having won a run in hades a few times now, i unfortunately have to report that the game is good. but it also isn't completely to my tastes and has issues. probably the most off-putting thing about this, as someone who's played a good share of roguelikes, is how it bucks genre conventions. some of this is good, but the majority of it is bad.

what i personally like about roguelikes and roguelites is the way that it's an entire game experience condensed into around an hour or so. of course, there will be unlockables, secret ending and paths, etc. but the main appeal of the genre for me has always been the ability to bend it to your will, acquired through many runs and much gained knowledge about the game and its systems. it allows you to have total god runs while also eeking out close victories, and it provides a sense of mastery over time that can't be easily found in other genres.

hades is.. not that. it's not so much knowledge about systems that will win you runs (at least at first, i'm still new to the game), but upgrades to zagreus that will persist across runs. this is fine, but it feels antithetical to what i enjoy about the genre. i don't mind new abilities or items that you can get in runs, or new paths and bosses and stuff, but to have your character be quantitatively better (vs. something like isaac where a character will gain a heart or new starting item through an unlock) just isn't very interesting to me. especially when the upgrades just, increase your max health, or your casts. it doesn't make me feel like i'm mastering the game, just that i'm getting more powerful.

the design philosophy of consistency across runs isn't entirely bad though. the narrative framework of hades is really quite interesting, especially for a genre that is usually (and understandably) light on story elements. i won't spoil anything but i really like how this is accomplished. it's nothing mindblowing but it does a lot to help the game along

spent most of this review complaining but the game is honestly very fun.. closing thoughts: the shield fucking sucks