Short review:
Ok, I just want to share a little thought about Portal. It is useless to discuss how perfect it is. One of the best successful experiments in videogame history, whose potential is squeezed to the core in its sequel, but it is clear that the first is absolutely no less.

What I really wanted to focus on was my interpretation of events. I have never heard anyone say this, but as soon as I finished the game I had this feeling: the story of Portal, although very simple, is a kind of representation of the Stockholm syndrome. The character of GLaDOS is an explosive concentrate of humor, wickedness and passive aggression, and as much as you can hate her as much as you love her, throughout the course of events, I never really had the idea of eliminating her. Being in the shoes of Chell, i.e. alone, locked up in a laboratory and not knowing how and why I am there, my only guide is an AI who sees me as a disposable laboratory rat, who cares absolutely nothing, but at the at the same time without it I would lose my only point of reference. And that made me grow fond of that evil voice. A different affection from the simple thought: "Man, I love this character". We pass from hatred to a sense of total loss due to her absence, so much that we ask ourselves "what now?".







Yeah basically I don't know how to finish this review so if you are still reading, Still Alive > Want You Gone ok bye

After two years since the beginning of early access, the 4th effort of Supergiant Games, authors of Bastion, Transistor and Pyre, has finally arrived on PC and Nintendo Switch, entering prepotently in the Olympus (for real) of the rogue-like genre and demonstrating how even this type of games can in fact show a strong narrative component, well integrated with the gameplay.

This is a rogue-lite, a rogue-like but with the presence of permanent unlockable bonuses and upgrades that allow the player to get more and more powerful in the next runs. The protagonist is the god Zagreus, son of Hades and prince of the underworld, who will have the goal to escape his father’s kingdom and rejoin his distant relatives on mount Olympus, in a quest that will lead him to rediscover himself and his origins.

Although I should discuss the actual gameplay that defines the work, we’re talking about a Supergiant title. So, I’d like to emphasize the art and the music of this game. EVERY single detail, the animations, the fluidity of the effects are maniacally curated, and every single frame is a painting by itself (Jen Zee is extremely talented btw). The soundtrack is a masterpiece: Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett deliver the peak of their work. Eurydice’s charming voice forced me to put down my controller and just listen to her song almost every time I entered her room.

What makes this game worthy of becoming a cult is the incredible work behind both narrative and the gameplay formula. Hades offers a fun, satisfying, adrenalinic gameplay in which the player will fight and travel through the 4 dungeons in Hades’s reign, using 6 different weapons, each one with its own moveset and upgrades (“aspects”), while Zagreus will bring with him “keepsakes”, that he will get creating relations with characters and will allow him to gain bonuses, along with other upgrades unlockable with “darkness” (one of the game’s currencies). In every room of the dungeon there are, among other rewards, “boons” by Olympus gods, that vary depending on every god’s personality and branch. The choice of how players want to face a new run is up to their strategies and style of play. About the narrative side, Hades debunks the “story is pointless in a rogue-like” myth. It represents a huge step forward, with an amazing cast of characters, a ridiculous amount of dialogues and a lot of side quests that will take at least 150 hours to gain 100%.

In conclusion, this is my GOTY 2020.