(Game was Gifted)

I'm not going to let the Styx take me before I have expressed my biggest thoughts on this game. But I'll make the headline apparent:

Hades is phenomenal. Without any question.

I had this game put off for the longest time since I wasn't confident in it aligning well with my preferences, so after expressing mild interest and acknowledging the game indeed did look really good, I had it gifted to me. After having finished the main quest now, with more still to go, I really sincerely wish I had purchased the game myself.

Hades at it's core feels like a love letter when it comes to giving it's own interpretations of the Greek Mythology, following the son of Hades in his attempts to escape the underworld, battling through different biomes of increasing difficulty and unique enemies in order to escape to Greece, all aided by the Gods of Olympus granting their boons to help him in his efforts. Each God, each character, feels like a really authentic interpretation of the Mythos (which, granted, I am not familiar with in any capacity), and it doesn't require that knowledge to really get into, and further aiding this is the fantastic voice acting for each character. Everybody sounds distinct and provides the proper flair that each God deserves. From the chilled out carefree tone of the God of Wine to the imposing booming voice of Hades himself. It doesn't need a lot of detail, it's just really damn good voicework. Simples.

The son of Hades, Zagreus, is your playable character through this. He's honestly the star of the show, because it would've been easy for his role to fall into the angst, rebellious level of teen archetype that this sort of narrative would encourage, and he isn't that in the slightest. Zag carries himself with lots of warmth and a kindhearted nature towards all the other characters (except his father). He knows what he has to do is causing strife within the Underworld, but it's not stopping him from doing what he can to make amends with people and build relationships with others. Everything about Zagreus is extremely likeable, and he's probably one of the best protagonists I've played as. Definitely can't wait to see how they handle his sister in the sequel.

Oh, as we're talking visuals... It's an incredible; You're greeted by beautiful environments oozing with colour and personality, with each of the characters, Gods/Goddesses all being illustrated in uniquely wonderful portraits. The visual identity of Hades has so much love poured into it, and it shows in how seamless everything blends together. The effort even extends into how the different visual effects for the boons of the gods stack over each other, as well as enemy attacks and environmental hazards. I can still keep track of everything going on despite the visual colour war going on, because it's just handled that damn ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ well! Supergiant really brought their S-Rank effort into this element of the game and I cannot praise it high enough.

Gameplay is split between your escape attempts and your roaming around the hub area, that being the House of Hades (all shown from an isometric top down perspective). Every escape attempt has you jump down through your escape route and battle your way through chambers of varied creatures, each room leading to randomised rewards, be it money to spend or one of the gods granting you a series of boons to pick from to boost your power. As the nature of this is rogue-lite, there is a lot of combinations that you can have of these God favours, which can lead to crazy different play-styles with each of the 5 weapons you can get to play with, depending on how you get buffed. There is also a hammer that can be used to select a permanent change to your weapon, which can range from altering how you attack with it to increasing it's damage output in a specific way.

The above would be moot if the combat itself wasn't phenomenal, and I can assure you it absolutely is. The controls alone are extremely tight for both controller and m&k, but the combat itself is fast paced, intense, and fluid beyond all belief. Zagreus moves so seamlessly between his moves with each weapon, bolstered further by how things get further altered the more upgrades you apply to him. You can feel like the most powerful hybrid god fighter with the right combo, and even if you DON'T, it still feels like an extremely fair game in how it presents it's challenge. Will it be easy? Hell no, it'll get really brutal if you get unlucky, but it IS fair, and it leads to a masterfully crafted combat system that feels incredibly orgasmic and satisfying when you get good at it. Admittedly it does fall into the button mashing issue that fighting games can fall into, but I find that trivial to nitpick on due to how much the combat gets done beautifully. The runs themselves will not take you much longer than 30-40 minutes if you're able to complete them, with 4 areas each with an ending boss fight; Boss fights offer the correct amount of challenge and variety for their area, and each feels unique and the aforementioned variety extends to how some of them have proper 'variations' where they're fights are different. I love this, as it can really helps alleviate that repetition that comes from fighting the same bosses over and over. Furthermore, beating the first run unlocks the Pack of Punishment; a Hades contract that will offer you the unique rewards again in exchange for adding additional difficulty modifiers to make things much harder on yourself. It's completely optional too, but it's damn tempting if you wanna test your skills and get more rare items much quicker than waiting for them to appear in the hub shop.

But since this is the Underworld, and it is brutal, you're going to die. A lot. But what makes Hades a star in this aspect too is how it uses each death. As you climb out of the River Styx each time, you will get to wander round the House of Hades and chat with each of the characters, each run giving you new lines of dialogue and the ability to gift rare items to each of them to start forming bonds. It kinda turns into an RPG style mini-game, because aside from talking with people, you can put in contract orders to customise Zag's bedroom, maintain the state of the court, and change the cosmetic appearance of the different areas. As you progress you will also get to add more additions to your upcoming runs to aid you, and with some other items in-game you can go into Zag's room and use the mirror to upgrade your base stats while also unlocking new ones to keep making Zagreus permanently stronger and more capable of getting further in each run. So with every death, you're still progressing, while also getting the opportunity to spend time in the house with the different characters as more information get drip fed to you. Plus, a couple of them you can romance with enough dedication, both male and female, and none of it feels forced in. It's a wonderful little bonus they didn't need to add. Not a bit add, but it's still a really welcomed one.

I nearly forgot to talk about the soundtrack, so to end off on my favourite aspect, the music is fantastic. Every single track is a joy to listen to. From soothing melodies or quiet peaceful tracks to the bombastic sounds that blare during major combats and boss fights. Special shout out to the final boss...just look up "The Unseen Ones" if you're morbidly curious. It goes SO HARD.

It goes without saying: Hades is incredible and I love it to death, so it's hard to be super objective after all. So... so if you'd per-perhaps.... consider picking it u-up... if this sorta style of game is your jam.. then.. ugh...

{TAKEN BY THE STYX}


{THERE IS NO ESCAPE}