People usually stick to their favorite genres when pursuing the hobby of gaming, with the occasional dipping of their toe in another genre if something about a particular title intrigues them. Hades is this for me when it comes to the roguelike genre, with what I feel is a stronger emphasis on presentation and storytelling compared to its contemporaries.

You play as Zagreus, who's constantly trying to escape from Hades in order to reunite with his biological mother, Persephone. Very straightforward premise that slowly unravels over the course of your escape attempts. As you get to know the characters that populate the world of Hades, you start to notice the themes of separation and miscommunication. Much of the cast is characterized by their separation of someone important in their life, and how through miscommunication, or even just hiding information, they've perpetuated their current status. Zagreus is very empathetic to their plight, seeing as how he himself wants to reunite with his mother, and so does whatever he can to set things right. I get the feeling I'm missing out on a lot of additional context by not being overly familiar with Greek mythology. Those who are much more familiar with it probably get a lot more out of the stories being told here. Regardless, it's a really enjoyable story with characters you really like. If I had a complaint, it's with how slow some of these stories can progress. You only get the chance to talk to characters once per run, and their dialogue is somewhat randomized, so it could take hours before a story can make any meaningful progress.

The gameplay loop is the most important thing they had to get right, seeing how often you'll be going through the same locations, and thankfully they nail it. Early on you'll be struggling to make it past certain areas, but as you progress and upgrade Zagreus' abilities and unlock new weapons, you'll eventually be able to do large parts of the game in your sleep. But it isn't just about getting better skills and weapons. One of the skills the game will teach you is identifying what boons and weapon upgrades you receive are worth getting or not. Certain boons pair well with certain weapons, and certain gods synergize very well with one another. Being able to identify the ideal synergies is the difference between a frustrating run and an absolute cake walk. If there's anything to criticize, is that the Hidden Aspects you get can be pretty underwhelming. I get that they probably didn't want them to outshine the base weapons you get, but some of them feel particularly bad to use.

The music can best be summed up as a hybrid between traditional Greek instruments set to rock arrangements. I can't say there's any game that comes to mind that mixes the two, so it results in a unique and memorable soundtrack. Not only that, but they actually have the songs exist diegetically, thanks to Orpheus and his muse Eurydice. I'd also like to shout out the song "It's In the Blood". Not only is it an absolute amazing track to close the base game on, but it also does an excellent job of tying the main themes of the game in a nice bow.

Hades does a lot of things really well that appeal to be people that maybe aren't as invested in the genre. I know it worked on me, and I don't think my 90+ hours in Hades is going to translate in me playing other roguelikes, but who knows. All I know is that I thoroughly enjoyed all the time I put into Hades, and look forward to when Hades II finally makes its way out of early access.