Supergiant Games‘ Hades is now from early access, and it has moved from only being offered around the Epic Store to on offer on Steam and Nintendo Switch. This single player, RPG action-adventure indie is a beautifully crafted roguelike dungeon crawler that will have players coming back for more.
You play as Zagreus, son of Hades and Persephone, an immortal Prince from the Underworld who is attempting to avoid Tartarus and join his other family of gods on Mount Olympus. While Zagreus’ father views his attempts as fruitless and futile, his aunts and uncles on high send their aid as Zagreus traverses the Underworld, vanquishing anyone and anything that stands in his way.
The point of Hades is to escape the Underworld and meet your other family. Each dungeon run or escape has you exploring the Underworld searching for a way to avoid it while trying to stay alive. Once you die, it’s a visit back home and you lose all your items and boons. The moment you step foot in Tartarus, you are greeted by a random god which will provide you with a boon to power you and your abilities up. These boons affect your normal attack, special attack, and cast, making builds quite unique and helpful to whatever your playstyle is. Your cast is a one-time projectile item that you will get back either after some time or defeating the enemy it was shot at.
As you control and aid Zagreus in the make an effort to abscond in the Underworld, you've got no choice but to become emotionally invested in its cast of characters as well as their relationships. If you're no stranger to Greek mythology, you’ll know that Persephone is Hades’ wife. She's the reason behind the seasons, spending six months within the mortal world (Spring and Summer) and 6 months in the Underworld (Fall and Winter). You're able to a place in the game where Zagreus discovers Persephone is his real mother and never Nyx, who he has known all his life. However, Persephone is not yet been seen because she left Hades while Zagreus was still being a young child. With the game fully voice acted, the shock and anger Zagreus displays after learning he’s been lied to his entire life can be gone through by the player.
Before leaving home of Hades and traversing the Underworld, you can prepare for your escape by peering into Nyx’s Mirror of Night. Here you are able to gain levels permanent stats and abilities with your collected currency, known as Darkness, which drops randomly in encounters. These stat increasing options change from items like increased normal and special attack with a certain percentage or restoring health whenever you exit a chamber.
In one of the rooms in the home of Hades, you will see Zagreus’ Keepsakes and weapons. Keepsakes are items Zagreus can equip that gives him added abilities and stats. While Nyx’s boons are permanent and are upgraded with Darkness, Keepsakes can only be equipped one at a time and upgraded after completing a certain amount of encounters. An encounter is understood to be every time you enter a chamber and defeat all enemies therein.
After peering in Nyx’s Mirror and collecting your weapon, your dungeon runs begin. You decide to go from chamber to chamber defeating enemies and, upon victory, you receive a god’s boon. At the start of the following run, your boon is going to be received randomly and you may select from three abilities. After an encounter, if there are multiple doors, you can select a door to enter and receive a prize. Each door has the prize plastered on its face so you know precisely what you’re set for whenever you complete that chamber. However, not every chambers reward boons. Encounters are usually short depending on your skill level. I usually found myself within the first boss’ chamber among five and ten minutes. But the great thing about Hades is there is a God Mode. When you activate this method, after death, you receive a permanent damage resistance buff that increases by 2% each time you die.
Swinging back to weapons, each weapon accommodates another playstyle. There seems to be considered a total of six available to be unlocked. As you traverse the Underworld you will come across Chthonic Keys. Obtaining a certain number will grant you access to a new weapon inside your arsenal. You start the game together with your Stygian Blade, that is a broad sword with decent attack speed and a slam attack that dishes out an area of harm around you. There's a diversity of weapons in the game, including swords, a shield, a bow, a spear, and fists. Each weapon feels various and some are harder to master than the others. Some weapons obviously pander to a particular playstyles such as the bow and spear, both of which permit you to keep the distance.
Your special attack also changes with every weapon equipped. With the spear, you are able to toss it and press the corresponding button for this revisit you while damaging any enemy inside your path. The bow (my personal favorite) includes a special attack having a widespread that can completely cover both small , medium-sized chambers.
Hades is such an amazing game that not only grips you with its action gameplay but also a stirring story that unfolds every time you die. Supergiant doesn't disappoint with regards to crafting an attractive soundtrack to help keep you extra invested. You fall in love with each character’s personality and style. The whole game is fully voice acted, bringing the characters and story alive.
Hades is a different experience in the roguelike genre. It blends together a story using the mechanics and gameplay of roguelike, dungeon crawling games. With the choice to have fun with different abilities and truly craft your own playstyle, replayability is extremely high. Even though death will probably be standard in this game, you’ll have the ability to activate God Mode, causeing this to be game an enjoyable experience for everybody.
Hades is available now on PC (Epic Store, Steam) and Nintendo Switch.
