Hades is the rare roguelike experience that I am actually really into. The gameplay is well layered, story well told, and its aesthetic style to spare. Even so, it still is one of the many titles with a difficulty curve that made the whole game more frustrating than I usually care for. For quite some time I had dropped the title, sure I would never finish it, but sometime after it had gone off Game Pass, I picked up a copy. Thirty runs later I finally beat Hades. Although the story doesn’t end there, it was a milestone that felt earned. Almost as soon as I had finished that first successful run I was itching to go again and see more of it. After all, if I can finish it once surely, I could do the whole ten to see the real ending. Surely.

I honestly have no clue what worked so well with that finishing run. The game is absolutely bursting with variety, and I would be surprised if a player could ever replicate a run’s boons, buffs, and rewards. I imagine it would be difficult to even hear the same character dialogue again in a single playthrough. Although, that is not to say that the core experience is entirely new each run. It can get tiresome fighting the same enemies, in the same scenarios, over and over again. It is exhausting fighting the same boss battles thirty times over. Even so, the game does a great job of communicating growth to help pave over fatigue with an interest in seeing that next thing. Whether it be with resources, skills, weapon buffs, trinkets, or just in the character relationships. Each time you return to the House of Hades you are well aware that the last run is just another chapter in a long story.