Supergiant Games was looking to craft a mythos similar to Sisyphus. Zagreus must continuously battle through the underworld just Sisyphus must be pushing the boulder up a hill. I will not deny that Supergiant Games has put a lot of hard work into Hades without forcing their staff to break themselves in the process. I have no doubt Hades is worthy of your time if you are a fan of roguelikes or roguelites, and I will continue to support Supergiant Games in all of that they do. Hades is just not built for me and I am perfectly ok with that. I will just respectively decline when they ask me to continuously push a boulder up a hill.
