[Beat the game on Nov 4 for the first time, date logged is the time I saw the credits. This review was subsequently slightly edited after getting the epilogue]
I'm still playing through Hades, but with over 50 hours into it I think I finally have played enough to give my full thoughts on it. To start with the gameplay, I have very few issues and a lot of praise. Usually roguelikes either fall in one of two fields, the ones that let you snowball and get busted as fuck with some luck (Isaac, Noita I think) or ones that prioritize skill (Gungeon, Spelunky) but Hades is probably the first one that actually manages to highlight the versatility and width of its possibilities at once- usually roguelikes end up being either too luck-based or too samey, but Hades strikes a great balance- runs are very varied and even the same weapon can end up giving you different playstyles, but it never feels like the game screwed you over. It must have taken a gargantuan amount of fine-tuning to polish it this well, and it's appreciated.
The ever so praised (and I'd say at least partially deservingly so) story is actually where most of my nitpicks lie. The game is generally well written and extremely well acted, but I feel like the roguelike aspect, while integral to the story, also ends up dragging the pacing to an absolute slog. Every single new beat in the story feels like it should be a massive change because it's so hard to get to it, but everything feels... weirdly understated? The ending and the epilogue are just sort of scenes that happen with relatively little gravity, considering how much you have to work for them.
I understand Supergiant's an indie studio but still, it feels weird how everyone just kind of agrees to get together. Everything wraps up together so nicely that it feels kind of underwhelming. The other issue is more logistical, you can only speak to characters once each between runs which I understand is necessary given the structure of the game, but it's really weird when characters reference events that happened 30 runs ago like they're brand new, and it's really irritating when story progress is gated behind NPC lines that just refuse to occur. I had to wait like 20 hours of gameplay for Nyx to allow me to conclude the Sisyphus and Orpheus side-quests even though I'd fulfilled every other part of them, and I still haven't gotten the dialogue that will let me finish the Achilles one!
I think all of these issues are sort of inherent to Hades' structure, but while it is a very interesting and worthwhile experiment, I do think it is also held back somewhat and I'm very curious to see how they polish it up in H2.
I'm still playing through Hades, but with over 50 hours into it I think I finally have played enough to give my full thoughts on it. To start with the gameplay, I have very few issues and a lot of praise. Usually roguelikes either fall in one of two fields, the ones that let you snowball and get busted as fuck with some luck (Isaac, Noita I think) or ones that prioritize skill (Gungeon, Spelunky) but Hades is probably the first one that actually manages to highlight the versatility and width of its possibilities at once- usually roguelikes end up being either too luck-based or too samey, but Hades strikes a great balance- runs are very varied and even the same weapon can end up giving you different playstyles, but it never feels like the game screwed you over. It must have taken a gargantuan amount of fine-tuning to polish it this well, and it's appreciated.
The ever so praised (and I'd say at least partially deservingly so) story is actually where most of my nitpicks lie. The game is generally well written and extremely well acted, but I feel like the roguelike aspect, while integral to the story, also ends up dragging the pacing to an absolute slog. Every single new beat in the story feels like it should be a massive change because it's so hard to get to it, but everything feels... weirdly understated? The ending and the epilogue are just sort of scenes that happen with relatively little gravity, considering how much you have to work for them.
I understand Supergiant's an indie studio but still, it feels weird how everyone just kind of agrees to get together. Everything wraps up together so nicely that it feels kind of underwhelming. The other issue is more logistical, you can only speak to characters once each between runs which I understand is necessary given the structure of the game, but it's really weird when characters reference events that happened 30 runs ago like they're brand new, and it's really irritating when story progress is gated behind NPC lines that just refuse to occur. I had to wait like 20 hours of gameplay for Nyx to allow me to conclude the Sisyphus and Orpheus side-quests even though I'd fulfilled every other part of them, and I still haven't gotten the dialogue that will let me finish the Achilles one!
I think all of these issues are sort of inherent to Hades' structure, but while it is a very interesting and worthwhile experiment, I do think it is also held back somewhat and I'm very curious to see how they polish it up in H2.