Let me first acknowledge that this is a really amazing game. Let me then say that I had a few disappointments with the game that not only kept it from being perfect but also kept it from being my favorite roguelite/like (the title still belongs to Gungeon imo).
First off, the game is oozing with polish and charm. The visuals, the story, the music, the voice acting, all incredible, some of the best I've seen in an indie game.
The combat didn't feel the best to me at first, just cuz I've never been into this Diablo-styled combat, but in once I got used to it I thought it was fairly fun, not incredible but I quite liked it
I also thought it was cool that this roguelite had a lot more story/narrative elements than any other roguelike/lite I've played
So here were the shortcomings that keep me from calling it my favorite roguelike and from giving it a 5 stars. The smaller issue I had: the meta progression. This is one area that I expected this game to excel in, and beat out Gungeon, since I really like Roguelites with meta progression between runs, and I had heard that Hades nailed the idea of meta-progression. But honestly in my opinion, this game's meta-progression was pretty underwhelming. The only "solid" meta-progression comes from the mirror upgrades, and some of those choices felt meaningless, the ones that were useless got maxed out too quickly, and the choices you had to make just seems frankly underwhelming. Then as you get into later game, the progression turns into growing relationships with the other characters, and upgrading your weapons and the chambers. But growing relationships with most other characters does almost nothing except unlock new dialog and story beats after the first level, except for a select few characters, and not only does the game not tell you who those specific characters are, but the game doesn't even tell you any of this at all. The thing that could've affected progression the most would be the trinkets that you unlock by reaching level 1 with any character, since there's nearly 30 of them, but they only let you equip one per run? What's even the point? They should've at least let you unlock multiple slots
The bigger issue I had with the game is lack of variety. This is something that feels like a real let-down in a lot of roguelites, and Hades falls victim to this too. Idk, maybe Gungeon spoiled me with its massive amounts of content. But there's only 4 floors really, every floor basically has the same 10 or so rooms, and only a few unique enemy types per floor, and each floor has the same or basically the same boss every run with only slight variations. There's only 6 weapons in the game, and even the boons, while there are more of them, just seem to start repeating themselves over time. Again, maybe I'm just spoiled by Gungeon
Don't want to overlook, this is a great game, and I understand why people love it so much, just dont agree with the level of hype of "greatest indie game of all time"
First off, the game is oozing with polish and charm. The visuals, the story, the music, the voice acting, all incredible, some of the best I've seen in an indie game.
The combat didn't feel the best to me at first, just cuz I've never been into this Diablo-styled combat, but in once I got used to it I thought it was fairly fun, not incredible but I quite liked it
I also thought it was cool that this roguelite had a lot more story/narrative elements than any other roguelike/lite I've played
So here were the shortcomings that keep me from calling it my favorite roguelike and from giving it a 5 stars. The smaller issue I had: the meta progression. This is one area that I expected this game to excel in, and beat out Gungeon, since I really like Roguelites with meta progression between runs, and I had heard that Hades nailed the idea of meta-progression. But honestly in my opinion, this game's meta-progression was pretty underwhelming. The only "solid" meta-progression comes from the mirror upgrades, and some of those choices felt meaningless, the ones that were useless got maxed out too quickly, and the choices you had to make just seems frankly underwhelming. Then as you get into later game, the progression turns into growing relationships with the other characters, and upgrading your weapons and the chambers. But growing relationships with most other characters does almost nothing except unlock new dialog and story beats after the first level, except for a select few characters, and not only does the game not tell you who those specific characters are, but the game doesn't even tell you any of this at all. The thing that could've affected progression the most would be the trinkets that you unlock by reaching level 1 with any character, since there's nearly 30 of them, but they only let you equip one per run? What's even the point? They should've at least let you unlock multiple slots
The bigger issue I had with the game is lack of variety. This is something that feels like a real let-down in a lot of roguelites, and Hades falls victim to this too. Idk, maybe Gungeon spoiled me with its massive amounts of content. But there's only 4 floors really, every floor basically has the same 10 or so rooms, and only a few unique enemy types per floor, and each floor has the same or basically the same boss every run with only slight variations. There's only 6 weapons in the game, and even the boons, while there are more of them, just seem to start repeating themselves over time. Again, maybe I'm just spoiled by Gungeon
Don't want to overlook, this is a great game, and I understand why people love it so much, just dont agree with the level of hype of "greatest indie game of all time"