I longed for a wrap-up, even as the game demanded more escape attempts. It’s enjoyable, but as the hours wear on, my interest in the same sequence of chambers wore thin. I spent dozens of hours picking away at the various plot threads and chasing upgrades. It’s an appropriate allegory that speaks to the broader game, which kept me engaged thanks to its slow drip of character improvement and fiction, but along a path that felt increasingly Sisyphean the longer I played. As I got into the rhythm of flowing from one death into my next attempt, I was consistently excited to see how my approach might change.Īmong the many familiar names encountered, Zagreus gets to know the good-natured Sisyphus, who endlessly pushes a boulder up a hill he will never top, never complaining of his task. The most impressive design feat is how even the same weapon inevitably feels different on each run, as god-gifted boons alter and enhance individual armaments, spells, and other abilities. New weapons unlock regularly, and they can dramatically change your playstyle, from the precision of the Heart-Seeking Bow to the furious melee dominance of the Twin Fists of Malphon. The sense of adrenaline is always high, but there’s also a potential for encounters to devolve into frantic button mashing as you spam out every available attack to bring foes down before they can unleash their worst counters. The combat is fast-paced and challenging, nodding more to stylish action games like Devil May Cry than the isometric RPGs it might look like at first glance. The constantly shifting dynamics between these characters makes for great fun, from the sibling rivalry among the Olympians to reconnecting old flames like Orpheus and Eurydice, and I love the way story tidbits creep in both between action sequences and during them.Įach escape attempt encompasses a series of isometric arena battles, assaulting an impressive variety of enemies in throwdowns that demand precision and careful observation. His quest to find a mother he’s never known brings him into contact with a who’s who of Olympus and the Greek ancient world, including Zeus, Athena, Achilles, and Medusa. He’s the definition of an overbearing father, and Zagreus’ desire to strike out on his own feels as much like a family drama as the retelling of a familiar mythology. Zagreus is the son of mighty Hades, who rules the realm of the dead with a barely controlled anger only matched by his insistence on total control. But that also means that you’ll be eager to see those plot threads resolve, and to do that, you should prepare for an especially long road. In addition to weapon and character upgrades, new story insights are among the most satisfying rewards. Through a seemingly limitless array of character interactions and plot progression, Hades seeds its storytelling over many hours of repeated runs, as you lead your character along one attempted escape from hell to the next. Developer Supergiant Games is known for creating titles with rich narratives and sophisticated themes, and one of the great triumphs of Hades is how those elements are seamlessly integrated into a roguelite structure.
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