Hades attempts to craft a rouge-lite that is far more approachable and captivating to a broader audience than simply genre aficionados, and in many ways, it succeeds. Its core premise is to imbue the genre convention of repeatedly dying and starting over with purpose, both mechanically and narratively. Players, upon their inevitable death, have the opportunity to build relationships with a well-written and enjoyable cast of characters and to spend a variety of currencies on upgrades for themselves and the House of Hades itself. These persistent aspects of progression significantly help to smooth over the pain being curb-stomped by a new boss or encounter throughout the game. It becomes clear early that Hades is greatly concerned with players enjoying the death-strewn journey to the destination of completing a run.
As for the runs themselves, Hades provides a plethora of ways to engage with its combat mechanics. From several different weapon types, weapon sub-classes, widely varying god bonuses, items and other modifiers, a player’s trip through Hades will look radically different for countless hours. What is, perhaps, more amazing is how well all these modifiers synergize to make fantastically powerful combinations. Hades manages to strike the impossible balance of often giving players the joy of a seemingly broken build while maintaining overall balance. All the while, the characters and destinations visited along the way make for a truly enjoyable journey, even as it is constantly repeated.
Unfortunately, a player’s milage with Hades will still ultimately come down to their tolerance for the rouge-lite genre. Eventually, losing runs will begin to hurt more as bosses become farther removed. No matter how many enticements are placed right after death, it is still frustrating to know you are probably a few tries away from beating a boss that is thirty minutes removed from you. But even this can be forgiven given the profound strengths of Hades. There is an aspect, however, that is not so easily overlooked and bewilderingly runs counter to the structure and flow of the game.
…Broad End Game Spoilers…
After clearing a run for the first time, it is revealed that the real answers to what is going on will be drip-fed over the course of nine more successful runs. Suddenly, the game shifts from being about the journey to rapidly reaching the destination to get a bit of narrative progressing dialogue. This undercuts all the other interesting endgame content as the new status quo rewards playing safely instead of trying new things and prioritizing clears over other side activities. This feels like unnecessary padding. There is plenty of content to entice more runs from any kind of player in the end game, which makes this elongation borderline ridiculous. Further, given the game’s focus on enticing a broader audience to try a rouge-lite, it seems wildly counterproductive to punish players who may simply wish to clear the game once while undermining the mechanics that brought them in in the first place.
Thankfully, YouTube is an easy out for those wishing to simply see the end after beating the game. And the journey along the way is punching so far above other rouge-lites in terms of narrative, structure, and often mechanics that it is absolutely worth experiencing. Going in with the knowledge, however, that the more frustrating aspects of the genre will ultimately rear their head helps to set proper expectations.
As for the runs themselves, Hades provides a plethora of ways to engage with its combat mechanics. From several different weapon types, weapon sub-classes, widely varying god bonuses, items and other modifiers, a player’s trip through Hades will look radically different for countless hours. What is, perhaps, more amazing is how well all these modifiers synergize to make fantastically powerful combinations. Hades manages to strike the impossible balance of often giving players the joy of a seemingly broken build while maintaining overall balance. All the while, the characters and destinations visited along the way make for a truly enjoyable journey, even as it is constantly repeated.
Unfortunately, a player’s milage with Hades will still ultimately come down to their tolerance for the rouge-lite genre. Eventually, losing runs will begin to hurt more as bosses become farther removed. No matter how many enticements are placed right after death, it is still frustrating to know you are probably a few tries away from beating a boss that is thirty minutes removed from you. But even this can be forgiven given the profound strengths of Hades. There is an aspect, however, that is not so easily overlooked and bewilderingly runs counter to the structure and flow of the game.
…Broad End Game Spoilers…
After clearing a run for the first time, it is revealed that the real answers to what is going on will be drip-fed over the course of nine more successful runs. Suddenly, the game shifts from being about the journey to rapidly reaching the destination to get a bit of narrative progressing dialogue. This undercuts all the other interesting endgame content as the new status quo rewards playing safely instead of trying new things and prioritizing clears over other side activities. This feels like unnecessary padding. There is plenty of content to entice more runs from any kind of player in the end game, which makes this elongation borderline ridiculous. Further, given the game’s focus on enticing a broader audience to try a rouge-lite, it seems wildly counterproductive to punish players who may simply wish to clear the game once while undermining the mechanics that brought them in in the first place.
Thankfully, YouTube is an easy out for those wishing to simply see the end after beating the game. And the journey along the way is punching so far above other rouge-lites in terms of narrative, structure, and often mechanics that it is absolutely worth experiencing. Going in with the knowledge, however, that the more frustrating aspects of the genre will ultimately rear their head helps to set proper expectations.